The Best Hotels in Riga for Every Traveller

The Tsarist grandeur and finesse in the heart of the charming Old Town will likely appeal to your inner bourgeoisie. Expensive rugs, vases, chandeliers, candelabras, framed wall paintings and vintage wallpaper dominate the almost theatrical public areas of this former Bank of Latvia building, built in 1877. Maritime-themed prints depicting 19th-century city scenes and dark retro furniture, including travel chest cabinets and drawers, temper the more modern feel of the bright rooms.

Art Nouveau fans will enjoy this former apartment building, reconfigured into a 55-room boutique hotel by the original owner’s descendants. From the entrance topped with a sculpted face and flowing tresses segueing into a pillared archway, more subtle Art Nouveau features percolate the interior. Stucco coving, immaculate parquet floors and elongated arched windows are melded to contemporary furniture, groovy ceiling lamps and graphic wall art.

The modern steel and glass facade of the Elizabete Hotel, emblazoned with calligraphic Latvian poetry, conjures a hipster vibe beside Vērmane Garden near the Old Town. Inside, a lofty atrium filled with shrubbery and patio-style furniture lends a sophisticated edge. The Tardis-like property holds over 200 rooms and suites with stripped floors, contemporary styling and floor-to-ceiling windows – some have bucolic park views. The gargantuan buffet breakfasts will keep you going all day.

Urbanistas love the all-suite Bergs and its fetching little enclave tucked away in Bergs Bazaar. This was Riga’s first shopping centre, put up in 1900 by developer Kristaps Bergs to help Latvians assimilate into a city then dominated by a sniffy Germanic-Baltic elite – its shops and restaurants soon became a thriving cosmopolitan melting pot. Now immaculately restored after Soviet neglect, the neat brick hotel facade is crowned by a futuristic steel-and-glass canopy, and features sleek, modern and particularly spacious suites – plus several split-level apartments.

Upscale travellers are drawn to the Opera Hotel’s late-19th-century facade and gently updated interiors overlooking central Opera Park, one of the most famous parks in Riga. Superior rooms are a fair cut above the standards with mustard-yellow decor and burgundy accents, while panoramic Old Riga prints above the beds reinforce the vintage vibe. The in-house Franco restaurant specialises in Italian and Mediterranean plates, while the circular spa pool features a cascade.

Opera lovers won’t find a grander or more stately hotel this close to the National Opera House. The handsome facade disguises the original building’s destruction during World War II. Resurrected shortly after the war, the then-Hotel Riga reputedly made history by having the first bar in Latvia and serving the first cocktail in the Soviet Union. Today, a major refit sees supremely elegant and large rooms with sepia stave-notation artwork behind beds, and a restrained decor of panelled wood with softly-patterned drapes and carpets.

Horse lovers can make hay at the Pullman. The loose equine theme, from statues in the lounge lobby to artwork in the rooms, derives from the Equus restaurant allegedly once being the stables of German nobleman Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, inspiration for the literary Baron Munchausen. Behind the pristine Old Town facade stands an award-winning pair of modern buildings and atriums with swanky rooms to match. The open kitchen at Equus features Latvian and Scandinavian cuisine with an ample wine list.

Reputedly the first five-star design hotel in Riga, Grand Poet references Rainis, a 19th-century Latvian literary prodigy lending his name to the prestigious boulevard running alongside Bastion Hill and Freedom Monument. Opened in 2018, the refurbishment injected bohemian pizzazz into this smart but staid neighbourhood. The imposing buildings suggest little of their bold, almost whimsical, interiors. Almost every inch drips with striking design and decor – from herringbone parquet floors to zigzag carpets and tiled floors, elaborate lighting and furnishings swirling with patterns and colour.

Opened in 2019, the AC – a clinical high-rise facade, crowned with a steel-framed glass canopy housing a gym and meeting spaces – likely appeals to corporate types. Rooms are smartly functional with desks, matching chairs and espresso machines, all wrapped in a muted palette of greys and browns with framed monochrome prints. The AC Restaurant, which doubles as a relaxed lounge and bar, specialises in Spanish tapas – while abundant nearby restaurants provide other dining options.

One for revivalists, the Old City is a curious, if not eccentric, blend of old and new. Here in the Old Town where most buildings have 17th-century origins, what was initially used as a warehouse became an early 1900s cinema and then a Soviet sports complex. Rising phoenix-like after the collapse in the 1990s, the interiors can’t quite decide if they’re homely-heritage or modern-modish – in combining both it’s invented a slightly confused but charming look.

This cosy, almost romantic, hideaway in a salmon-pink townhouse near St Peter’s Church has an unstudied retro charm. The 22 rooms and suites vary considerably in size and feel, but generally encompass a mix of furniture and furnishings that probably won’t match – think Persian-style rugs or Turkish kilims and random Art Nouveau detailing. There’s a modest restaurant with a summer terrace – discounted for guests – and a small sauna for up to six at a time.