In the middle of mars my boyfriend and I visited Riga. 4 days filled with sightseeing, good food, shopping and spa. I left the camera home on purpose (so sick of walking around with the huge camerabag), so I'm stuck with these phone pictures.
This trip was surely more luxurious then what we usually do, but we still managed to kind of keep it on budget. The backpacker in me had some trouble with spending so much money in only one weekend, but we tried to justified it by comparing it to Norwegian prices (not Asian ones, as we have a bad habit of doing).
We stayed at Welton Centrum Hotel. A nice hotel placed centrally in the old city. The rooms were more than good enough, and the breakfast was excellent. The hotel had it's own spa with a sauna, Jacuzzi and pool. We didn't try any of the treatments, but it was really good to just soak up in the pool after a long day walking.
We stayed at Welton Centrum Hotel. A nice hotel placed centrally in the old city. The rooms were more than good enough, and the breakfast was excellent. The hotel had it's own spa with a sauna, Jacuzzi and pool. We didn't try any of the treatments, but it was really good to just soak up in the pool after a long day walking.
To my big surprise (at least that's what I told my boyfriend) one of the best shopping mall in Riga was placed less then 10 meters away from our hotel. With stores as Mango and... well, I don't really remember since I kind of lived inside of that Mango store. Having the shopping mall so close was just perfect for me, who realized 10 minutes before our taxi left for the airport that I just had to have that sweater anyway.
Riga isn't a really big city, and almost everything is within a 15 minutes walking distance (that be if you walk the right way, and don't walk in circles for almost an hour....). The old city is filled with nice architecture, and you should really take some time to walk around here. There is also an museum (free of charge) who is worth a visit if you are interested in Northeast-European history.
Riga isn't a really big city, and almost everything is within a 15 minutes walking distance (that be if you walk the right way, and don't walk in circles for almost an hour....). The old city is filled with nice architecture, and you should really take some time to walk around here. There is also an museum (free of charge) who is worth a visit if you are interested in Northeast-European history.
In almost every travel guide to Riga you can read about how great the Skybar is. And yes, the view is pretty good- but it's so overpriced, and always filled with people. We ended up taking the elevator up, walked in, turned, and walked away. In the same building as the Skybar you can also find what's known as Rigas best hotel and spa. Well, we weren't interested in pushing our budget to far off (even tho floating in a heated, outdoor pool, over the city sounded really tempting).
Over to one of my favorite topics, food: You have to try sushi at one of Kabuki's restaurant. We had one right outside of our hotel, and it was AMAZING. Surely the best sushi I've eaten so far. If you're not a raw-fish-eater, but rather want some greasy meat, you should head over to Steiku Haouss or Ribs & Rock. Stay away from the restaurants on the shopping malls, they were disappointing (they had some really good drinks tho. Made the shopping go a lot easier for my boyfriend!).