7 days in Riga - what to do

I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked a week in
Riga as my first week off.

Firstly, what do people recommend that I do with 7 days, I've printed off
Rick thingy's info sheet and he reckons that the town's good for no more
than two days!.

I like travelling by train so I've no problem with taking day trips outside
the city to other towns that way, even if just for the ride (though I note
that for half the network it is impossible to make day trip out of the
capital). Interests are historical sites of any era and scenic locations.
Not interested in beach activities or nightlife.

Secondly, does anyone have any hotels to recommend (or to avoid) up to about
80 Euro per room.

TIA

tim

On 18 Sep, 19:27, "tim....." wrote:
I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked a week in
Riga as my first week off.

Firstly, what do people recommend that I do with 7 days, I've printed off
Rick thingy's info sheet and he reckons that the town's good for no more
than two days!.

I like travelling by train so I've no problem with taking day trips outside
the city to other towns that way, even if just for the ride (though I note
that for half the network it is impossible to make day trip out of the
capital). *Interests are historical sites of any era and scenic locations.
Not interested in beach activities or nightlife.

Secondly, does anyone have any hotels to recommend (or to avoid) up to about
80 Euro per room.

TIA

tim

Lake Jugla and park, a 1/2 day trip from Riga.

tim..... wrote:
I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked a
week in Riga as my first week off.

Firstly, what do people recommend that I do with 7 days, I've printed
off Rick thingy's info sheet and he reckons that the town's good for
no more than two days!.

I like travelling by train so I've no problem with taking day trips
outside the city to other towns that way, even if just for the ride
(though I note that for half the network it is impossible to make day
trip out of the capital). Interests are historical sites of any era
and scenic locations. Not interested in beach activities or nightlife.

Secondly, does anyone have any hotels to recommend (or to avoid) up
to about 80 Euro per room.

TIA

tim

for yr accomodation I recommend the company

www.patricia.lv
the owner is a US expat. called Mike

he will provide you with the best prices for accomodation
Normally when I was in Riga I was renting an apartment in the old town for
about 50 eur.

you can eat very well everywhere. but what I like are the restaurants of the
chain LIDO. they are self services. but very nice with very good food and
reasonable prices.

You will find in Riga all types of restaurants .. Chinese Japanese Armenian
Jewish and so on.
you will normally eat very well with about 10 eur
Pls note there are two buses from the airport to the town centre.
they cost about 40 cents of lat ( 1 lat is about 2 dollars )
a taxi will cost you about 7 to 10 lat
air baltic runs a special mini bus for about 4.5 lats
In Riga you will need about 2 days for the town itself. including the Open
Air etnological museum
If I were you.. I would take a bus to Tallinn ( Estonia ) and a bus to
Vilnius (Lituania) you will need a full day to visit these two towns.
out of Riga the Palace of Rundale. but it is very difficult to get there
best way. train to Rundale and then taxi ( 5lats) to the Palace.
Near the train station there is a Shopping Centre called Stockman.. with a
multi room movie theatre.. all movies are in the original language.
there are a lot of Theatres in Riga is you are interested.
I Forgot.. from Tallinn you can take a boat that will take you to Helsinky
in a short time.
if you have questions..
www.inyourpocket.com

"tile" wrote in message
...
tim..... wrote:
I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked a
week in Riga as my first week off.

Firstly, what do people recommend that I do with 7 days, I've printed
off Rick thingy's info sheet and he reckons that the town's good for
no more than two days!.

I like travelling by train so I've no problem with taking day trips
outside the city to other towns that way, even if just for the ride
(though I note that for half the network it is impossible to make day
trip out of the capital). Interests are historical sites of any era
and scenic locations. Not interested in beach activities or nightlife.

Secondly, does anyone have any hotels to recommend (or to avoid) up
to about 80 Euro per room.

TIA

tim

for yr accomodation I recommend the company

www.patricia.lv
the owner is a US expat. called Mike

he will provide you with the best prices for accomodation
Normally when I was in Riga I was renting an apartment in the old town for
about 50 eur.

you can eat very well everywhere. but what I like are the restaurants of
the chain LIDO. they are self services. but very nice with very good food
and reasonable prices.

You will find in Riga all types of restaurants .. Chinese Japanese
Armenian Jewish and so on.
you will normally eat very well with about 10 eur
Pls note there are two buses from the airport to the town centre.
they cost about 40 cents of lat ( 1 lat is about 2 dollars )
a taxi will cost you about 7 to 10 lat
air baltic runs a special mini bus for about 4.5 lats

I have already booked my ticket with this bus. I didn't want to risk the
alternative at 23:00. I'm not sure what it is that constitutes my ticket.
Perhaps they will give me a pass on the plane?

(Actually, I meant to mention that arrival time when I asked about hotels,
but I forgot)

In Riga you will need about 2 days for the town itself. including the Open
Air etnological museum
If I were you.. I would take a bus to Tallinn ( Estonia ) and a bus to

I've already been to Tallinn, from Helsinki. Should have said that as well!

Vilnius (Lituania) you will need a full day to visit these two towns.

I think Vilnius takes more than that. It is a six hour bus ride each way.

out of Riga the Palace of Rundale. but it is very difficult to get there
best way. train to Rundale and then taxi ( 5lats) to the Palace.

Well I've found the Palace, but I think that you have imagined the station.
None of my railway resources show a line to the town (not even a freight
line!). The nearest passenger service is to Jelgava 40 Km away.

Thanks


Near the train station there is a Shopping Centre called Stockman.. with
a multi room movie theatre.. all movies are in the original language.
there are a lot of Theatres in Riga is you are interested.
I Forgot.. from Tallinn you can take a boat that will take you to Helsinky
in a short time.
if you have questions..
www.inyourpocket.com

"tim....." wrote in message
...

"tile" wrote in message
...
tim..... wrote:
I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked a
week in Riga as my first week off.

out of Riga the Palace of Rundale. but it is very difficult to get there
best way. train to Rundale and then taxi ( 5lats) to the Palace.

Well I've found the Palace, but I think that you have imagined the
station. None of my railway resources show a line to the town (not even a
freight line!). The nearest passenger service is to Jelgava 40 Km away.

Correct, there is no train to Pils Rundale - but the palace is fairly easily
reachable by bus from Riga.
See http://www.rundale.net/103/

Sigulda and the Gauja Canyon make for an interesting daytrip from Riga.
See http://wikitravel.org/en/Sigulda

As does Daugavpils, Latvia's second largest city.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daugavpils

Gerry

In article , tim.....
wrote:

I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked a week in
Riga as my first week off.

Firstly, what do people recommend that I do with 7 days, I've printed off
Rick thingy's info sheet and he reckons that the town's good for no more
than two days!.

I like travelling by train so I've no problem with taking day trips outside
the city to other towns that way, even if just for the ride (though I note
that for half the network it is impossible to make day trip out of the
capital). Interests are historical sites of any era and scenic locations.
Not interested in beach activities or nightlife.

Secondly, does anyone have any hotels to recommend (or to avoid) up to about
80 Euro per room.

TIA

tim


In summer 2006 we (67-year old couple) stayed for $64/night in the
old Soviet Ministry of Education, now called the Vilnis Hotel
Valnu 2, Riga LV-1050 (56 57 04.0 N 24 06 32.7 E for Google Earth)
The Powder Tower, right across the street, has a museum inside we saw.

We ate dinner at the Black Monk restaurant ($42 for two incl tip), at
the Lido restaurant ($21 total), Russian Elk meat at Arbat restaurant
($37 total, with very slow service but live Russian music). McDonald's
lunch was $8.5 for two. We found 18% VAT and 10% tip included in the
bills.

At the town square, near the Daugava river bridge (which we walked
across) we caught a walking city tour $13 each.

The Occupation Museum, also at this square, was excellent, rented audio
guides too. This took several hours since we watched most of the
movies.

House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju Nams) is a worthwhile, inexpensive
visit, also near the main square.

We enjoyed the modern art exhibit at St. Peter's Cathedral (Lutheran).

The Dome Cathedral had a one-hour organ concert one evening.

Among the four floors at the Medical Museum you may, as we did, find a
few interesting exhibits.

There was a fun Dixieland jam session as we walked along the River on
Saturday. Everyone tries to sell you amber; some of is probably real
but a lot must be plastic. Origo is a large mall, near the train/bus
station, like you're accustomed to, if you need to make mundane
purchases. As independent travelers, we found enough to fill 3-4 days
with fun. We didn't take in an opera, nor day trip to popular nearby
beach. Not sure we would have found enough to keep us happy on foot for
7 days. As we did it, between similar stops in Tallinn and Vilnius, the
memories are among our fondest.

Just got back from 7 weeks in France, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar
where prices were higher. Weaker dollar in 2008.
--- Ken (So. California)

tim..... wrote:
"tile" wrote in message
...
tim..... wrote:
I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked a
week in Riga as my first week off.

Firstly, what do people recommend that I do with 7 days, I've
printed off Rick thingy's info sheet and he reckons that the town's
good for no more than two days!.

I like travelling by train so I've no problem with taking day trips
outside the city to other towns that way, even if just for the ride
(though I note that for half the network it is impossible to make
day trip out of the capital). Interests are historical sites of
any era and scenic locations. Not interested in beach activities or
nightlife. Secondly, does anyone have any hotels to recommend (or to
avoid) up
to about 80 Euro per room.

TIA

tim

for yr accomodation I recommend the company

www.patricia.lv
the owner is a US expat. called Mike

he will provide you with the best prices for accomodation
Normally when I was in Riga I was renting an apartment in the old
town for about 50 eur.

you can eat very well everywhere. but what I like are the
restaurants of the chain LIDO. they are self services. but very nice
with very good food and reasonable prices.

You will find in Riga all types of restaurants .. Chinese Japanese
Armenian Jewish and so on.
you will normally eat very well with about 10 eur
Pls note there are two buses from the airport to the town centre.
they cost about 40 cents of lat ( 1 lat is about 2 dollars )
a taxi will cost you about 7 to 10 lat
air baltic runs a special mini bus for about 4.5 lats

I have already booked my ticket with this bus. I didn't want to risk
the alternative at 23:00. I'm not sure what it is that constitutes
my ticket. Perhaps they will give me a pass on the plane?

(Actually, I meant to mention that arrival time when I asked about
hotels, but I forgot)

In Riga you will need about 2 days for the town itself. including
the Open Air etnological museum
If I were you.. I would take a bus to Tallinn ( Estonia ) and a bus
to

I've already been to Tallinn, from Helsinki. Should have said that
as well!
Vilnius (Lituania) you will need a full day to visit these two towns.

I think Vilnius takes more than that. It is a six hour bus ride each
way.
out of Riga the Palace of Rundale. but it is very difficult to get
there best way. train to Rundale and then taxi ( 5lats) to the
Palace.

Well I've found the Palace, but I think that you have imagined the
station. None of my railway resources show a line to the town (not
even a freight line!). The nearest passenger service is to Jelgava
40 Km away.
Thanks


Near the train station there is a Shopping Centre called Stockman..
with a multi room movie theatre.. all movies are in the original
language. there are a lot of Theatres in Riga is you are interested.
I Forgot.. from Tallinn you can take a boat that will take you to
Helsinky in a short time.
if you have questions..
www.inyourpocket.com

sorry about the train to Rundale. I am an old man. My remembrances are not
correct sometimes.
Of course it was a bus.
There is a restaurant in Rundale palace.. ( the best preserved palace built
by Rastrelli an Italian Architect from Vicenza, that built a lot in
St.Petersburg and Moscow)

do not worry about being in RIGA at 23.00

there are shops that are open 24 hours a day.. and most shops are open all
the week. including saturdays and sundays

Riga Airport is very small. as soon as you get out from Arrival Hall I guess
you will see the bus
look at details in
www.airbaltic.lv

but it is not worth taking the bus for 4.5 lats when you can take a taxi for
about 7 lats.

in supermarkets most employees show with small bagdes how many languages
they can speak. Normally it is Latvian and Russian ( In Riga russians are
51%) but in restaurants and shops young people normally speak english..

No problems in RIGA for small criminality. Of course you must be careful.
But I never had any problems walking in RIGA at night
Maybe you will meet people that are drunk. but it is not very common now.
Plenty of ATM cash dispensers and exchange offices everywhere.

I forgot to say you should go and visit the vegetables and fish market. It
is in an old German hangar for Zeppelins..

tile wrote:
tim..... wrote:
"tile" wrote in message
...
tim..... wrote:
I'm having to work alternative weeks at the moment and have booked
a week in Riga as my first week off.

Firstly, what do people recommend that I do with 7 days, I've
printed off Rick thingy's info sheet and he reckons that the town's
good for no more than two days!.

I like travelling by train so I've no problem with taking day trips
outside the city to other towns that way, even if just for the ride
(though I note that for half the network it is impossible to make
day trip out of the capital). Interests are historical sites of
any era and scenic locations. Not interested in beach activities or
nightlife. Secondly, does anyone have any hotels to recommend (or
to avoid) up
to about 80 Euro per room.

TIA

tim

for yr accomodation I recommend the company

www.patricia.lv
the owner is a US expat. called Mike

he will provide you with the best prices for accomodation
Normally when I was in Riga I was renting an apartment in the old
town for about 50 eur.

you can eat very well everywhere. but what I like are the
restaurants of the chain LIDO. they are self services. but very nice
with very good food and reasonable prices.

You will find in Riga all types of restaurants .. Chinese Japanese
Armenian Jewish and so on.
you will normally eat very well with about 10 eur
Pls note there are two buses from the airport to the town centre.
they cost about 40 cents of lat ( 1 lat is about 2 dollars )
a taxi will cost you about 7 to 10 lat
air baltic runs a special mini bus for about 4.5 lats

I have already booked my ticket with this bus. I didn't want to risk
the alternative at 23:00. I'm not sure what it is that constitutes
my ticket. Perhaps they will give me a pass on the plane?

(Actually, I meant to mention that arrival time when I asked about
hotels, but I forgot)

In Riga you will need about 2 days for the town itself. including
the Open Air etnological museum
If I were you.. I would take a bus to Tallinn ( Estonia ) and a bus
to

I've already been to Tallinn, from Helsinki. Should have said that
as well!
Vilnius (Lituania) you will need a full day to visit these two
towns.

I think Vilnius takes more than that. It is a six hour bus ride each
way.
out of Riga the Palace of Rundale. but it is very difficult to get
there best way. train to Rundale and then taxi ( 5lats) to the
Palace.

Well I've found the Palace, but I think that you have imagined the
station. None of my railway resources show a line to the town (not
even a freight line!). The nearest passenger service is to Jelgava
40 Km away.
Thanks


Near the train station there is a Shopping Centre called Stockman..
with a multi room movie theatre.. all movies are in the original
language. there are a lot of Theatres in Riga is you are interested.
I Forgot.. from Tallinn you can take a boat that will take you to
Helsinky in a short time.
if you have questions..
www.inyourpocket.com

sorry about the train to Rundale. I am an old man. My remembrances
are not correct sometimes.
Of course it was a bus.
There is a restaurant in Rundale palace.. ( the best preserved palace
built by Rastrelli an Italian Architect from Vicenza, that built a
lot in St.Petersburg and Moscow)

do not worry about being in RIGA at 23.00

there are shops that are open 24 hours a day.. and most shops are
open all the week. including saturdays and sundays

Riga Airport is very small. as soon as you get out from Arrival Hall
I guess you will see the bus
look at details in
www.airbaltic.lv

but it is not worth taking the bus for 4.5 lats when you can take a
taxi for about 7 lats.

in supermarkets most employees show with small bagdes how many
languages they can speak. Normally it is Latvian and Russian ( In
Riga russians are 51%) but in restaurants and shops young people
normally speak english..
No problems in RIGA for small criminality. Of course you must be
careful. But I never had any problems walking in RIGA at night
Maybe you will meet people that are drunk. but it is not very
common now. Plenty of ATM cash dispensers and exchange offices
everywhere.
I forgot to say you should go and visit the vegetables and fish
market. It is in an old German hangar for Zeppelins..

I forgot to say that Air Baltic

www.airbalitc.com or www.airbaltic.lv

is a low cost carrier and if you book online they offer special prices
also on routes like Ljepaia, Vilnius, Tallinn, Ventspils
flying to Vilnius should cost about 30 lats one way
just have a look

Thanks for the replies.

So what did I do?

Off to European country number 37!

The flight: Baltic have a small 50*40*23 carry on limit and as my normal
"max" carry on roller case is too big, I went out and bought the biggest bag
that I could find that was under the allowance (a shoulder bag at 48*30*23).
This was just big enough for a week, but I would have preferred one on
wheels! When checked in I found that there was no measuring frame and my
bag was manually examined (and passed easily) by the clerk. I noted on
board that many people had much larger bags, the size of my normal roller
case! Oh well! Baltic assign seats, the plane was 2/3rds full, we arrived
on time and were bussed to the terminal at Riga.

On arrival I got a "starting" amount of 80 Lats from the ATM and found the
airport "express" bus due to leave at 23:30. I noticed that the "normal"
bus was two platforms away and left at 23:15. The last express was 00:45
and I later discovered that the last "normal" bus 23:40. I think that I did
the right thing getting the express. The bus only had 8 seats and left full
with 2 passengers remaining on the pavement! 5 of the pax were airline
staff (they signed for their fare) and they got off at the first hotel, one
more at the next and me at the station.

Next the hotel. After looking at my options I decided that I wanted to take
the day trip to Daugavpils so as this meant catching the 07:10 train I
wanted somewhere near the station. The only one who's pictures (on hrs)
looked interesting was the Nordic Hotel Bellevue but I was a bit put off by
the 99 Euro per night. Fortunately, I went to the Hotel's web site and
bagged an "economy room" at 69 Euro - sorted. 483 Euro for 7 nights B&B in
a 4 * hotel.

The Hotel fittings were about as expected for a four star, but my economy
room was tiny - there had to be some disadvantage :-)! It was also
unnecessarily warm, the heating wasn't on so I've no idea why this was. I
find it hard to believe that the fridge in the corner was the culprit, but I
have no other solution to suggest. Finally, the breakfast was rubbish for
this class of hotel. The "cooked" breakfast was completely cold and other
options were sparse. If you don't need to be by the station there are other
4* options to choose from at this price!

Day 1 (Tuesday) bright and sunny. One of the things that I wanted to do on
my visit was to ride the tram network, all 8 lines! I discovered from the
web site that a 5 day ticket was available, so the first thing that I wanted
to do was to find out about this. I walked from the hotel through the
southern part of the old town to the Info Office and got the assistant to
write down what I wanted. I then wandered around the main square and back
to the hotel via a different route. I noted that nothing in this part of the
old town was particularly spectacular.

I tried to buy my tram ticket from the kiosks at the station but they all
shook their head and said no (one said "no no no no no", which I thought a
bit unnecessary!) Eventually, one assistant tried to explain in English
that this ticket wasn't available until "next month"! I gave up with this
and bought 10 single ride tickets at 40 sents (45p) a ticket.

In the afternoon I caught the train to Jurmala. In fact I caught the train
to Turkums and came back. There are two stations at Turkums (I and II). I
assumed that they would both be 'near' the town but the second is in the
middle of nothing, about 4 km from the town. No matter, there's only a 40
minute turn around, no time to do much even from the other station. The
train to Turkums stopped at all (24) stations on the 65km ride and cost
nothing (OK 1.50) each way. I have no idea if I was allowed to make my on
and off stop enroute back so I bought individual tickets for each leg.

There are automatic announcements on the trains of station names and there
is an LED display, but that is not used. A "conductor" checks and sells
tickets, there seemed to be one conductor for each separate carriage of the
train. On the way back I got caught out by the "this is X, the next station
is Y" announcement and got off a station early. I didn't realise this for
ages as Jurmala is "famed" for its wooden houses and the area I was in had
lots of wooden houses and the site of several wooden sculptures including a
"turtle" which is apparently something to do with a local fairy tale. The
beach was nice (and sandy) the houses were nice, but even after I had got to
the main centre at Jurmala there was nothing very touristy other than a
pleasant walk! In the end I had walked from Dubulti to Dzintari so I think
that I saw enough of Jurmala to decide.

I looked in the Estate Agent's window and saw that the local apartments cost
from 200 to 700,000 Euro (splutter). I bet that the average local worker
can't afford that!

Back in Riga Central I wander around the shops (in the station mall) and the
adjacent market. I note that the prices in the shops for normal everyday
things are around the same as in the UK, in the market they are a bit
cheaper. (Actually, I initially thought that it was all a bit cheaper than
the UK, but I'd got the exchange rate the wrong way around, I thought that 1
lat was worth 90p instead 1 pound is worth 90 sents, so 1 lat = GBP1.10!)

Now, as I have some coins in my hand, is time to talk about the money. The
sents look suspiciously like German pffenings, but are worth three times as
much. The coins are very deceptive, a few small coins that looks like about
50 cents is actually 5 Euro. It's very easy to "give away" the high value
coins without realising.

I can't find a restaurant in the locality and as the hotel is rather
expensive for dinner - mains starting at 14 pounds (the lunch is better
value at 8 pounds for three courses) I buy dinner in the supermarket. I
regret this as what looked liked chicken tasted decidedly smokey and was
purplish inside. Well it was a different experience, it didn't make me ill
so no harm done!

So ends the first day. That's all I have time for now,

If I you want to hear some more please ask, otherwise I'll assume no-one is
interested

tim

"tim....." wrote:

Thanks for the replies.


I like it, please carry on...

:-)


--
Best
Greg