Riga walking tour & city guide

The Old Town

Vecrīga, the Old Town, is a tangle of cobbled lanes around the Town Hall Square, where the elaborate House of the Blackheads, a guild house for unmarried merchants, was rebuilt after the Second World War. The tower of Saint Peter's Church has an elevator to a viewing platform over the rooftops.

Other landmarks include Riga Cathedral, the largest medieval church in the Baltics, the Three Brothers, the city's oldest houses, and the Swedish Gate in the old city wall.

Art Nouveau and the boulevards

About a third of all buildings in central Riga are Art Nouveau, and the most spectacular are on Alberta Street and Elizabetes Street, with facades of faces, masks, peacocks and lions, many designed by Mikhail Eisenstein. The Freedom Monument, a symbol of Latvian independence, stands between the Old Town and the boulevards, beside a ring of parks along the old city canal.

The Central Market and practical tips

Riga Central Market is one of the largest markets in Europe, housed in five huge hangars originally built for German Zeppelin airships. Each pavilion is devoted to meat, fish, dairy or vegetables.

The center is easy to walk, and trains reach the beaches of Jūrmala in 30 minutes. Summers are mild with long days; the Midsummer festival of Jāņi in June is the biggest celebration of the year.