How to spend top weekend in Riga - ideas on extraordinary attractions and sites

Millions of travelers limit their excursion program to visiting the Old Town of Riga only, and that’s a mistake! There are so many wonderful landmarks outside the historic center. If you want to see something unusual and not typical for excursions, this guide is for you. If you enjoy creative pastime, make a walk to the art quarters of Riga. Some of them appeared long ago and are very popular with travelers, and some quarters are fairly new, so mostly young progressive people visit them.

It is always interesting to visit Kalnciema kvartals regardless of the season. Every week, exciting events and concerts dedicated to the national culture take place in this district. Kalnciema kvartals looks more like a large and gorgeous country house. Swings attached to an old apple tree, fragrant rye bread, colorful souvenir shops, and national restaurants – it is so easy to spend a whole day there.

If you like modern art, don’t forget to make a walk to Andrejsala district. There are several excellent artist workshops in this part of the city. In summer, young artists hang their works right on the walls of abandoned buildings. The silent old quarter is a fantastic destination for photographers as they will be able to find many wonderful industrial landscapes there, and hordes of other tourists won’t spoil their pictures. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Informal youth likes to gather on picturesque Miera ielas Republika. This street is located quite away from the noisy city center and close to Dailes Theater. Miera ielas Republika has everything a non-mainstream person could ever wish for. Vintage shops, interesting art workshops, restaurant with creative design, and excellent vegetarian cafes – you will find all these and much more on the small street.

Simply no vacation in charming Riga is possible without trying local delicacies. If you want to indulge yourself in this pleasant pastime, don’t forget to visit a fair trade in Berga Bazars neighborhood. Fairs trades take place every two weeks all year round, and local farmers arrive in order to offer their best locally sourced products. This is the place where visitors can try local organic dairy products cooked in accordance with old recipes, real homemade wine, meat delicacies and many other organic products of the highest quality.

If you suddenly start thinking about distant India while staying in Riga, don’t miss a chance to diversify your vacation by enjoying a truly Indian entertainment and have a cycle rickshaw ride. The rickshaws drive in the central part of the city and can get travelers to literally any landmark. Of course, it’s not the fastest means of transport, but it’s perfectly suitable for the unhurried observation of Riga’s sights.

Perhaps, everyone who has visited Riga at least once, knows about GALLERIA RIGA shopping center. There are so many shops and boutiques on first seven floors of the complex that visitors usually don’t have enough strength to reach the eighth floor. However, they fail to visit a truly magnificent place – a fantastic observation deck that starts working early in the morning and closes after midnight. It is virtually impossible to find a better place to admire the night city panorama. There is a charming bar adjusting the terrace.

There is an old bakery, Bigensis, not far from the Riga Dome Cathedral. Even travelers on a diet are still recommended to visit it because the bakery is an incredibly attractive and well-designed place. Don’t forget to pay attention to the display window that has colorful stickers attached to it. Besides standard signs that prohibit entering the bakery with dogs or a bicycle, there are quite unusual stickers, for example, the one that doesn’t allow witches to come to Bigensis.