Riga, Latvia

Riga in January.. really. lol I would go to Paris.. only 3 hrs by train, sorry that may not be helpful.. but Riga is not a tourist hot spot so you may not get a ton of responses here. Suggest you also post on tripadvisor.com Riga forums they are city specific. PS My grandmother was born there and I still haven't made it there..

Pat, thanks for the response. We know it'll be cold and off season. But we are laying over a week from our gateway Amsterdam, then flying on to Tanzania for a safari, We thought we could do this short flight from amsterdam, stay a few nights and still have time to spare. We have already been to France/Paris many times, and also all the other places close to Amsterdam , but never to Latvia. My husband's father was born there and we have have his address, next door to the opera house. We learned the house is no longer there ... a cafe is in it's place. We thought it would be interesting to go to the historical museum and see old photos. Maybe you and my husband are related. I'll have to figure out how to do this privately so I can send you our last name. Thanks, Ola

ola I sent you a private message to retrieve it just click on top right hand screen where it says "profile" "new messages"

I went to Riga in April 2009. There was a direct bus from the airport to Old Town, which is where the Opera House is located. Never been to the train station, so I can't comment on traveling there. I don't know if you speak Latvian, but in case you don't, make sure to pay for your luggage when you board the bus on top of your own ticket. My friend and I just paid our own tickets, while the driver just looked at us without saying anything, and we got a citation en route and paid 40 US Dollar of fine. Lesson learned.
I don't think there's much to do venturing outside of Old Town. The Old Town is very small but has its charms.

We also stayed near the Opera House in Riga and enjoyed that location. If you get a chance, go to a performance in the Opera House! We saw "The Barber of Seville" and loved the experience. Tickets were inexpensive and we bought them once we arrived. Another fun thing is the Art Nouveau Museum (http://www.art-nouveau.riga.lv/eng/muzejs) - it's a bit hard to find but the neighborhood where it's located is really interesting! We didn't find any memorable restaurants in Riga but liked our meal at Domini Canes - not so far from the Opera House. Near the end of our stay we stumbled on a supermarket - a great place to stock up on snacks or things that you might need for your travels. It's called Rimi - you could ask your hotel staff to point you in the right direction. If you like exploring markets, make sure you go to the Riga Central Market! It's an experience! If the weather is warm enough, you'll find some great walking paths through the parks. Enjoy Riga!

Pat in Victoria......Thanks for sending me a private reply...but I can't figure out how to access it. I'll have to get someone to help me. And to the rest, thanks....I've checked out the opera house and the season is over...it looks like they are dark for the month of January. When we get there we will see what cultural things are going on. We can usually find a concert in some venue. Does anyone know if the central market is on in January?

If your January dates align, this might be fun - Riga is becoming the European Capital of Culture, and will celebrate January 17-19, 2014. http://www.latvia.travel/en/article/riga-will-become-european-capital-culture-2014

Also, I see events scheduled at the Opera House nearly every evening in January: http://www.opera.lv/en/calendar/?date=2014-1

Hi Sharon Thanks for this info. I checked it out. I don't know what website I was looking at previously but it was not this website. We will be there only a few days, around the 23rd...not sure of the exact days yet, but this is such good info to have. I may be able to get tickets ahead of time, once I nail down our dates.

ola: to access a private reply, make sure you are logged into your Rick Steves Helpline account. On the right near the top, you will see ola: Sign Out | My Profile. Go to My Profile, and you'll see your Private Messages (often abbreviated PM's).