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.

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.