Riga 5-Day Itinerary

Start at the Freedom Monument, then walk into Doma laukums (Cathedral Square). Riga Cathedral and St. Peter's Church anchor the Old Town — climb St. Peter's tower for the best view over the red rooftops and the Daugava River. Spend the afternoon on the medieval lanes: the Three Brothers houses, the Swedish Gate, and the House of the Blackheads, the Old Town's most photographed building.

Evening: dinner in Vecrīga, then a Riga Black Balsam — the herbal liqueur that functions as the city's unofficial welcome drink.

Morning: Alberta iela and the Quiet Centre (Klusais centrs), home to the densest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in the world. Mikhail Eisenstein's facades — faces, sphinxes, owls, elaborate florals — cover entire street fronts. The Riga Art Nouveau Museum at Alberta iela 12 recreates a period interior.

Afternoon: the Riga Central Market, set in five former zeppelin hangars from the 1930s. Walk the meat, dairy, and fish pavilions, then eat lunch there — smoked fish and fresh rye bread are the local staples.

Cross the Daugava via the Akmens Bridge to Āgenskalns, Riga's wooden left-bank quarter — pre-war timber houses, a busy local market (Āgenskalna tirgus), and a slower, more residential feel than the tourist-heavy Old Town.

In the afternoon, head to Miera iela, Riga's creative neighbourhood about 2km from the centre. Independent cafés, concept stores, and the city's most interesting new restaurants cluster here. Try a Latvian craft beer from Valmiermuiža or Tērvetes at one of the area's taprooms in the evening.

A slower day. Spend the morning around the Freedom Monument and the Esplanade, Riga's main city park, then visit the Latvian National Museum of Art on its edge — a strong collection of Latvian painting from the 19th and 20th centuries in a grand neoclassical building.

Afternoon: the Latvian Open-Air Ethnographic Museum, 8km from the centre (reachable by Bus 1), preserves over 100 farmsteads, wooden churches, and windmills relocated from across Latvia's regions, spread across 80 hectares of forest and lakeside. It's the best way to understand rural Latvian life before the 20th century, and craftspeople demonstrate traditional skills on weekends.

Sigulda, an hour from Riga by direct train, is known as the "Switzerland of Latvia" for the dramatic Gauja River valley that runs through it — a landscape of sandstone cliffs, dense forest, and medieval ruins that's unexpectedly rugged for the Baltics.

Visit Turaida Museum Reserve, with its restored 13th-century red-brick castle overlooking the valley, then walk down to the ruins of the medieval Sigulda Castle on the opposite bank. If you're visiting between May and October, the Sigulda cable car crosses the valley with excellent views, and thrill-seekers can try the bobsled track used by Latvia's Olympic team.

Return to Riga by early evening for a final dinner in the Old Town.