Alan_R Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 anyone been to latvia? or more specifically riga? Nightlife looks good, we are just about to book a lads holiday. What is there to do there? Are the people friendly? How much is drink? Anything to watch out for (dodgy areas of city etc)? Also the conversion rate at the moment looks poor. Is latvian currency stronger than the pound!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspector Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Just as a matter of interest, where are you flying from, as I quite fancy Riga as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_R Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 Prestwick. Why do you fancy it? Heard good reviews? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Was in Riga 3 years ago, my brothers stag. Was one of the best weekends away ever!!! We booked a shooting day(lots of guns!!!) we were lucky Riga were at home so we took in a match too. Nightlife was spot on, stayed away from strip bars no need as most bars had table dancers . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_R Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 cheers for the info marko. and theres non of the 'you spoke to the lady give us money' kind of business? Im always cautious over in eastern europe specially if we'll all have a drink in us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leginten Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 anyone been to latvia? or more specifically riga? Nightlife looks good, we are just about to book a lads holiday. What is there to do there? Are the people friendly? How much is drink? Anything to watch out for (dodgy areas of city etc)? Also the conversion rate at the moment looks poor. Is latvian currency stronger than the pound!? I liked Riga and would love to go back. It's twelve years since I went, so I can't comment on prices. It has a very Germanic feel, which is unsurprising given its history. I was struck by how smartly the people dressed (even at a time when there still wasn't that much money going around) and by the extraordinary beauty of the women. There are some fantastic Jugendstil houses by Eisenstein in Alberta Iela and adjacent streets. The beach resort at Jurmala is also worth going to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 we didn't get any of that, like i said stayed away from strip bars too many stories about an "exit" fee! I would try and stay away from large night clubs, cost of drink went up by god knows how much!! If a mind right we were paying a couple of lats a drink that went up to six and half in one night club(can't remember the name) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspector Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Prestwick. Why do you fancy it? Heard good reviews? Yes I do fancy going. Just fancy somewhere different. Been to many of the more popular destinations so Riga could be a 'goer'. Interested to know how you find the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberjambo Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Going there in March to take in a Rammstein show. Looking forward to seeing the place for the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM1874 Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 I have a Latvian friend, not exactly sure where from....but says that tyou need to be careful that you don't get stung by taxi drivers, and that establish ur not english...due to the view they have of english being hooligans... have fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_R Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 cheers for the info. I gather price wise it is relatively cheap? or is it about on par with Scotland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swanyl Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 stay at Friendly Fun Franks... Best hostel around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taffin Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 cheers for the info marko. and theres non of the 'you spoke to the lady give us money' kind of business? Im always cautious over in eastern europe specially if we'll all have a drink in us. Saw a scary incident in a 'bar' where 4 Dutch blokes owed 1000s of Lats for having been buying the girls drinks. Card was rejected and out came the henchmen with cues and whatnot. They managed to scramble the money togethor. Just be careful and be wary of overly nice females in those kinds of places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 stay at Friendly Fun Franks...Best hostel around I'll second that, just mentioning Frank's name got a couple of mates of mine out of bother once. Great place, though when I went the nightlife was a bit dead on any night other than Friday / Saturday. Pints about ?1, even in the nicest bars (though this was in 2005). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
269miles Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I know some guys who went on a stag do to Riga . On the first night two got mugged and on the second one of them got robbed at gunpoint. needless to say they weren't very complimentary about the people or the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_R Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 ah its begining to sound a bit too dodgy for my liking. Would be good to hear from anyone whos been in say the last year for their opinion. Cheers for mentioning franks though. That could be a very good shout having someone point you in the right direction. Im sure they'd be able to tell you where to go and where not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laganas2005 Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 i was there with the lads in jan 2007, stayed at fun franks great hostel, the old town riga is pretty but apart from that i didnt really think the place was up to much, the locals hate the foreigners and beer wasnt any cheapar than scotland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taffin Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I still had a great time, it's a really good place. Just don't be a pleb like the Dutch guys were. It was about a year ago that i went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barf Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 stay at Friendly Fun Franks...Best hostel around I'm actually just back from Riga and stayed at this hostel. The place is great and Frank is a legend. The staff there organise pub crawls every night and take you to a club so we just went along on that each night we were there. We found the night life really good and Frank's is a total party hostel. We're not really into going to the strippers but the staff and everything else you read does say you'll get hit with a bill for hundreds and will get severely beaten up until you pay - every place being the same. But there was a group of guys in our hostel who wanted to go so they asked Frank to arrange something for them which he did and it all went smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicTs Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Barf speaks the truth re the Jack the Rippers. Even in a group of at least a dozen of us they were robbing barstewards and tried it on. The drinks bill was ridiculous so we refused to pay it and it got pretty heated when a few heavies appeared. Whatever you do dont take any pics on your moby ! Loads of good bars elsewhere though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regal Kingston Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Was there when Scotland beat France at Hampden (2007?) Great place, very cheap - 200 Marlboro lights was ?8. If you drink local beer, which was nice, your talking about ?2 a pint. Nice city with hot woman but its a wee bit dodgy. Not much but a wee bit. DO NOT under any circumstances buy woman a drink if they ask. A Welsh guy we seen fell for it - The bird said she would have a Martini. She had a Martini alright! A bleeding Magnum of Martini champagne which cost ?200! The boy got marched to the cashpoint by a couple of heavies. This thread has made you aware of this which is all you need really. You don't have to be guarded but tell your mates and leave wherever your at if you feel uncomfortable. There was only about 1 or 2 places we found uncomfortable. Plenty Irish bars to converse with other tourists to find out the good places to go. If you stay away from the seedier bars you will have a great time. Food is excellent too. Every decent hotel has its own casino which gives you free drinks as you play. The one we were at had a penthouse (rooftop) bar and a club in the basement so you don't even need to leave the hotel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberjambo Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Every decent hotel has its own casino which gives you free drinks as you play. The one we were at had a penthouse (rooftop) bar and a club in the basement so you don't even need to leave the hotel! Sounds great. Which hotel was that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_R Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 thanks for the advice. Last few posts have settled the nerves a bit. Was gettin a bit edgy there! We saw that you could go bobsleighing over there in the winter. Did anyone do that? What attractions are there during the day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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