Entertainment in Latvia
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Essential
Rīga's hottest club is a spectacle of beautiful bodies boogieing to some of Europe's top DJ talent in three dance chambers. Overzealous security aside, there's no safer bet if partying till dawn is your mission. Sorry, no local beer - just Coronas. Drink cocktails.
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Latvia's 1st Rock Café
It goes by a variety of names, including Pablo's Place, but there's no way you'll miss this massive four-storey structure with loads of glassy windows and a pseudo-industrial look. Restaurants, bars, dance floors, billiards and a rooftop beer garden are all housed here. The walls are plastered with old concert posters and the club features live music every night, as well as frequent rave parties.
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Big 7
This giant complex offers a little bit of everything. Divided into multiple sections for dancing, drinking, eating and chilling, it also offers stripteases, pool and slot machines. Head upstairs to King 7 if you want to zone out on couches and pillows or fill your lungs with hookah smoke (fee per hookah).
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Grilbārs Bruno
Exposed brick walls and sturdy wooden tables dominate at this cosy cellar bar inside the Amrita hotel. Enjoy a game of chess, darts or novuss - a Latvian creation that's part shuffleboard, part billiards - with a glass of the nation's favourite beer, Užavas, served on draught.
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Pūt, Vējini
In summer open-air concerts are held at Pūt, Vējini, an outside theatre in Jūrmala Park Upcoming concerts, cinema and theatre productions are listed in Liepāja This Week, a weekly eight-page entertainment magazine; pick up a free copy at the tourist office.
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Landora
Decorated with fishing nets and junk from the sea, Landora is a small but hip joint. The outdoor beer garden is a great place to linger over a quiet late-afternoon cocktail. Live bands rock the place on Saturdays from 23:00.
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Forum Cinemas
Films are generally shown in their original language with Latvian or Russian subtitles. The Leviathan Forum Cinemas is the second-largest movie theatre in Northern Europe. Tickets are reasonably priced at most theatres.
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Kurzeme
A modern café with glass tables, sparkling furnishings and mirrored windows, Kurzeme doubles as a nightclub where local DJs spin hip-hop and House music. There is karaoke Wednesday through Saturday nights.
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B Bars
Do not - repeat do not - leave Rīga without stopping by here for a mug of their heavenly Hot Balzams. It puts mulled wine to shame. Happy hour is two-for-one.
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Bites Blūzs Klubs
It has great live blues and a proper bar - the kind where the bartender can slide a beer from one end and it will take several seconds to reach a customer at the other end.
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Livonija
Downstairs there's a funky green bar and nightclub. Upstairs you'll find the restaurant with an extensive menu of meat-based entrées served with various sauces.
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Dickens
Old Town has an inordinate number of Irish bars that show sports on TV and get taken over by stag parties on weekends. This is probably the rowdiest of the bunch.
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A Suns
If you happen to visit this popular expat hang-out in Berga bazārs, make a point of visiting the men's room for a truly warped example of artistic creation.
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Orange Bar
Check your inhibitions at the door of this grungy alternative venue, where peeps are not afraid to dance on the bar. Can get ugly late at night - in a good way.
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Skyline Bar
The glam crowd and the stunning view make this newly redesigned window palace on the 26th floor of the Reval Hotel Latvija decidedly de rigueur.
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Belle Epoque
Students flock to this basement bar to power down its trademark 'apple pie' shots. Also called French Bar, it's relatively immune to stag parties.
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National Opera Theatre
The awesome National Opera Theatre is home to the Rīga Ballet, where Mikhail Baryshnikov made his name, and the Latvian National Opera.
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Pulkvedim neviens neraksta
There's no such thing as dull night at 'Pulkvedis', which serves up 1980s and '90s hits on the ground floor and trancier beats downstairs.
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XXL
Rīga's best gay club features a thriving disco on Friday and Saturday nights, go-go dancers and plenty of dark rooms to get cosy.
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Vīns un Kafija
The place to taste and buy wine (albeit wine produced everywhere but Latvia) and coffee. It runs a beer tent out front in summer.
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de Lacy's
You'll have a slightly better chance of enjoying a pint of Guinness and a good Irish meal in peace at this expat hang-out.
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Spalvas Pa Gaisu
A classy outfit with a mean streak, it showcases thirty-somethings going bananas to a mix of Latino and Latvian music.
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Cuba Café
This lively spot pulls no punches with its mojitos and draws a hip, energetic crowd that clearly appreciates that.
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Great Guild
This lovely 14th-century building is the concert hall of the renowned Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.
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Četri Balti Krekli
This is the place to see live Latvian rock bands any night of the week.
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