Riga?

Mr rebel

I'm looking for somewhere a little different to travel to (but that you can fly directly to from Ireland) and Riga has caught my eye. It looks lovely but then I recently read a blog on the net that it is very dangerous with constant muggings, notoriously unfriendly locals who hate tourists, and lots of scams in place to take advantage of tourists.
Obviously, this has put me off somewhat but I don't know how seriously to take it.
Has anyone been there and can offer some advice?

spurious

Didn't notice any scams, but then I am a middle aged woman and not likely to be catching the eye of locals.

Many UK stag and hen parties seem to end up there, which may well colour the local view on tourists. Nice enough town. Not super cheap for food if you stick to the tourist areas, so go off the beaten track a bit - very cheap for drink, especially away from the main tourist haunts.

Couple of interesting and very old restaurants, including Rozengrals which is not cheap, but quite a unique experience. They also have a chain of restaurants called Lido that serve local food and lots of it, at cheap prices. There's a branch at the airport too, but the biggest one is just outside the city centre.
The Riga Central markets in the old Zeppelin hangars are worth seeing.

Not sure if you're considering it soon or next year but there's a beach town called Jurmala just outside Riga where many beautiful young things go (as well as many allegedly 'legitimate' Russian businessmen) - if you ever wanted to see money being thrown around, you'll see it there. Obscene. They also have a big waterpark there: http://www.latvia.travel/en/sight/livu-aquapark

A far nicer beach - minus the posers and their security is near Bolderaja, a suburb to the north of Riga.

Mr rebel

Thanks for the info!