Post by MuvverRussia on Dec 11, 2007 8:45:41 GMT -5
Just got back from a few days in Riga. It was my 2nd time there (first went back in Feb '04), but times have changed.
After seeing one of the posts on here, I managed to get a flight from London (STN) to Riga (RIX) for about £20 return. Then I got a hostel in the old town (Friendly Franks hostel). All in all, at this stage it was a dirt cheap trip.
The flights were pretty good. Whilst everyone slates Ryanair, I personally think they have a great product. They're generally on time, cheap and reliable, plus even the space on board isn't that bad - certainly better than AA's 757s. Once arriving, it was a 45 minute bus ride to the old town (cost about £0.40).
Finding the hostel was a bit of a pain, but once there it was pretty good, definitely amongst the best I've stayed at. It does have a party atmosphere, but noise in the rooms wasn't a problem, plus the whole place was incredibly clean. For the price (£5 per night) it was an absolute bargain.
Once in the old town, I found that the Riga I experienced back in '04 doesn't really exist any more. The place is more reminiscent of Scandinavia, as are the prices. Riga's expensive, more so than London (a beer costs in the region of £3 in a bar), plus there seems to be a fair bit of wealth going around - the old town was jam packed with expensive cars like Bentleys, Porsches and Rolls Royces. It was one hell of a contrast compared to my last trip, where you were more likely to see a Lada.
Outside the old town Riga was more how I remembered it. The poverty in the area around the Soviet era market was obvious and at times quite concerning, with (older) people trying to scrape a living selling small amounts of local produce, evergreen branches etc. The prices were a hell of a lot cheaper too, although there's not really much to do or buy there. This really highlighted the income disparity in Latvia.
Nightlife wise, Riga was pretty good. The clubs are massive, but again incredibly expensive (£7 for entry, £9 for a vodka and Red Bull), catering for the younger, wealthier generation (plus the odd UK tourist
). Ones worth a visit are La Rocca (Russian club) and Club Essential (the Latvian club).
Other shocks were how fragmented Latvia's culture is. Back in 2004 it seemed fairly homogeneous, whilst now there's a clearly defined Russian population and Latvian population - I got the feeling that the two don't really integrate that much. Perhaps this is due to an increasing pro Europe stance within Latvia, with the ethnic Russians trying to distance themselves from Latvia?
Finally, I found people to generally be quite rude - I really got the impression that people didn't want you in their country. The number of times I was pushed out of a queue was surprising and when challenged these people would get quite aggressive. Compared to the rest of Eastern Europe (or even my previous memories of Latvia) it was a shock.
Overall, would I go back? Probably not. It's just too expensive for what you get, plus after two trips I feel as though I've seen most of the city. Would I advise others to go there? Definitely, but be prepared for high prices.
After seeing one of the posts on here, I managed to get a flight from London (STN) to Riga (RIX) for about £20 return. Then I got a hostel in the old town (Friendly Franks hostel). All in all, at this stage it was a dirt cheap trip.
The flights were pretty good. Whilst everyone slates Ryanair, I personally think they have a great product. They're generally on time, cheap and reliable, plus even the space on board isn't that bad - certainly better than AA's 757s. Once arriving, it was a 45 minute bus ride to the old town (cost about £0.40).
Finding the hostel was a bit of a pain, but once there it was pretty good, definitely amongst the best I've stayed at. It does have a party atmosphere, but noise in the rooms wasn't a problem, plus the whole place was incredibly clean. For the price (£5 per night) it was an absolute bargain.
Once in the old town, I found that the Riga I experienced back in '04 doesn't really exist any more. The place is more reminiscent of Scandinavia, as are the prices. Riga's expensive, more so than London (a beer costs in the region of £3 in a bar), plus there seems to be a fair bit of wealth going around - the old town was jam packed with expensive cars like Bentleys, Porsches and Rolls Royces. It was one hell of a contrast compared to my last trip, where you were more likely to see a Lada.
Outside the old town Riga was more how I remembered it. The poverty in the area around the Soviet era market was obvious and at times quite concerning, with (older) people trying to scrape a living selling small amounts of local produce, evergreen branches etc. The prices were a hell of a lot cheaper too, although there's not really much to do or buy there. This really highlighted the income disparity in Latvia.
Nightlife wise, Riga was pretty good. The clubs are massive, but again incredibly expensive (£7 for entry, £9 for a vodka and Red Bull), catering for the younger, wealthier generation (plus the odd UK tourist
). Ones worth a visit are La Rocca (Russian club) and Club Essential (the Latvian club).Other shocks were how fragmented Latvia's culture is. Back in 2004 it seemed fairly homogeneous, whilst now there's a clearly defined Russian population and Latvian population - I got the feeling that the two don't really integrate that much. Perhaps this is due to an increasing pro Europe stance within Latvia, with the ethnic Russians trying to distance themselves from Latvia?
Finally, I found people to generally be quite rude - I really got the impression that people didn't want you in their country. The number of times I was pushed out of a queue was surprising and when challenged these people would get quite aggressive. Compared to the rest of Eastern Europe (or even my previous memories of Latvia) it was a shock.
Overall, would I go back? Probably not. It's just too expensive for what you get, plus after two trips I feel as though I've seen most of the city. Would I advise others to go there? Definitely, but be prepared for high prices.
