The 13 best things to do in Riga, Latvia

Since re-emerging as the capital of Latvia in 1991 – after a long hiatus under Russian rule – Rīga has been revamping its streets with eye-catching architecture that pays homage to the city’s complex history, giving the center a homey, user-friendly vibe. 

But Riga is still an old-school Baltic capital at heart – graceful art nouveau buildings dominate the center, and the border between the city and countryside is blurred, with furry visitors from the forest occasionally venturing into town and wild mushrooms sold prominently at local farmers markets. 

Ways to keep busy in the Latvian capital range from trips to cultured art museums to cruises down the river, and you’ll definitely want to make time to visit the beautiful Old Town and some of the many city landmarks that recall the Soviet era. 

A perfect destination for curious history buffs, Riga is a place where you can go with the flow or do your own thing, whether that means sipping coffee in cozy pavement cafes under art nouveau facades, admiring the grandeur of towering Gothic churches or hopping from one friendly bar to another after dark.

To help you draw up your itinerary, here are the best things to do in Riga. 

1. Explore Riga’s Old Town

If you only have a few days, base yourself in Rīga’s Old Town, known as Vecrīga. You can take in centuries of history in its spired churches and dignified museums, or explore the art nouveau buildings of the Jugendstil quarter and drop into the impressive Latvian National Museum of Art. 

Before you home in on specific monuments and attractions, take a stroll around the streets around Rīgas Doms cathedral and Town Hall Sq to absorb the atmosphere, pausing for coffee in local cafes and admiring the striking architecture.

Detour: Known as Āgenskalns, the area across the river from Old Town exudes strong countryside vibes thanks to an abundance of wooden houses surrounded by lush gardens that bloom beautifully in spring. Come on Saturday when Kalnciema Kvartāls – a lovingly restored courtyard occupied by cafes and galleries – is transformed into a lively market that attracts some of the top food and produce vendors from across the region.

2. Tour St Peter’s Church

Between the tall facades and cobbled streets of Old Town, needle-shaped St Peter’s Church is the centerpiece of Rīga’s skyline. This Gothic tower is one of the oldest medieval buildings in the Baltics, dating back to the 13th century but much altered over the centuries. Its soaring spire is adorned with a golden-colored weathercock that has become a symbol of the city. 

In 1721 the church spire was destroyed in a blaze caused by lightning, despite Russian Emperor Peter I personally rushing to the scene to extinguish the fire. It was destroyed once more in WWII but resurrected in 1973, complete with a lift that whisks visitors to a viewing platform set at 72m (236ft) on the copper-clad steeple.

Planning tip: If you’re a fan of historic churches, visit nearby St John’s Church, a tall red-brick structure propelled to fame by the time local citizens mounted catapults on its roof to repel attacking Livonian knights.

3. Embrace local history at Rīgas Doms

Near Old Town’s main square, enormous Rīgas Doms is the country’s most prominent cathedral and the largest medieval church in the Baltics. The architecture is a mixture of styles from the 13th to the 18th centuries – partly Romanesque, Gothic and baroque, with distinctive glazed black bricks, a trademark of Hanseatic period architecture. 

While you are in Dome Sq, explore the three old stone houses dubbed the “Three Brothers.” Conveniently lined up in a photogenic row, they exemplify Old Rīga’s diverse mishmash of architectural styles. 

Facing the Town Hall, you’ll find the Blackheads House, built in 1344 as a veritable fraternity house for the Blackheads, a guild of unmarried German merchants. The original house, ruined in 1941 and replaced with an exact replica in 2001, is supposedly the spot where the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree was born.

Planning tip: If you visit Rīga at Christmas, a lively Christmas market fills Dome Sq from December to January, touting seasonal trinkets, foods and drinks. 

4. Cruise along the Daugava River

For much of Rīga’s 800-year-long history, new arrivals got their first glimpse of the city from the water. You can relive the experience by exploring Rīga’s waterways – small boats, some new and some vintage – take passengers aboard by Bastion Hill and proceed along the Daugava River. 

Operators also rent out water bicycles, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards – all good options for exploring at your own pace. Discover the circular routes that crisscross the Daugava, exploring canals and islands on the other side and entering Rīga’s busy working shipyard. 

Last but not least, large pleasure boats ply the Daugava, picking up passengers at several moorings outside the Old Town. In addition to short cruises within the city, these vessels travel out onto Lake Kišezers, with the possibility to disembark at Mežaparks and return to the centre by tram. 

Another rewarding boat experience is cruising to the mouth of the Daugava and then entering the adjoining Lielupe River to end the journey at Majori station in Jūrmala. 

Planning tip: Check the websites of Rīga By Canal or River Cruises Latvia for details of boat cruise departure times and prices.

5. Visit the Latvian National Museum of Art 

Set inside a building that could easily be mistaken for a royal palace, the Latvian National Museum of Art is the country’s main art treasury. The collection functions as a “who’s who” of local artists from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. 

The work of Baltic German artists from the 18th and 19th centuries can be fairly staid, but as you move into the Latvian revival era of the early 20th century, the collection becomes truly captivating. 

You can feel the artistic conversation becoming more original, expressive and authentically Latvian, intertwined with politics as the country entered an age of world wars, revolutions and totalitarianism. The exhibition continues right through to contemporary art via the period of Soviet occupation.

Detour: Nearby, drop into the famous Kaņepes Kultūras Centers, a former music school turned beer garden and concert venue that stays open through the warmer months. Continue along Skolas iela to reach Muzejs “Ebreji Latvijā” – a small museum exploring the city’s Jewish history. 

6. Peruse the stalls at Central market

In what might be the world’s most ambitious act of “beating swords into ploughshares,” several German-built WWI zeppelin hangars were brought to Rīga and converted into pavilions for the city’s Central Market in the 1920s. 

Today, the marketplace is an important city landmark and a place where friends bump into each other while shopping for smoked fish, forest mushrooms and berries, apples and redcurrants, homemade bread and other Latvian kitchen essentials.

Most of the action happens outside, while the hangars are gradually evolving into hipster-ish food courts. Come here to try fried herring with cottage cheese (Latvia’s top delicacy) at Siļķītes un Dillītes or freshly baked Uzbek-style flatbread at Registan Bakery.

Detour: Behind the railway line that bisects central Rīga and the Central Market lies the vast Maskavas forštate district, officially renamed Latgale but still commonly known as Maskačka. This was the site of the Jewish ghetto during WWII, and a Soviet air hangs around its decaying, antiquated buildings.

It feels both haunted and at the same time weirdly attractive; swing by to soak up the atmosphere and grab a bite at the venerable Katkevich restaurant.

7. Marvel at Rīga’s art nouveau landmarks

Rīga entered the 20th century as the sixth-largest city in the Russian Empire, and in 1901, the city celebrated its 700th anniversary by inaugurating a new street, Alberta iela, built in the revolutionary Jugendstil style and named after the founder of Rīga, Bishop Albert von Buxhoeveden. 

Today, this street forms the heart of Rīga’s Jugendstil quarter, a legendary collection of buildings erected during the short epoch between 1890 and 1910 when Europe was gripped by rapid development and social optimism. 

The Jugendstil style, a Germanic interpretation of art nouveau, allowed architects to unleash their imagination and display their passions, fears and hopes for the future on the richly decorated facades of the city’s earliest high-rise blocks. 

Alberta iela today is a functional street with residential houses, restaurants and shops, but its architectural splendor lives on. Think of it as a huge painting that you can spend hours staring at, detecting more and more intriguing details. 

8. Pay your respects at the Freedom Monument on Rīga’s Green Belt

Known as Rīga’s Green Belt, a chain of parks follows the path of a canal in a green semicircle, separating the Old Town from the rest of the city center. At the main entrance to the Old Town, the parkland is interrupted by a vast square with a statue of a monumental female figure in the middle that’s worth a second glance. 

Affectionately known as “Milda” (after a match brand that featured the statue on its packaging), the Freedom Monument was designed by Kārlis Zāle and erected in 1935 on the spot where a statue of Russian Tsar Peter the Great once stood. 

Raising her hands to the skies, Milda holds three stars representing the three historical regions of Latvia – Kurzeme, Vidzeme and Latgale. Two soldiers stand guard at the monument throughout the day and perform a modest changing of the guards ceremony every hour on the hour from 9am to 6pm.

Detour: Around a kilometer northeast of the Freedom Monument, the Stūra Māja (Corner House) is a real-life house of horrors. The fin-de-siècle building is remembered by generations of Latvians as the headquarters of the Soviet secret police (NKVD, later KGB). Tours (for over 12s only) explore the dark history of interrogations here. 

9. Experience Riga’s drinking dens

Rīgans have long since conceded the bars of the Old Town to cruise-ship passengers and debauched stag parties, so the main nightlife areas visited by locals are further away in the more modern city center. Don’t expect anything too wild, this being the Baltics, but there are still some fun places to drink. 

Several good bars are located along the section of Stabu iela between Baznicas and Barona. Here, you’ll find the much-lauded cocktail bar Gimlet and the reincarnated restaurant and hipster hangout, Gauja. 

The old-time haunt of Miera iela has its own share of drinking dens. The converted industrial space known as Tallinas kvartāla is home to a particularly atmospheric branch of Ezītis Miglā, part of a popular bar chain, and it also has a food court in a cozy courtyard. 

Spilling into the street, the homey Walters & Grapa introduces a dense cluster of bars at the intersection of Miera iela and Aristida Briāna iela. Here, you’ll find Labietis, the taproom of a famous craft-beer brand. 

Avotu iela and its surroundings make up another up-and-coming entertainment area. Aim for Aleponija, a drinking hub that doubles as a concert venue set in an old wooden house. A few blocks away, offbeat bookstore Bolderāja on Avotu iela is a haunt for thrifty bohemians.

10. Learn about rural Latvia at the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum

If you don’t have time to visit the Latvian countryside, a stop at the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum is a must. Sitting on the shores of Lake Jugla just northeast of the city limits, this section of forest contains more than 100 wooden buildings (churches, windmills, farmhouses and more) collected from each of Latvia’s four cultural regions. 

You can wander around, interact with resident craftspeople and sample traditional Latvian food. Get here by bus from the Brīvības bulvāris stop in the center, disembarking at Brīvdabas muzejs, close to the museum. 

11. Get out in the fresh air in Mežaparks

Something most Rīgans like to do every once in a while is take tram 11 to Mežaparks – a district of huge and beautifully designed early-20th-century villas that also doubles as the capital’s largest park, part of which feels like a proper forest. 

The park is a hub for all kinds of activities, from rollerblading to disc golf. There’s a beach and a few lakeside restaurants, but connoisseurs prefer to have lunch at Šašliki Mangaļos, an extremely down-to-earth shashlik (grilled meat) joint at the exit towards Mangaļi train station. Mežaparks is also home to Rīga National Zoo, which has an assortment of tropical fauna as well as the usual cast of Noah’s Ark animals.

The enormous stadium-like venue in the middle of the park, the Big Mežaparks Stage, is where the country holds its main nation-building event, the Latvian Song Festival. Every five years, each settlement in Latvia down to the tiniest hamlet selects a choir to participate in the event; the next festival is scheduled for 2028.

Planning tip: Download the Bolt app to rent an electric scooter in Rīga - this is a good option for traveling to Mežaparks under your own steam.

12. Discover the Rīga Motor Museum

You can see Stalin’s personal limousine at the surprisingly well-funded and engrossing Rīga Motor Museum, hidden in the northern suburbs. The stars of the collection are cars that once belonged to Soviet luminaries such as Gorky, Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, complete with irreverent life-sized figures of the men themselves. 

Browse the displays to discover interesting tidbits about these prestigious motors, such as the fact that Stalin’s armored limousine burned through a liter of gasoline every 1.5 miles. Also worthwhile is the exhibit on the lives of Soviet citizens and their cars.

13. Explore Riga’s obscure eateries 

Rīga is loved for its understated delights, especially on the culinary side. As well as prestigious gourmet stops, you’ll find cozy eateries loved by locals, such as Katkevich in the Maskavas forštate district - an unexpected find that serves excellent mackerel toast. 

On Avotu iela, Trīs Viri Laivā (Three Men and a Boat) serves the best fish and chips in town and is one of a few places that qualifies as a genuine local pub. At Central Market, look for the Belyashi stand serving Tatar-style meat pies to die for.

For more Central Asian influences, Azeri-run Stop. Ēd specialises in tantuni kebabs, made with meat cooked in a large wrought-iron frying pan served with a home-baked lavash flatbread.

This article was adapted from Lonely Planet’s Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania guidebook, published in June 2024.