[Closed] Riga - what're your thoughts?

Stag by any chance? It's the new Prague or the new new Dublin. Only on the baltic. Wouldn't go in winter.

What do you want to know? Stag do's are generally frowned upon by locals, be weary of walking around drunk, especially alone - the usual tourist hangouts can attract the wrong types. Don't be tempted by strip joints etc, you're very likely to be fleeced as majority of shady businesses are run by shady characters.

Other than that - lots of nice cofee shops, very agreeable beers and food, try http://www.merlin.lv/.

Riga even has a local Boris-bikey rental scheme called Baltic Bike, cheap, plentiful and sturdy.

Lovely place. Been twice, once with work in summer time and once with the wife in winter. Stag do crowds were never a problem on either trip. Beautiful city and very friendly people. Plenty to see and do: war museum, museum of the occupation, guided tours. We went on an excellent guided tour on the trams with the guide talking us through the (harrowing) history of the country and city.

Excellent Belgian bar with great beers and food. Bar Cuba was pretty cool and laid back. Sky Bar for beautiful people and amazing views.

This hotel: http://www.alberthotel.lv/ for well priced accommodation

Yeah, stag do. I read a few reviews and views seem very polarised.

Nice city, very attractive to walk around, loads of cultural things to do.

Caters for stag bashes very well, and if you want to tick off the "classic" to-do things then it's very good.

Some places are rough, some places will rip you off, however by sticking to the main joints you should be OK

Damn cold in winter!

Great place- do it. Make sure you check the gov travel webpage before you go- it will tell you which 'establishments' are safe and which aren't.

cheers guys, Flights booked.

Couldn't stand the place when I went on a stag, very unfriendly and we were far from being a rowdy group most of the time.

I'm usually able to enjoy any stag trip for what it is, but Riga was a struggle. Brest bit was when we taxi-ed it out to the nearby coastal resort. Quite a nice spot.

EDIT: Spot the freudian typo above 🙂

Went 5 or so years ago and it was and still is the best stag do I've been on. It was a bit 'up and coming' then, think most stag dos heading that way were going to Tallin at the time. Cheap as chips, with the exception of the gentlemens clubs but they were still great value. Not one of us got ripped off or had trouble of any kind.

Try to find one of those local stag do guides, for a few extra quid each they'll take care of you so well worth it IMO. We ended up going go-karting out in the sticks where they provided kegs of beer for between races and were happy for you to run each other off the track. Also went to a cold war bunker in the city somewhere and shot lots of big guns!

I couldn't recommend it enough, but as I say this was 5 or more years ago. Hopefully it hasn't changed that much but looking at Dublin now to when I first went about 15 years ago it could have gone downhill somewhat.