Hotel/Hostel in Riga

gary the great

Am going to RIga in a couple of weeks, need cheap but decent accomadation for 2 nights. In the city centre, dont mind if its a hotel or hostel, but want it to be cheap and safe!

Any recommendations?

mcgrate

Hey, I booked on www.CityCentreHotels.com site for riga before and it was really good.
Good luck.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Dick Turnip

if youre going on the piss go to friendly fun franks. its a cheap hostel (10 - 15euro a night) in the old city, run by an australian. really cool place, caters for large groups and theres a pub crawl organised every night that brings you to some class spots. they have their own 24hr "bar" aswell (it only serves beer and alcopops if i remember correctly but does the trick!)

cailinoBAC

http://www.draugi.lv/
We stayed here last time. Was very pleasant, cheap and also central. If you're staying in a hostel, don't stay in POSH hostel, not sure if it's still there, but although it's only a few minutes walk from the centre it's in the middle of the market and at night it's very very dark and scary. Then again, I was on my own, probably different with a crowd.

gary the great

Dick Turnip wrote: »

if youre going on the piss go to friendly fun franks. its a cheap hostel (10 - 15euro a night) in the old city, run by an australian. really cool place, caters for large groups and theres a pub crawl organised every night that brings you to some class spots. they have their own 24hr "bar" aswell (it only serves beer and alcopops if i remember correctly but does the trick!)

This sounds perfect, am going to be in Riga on my own (am going to Berlin and Russia with mates but they're flying direct from Russia to Dub, I had extra time of so am going to riga). Be good for going for a few drinks with randomers - which i love and is mad cheap to. 10quid for a 10bed dorm sounds ideal

kcb

Friendly Fun Franks is a decent hostel
Recommended

The Minstrel

any thoughts on places to stay away from in Riga? keep hearing all these horror stories or nightclub frauds etc

gary the great

The Minstrel wrote: »

any thoughts on places to stay away from in Riga? keep hearing all these horror stories or nightclub frauds etc

ye the whole city. What a dump.

Really ive never been anywhere so **** and expensive. My mate was even brought back to the hostel by cops and bouncers so they could get his bankcard and get more money off him.

The people are dicks to, but i put this down to all the stag partys etc wrecking the place.

But if i were you, i just wouldnt go....defo the crapest place ive ever been.

Gazza22

gary the great wrote: »

ye the whole city. What a dump.

Really ive never been anywhere so **** and expensive. My mate was even brought back to the hostel by cops and bouncers so they could get his bankcard and get more money off him.

The cop's too? Jesus. What happened? So it is corrupt as fcuk basically? I've only no sympathy if a strip club etc was involved

Devia

People in clubs over there don't take ****, you go have a good time but the rowdy sort of craic we're used to at home just isn't tolerated and you'll be shown the door.

I was there last Easter and we stayed in a nice hostel in the old town area, really nice place. We kept to the exclusive clubs, in particular club essential and the bar on the roof of hotel Latvija. Very expensive though and the actual city is a bit of a dump, definitely not a place for sightseeing or anything but it was a good experience and the presence of snow plus Man Utd trashing Liverpool made it quite memorable I must say.

Hmm_Messiah

gary the great wrote: »

ye the whole city. What a dump.

Really ive never been anywhere so **** and expensive. My mate was even brought back to the hostel by cops and bouncers so they could get his bankcard and get more money off him.

The people are dicks to, but i put this down to all the stag partys etc wrecking the place.

But if i were you, i just wouldnt go....defo the crapest place ive ever been.

Had very different experience

Eating out is cheap, the drink is OK, the clothes etc are crazy prices.

I'd never of thought of it as a dump - a bit dismissive

The skyline bar is an interesting experience, the parks, the Opera House, the Old Cinema is magnificent, the Big screen in the modern cinema is - BIG, takes for every to get up the 6 flights to the balcony

The Old town is cool, CUBA Bar I could spend rest of my days in. Etc etc

Suppose it depends what your looking for - I like the place. The people often do seem unfriendly but I think its very much a cultural thing with their history - I've seen stern sales and waiting staff descend into good humour , after a few minutes, almost like they realised it was ok

Unshelved

Be VERY careful in Riga. I have posted here before about what a pleasant city it is, but crime had just sky-rocketed since I was last there. If you're alone, drink in reputable bars and make sure that you don't get too drunk. Keep your drink in sight all the time and don't let anyone else near it. Drunk tourists have been targeted by bouncers and police who stand over them at ATM's and make them withdraw money for "fines". Crimes against tourists are rife and you need to be very vigilant.

It's a nice city and the old town is lovely but unfortunately tourists - especially stag parties - have been misbehaving and now they're being seen as easy money. Keep your wits about you while you're there.

gary the great

My mate was "fined" for being to drunk - the police said if he gave them 50 lats they'd forget about it. He said no as he didnt do anything wrong, so was put into the police car and told his fine is now 80 lats...they drove him to the hostel to get money and that cost an extra 20 lats. Crazy stuff. He wasnt even that drunk, like he was walking home alone eating mcdonalds as happy as larry.

The people are horrible, i dont care what anyone says, i think i met about 2 or 3 sound latvians in my time there. You've no chance with the women either.

Dont go to Club Roxy.

Club Essential is deadly though (about 8quid a drink and 15quid in though).

I just cant believe how crap this place is. ive travelled msot places in europe and this is defo the worst ive ever been to, although Franks is a good spot to stay in.

The Minstrel

So, back on topic, what is a good spot to stay in...hotel name and area? I understand the Old Town is the best area to be in, is that right? Only interested in private hotel rooms, rather than communcal hostel dorms.