truejambo81 Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Alright Folks, My mate has just announced that he is going to Riga in Latvia for his stag do at the end of March. Any of you folks been there and can you recommend any places for drinking and general debauchery. All suggestions welcome. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leginten Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Hot. Women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavsy Van Gaverson Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I'm off to Riga for a Stag in May. Heard good things! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truejambo81 Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 me too, cant wait to paint the town maroon lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigC Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Was there last year for a stag do. I posted this review after a certain other poster(s) who no longer frequnts the board put his own opinion up..... Should give you most of the info you need. Feel free to ask questions....... We didn't have too many problems with the taxis or the airport when we arrived. We were through customs very quickly, and we jumped in a red taxi (you should always make sure they are red and also make sure they have yellow number plates) which didn't cost us too much. We actually had more problems getting back through customs at Prestwick when we got home (I'm guessing because they were checking the Latvians passports more thoroughly). It's great that 1 Lat is the equivalent of ?1 as it makes life much easier when you are keepoing track of your cash. We stayed at the Hotel Europa City. A very nice hotel, but pretty far out from the city. (Roughly the equivalent of walking from Tynecastle to the bottom of the Mound). We always used the tram to get into town (Only 30p), but got taxi's back late at night. The hotel itself lived up to all the expectations room wise, although because it was far out the drinks were pretty overpriced in the bar - ?2.60 for a pint of the local beer - Cesu, which was very nice! You pay about ?1 for a pint in the cheap local pubs and we paid ?1.90 in Skyline bar which is the stunning place at the top of the Reval hotel - more on that shortly. The food was OK in the hotel, although they weren't shy about taking their time. One thing they never do in Riga is tell you if your food is going to take a while, something you would expect as a matter of courtesy over here. We waited for about 45 minutes for our starters one night, and about 30 minutes for our main courses after that. Some places were OK, but it does tend to vary wildly. A few of the guys went out on the first night, and the barman sold us some of the local drink "Riga Black Balsam". After smelling it, the guys chickened out and paid me ?20 to down two of them. I've had a lot of lethal drinks in my time, but that surely was the worst by a mile. Only for hard core drinkers! As the restaurant was closed by the time we checked in we asked the barman to order in some pizza. They said it would take 2 1/2 hours, but they managed to get it to us in only 1 1/2 hours because some other people from the hotel had ordered some. I asked why it took so long and he said "Because it's Wednesday night". If you're looking to start a business over there, you could do a lot worse than opening a pizza delivery service!!! On the first day we went to the Museum of Occupation (well worth a visit if you are going - doesn't cost anything, but they ask for donations), and had a traditional Latvian lunch of sausages, roast potatoes in their skins, and cabbage and onion fried in Balsam. After that we took our first trip to the Skyline bar. When you go into the lift it's not obvious that it's made of glass because you are in a dark lift shaft. After 5 floors the lift lights up and you get a cracking view of the city all the way up to the top. The bar itself is great, and very well priced you can get a coctail for about ?3, a beer for ?1.90, or a diet coke for ?1.20. We were there during the day but we also went back at night time. The best time to go is when the sun is setting as it reflects off the Baltic sea which is about 10km away. Truly stunning. After that we went along to the only strip club with a decent reputation according to our research The Jockey Club. It was ?10 to get in and a girl did a topless show every 15 minutes. It was OK, but just not worth the money. As with many strip clubs abroad, you just can't enjoy yourself because of the feeling of being completely ripped off. One guy (Andy) paid ?50 for a 20 minute private dance. I think he was hoping it would be a bit more "hands on" than what you would get at home, but he was left disappointed. All he could say when he came out was "she had pepperoni breath, but she thought it was sexy to breathe on me and wouldn't stop it." On Friday we decided to do a bit of shooting, and were taken by rigaoutthere.com to an underground Soviet bunker. It costs ?40 per person, but you are better paying slightly more for the more exciting guns. I paid ?50 for 10 rounds with a Glock, an Uzi, an AK47 and a Marlin rifle. It was great fun, an ideal activity for boys on tour. The best shot gets a golden bullet necklace. We tried out a few bars on the Old Town in the evening, I went home around 2ish but a few of the guys stayed out and went to Club Essential, which they said was brilliant. (Just round the corner from the Reval Hotel). We tried to go there on the Saturday night, but one of the guys didn't get in so we went to the club below the Reval hotel instead, which wasn't up to much. One of the other highlights of the holiday was the Belgian Beer House which has all the Belgian beers, does good food, and has a nice wee shaded garden out the back. We were there for most of Saturday, and even bumped into a friendly Jambo who we had previously met on the plane, he had been before and had told us to come to the bar. He knew quite a few people I knew, and I'm sure I'll bump into him again next season. The beer house is in the Old Town just round the corner from Dickens and Paddy Whelans, the English/Irish pubs which we mainly steered clear of. As for the ladies, the eye candy was stunning, but as part of a stag do they won't give you a second look. They also tend to hang out in mixed groups, rather than in groups of guys and girls, as is more common over here. The only girl I chatted up was an American tour leader in the Skyline bar, but I made the mistake of inviting her to join my mates who spent the whole time trying to convince her I was married, and she eventually disappeared back to her room in the hotel because she had to be up early. So, overall I'd give Riga 6/10. It's cheap compared to home, and certainly a good value option compared to Dublin, Paris, Barcelona, London, Cardiff etc. Would I go back? Probably not. I certainly wouldn't choose to go there as part of a Stag Party again. We were very conscious of the bad reputation that Stag Parties had when we got there, and we certainly saw why. The Old Town is very small (Imagine Temple Bar in Dublin but with about 1/4 the number of bars). It only takes about 7-8 stags to be in the Old Town at once to completely overrun it. We were careful not to draw attention to ourselves. We didn't dress up and we didn't misbehave, although there were a few times when we did get a bit loud - inevitable on a stag night. Even so, we still stood out, and the locals make it quite clear by their attitude that they don't want you there. The only locals that do talk to you are the guys giving out flyers for strip clubs. We were well warned beforehand not to talk to these guys but they don't take no for an answer, and you literally have to tell them to **** Off before they stop walking backwards in front of you, trying to give you a flyer shouting "big booobies" and "best p**sy in town". You shouldn't be intimidated by them though as they just move on as soon as you are firm with them or you start taking the p***. (We made this a bit of a sport - my friend Andy had some fun chasing after them with his T-shirt over his head shouting "Big Boobies". The guy ran a mile). The rest of the people just didn't want to know and it was no surprise if the stag parties that were there when we were anything to go by. We bumped into one lot as they were walking down the road chanting "Engerland Engerland Engerland" shouting comments at the local talent as they walked past and later we saw them being abusive to workers who had the cheek to not understand why 10 of them wanted to pay all together for their MacDonalds. (We only went in once on the way home because we couldn't get a take away anywhere else). I would however recommend it to anyone if they want a few days away with their other half. Go during the week and you should miss the worst of the "Brits on Tour". A couple of days is long enough to see everything. I would also go back during the week with a smaller group of 3-4, particularly if it was a mixed group. Overall, I enjoyed the Beer, the food, the weather (35 degrees every day - unseasonally hot I'm lead to believe), with highlights being the Skyline Bar, The Belgian Place, and the steakhouses. The shooting was fun! I didn't like the fact that the Old Town was very small, there wasn't that much to see, and the other stag parties (although I realise that it's a bit like the pot calling the kettle black). Although I think the stag thing has a lot to do with it, I also thing that it's a cultural thing that it's not common to say please or thank you, or smile at people over there. They are very regimented when they serve you, and you constantly get the feeling they are putting up with you. It's like being served by your mother in law everywhere you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truejambo81 Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Excellent info so far guys, anyone got anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laganas2005 Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 was there last january and pretty much agree with the large guide above! good post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Great post BigC - really enjoyed reading it - Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morry Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 where was my invite?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truejambo81 Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Alright Morry, It was special agent Brad Baxendale that is in charge of it all mate. You'll need to give him a good swift kick for leaving you out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morry Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Nae worries im rooked the now anyway - im sure jimmy went there last year and went bobsleighin'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upthehill Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 For a stag do you cannot go wrong staying here http://www.staghotel.co.uk it is a lot of fun. This was the best thing we did http://www.riga-life.com/play/entertainment_details/161-Riga_Bobsleigh the girls were great, so friendly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Prince Charlie Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 #5 Your pal, Andy, paid ?50 for a 20 min dance! - he should try Thailand where he could have his pick of beautiful ladies at the going rate of ?15 for 24 hours; and it would be more than a dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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