It’s CHRISTMAS and the new year (that I will be spending in Prague) is right around the corner. So, I wanted to use the chance to finish off the year with a blog post about one of my favorite short trips – Riga. I think my experience in Riga is a great example for how much value people add to your stay abroad. We’ve met a bunch of great people that made the time there extra special and the town was great fun, so that was a plus. Here we go, Riga vibes!

We had 5 nights in Riga and wanted to use the long weekend to see as much as possible of the city, go out and just enjoy ourselves. As it was beginning of October, it was freezing cold, but the sun was out almost the entire time, so it was the perfect time to walk around the city and explore. We stayed at the Cinnamon Sally hostel and I have to say, hands down, one of the best hostels I’ve ever stayed in. Apart from the great location, the staff is also super nice, they will sit down at night and pre-drink with you or play games. The hostel has a very cosy, family-like feel to it which I really loved and it’s super easy to meet new people and go out with. So, if you ever stay in Riga, please make sure and stay at the Cinnamon Sally to support their great hostel (Marketing right there – boom).

We arrived later at night on a Wednesday, so all we did was go out and eat and call it an early night, so that we were able to start our city tour the next day. As I said, the location of the hostel is very convenient, so we were able to just walk around, take some pictures and have lunch. There are a bunch of walking tours, if you want to check them out, but Riga is not very big, so you might as well just explore by yourself.

In the evening, we sat down in the hostel living room to chill for a bit, which turned into a game night/pre-gaming party with some of the guys from our room and by the end of the night, we ended up at Ala Folk Club, where we had food (you can eat typical Latvian Food there) and went for some karaoke (shot’s for everyone!!!). It was such a fun night, probably one of the best I had so far abroad.

The next morning was a little rough for me, however after spending the morning in bed, we finally decided to go out and explore the city some more. The historic part of the city is very cute, however, the other side of the bridge doesn’t really have a lot of offer, so we spent most of the time there. In the evening, we decided to go on a pub crawl organized by the hostel with all the people from the night before. It’s your typical pub crawl, you go from bar to bar, get free shots and move on. The bars where nice, but because I was still exhausted from the night before, I had to take it a little slower than usual.

We ended up actually taking part of  a walking tour after all on Saturday to make sure that we covered everything we saw before (plus we had some time to kill). After the tour, we ended in one of the most popular, typical Latvian restaurants Lido and decided to just have lunch there. It’s right downtown, you can’t miss it. The food is very yummy, however really solid, too – typical easter european, lots of meat and dumplings.

Afterwards, and because it was raining, four of us went to one of the many Escape Rooms (SAW theme). The hostel will call them to check if they have free slots that day,so it is really easy going. Let me tell you, I almost shit my pants at first. I can’t really tell you too much about it, because it will ruin the surprise and the excitement for the different tasks in there. Let’s just say it was lots of fun, creepy at first and we made it out there in less than an hour (Yay us!).

For our last night, we only went out to a bar to have some drinks and stayed there with a larger group of people just to chill. As I said, Riga has a bunch of good bars, so you will find the right one for you for sure. Afterwards, we walked through the city one more time and had a crazy show off at McDonalds in front of our hostel. I honestly have to say, I was actually pretty sad that we had to leave on Sunday morning. It was just such a great feel, the people were super fun and the city is really nice. And the best part – all of the people we met there came to visit us in Berlin and we will meet up with one of them in Prague for New Years eve! I love backpacker life!

MERRY XMAS guys and I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year filled with lots of new travel stories! Can’t wait!