"You don't need magic to disappear, All you need is a destination"
Better late than never! I've wanted to write about my trip to Riga but I've just tried to avoid opening up my laptop but now I'm just going to get stuck into it.
In February, about a few weeks after my boyfriend asked me out, we decided that we would go on a city break together. As this was my first holiday that I'd be paying for myself in my first ever full time job, I wanted something cheap(ish) and cheerful. As my boyfriend has travelled a bit already, I wanted to explore somewhere we both hadn't visited before. We originally decided on Prague but then he asked me if I'd like to go to Riga. My first thought was "where the hell is that?". So, I did what most bloggers would do- I looked up travel blog posts. After reading several blog posts, I was sold! So we booked our flights and hotel at the end of February for the end of April for 4 nights.
The next 2 months were spent saving for my first city break in a long time but also our first holiday together. I remember I told my mam and she kept saying that the first holiday with your new partner will test the relationship. So, as much as I was excited, I was a little nervous too, especially since we were still very much just newly going out.
Now, let's get down to business! Here are some details about our hotel, things to do and tips & tricks!
The hotel: Old City Boutique Hotel
As we both didn't know the city, choosing a hotel was very hard. We had been looking on Trivago for about 2 weeks trying to find a hotel that was near most of the well known sights. My best advice- Google maps! We trusted google maps to measure the distance from different hotels to particular sights but also something that was affordable. We thought the Old City Boutique was very simplistic and it was just what we wanted. We were bang in the centre of Old Riga which is where you want to be in terms of restaurants and sights. For 4 night incl. breakfast costs us . If you're looking for a hotel just to sleep in so you can spend the majority of the time out of the hotel exploring, this is ideal. For 4 nights, it was approx €240 for both of us.The sights to see:
There is a lot of places to see in Riga. You can get so lost looking at the different types of architecture and strolling down random streets to find such incredible buildings. Here are a few sights that photos will never be able to capture how beautiful they are:The House of the Blackheads
Freedom Monument
St. Peter's Church
Bastejkalna Parks
Riga Orthodox Church
Things to do:
Riga Canal CruiseThe canal cruise was roughly an hour and it took us from the Bastejakalna Parks all around the River and out into the sea. Ideally this should be one of the first things you should to when you arrive in Riga as it's a great way to learn about spots that you might want to visit during your stay. It €18 for adults and it is well worth doing!
Riga Central Market
We found the central market after doing the river cruise. It was about a 20 minute walk from Bastejakalna Parks (pretty much the centre of Old Riga) and it was huge! The market plays a strong part in Latvian culture. It's one of the large markets where you can buy anything from clothes to homeware and from fresh fruit and vegetables to fresh meats. There is lots of stalls outside but lots in what were old plane hangers. As my boyfriend fixes planes, he was in his element!
Get lost down pebbled streets
On our first day, we spent at least 5 or 6 hours strolling around the old city of Riga. While we were on the streets, we turned our roaming off so we could truly enjoy getting lost. This is something we did then the days after after visiting particular sights. Riga is just a city that is completely safe and quiet (population of Riga is approx 639,000 in comparison to Dublin which is 1.3 million) so we knew we would be totally safe.
Places to eat:
Food & Drinks in Riga was very cheap in comparison to Ireland. For example, a Jameson & Coke in Dublin would be approx €7/8 whereas Riga it was approx €3/4. It may only be a few euros, but it makes a huge difference. Our cheapest dinner bill was approx €50 while our deerest was around €120. I sadly wasn't a true food blogger and have little photos of the restaurants themselves or any of the dishes.
This was a place where we visited our our first full day and our last day in Riga. As beer and burger lovers, we were in heaven. There is literally hundreds types of craft beers to choose from and the burgers were divine.
We visited B-Bars on our second night in Riga and it was right up our alley. When you walk, it has a very much laid back bar scene going on with high tables and chairs and a DJ playing really good house music. Then, when you walk further into the bar, it was a restaurant. It was very busy here as it was a Saturday evening but the service was incredible here. Our server was incredibly helpful in helping us choose certain dishes and wines. Here, we were given a complimentary shot before our starters. It was Riga Balsam, which traditional Latvian Liqueur with passionfruit and it was such a nice touch to clear the palette.
This cute and funky cafe was straight across out hotel and it was ideal lunch spot. From omelettes to burgers to crepes, the menu in here was endless. Again, the food here was so reasonably prices and filled us for most of the day until dinner.
We were recommended to visit here by fellow blogger, Okaybee and it was worth the walk. Mute was about 25 minute walk from our hotel but it was worth it. The portions were a bit small as it was our first meal of the day but the brunch, fresh juices and coffees were so tasty and the decor was so bright and minimalistic.
This was by far, the best restaurant I've ever experience in MY LIFE! From the helping of a wine connoisseur to help choose wines for our main courses, to complimentary dishes between course to cleanse our palettes, I fell in love with this restaurant. It was the fanciest place I had ever been to and I didn't want to leave. I've never tasted food so tasty and the wine and cocktails were incredible. Our bill for here was approx €120 and for the experience and relaxed atmosphere, it was incredibly worth it. If you do visit here, get the chicken dish- wow!
Places to Drink:
Krogs Aptieka
We visited Krogs after our first full day in Riga. The DJ's were playing incredible songs that would have you on the floor on the night. Although the staff weren't that pleasant, the cheap cocktails kept us happy! My boyfriend may have had too many White Russian cocktails that were so easy and tasty to drinks that his head was a little tender the next day. This buzzing bar will forever have a special place in my heart.
Skyline Bar
The Radisson Blu Skyline bar is one of the best places to visit when in Riga. We left this to the last night and it was the perfect way to end our holiday. The Skyline bar is on the 26th floor of the hotel and is one of the most popular bars in Riga as it has the best sight view of Riga. Men had to pay into the bar while ladies went free- very unusual! There was at least 50 cocktails to choose from and if only we had all night to try them. I wish we did visit here during lunch time on one of the days because we did see people have food and it looked really good!
Tips!
WeatherWhile outfit planning prior the trip, I was checking the weather every week to see what it was like over there. Although it was extremely sunny for most of the trip, it was quite cold. April is a cold month in general and the weather was very similar to Ireland so make sure to have proper clothing to suit the weather! As there is a lot of walking around, make sure to have comfy shoes. As I wear nothing but runners anyways, it was ideal for all the walking around.
Carry change!
I rarely carry change but we noticed while we were over there that the service in all the cafes and restaurants were incredible and some nights we had very little change to give a tip when they really deserve it. So make sure to carry as much change as you can incase places can't take tips on a credit card.
Language.
We didn't need to learn that much latvian words as pretty much everyone spoke really good english. But, if you did want to get down with the lingo, the language is kind of hard to learn at the start but it's handy to know a few of the basic words like "hello", "thank you" etc.
Tripadvisor
I never would really be a Tripadvisor user but for finding places to eat, it became my new best friend. It wasn't about visiting the top 10 places, sometimes the best places might have been number 33 or so. It was the best way to find places easy that were near to us.
So the big question, would I recommend Riga? YES! Riga is such a beautiful city filled with incredible sights, tasty food and friendly people. I would definitely go back but for now, I have the rest of the world to visit!
Sorry for the long post but I hope you enjoyed it and congratulations if you made the end of this post!
Stay tuned for more chaos,
JB
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