Two full days is plenty for the heart of Riga, because the medieval old town is small and entirely walkable and the Art Nouveau quarter sits just ten minutes north. Base yourself in the old town so you are among the spires first thing and can walk home across floodlit squares at night, avoiding the weekend stag-group streets after dark. Day one covers the walled core: Town Hall Square and the rebuilt House of the Blackheads, the Dome cathedral, the Three Brothers, the lift up St Peter's tower for the red-roof view, and the Freedom Monument with its changing of the guard. Day two heads north to the Art Nouveau streets around Alberta iela and the apartment museum, the National Art Museum and the sobering Corner House, then down to the vast Central Market in its Zeppelin hangars for a cheap graze. Riga is cheap by western standards, so eat well off the main squares. What you give up at this pace is a day trip; for Jurmala beach or Sigulda, add the three-day version.
Duration
2 days
Base
Old Town (Vecriga)
Mid budget
200 EUR
Best months
May · Jun · Jul
Picks sorted with our recommended base, Old Town (Vecriga), first. Book early: the good-value rooms go weeks ahead.
Special occasions€€€Grand five-star · Old Town (Vecriga)
A polished five-star in a restored 19th-century building on the edge of the old town, facing the Freedom Monument and the canal park, with a spa and a grand ballroom. The old town lanes and the National Opera are a couple of minutes away on foot.
from ~220 EUR/night
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Budget€Old town hostel · Old Town (Vecriga)
A lively, colourful backpacker hostel in the heart of the old town, with dorms and a few private rooms, a bar and a busy calendar of tours and pub crawls. It is one of the cheapest and most social beds in a city that is already cheap.
from ~22 EUR/night
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Couples€€Berga Bazars boutique · Art Nouveau Quarter (Quiet Centre)
A calm design hotel in the Berga Bazars courtyard quarter in the quiet centre, a short walk from the Art Nouveau district and Alberta iela. Rooms are large suites, and the leafy passage of shops and cafes below keeps it feeling residential.
from ~160 EUR/night
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First visit€€Riverside skyline views · Kipsala and Agenskalns
A big modern hotel on the Kipsala bank of the Daugava, with a pool and rooms looking straight across the water to the old town skyline. It is a 15-minute walk over the bridge or a short bus to the centre, and better value than the old town.
from ~95 EUR/night
Check pricesReal hotel photos · prices are indicative from-rates, not live quotes · booking links support the site at no extra cost
Day 1
Morning
Start on Town Hall Square before mid-morning while it is quiet, taking in the ornate rebuilt House of the Blackheads, flattened in 1941 and restored by 2001. Its interior museum opens daily except Monday for a small fee if you want inside.
TipThe ornate red-brick House of the Blackheads was flattened in 1941 and fully rebuilt by 2001, and its interior museum is open daily except Monday for a small fee, though the square-side facade is free to admire any time. Come before mid-morning to shoot Town Hall Square without the crowds, and note the Occupation Museum in the dark box behind it is free to enter.
Walk two minutes to Riga Cathedral, the Dome, the largest medieval church in the Baltics with its 6,700-pipe organ. Check the board for a short lunchtime organ recital and time your day around it if one runs.
TipThe Dome, begun in 1211, is the largest medieval church in the Baltics and holds one of Europe's great organs, over 6,700 pipes, with short lunchtime organ recitals most days in season, ticketed separately and worth timing your visit around. Entry to the nave is a few euros, and the surrounding Doma laukums square hosts the Christmas market in December.
Thread the lanes to the Three Brothers on Maza Pils iela, the oldest houses in Riga, the eldest from about 1490. The middle one holds the free architecture museum on weekdays, but the tight facade is the real photograph.
TipThis row of three houses on Maza Pils iela is the oldest surviving cluster of dwellings in Riga, the right-hand one dating to about 1490, each showing a different era of the city's building styles. The middle house holds the Latvian Museum of Architecture, free to enter on weekdays, but the tight facade is best simply photographed from the narrow lane outside.
Afternoon
Lunch a few lanes back from the main squares, where a bowl of Latvian grey-pea stew or a plate of dumplings costs a fraction of the square-side tables. Keep it light before the tower climb.
Take the lift, not the stairs, up the 123-metre spire of St Peter's for the classic view over the red roofs and the river, for around nine euros. It closes Mondays off-season, so check, and aim for the clearer afternoon light.
TipA lift, not stairs, carries you up the 123-metre spire of St Peter's to a viewing gallery for the classic view over the old town's red roofs and the river, for a fee of around nine euros. It is closed on Mondays off-season, so check ahead, and go in the last hour of light for the best photographs over the spires.
Walk to the edge of the old town for the 42-metre Freedom Monument of 1935 and its two honour guards, timing your arrival for the top of the hour to catch the short changing of the guard. It is free to watch from the pavement.
TipThe 42-metre Freedom Monument of 1935, topped by a copper figure holding three stars for Latvia's regions, is the emotional heart of the nation and stands on the edge of the old town by the canal. Two honour guards stand watch during the day and the changing of the guard happens on the hour, a short, quiet ceremony free to watch from the pavement.
Evening
Stroll the leafy Bastejkalns park along the old canal beside the monument, and if it is April to October and the light is good, take the hour-long glass-topped canal boat out onto the Daugava for around fifteen euros. The park itself is free any time.
TipBastejkalns park follows the old city moat, now a leafy canal, on the seam between the old town and the boulevards, and small glass-topped boats run a roughly hour-long loop through the canal and out onto the Daugava for around fifteen euros. The park is free to stroll any time; the boats run April to October, roughly hourly, and are best in the late-afternoon light.
Dinner back in the old town but chosen with care: skip the photo-menu terraces for a cellar restaurant on a back lane, then take the floodlit squares late, avoiding the louder bar streets that fill with stag groups at the weekend.
Day 2
Morning
Head north into the Quiet Centre for Alberta iela and Elizabetes iela, the densest run of Art Nouveau facades in Europe, many by Mikhail Eisenstein. Go in the morning with the sun on the fronts, and look up at the masks and sphinxes.
TipAlberta iela and neighbouring Elizabetes iela hold the richest run of Art Nouveau facades in Europe, many designed by Mikhail Eisenstein, father of the filmmaker, with their masks, sphinxes and screaming faces. It is a free outdoor walk, best in the morning light with the sun on the fronts, so bring a wide lens and look up rather than at your feet.
Step into the Art Nouveau Museum in architect Peksens's preserved 1903 apartment on Alberta iela, with its tiled stove, painted ceilings and spiral staircase, for around nine euros. It takes under an hour and pairs naturally with the facade walk outside.
TipSet in the preserved apartment of architect Konstantins Peksens on Alberta iela, this small museum recreates a 1903 Riga home down to the tiled stove, painted ceilings and spiral staircase, for around nine euros. It is open daily and takes under an hour, so pair it with the outdoor facade walk on the same street rather than treating it as a separate trip.
Afternoon
Walk to the grand 1905 Latvian National Museum of Art on the edge of the Esplanade park for the largest collection of Baltic art and a rooftop terrace view over the quarter. It closes on Mondays, so plan around that.
TipThe grand 1905 building on the edge of the Esplanade park holds the largest collection of Latvian and Baltic art, and its rooftop terrace gives a free open view over the Art Nouveau quarter for the price of a ticket, around six euros. It closes on Mondays, and the wide Esplanade park outside makes an easy green pause between the galleries and Alberta iela.
Move to the Corner House, the former Soviet KGB headquarters on Brivibas iela, where the ground-floor exhibition is free and the guided tour of the cells and execution room costs around five euros. Tours in English sell out, so check the schedule.
TipThis Art Nouveau block on the corner of Brivibas and Stabu was the Soviet KGB headquarters where prisoners were held and executed, and the ground-floor exhibition is free while the guided tour of the cells and execution room costs around five euros. Tours run in English at set times and often sell out, so check the schedule and arrive early to secure a slot.
Evening
Drop down to the Central Market in its five 1920s Zeppelin hangars, one of Europe's largest, before the halls wind down for the day. Graze the smoked fish and rye bread for a cheap early dinner and watch your bag in the crowds.
TipFive vast 1920s pavilions built from repurposed German Zeppelin hangars make this one of Europe's largest markets, split by hall into meat, dairy, fish, produce and bread, and it is free to wander and cheap to graze. Come hungry and mid-morning when it is busiest and freshest, try the smoked fish and rye bread, and keep an eye on your bag in the crowds.
Finish with a last slow loop of the floodlit old-town squares after dark, when they are lit and calm. If you have an early flight, remember the number 22 bus runs from the centre to the airport in about 25 to 30 minutes for a couple of euros.
For 2 days, base yourself in Old Town (Vecriga). The medieval walled core of cobbled lanes gathers Town Hall Square, the rebuilt House of the Blackheads, the Dome cathedral and St Peter's tower into a few hundred metres, so a first-time base here puts every headline sight at your door. It is atmospheric and beautiful, floodlit and quiet by day, but stag groups and loud bars take over some streets at the weekend and the cobbles are hard on wheeled cases. Pick it for the medieval nights and the shortest walk to everything. Compare all neighborhoods in the full where-to-stay guide.
Got longer?
Riga in 3 days →
Two full days is plenty for the heart of Riga, because the medieval old town is small and entirely walkable and the Art Nouveau quarter sits just ten minutes north. Base yourself in the old town so you are among the spires first thing and can walk home across floodlit squares at night, avoiding the weekend stag-group streets after dark. Day one covers the walled core: Town Hall Square and the rebuilt House of the Blackheads, the Dome cathedral, the Three Brothers, the lift up St Peter's tower for the red-roof view, and the Freedom Monument with its changing of the guard.
Base yourself in Old Town (Vecriga) for this itinerary. The medieval walled core of cobbled lanes gathers Town Hall Square, the rebuilt House of the Blackheads, the Dome cathedral and St Peter's tower into a few hundred metres, so a first-time base here puts every headline sight at your door. It is atmospheric and beautiful, floodlit and quiet by day, but stag groups and loud bars take over some streets at the weekend and the cobbles are hard on wheeled cases. Pick it for the medieval nights and the shortest walk to everything.
The plan works year round, but May, June, July give you the best weather-to-crowds ratio.