I have had a few requests to add a short review on my recent weekend in Riga, so here it is!
My partner and I spent Friday morning to Monday morning in Riga in September to October 2018. We flew from Stansted airport with Ryan Air, and the return flights were £48 each! The reason we booked to go to Riga was because of how cheap it was to get there. We stayed in an airbnb which was a 15 minute walk from the centre. This was a studio and cost us £77 for us both, for the 3 nights.
We travelled through the night and morning to reach Riga. We had no sleep and we were so tired when we landed at lunch time. However, we were determined to make the most of this weekend, so headed straight out to explore what this fabulous city had to offer.
One thing we planned to do was do a boat trip. We headed straight for the river front to try to book one, however we struggled to find the relevant information. Instead we took a walk up the river and just got a real feel of the city. We focused mainly on the new part of the city as we had planned to see the old town on Saturday. The newer town is very commercial as you would expect and there is not much to see for tourists, however it was still nice to see everything Riga had to offer. At around 6pm we decided to head back to our airbnb, however we stopped for a drink on the way. We stumbled upon an off licence / bar. It was a very strange set up, but it seemed to work, and we loved it in their! You can buy something from the shop, and then sit at one of the tables in the shop and drink it! The lady who ran the shop spoke no English so I just pointed at a drink and hoped for the best. I ended up with a 15% alcopop which cost me 2 euros. After being awake for nearly 40 hours at this point and being extremely tired, its safe to say that I was slightly merry. However for 2 euros, I was not complaining! We got some hotdogs from the local petrol station on the way back and then decided to call it a night.
On Saturday, we chose to head down to the old town. We took a trip up to the observation deck at St Peter's church. This was 9 euros per person which I thought was a bit pricey, but the view more than made up for it. (Photo below). After lunch, we did a spot of shopping in the Galerija Shopping Centre. Prices were very similar to The UK, so there were not many bargains to be had. We chose to take a walk to the famous indoor market instead, and came out with silly amounts of cheese! (A city break is not a city break without a cheeky cheese purchase!) We soon realised that most of Riga's charm was in the old town. I would say that they have the largest old town that I have been to. The old town has a perfect blend of old culture and buildings, mixed with new and modern bars and restaurants. We chose to try out a few of the local bars and I must say the prices were very reasonable. Most of the bars seemed to have different flavoured beers, which we were more than happy to sample! Ps try the local honey flavoured beer, and thank me later!
We then chose to find Easy Beer. We had heard a lot of good things about this place and thought we would try it out for ourselves. The concept is amazing! You have a card which has up to 20 euros on, and you use it to pour your own beer. Each time you pick a beer, you scan your card and you only pay for the amount that you pour. This means that you can sample as many as you like without having to buy full pints. As someone who is not a big lover of beer, I must say this suited me perfectly. I can definitely recommend the peach favoured beer and the cranberry favoured beer. They have 20 different beers and you can sample as many as you like! I think we had maybe 7/8 pints between the 2 of us, and our final bill was just 13 euros! For anyone who is not so keen on beer, there is also a wine version a few doors down.
On Saturday night, we chose to eat in TGI Friday's, as we love visiting this restaurant at home. This was the worst experience I have had at TGIs and the final bill came to 80euros for 2 people!! This was extremely over priced and made us realise that we were really just paying for the name, and not the quality of the food. I would not recommend this, unless you like a plate full of grease for your dinner. I'm not usually one to put anything negative in my posts, however for 80 euros, I think I have a right to moan!
So we had one more full day left to experience Riga, and we were determined to see some of it on the water! We found a 40 minute canal trip for 10 euros each. We went ahead with this and it was a lovely little trip. They even provided us with blankets to keep warm! To book this trip you would need to head down to Bastion Hill, you should be able to purchase your ticket there and then. It's worth knowing that in the summer months, the trip is slightly more expensive as the boat also goes partly down the Daugava River. However, this is not available from September to May.
After our little boat trip, we enjoyed just strolling around the old town and taking everything in. We spent most of the afternoon bar hopping, which in Riga, is a very easy and inexpensive thing to do! Alcohol prices are cheaper than the UK. You can expect to pay around £1.50 to £2 for a pint of local beer, and around £3 for a double spirit with a mixer. (I would try to give prices of other drinks, but we're not classy enough to drink wine, and we're not tame enough to drink soft drinks!)
I cannot go on any city break without having an Italian meal. So, on Sunday night, we headed to Il Patio. We paid around 30 euros for the 2 of us, which included 2 drinks and 1 main meal each. So the prices were very reasonable and the food was lovely. I was slightly worried about the food in Riga, as my partner is a very fussy eater, however we did not struggle to find nice international food!
Overall, we spent a lovely weekend in Riga, it has something for everyone, and if all else fails, its cheap enough to just spend the whole weekend in a bar! I would definitely recommend visiting Riga and experiencing things for yourself. I feel that as Riga is a capital city, it is very commercial and the big, wide boulevards can be a little overwhelming, however the beautiful old town is just a stones throw away and is a welcome relaxing break from the hustle and bustle.