After 2 long nights, we were pretty beat… but still wanted to see all that Riga had to offer beyond the market and bus station. So, we walked the city from top to bottom (are you surprised?).
The city was kind of like a ghost town, except for the old town, which was mainly touristy. Apparently everyone leaves town for Positivus, so we felt like our experience of Riga was not a super realistic account of what the so-called happening town is really like.
We weren’t sure how we felt about the town at first, but by the end, I would rank it close to Budapest in terms of fun and atmosphere, but…grittier. And I totally would go back with a group of friends.
After putting together the list of top places, I realized they all have one thing in common: they are seriously chill places.
Our top places were:
Miera
A charming mother/daughter run cafe on Miera iela (Peace Street) where we scored some warm croissants (and of course sampled the carrot cake – scored 7/10).
Art Nouveau streets
Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage city, partly because of its art nouveau architecture. It’s also the city with the highest concentration of art nouveau architecture in the world.
Miit Coffee
I wish I could bottle up this vegetarian restaurant/coffee shop and bring it back to Frankfurt. We ate there three times. It had to die for veggie falafel burgers, wine, coffee, brunch for 7.50, dance music and a really laid back staff. One of the best finds for sure.
Kanapes Kulturas Centrs
Good luck trying to figure out what this place actually is. As far as we learned, it’s a cultural center, so they do everything from art exhibits to literature readings. We loved it because of its really chill vibe, the outdoor patio, and of course the dancing that went on all night.
Chomsky Bar
I didn’t know Chomsky was an actual person–a Jewish scholar–and that makes this place so much more interesting to me (pretty accurate representation on the building). Yet another really laid back place, with chairs outside and couches inside. It was right around the corner from our apartment and it’s where we started our celebration with Mike.
Bastion Hill Park
This park that goes through the center of the city was truly an unexpected find. We followed the little river and passed couples leisurely boating, gorgeously vibrant flowers, people chilling on park benches. A must-do in Riga.
