The problem of a divided city is an interesting research thread, in which a former one integral whole is divided by administrative decisions. One of the examples of such cities is the former Wałk, now Valka and Valga, on the Latvian-Estonian border. The aim of the article is to analyse this urban unit in terms of geo-political and geo-historical research. The first part of the article discusses the genesis of the town as one settlement unit. In the second part of the discussion, the contemporary town landscape is briefly characterised. For the purposes of the study, the literature on the subject and the available cartographic resources have been analysed. The data available on the internet on Polish, Estonian and Latvian-language websites have also proved to be important.