Must-see attractions in Rīga

  • Rīga Ghetto & Latvian Holocaust Museum

    Maskavas Forštate, Avotu Iela & Grīziņkalns

    The centrepiece of this arresting and challenging museum is a wooden house with a reconstructed flat, like those that Jews had to move into when the Nazis…

  • Biķernieki Memorial

    Rīga

    Between 1941 and 1944, the Nazis – aided by Latvians – shot more than 35,000 Jews at 55 different sites in this forest. It is one of several killing sites…

  • Kalnciema Kvartāls

    Rīga

    A lovingly restored courtyard with several vintage wooden buildings is home to creative cafes, shops and restaurants. It's also home to a fantastic…

  • Fresh Produce Vendor At The Central Market Housed In Reconditioned Zeppelin Hangars, Riga, Latvia (Photo by: Insights/UIG via Getty Images)

    Rīga Central Market

    Maskavas Forštate, Avotu Iela & Grīziņkalns

    Haggle for your huckleberries at this vast market, housed in a series of WWI Zeppelin hangars and spilling outdoors as well. It's an essential Rīga…

  • Latvian Academy of Science Observation Deck

    Maskavas Forštate, Avotu Iela & Grīziņkalns

    This Stalinesque tower is a not-so-welcome Soviet-era present from Moscow, which has seven towers just like it, only bigger. Construction of what is often…

  • Rīga Motor Museum

    Rīga

    The stars of the collection at this surprisingly well-funded and engrossing museum are cars that once belonged to Soviet luminaries such as Gorky, Stalin,…

  • Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum

    Rīga

    If you don’t have time to visit the Latvian countryside, a stop at this open-air museum is a must. Sitting along the shores of Lake Jugla just northeast…

  • Rīga Brethren Cemetery

    Rīga

    The Brothers' Cemetery features a monument by Kārlis Zāle (the designer of the Freedom Monument) dedicated to the Latvian soldiers who died during WWI…

  • Holocaust Memorial

    Maskavas Forštate, Avotu Iela & Grīziņkalns

    This moving Holocaust Memorial is on the site of a large 1871 synagogue that was burned to the ground on 4 July, 1941 during WWII, with the entire…

  • Spīķeri

    Rīga

    The shipping yard behind the Central Market is the latest district to benefit from a generous dose of gentrification. These crumbling brick warehouses…

  • Rīga National Zoo

    Rīga

    Set in a hilly pine forest in Mežaparks, Rīga National Zoo has a modest collection of animals, including an assortment of tropical fauna, as well as the…

  • Jēzus Baznīca

    Maskavas Forštate, Avotu Iela & Grīziņkalns

    It would be a classical-style Lutheran church like many others if it wasn't made entirely of wood, which makes it a unique architectural gem that…

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