Money for Riga

watna

I'm off to Riga in three weeks on a work trip (It's our Christmas party). We're leaving on a Friday afternoon and coming back on Sunday evening. My OH is coming too. They're paying for flights, accomodation, airport transfers and dinner and drinks on the Saturday night. Basically, I'm super broke this month and I'm wondering how much money I'll need. I'll need cash for dinner on the Friday, and lunch on sat and sun. Plus if we do anything when we're sightseeing on sat that costs money. The reason I'm worried is that I'm just back from Prague which was a lot more expensive then we thought and we ended up needing a lot more cash.

How expensive is Riga? Our sightseeing would consist of us walking around seeing things and taking photos which I'm hoping will keep costs down (although in Prague they charge for everything :mad:). What are food/drink costs etc like? Luckily work are paying for the big dinner/drinks on the Saturday anyway!

gary the great

Bump anm thinking of going there to!

Unshelved

Riga is cheaper than Prague, but not as cheap as Tallinn - 1 Lat is roughly the equivalent of 1 British pound. Stay away from tourist bars and try to go where the locals go. Watch out for the Double Coffee chain of cafes - good value coffee and meals and they also serve beer and drinks - www.doublecoffee.lv . If you're really stuck you could always go to McDonald's.

Prices for food and drink in the Old Town are much more expensive than elsewhere. The city is quite compact so it's easy to walk around and get your bearings.

Whatever you do, stay away from "stag party" type bars - you will definitely be ripped off. Also, steer clear of taxis - taxi drivers are notorious in Riga for being a shower of gangsters. Keep an eye on your wallet - there's a bit of theft (but not as bad as Dublin!).

Have a great time - it's a nice city, even if the people are a bit gloomy.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Tails142

The Scientist wrote: »

Agreed on the taxi part.... Use the legislated red ones only.

Riga is'nt cheap but its not expensive. When i went last year i was expecting to see a battered old town with Lada's everywhere.
Thats what i couldnt get over, the Cars!
Maserati's, BMWs, Porsches, Rolls Royce, Ferraris, Range Rover sports Everywhere!

Think i told you before watna but make sure to head to Hotel Reval (tallest building in Riga i think) The sky bar is on the top floor, great views of the City not that expensive.

If ye're going clubbing then Klub Essentials is the spot!



But you'll be hard pushed to find it as there's only 1 in the City, which would probably explain why Latvian Women have perfect bodies.

The McD's is right in the centre square though hard to miss - funnily there is a sort of pedestrian drive through in it where you can order from a window on the main street instead of going into the restaurant. Don't know why anyone would do this though as it was FREEZING outside- but there ya go.

Was in Riga last year and have to say it is DIRT cheap. Watch out for taxi's and such; we were told to agree the fare beforehand; which when you think of it probably makes us seem like assholes to the locals and none of the taxi's ever tried to rip us off, a taxi accross town probably only cost a couple of lat.

Went to the skybar, it was great but not at all expensive compared to here. Prices were comparable and we were drinking shorts and cocktails. Normal bars drink is pretty cheap, maybe 3 or 4 euro for red bull and vodkas; beer even cheaper. You could get cans of beer in shops for like 50 cent if you wanted.

Only bad thing I would have to say about Riga is that the majority of local people are pig ignorant. Dont think I'd ever bother my hole going back.