BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi
Myself and the Girlfriend are flying to Riga for the first week of september.
At the minute have a barebones plan of doing something like the follow
Fly into Riga on the sat
On the monday either fly with AirBaltic or get bus/train if easier to Liepaja
On the wednesday get train or Bus back and stop in a town for a day and the night along the way (suggestions needed)
next day continue back to Riga.
Is this too much travelling?I like the sound of Leipaja but very open to other suggestions of places to go outside Riga.

In terms of Riga, I've been reading through the Thorntree forums a bit and there seems to a lot of posts about the unfriendlyness towards tourists, I've done quiet a bit of travelling in Eastern and Central Europe and have found that its normally easy enough to avoid the tourist traps where that attitude is common (is this the case in Riga?), before Christmass went to Vilnuis and had a great time there, people were very sociable and ended up chatting to a lot of people and staying out all night, anyway this leads to my next question about recommendations for bars night clubs (i like rock and metal and am not overly concerned about dingyness as long as the craic is good)

Appologies for the rambling post

good choice my man

Riga is a quality hang out and the locals can be friendly
Although the constant 'come see titties' and the rest can get to you, but we just brushed them aside

I went with a mate both late 20's (ok just hit 30)
and stopped at 'friendly fun franks'
I think Casper is still working there he'll be able to point you in the right direction of good bars, on a quiet sunday night we went to a real cellar dank and dingy bar.
the local men where beefy and seemed to be looking for a fight but we just ignored them.

a few americans got fleeced by some good looking local ladies who asked for a drink at the bar, when they got there drinks they invited the americans to sit with them. the Americans seemed a bit piss'd that the girls where sat with some meat heads.
The idiots !!

anyway the club i went to has since been burned down, it was funny just to go in the Russian (music) room and watch the girls dance. A bizarre experience. i just couldn't work out how to get into it.

a hotel has a skyline bar on the 15 or 16th floor over in the new town. drinks are still pretty cheap £1.20 a drink
and cocktails £2.50-£3

the outdoor market is also cool as some real crzy sh1t goes on. just make sure your not hungover

I had a day trip out to Jurmala which was a really pleasant place and is mainly locals on there jollies, its only an hour from riga station

I also fancied going to Sigulda for which we had good reports, it had bungee jumping and camping / canoing trips

If you can be bothered with the bus ride 4-6 hours get yourself up to Tallinn, and its one of the prettiest unesco old towns in europe
and the dark beers and pale ales in Hellhunt bar along with its sheppards pie is easily among the best i've had

Thanks very much for the places,that Hellhunt bar sounds good to me cos I do like different beers (was in Bristol over the weekend and had some good ales there though have to say warm beer on a warm day ain't the most refreshing
oh and don't think you can go anywhere without seeing some americans getting ripped off

in the square intersection of streets Kalku iela / meistaru iela in the beer court, theres about 3 or 4 bars

in one ask the big hairy barman for a 'Kiss'

a very refreshing clear cider made from cherries (i think).

Thanks for the suggestion I've actually drank Kiss cider before both in Lithuania and Ireland (they've started to sell it here recently probably cos of large number of lithuanians here)
found first glass refreshing after that way too sweet!
the girlfriend does like it though so its good to know they sell it

the last time i was out in derry i drank way too many pints of smirnoff ice and felt well sick

is the earth nightclub still going strong

Its been a long time since I've been in Earth (used to go when I was eighteen..... ah memories ).
It seems to still have the crowds outside on the Friday and Saturday nights anyway but couldn't comment on the inside though (or what they've done now the smoking ban has came in).
Depending on when you were there you may have been in Cheungs garden, was trying to find a better picture of what happened to it but all I got was this

http://www.purederry.com/index.php?edition=3&PHPSESSID=...2ga6p4p7jlj10hvodbi2

quote:

Originally posted by manktelr:
In terms of Riga, I've been reading through the Thorntree forums a bit and there seems to a lot of posts about the unfriendlyness towards tourists

Let's say, that is limited to the usual tourist traps and scams in the city centre, the old town area.
To me it looks like the Baltics get 95% of their visitors only to their capitals. And in the capitals it's 95% who don't leave the city centre/old town. That's an unusual concentration of visitors who easily become a prey.

There is one infamous place that has been mentioned several times on TT: Groks.

I've visited both Riga and Vilnius in the past few years. Although I personally preferred Vilnius, I have to say that I had a pleasant stay in both cities.