Flight time
3h 00m
Best season
May–September & December
Budget
Budget
Best for
Art Nouveau, old town, nightlife, value
Overview
Why Riga for a city break?
Riga has the finest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture in the world — around a third of all buildings in the city centre are Art Nouveau, built in the extraordinary creative burst of 1898 to 1914 when Riga was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the Russian Empire. The elaborate facades of carved figures, floral motifs and geometric patterns on Alberta Street and Elizabetes Street are extraordinary; the Riga Art Nouveau Museum inside a preserved apartment is one of the most distinctive museum experiences in the Baltic states. The medieval old town alongside is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Gothic churches and merchant guild houses.
From London it's three hours — direct flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and several regional airports. Riga International Airport is 10km from the centre (bus €1.50, 30 minutes). The city is excellent value: a good dinner costs under £15, craft beer is £2, and most of the best things to do are free or very cheap. Go in May to September for the best weather and the outdoor café culture along the Daugava river; December brings one of the finest Christmas markets in the Baltics to the old town square, with open fires and mulled Latvian wine.
Where to stay & explore
Riga's best neighbourhoods
Old Town (Vecrīga)
The medieval UNESCO city — the Riga Cathedral, the House of the Blackheads, the three medieval churches and the winding lanes of the oldest surviving trading city in the eastern Baltic.
Alberta Street & Art Nouveau Quarter
The finest Art Nouveau street in the world — Mikhail Eisenstein's extraordinary decorated facades (father of the film director Sergei Eisenstein) line Alberta, Elizabetes and Strēlnieku streets.
Āgenskalns & Miera Street
Riga's most creative neighbourhood — the wooden house district across the Daugava, the Miera Street cafés and independent restaurants, and the most local version of the city.
Things to do
What to see in Riga
1
Art Nouveau Quarter & Riga Art Nouveau Museum
The world's greatest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture — Alberta Street (numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, 13 are the most spectacular), Elizabetes Street 10b and 10c, and Strēlnieku Street 4a contain the finest facades. The Riga Art Nouveau Museum at Alberta Street 12 preserves a complete early 20th-century apartment interior — the stoves, the furniture, the wallpapers, the light fixtures — in extraordinary detail. Book ahead for the museum; the street walking is free and can be done any time.
2
House of the Blackheads & Town Hall Square
The most spectacular secular building in Latvia — the House of the Blackheads (built 1334 for an association of unmarried foreign merchants, destroyed in WWII and rebuilt to exact historical specifications in 1999) is a Dutch Renaissance masterpiece of extraordinary ornamentation. The interior can be visited; the exterior at night, floodlit against the cobbled square, is the finest image of Riga. The adjacent Riga Town Hall and St Peter's Church (climb the tower for the city panorama) complete the square.
3
Central Market (Centrāltirgus)
The largest market in Europe — five former German Zeppelin hangars from WWI, repurposed in 1930 as the world's most extraordinary market building, housing the meat, fish, dairy, vegetable and dry goods halls of Riga's main food market. The dairy hall (Latvian cheese, butter, sour cream, kefir) and the fish hall (smoked sprats, eel, perch — the Baltic smoking tradition at its finest) are exceptional. Go in the morning; the atmosphere is extraordinary and the food absurdly cheap.
4
Latvian National Museum of Art
The finest art museum in the Baltic states — the collection of Latvian painting from the 19th century to the present, with particular strength in the Latvian Romantic period and the extraordinary output of the Soviet-era underground artists. The building (1905, neo-Baroque) is one of the finest in Riga. Free on the last Friday of each month.
Food & drink
Where to eat in Riga
Vincents
Modern Latvian / fine dining
The finest restaurant in Latvia — Mārtiņš Rītiņš's tasting menu has been the benchmark of Latvian gastronomy for 25 years, using exceptional local produce (cep mushrooms, Baltic pike perch, Latvian black bread) with classical European technique. Book months ahead.
Istaba
Latvian home cooking / Āgenskalns
The most beloved local restaurant in Riga — a cosy wooden house in Āgenskalns serving Latvian grandmother's cooking: grey peas with smoked lard (pelēkie zirņi ar speķi), beet soup, smoked fish, rye bread. Extraordinary value; wholly authentic. Book ahead at weekends.
Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs
Latvian folk bar / old town cellar
A medieval cellar bar in the old town serving Latvian craft beer, traditional bar food (smoked sprats on rye bread, garlic bread, cheese platters) and live Latvian folk music most evenings. The most atmospheric place to drink in Riga; always busy, always fun.
Itinerary
3 days in Riga — a suggested itinerary
Day 1
Old Town, the Blackheads, Art Nouveau at dusk
Bus from Riga Airport to the old town (€1.50, 30 minutes). Walk straight to the Town Hall Square — the House of the Blackheads, the Town Hall, St Peter's Church tower (lift to the viewing platform for the finest city panorama). Walk the old town medieval lanes: the Riga Cathedral (the largest medieval church in the Baltic, free to enter), the Three Brothers houses (the oldest complex of dwelling houses in Riga, medieval to 17th century), the Swedish Gate. Lunch at one of the old town cafés. Late afternoon in the Art Nouveau quarter: Alberta Street numbers 2, 4, 6, 8 (Eisenstein's most extraordinary facades), then the Riga Art Nouveau Museum interior at number 12 (book ahead). Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs for the evening — beer, sprats on rye bread, folk music.
Day 2
Central Market, Latvian Museum, Miera Street
Central Market at 8am — the Zeppelin hangars, the dairy hall for breakfast (Latvian cheese, kefir, fresh bread), the fish hall for the smoked sprats and eel. The Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum (10km from the centre by bus — the finest collection of traditional Latvian wooden architecture, 118 buildings moved from across the country to a lakeside site) is worth the journey for a half-day. Back to the city for the Latvian National Museum of Art in the afternoon. Cross the Daugava river to Āgenskalns for the evening: the Miera Street cafés and restaurants, dinner at Istaba (booked ahead).
Day 3
Jūrmala beach, the Rundale Palace option, one last smoked sprat
Jūrmala — the Baltic Sea beach resort 25km west of Riga, reached by suburban train in 30 minutes (€1.60) — has a beautifully restored wooden resort town of 19th-century beach villas, a long sandy beach and excellent seafood restaurants along the Jomas Street promenade. In summer it's the finest beach escape from any Baltic city; in other seasons the wooden architecture and the Baltic dunes are worth the journey regardless. Alternatively: Rundale Palace (80km south, bus from Riga) — a Baroque palace built by Bartolomeo Rastrelli (who designed the Winter Palace in St Petersburg) with extraordinary formal gardens. Back to Riga for a final smoked sprat sandwich at the Central Market before the airport bus.
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