Latvia (Riga) anyone?

[Geordieprincess]

So this might be a bit of a strange one (hubby thinks I’m crackers) but I couldn’t find any prices for USA I was willing to pay with BA holidays under their flexible cancellation, I didn’t want to commit thousands to the likes of Jet2 (who had me over a barrel on an Ibiza package last year), so I started to look at cheap flight-only so I could book a cancellable hotel and only commit a few hundred rather than thousands. Now I might have shot myself in the foot as the flights are with Ryanair, but options are currently a bit limited from Newcastle.
So Latvia it is….
Originally looked at a long weekend in Riga but found there were options to do day trips a bit further afield, a beach resort, activities such as high ropes etc so booked a full week, end of July. 2 adults and kids age 16 and 12.
Anyone been? Any recommendations? Hoping to use public transport to get out and about as it’s much cheaper than tours. Thanks

[Nicki G]

My folks went to Riga in 2019. They loved it and can’t wait to return. They didn’t venture further than Riga as it was part of a 3 centre holiday so time limited. Lots to see and do and if they found their way around it must be easy

[langside]

We did a quick 2 night break before omicron really took off. It’s a lovely city but quite compact. We took a taxi from airport as it was less than £15 but think buses ran. Stayed at wellton spa near St Peters and it was a great location & bonus of free breakfast at less than £40 a night. We did two free walking tours which lasted nearly 3hrs each which were great (obviously have a tip to the guide) one in the old town the other was in the food market. The other thing we did was visit a luge/ bobsleigh track we did this with red Fox (sorry can’t remember the name of the track) but it was great fun and well organised but I’m sure you could arrange it yourself so long as open in summer. I think you will need to look at going outside the city or maybe country/ city hopping to spend your time & keep everyone entertained but I’m afraid I can’t help with knowledge on that but

[Geordieprincess]

Originally Posted by langside

We did a quick 2 night break before omicron really took off. It’s a lovely city but quite compact. We took a taxi from airport as it was less than £15 but think buses ran. Stayed at wellton spa near St Peters and it was a great location & bonus of free breakfast at less than £40 a night. We did two free walking tours which lasted nearly 3hrs each which were great (obviously have a tip to the guide) one in the old town the other was in the food market. The other thing we did was visit a luge/ bobsleigh track we did this with red Fox (sorry can’t remember the name of the track) but it was great fun and well organised but I’m sure you could arrange it yourself so long as open in summer. I think you will need to look at going outside the city or maybe country/ city hopping to spend your time & keep everyone entertained but I’m afraid I can’t help with knowledge on that but

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Thankyou! I’ve actually booked the wellton spa riverside, didn’t look like there was much to choose between the wellton spas in terms of location/facilities. Bit more than £40 a night for 4 of us in summer though.
I saw the Bob sleigh track, looks like we can get there by train, it apparently runs on wheels in summer! It’s near Tarzans high ropes and mountain tobboggan etc I looked at.
Was thinking of a proper trip to Rundale palace and Hill of crosses in Lithuania. Red fox came up as one of the tour companies I was considering for that. And doing a few nearby towns and the beach for paddleboarding ourselves on the train. I’m actually quite excited despite it being instead of a western USA national parks road trip.

[dragonfly]

Hi. We had a brilliant long weekend in Riga - one of our very favourite holidays ever, and I was going to give you all our tips - until I realised it was 11 years ago! so has maybe changed a bit.
It was also February and minus 21 but crisp and sunny with blue skies.
But things that hopefully won't have changed is that it was very easy to get around - we walked a lot used local buses and we took the train to go further out one day to see the frozen Baltic. It was also very friendly and at that time very cheap. I would love to go back. Hope you have a fantastic time.

[vickitoria10]

Highly recommend the free walking, it was great. We went to the Sigulda bobsleigh track and went down it but that was in December, we went on a local train, it was about £2! We stopped at the wellton and it was a lovely hotel, perfectly located. The market is nice for a wander round and can get some really cheap snacks/food.