Anyone been to Riga?

Nalz

Whats it like? Here bad stories about it not bein safe etc...

Owen

I'd be interested in this, I'm trying to plan a 2 week driving holiday in Europe, and Riga's looking possible.

Gran Hermano

I'd avoid the "night clubs"
http://pie.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055087451

blorg

It's a lovely city, lively and with a very picturesque old centre. There is a bit of what Gran Hermano refers to but it's _nowhere_ near the likes of Prague (which is also a lovely city BTW, but much more of the seediness coming out at night.)

I was there in the middle of winter and there were very few tourists but even generally I think it is still _relatively_ undiscovered. The ethnographic museum just out of town is good. The museum of the occupation of Latvia is harrowing (summary: first the Nazis invaded, and then no-one thought it could get any worse. It did.)

I wouldn't have thought it particularly unsafe at all. Food was also very good (and great value.)

Unshelved

It's a lovely city - quite small and easy to explore over a weekend. The ancient part of the city is between the two bridges - you'll see when you get there and there's another art nouveau part quite close by. At weekends - especially in summer - it suffers from the stag party crowd, especially from England, but they tend to go to strip clubs (and get fleeced). Stay well away.

Beer and eating out is cheap. We went to a lovely restaurant called Vincents - www.vincents.lv - gorgeous fine dining - more expensive than the norm but worth it. There are also some really good coffee shops in the city centre and some ancient pubs in the stone walls surrounding the old town.

Public transport is excellent and very cheap - make sure you have the right change though. If you're staying in the centre you'll be able to walk everywhere. Stay away from taxis - they're all chancers.

Didn't feel unsafe at any time there and really enjoyed our stay.

Colonel Sanders

lovely place but be careful if you're out at night. Nothing bad happened to any of our group apart from being shafted by a taxi driver but have heard some horro stories. If its budget acomodation you're after try http://www.franks.lv/. We were there on a lads drinking weekend and had a greta time here. It offers guided tripsetc and has a 24hr bar.

Nalz

thanks lads for the info.

The_B_Man

eh...what bad stories ya hear?

defo not goin to any strip clubs anyway!

Colonel Sanders

similar stories to the strip club story. heard of 2 lads being taken of in a taxi and forced to withdraw cash at ATMs and make a credit card payment

blorg

Oh- there is also a medieval restaurant, Rozengrals, which while a little bit of a gimmick was also very good fun. Aims to produce dishes from only the ingredients that would have been available at the time.

If you do go try to pick up the Riga "In Your Pocket" guide (you can get it at the airport) - these are modelled on Time Out and have very candid and in my experience reliable reviews of restaurants/hotels as well as current events. Cheap and comprehensive. The site is also good, and they do the guides for just about all of Eastern Europe (and Northern Ireland, peculiarly.)

missmatty

Riga is really nice. I put up a big report on my trip there in this forum after I came back in June 06 but I don't know if you can read it as this forum only goes back 5 pages (what's the story with that anyway??)

daiixi

Was in Riga over Christmas and it's not that cheap and there's about half a days worth of things to do/see. However you can go for a trip out of the city and go bobsledding (well in winter you could) and we went to a bunker and were able to shoot pistols, pump guns and an AK-47. However I wouldn't recommend it as a place to go to as it is seriously small and boring.

Stabshauptmann

Went there during the summer. Brilliant. Warm and cheap. I knew some locals so stayed with them. Most of the really touristy night clubs (you'll know the area, its like temple bar) are full of hookers.

I went to gun ranges, near by lakes (beach), few nice night clubs and bars, restaruants (some of the nicest Ive ever been) and took in the extensive history. It really is one of the coolest places on earth

Stabshauptmann

missmatty wrote:

Riga is really nice. I put up a big report on my trip there in this forum after I came back in June 06 but I don't know if you can read it as this forum only goes back 5 pages (what's the story with that anyway??)

Select from the begining rather than the last month and try again

missmatty

Thanks, found it on the advanced search!

Nalz

well w've booked it and we're headin there. anyone recommend things to do during the day?

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Nalz

missmatty wrote:

Thanks, found it on the advanced search!

link?

missmatty

I can't put up a link somehow. Do an advanced search, it's called 'Things to do in Riga' starting 29/03/06.

Nalz

Regarding currency, did anyone change out there or did they bring Latvian currency with them?

blorg

Generally your best value will be to use your ATM card over there. I think I brought a few quid (~€100 worth or so) just in case but IIRC there was an ATM in the airport.

BuffyBot

Trilla - I've split off your post-trip desciption and placed it in http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=902.

It would be great if you'ld add more info on to it! Could be useful for others going there