• View
• Edit
• History
• Print

Riga Latvia

INTRODUCTION

Riga is situated along the coast of the Baltic Sea,on the mouth of the River Daugava. It is the capital of Latvia and the largest city in the Baltics. Riga is also a major cultural, educational, political, financial, commercial, and industrial center in the Baltics. The city does not have many widely known tourist places, but it is packed with quaint archeticture from the 18th and 19th centuries.

HISTORY

Riga was founded in the 12th century with the arrival of German traders and religious crusaders, who converted the local population to Christianity. Riga soon became an important trading post between the Baltic states and Russia. Lativia during the next centuries was controlled by the Poles, the Swedes, Russia, and with a few short periods of independence. In 1918 Lativia became independent from Russia, but was occupied by the Nazi's during World War II, and controlled by the USSR until 1991. Latvia joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Climate: The weather in Riga in the winter can drop to 27'C or lower, so bring appropriate clothing and wrap up warm. Even though the river appears frozen over it is not safe to walk on as the ice is very thin in parts. If there is a lot of snow-head out to the countryside in Sigulda for sledding and ski-ing.

ATTRACTIONS

Natural History Museum of Latvia

A walk around Old town

Cocktails in the Skyline bar of Hotel Riga

Latvian ethnographic open air museum

Ice Skating in the winter

Christmas markets

The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia

Riga Motor Museum

Freedom Monument

St. Peters' Church

Central Market

Latvian War Museum

RESTAURANTS

Eating out is very chep and there are some great traditional restaurants in the old town.

LODGING

There are lots of great hotels and hostels in and around Riga. Friendly Fun Franks Backpackers was recently voted Number 1 hostel in the world by hostelworld.com. Other good hostels include Central Hostel and Old Town Hostel.