Riga, verdict by verdict

Riga is the Art Nouveau capital nobody expects: a third of the centre went up in a single flamboyant decade, and the facades along Alberta and Elizabetes streets run denser than anything in Brussels or Barcelona. Underneath sits a Hanseatic Old Town of spires, cobbles and merchant houses wrapped in a ring of parks where the moat used to be, with a Central Market in Zeppelin hangars that locals still shop at. It runs at tourist scale but talks to itself first, and it remains one of Europe's best-value capitals.

The catches are straightforward ones. The Old Town's western edge turns into a bar crawl late on weekends, the cobbles punish ankles and wheels, and November to March runs long, grey and damp even when it is not bitterly cold. A few shabby blocks sit between the station and the market at night, the museum collection is good but thin next to the big capitals, and anyone expecting Copenhagen-level polish will find rough edges instead.

The way to do it is two or three days in the centre plus the market, a climb of St Peter's tower for orientation, and the Museum of the Occupation for what Latvia actually lived through, with a fourth day for the beach at Jurmala twenty-five minutes out by commuter train or a Sigulda run into the Gauja valley. Sleep in the Quiet Centre among the Art Nouveau streets for the best-looking and calmest base, or the Old Town for two nights of maximum convenience; [the where-to-stay verdict](/riga/where-to-stay-in-riga/) lands on the Quiet Centre for most trips. It suits architecture fans, market and food travelers, weekend city-breakers, and anyone pairing the Baltics between Tallinn and Vilnius.