Free Live Music Open-Air concerts Every Evening – hot spots in Riga this summer!

There are 3 hot spots for live music every evening in The Old Town – 3 open-air cafes, beer gardens which offers enjoy not only different tastes of foods and drinks, but also good music.

Livu Square (Līvu laukums) close to the Freedom monument (on Kaļķu street) is full

with summer cafes. Near the terraces like „Kaļķu vārti”, „Mad House”, „Blue Cow” and others you will find a place called „Zelta Fīlings” (Golden Feeling)! Taste one of 36 sorts of local and world famous beers they offer and enjoy latino & jazz!

If you keep walking the same (Kaļķu) street you can turn right on Sķūņu street. You will reach another square - Dome Sqare – with the Dome cathedral and some other summer terraces: „Planeta Sushi”, „Double Cafe”, Summer cafe of „13 Krēsli” (13 Chairs) with Mitrokhin’s Master band performing live regularry and my favorite place – „No Problem”. „No Problem” has nice atmosphere and good live music – rock, jazz, sometimes country. And this is the place which with it’s music quite often make people to move from their chairs and dance. Also the prices here are really reasonable.Just sometimes it’s too crowded to find a place to enjoy the music there.

The 3rd place which sometimes makes me to stop to enjoy the music is cafe „Egle” near the Town Hall square – Rātslaukums – with famous Backheads houses you see on almostly every postcard from Riga. You can get back to Kaļķu street and you will find it soon. There is a Christmas tree made from peaces of mirror, Souvenier shop with a big black cat next to it called „Riga Cat” and there is this cafe „Egle” – open air leisure venue with live music every evening from 8PM. Traditional music, classical rock songs, jazz, popular latvian rock & pop bands – all kinds of music.

Free entrance & nice concerts in all 3 cafes. And all summer long there is Summer Stage at the sqaure near the central station with different concerts, mostly on weekends. Enjoy!

Preili Town - Find Your Own Little Wonderland!

Preili is a small town (south-eastern part of Latvia) within 200 km from Riga which slowly becomes more and more popular place for tourists to visit. One of the main reasons to visit this town is miniature castles. There is also neo-gothic manor house that once belonged to the count Borch family of German descent and used to be a wonderful dwelling-place surrounded by a romantic ancient park. 
 

And of course - it's located 25 km from the most famous church in Latvia - Aglona Basilica. 

This town is peacefull, artsy, romantic and small... Sculptures in honor of the cheese, miniature realm, the smallest church in Latvia...

Look at these pictures! Looks cute, no?

Your 24 Hours in a New City

If you have just 24 hours (or less) in one city, you have to be well prepeared. You have to manage a lot and there is no time to get lost in the city if you have some special interests. I don’t think you wanna be in a hurry looking for something to see. You want to enjoy. Any new place should give you good emotions. And nobody knows better than you what are you interested in, so there is some work you have to do before these 24 hours:

1)      Find out the most famous places and look them up in the map to get an idea is it possible to see them all without being in a hurry. And choose. Study the map before you come.

2)      Find a guide! It doesn’t matter – trhough the agency or some local. Tell them who you are, what are your interests. Some agencies will give you the full programme for these 24 hours with details and maps. Some local people will show you the shortest way to fullfill your wishes. You can also start your day in a new place with guided tour and after – continue on your own. If you can get a bus tour through the city – it’s just perfect – in some hours by bus in the city you will see and get to know a lot. In Riga the duration for the most popular bus tour is 3 hours in which you see all the important places, after that you can come back to any place you saw during the tour and enjoy the rest of your time there – it solves a lot of problems.

3)      Check the working hours for museums and other places you know you would like to visit. Check it twice.

4)      Ask yourself what makes you happy, are you keen on something, what do you want to see, try, get etc. And get it exactly in that new place you are coming to!

5)      Time for lunch: forget Mc’Donalds! Choose something specific for that place, but just a little bit if you are not sure it won’t make any problems. You have no time to get sick.

6)      If you are carefully planning you tour and going to be really busy with sightseeing, tasting, watching etc, don’t forget to have in your plan some time to rest. It’s more important to feel good in this new place than to see everything. Anyway there is no chance to see "everything".

7)      Relax and don’t stick to your plan in case if something changes. Let the new place give you new emotions and impressions. Enjoy.

You are already here and not prepeared before? You want to make the most of your time here?

1)      Get to the tourist information centre.

2)      Know what you want.

3)      If you have no special wishes ask from the people you meet on your way: what should I see here and how to find it? Communication with local people is already an adventure which helps you to feel the city.

Why I think any of Baltic capitals - Vilnius, Tallin, Riga - are good for a short visit? These are not big cities and you can manage to see a lot, although I know people who  have chosed to spend even one months of their vacation in Riga to truly feel the city, but it's another story. 24 hours is for seeing the place not feeling it. Some help for your short term visit in Riga:

Freedom Monument

The Old Town

See Riga From Hight of Birds

Wonders of Art Nouveau

Get your Riga guide

The Bastion Hill – Have Some Rest in The Centre of Riga

If you are in Riga I’m sure you will see the Bastion Hill near the 42 metres high Freedom Monument , in front of the Opera House. Bastejkalns (Bastion Hill), Riga's second highest hill at a towering 16m (52ft) above sea level, was created from 1857 to 1859 to replace the old defensive sand bulwark. With the removal of the earth fortifications, a new period in the development of Riga set in. The former defensive moat became a winding city canal.

The first plantings in the area were performed by A.Vendt, an engineer from Luebeck. The gardener Reims continued planting from 1863 to the autumn of 1879. From 1880, when the Town Council established a Garden Committee under the guidance of G. Kuphalt, the vegetation was considerably remade taking into account developing traffic. Higher demands were set for the art of gardens. Stone embankments with small cascades and waterfalls were arranged here to resemble a mountain river in accordance with G. Kuphalt’s design in 1888.

Several paths lead to the top, which provides excellent views of the surrounding sights in the winter months.. Cannons, limestone busts and other curiosities recovered from damaged buildings following World War II were embedded in its walls for posterity. Within its precincts are memorial stones to five people killed by Soviet bullets during the January 1991 disturbances. Among the dead were camera operators documenting the stormy events... Romantic paths, bridges, sculptures... Sometimes cultural events are taking the place here. Perfect place to get rested during the summer in a green grass  -in shadows of hundred-year-old trees.

Other posts you might be interested in:

The Lost World Cemetery with The Soul

The Art in Stone: Mysterious Easter Island in Riga

See Riga from Hight of Birds

The Highest TV Tower in EU

Your Guided Tour in Riga: professional, walking, bus tour, friendly and free

You are coming to Riga. You want to take an excursion to get to know the city? You will have problems to choose the best one or the most suitable for you because there are so many! Normally price for an excursion in Riga starts from 10Ls (15Euros) per person – one hour walking tour, but you can also find free tours! Here are 4 options for you.

Bus Tour:

The fastest and easiest way is to take Riga Bus tour – sightseeing tour by bus through all city. No walking, no bad weather can bother you, audioguide in 10 languages... http://www.riga-sightseeing.lv/ . Sightseeing tour buses departs daily every hour from the Latvian National Opera, Town Hall Square (Rātslaukums) and Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija. Bus tour duration is 90 minutes. Ticket price 10Ls (15 Eur). You can also get Hop-on Hop-off ticket which is valid for two days and costs 14Ls (20 Eur)

Professional Guide:

Next one comes agency SmileLine – walking tours – aslo very easy, you find them in The Old Town near the Occupation Museum under yellow umbrella. Just got stright to them and get your excursion – well planned walking tour. You can also check Riga Guides register: http://www.rigaguides.lv/en/excursions. and book your excursion before coming. And you can find hundreds of other agencies offering excursions. Starting from 10Ls per person.

Free Tour:

Escape the Old Town and discover stories of Riga from the past and present in a 3 hour walking tour. Starting point – in front of the entrance of the St. Peter’s church every day at 12.00. As a youth project the Free Tour operates for tips only so if you like the tour you can give your part to support the cause. http://freetour.traveller.ee/?page_id=5&lang=ri

Free "Your Friend in Riga Tour" is also possible if you contact me via e-mail: friendinriga@gmail.com and want to meet a local friend in Riga. You are welcome to tell me your interests or whatever comes into your mind you would like to see/to do/to feel in Riga. I’m not a professional guide – just living here, working and partying, going to events and walking around. I have some knowledge in history, literature, music, I know the cultural life and values of Riga, I can take you to the places where professional guides don’t go and I will honestly share my experience about living here. I will be glad to meet you here! :)

Where locals have fun II (Shot Cafe & Leningrad)

Travelling around is a great thing to do, but when I came back home, Riga doesn’t allow me to get rested. If you came to Riga it’s sparkling life from morning to morning will take you in. My favorite question for toursits I meet here is, of course,  - why Riga? The nightlife is one of these reasons.Yes, also bars and clubs you can find here opened till 6 – 7 am. Check my previous post: Where locals have fun 

Two more places with great atmosphere I would like to add the the list of places to enjoy & have fun:

„Shot cafe” in the Old Town of Riga right next to the War Museum (Torņa street 4) – small, cosy bar with around 100 different shots and other drinks with reasonable prices. The place where during the day time you can get your lunch and during the night you can enjoy parties till morning, and if you get there at the happy hour you get 3 shots paying just for 2. That’s the place which has became the favorite place for a lot of Rigans and guests of Riga.

„Leningrad” – also in The Old Town (Kalēju street 54) – artsy place to meet with friends or young Latvian artists. DJ events, literary meetings and art events provide the necessary spice to keep you coming back time and again. You can come in and feel like home there, take a book from the book shelf, play some games or even piano.