The whole city, inside twenty minutes
Where the register, the banks and the meetings actually are — and what to do with the hour between them. The second half of the guide; the first covers getting in from the airport.
Eight places worth
knowing by name
Central Riga is roughly two kilometres across. Almost everything on a business trip — our office, the register, the notaries, the banks — sits inside the ring of boulevards. Walking distances below are measured from our door on Kalku Street.
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Berger Consulting Latvia
Kalku Street 7
Our office, in the Old Town. Mon–Fri, 11:00–15:00.
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Register of Enterprises
Z. A. Meierovica bulvāris 14
Where a Latvian company legally comes into existence. Roughly 250 m from our door — though filings are made electronically and we do them for you.
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Freedom Monument
Brīvības laukums
The landmark everyone in Riga navigates by. About 400 m — five minutes' walk.
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Riga Cathedral
Doma laukums
The square at the centre of the medieval core, and the easiest place in the Old Town to arrange to meet.
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House of the Blackheads
Rātslaukums 7
The merchant guild house on Town Hall Square — the building on every postcard of the city.
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Riga Central Station
Stacijas laukums
Trains to Jūrmala and the regions, long-distance coaches next door. Just under a kilometre east, about eleven minutes on foot.
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Central Market
Nēģu iela 7
Five zeppelin hangars turned food halls, part of the UNESCO site. Around 700 m — ten minutes, and the best cheap lunch in the centre.
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Art Nouveau district
Alberta iela
The densest run of facades in the city. About 1.2 km north — fifteen minutes, and the one detour worth making.
Riga Airport is 10 km south-west of everything on this map. Getting in from it is covered on part one of the guide.
Pin photographs from Wikimedia Commons, used under their licences: Freedom Monument © DaceX (CC BY-SA 4.0) · House of the Blackheads © Diliff (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Central Market © Trogain (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Alberta iela © Alma Pater (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Three apps, and
one thing that needs no app
Bolt — for rides
The default in Riga. You see the fare before accepting, and it is what most locals use. At the airport, cars collect from the short-term car park P1.
Mobilly — tickets and parking
Latvia's payments app: street parking in Riga, and Rīgas satiksme tickets — 90 minutes at €1.50, 24 hours at €5, three days at €8. You activate a ticket by scanning the QR code inside the vehicle.
Wolt — for everything edible
Restaurant delivery and groceries across the city, including late. Useful when a day runs past the point where you want to find a restaurant.
Your bank card — for the rest
Latvia is in the euro area and contactless is accepted almost everywhere, bus 22 from the airport included. EU roaming means a German, Austrian or Dutch SIM works here at domestic rates, so there is nothing to install before you land.
Three cities, one centre
UNESCO describes the historic centre as three distinct urban landscapes stacked against each other. It is also the most useful way to think about where anything is.
The medieval core
Vecrīga — the Old Town. Cobbled, walkable end to end in fifteen minutes, and where most law firms, notaries and small consultancies keep their offices. Ours included.
The ring of boulevards
A nineteenth-century semicircle of boulevards with a green belt on both sides of the City Canal. The banks, the larger hotels, the ministries and the embassies sit on or just off it.
The former suburbs
Beyond the ring: dense blocks on a rectangular street grid, the Art Nouveau quarter, and the wooden architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries. This is where the city stops being a museum.
Vecrīga is easier
than it looks
Latvian is spelled exactly as it sounds, which makes it far kinder than German or English once you know five rules. Get these and you can read any street sign to a driver.
Stress the first syllable
Always, with no exceptions worth learning. RI-ga, VETS-ree-ga, DOW-ga-va.
A line means hold it
Ā Ē Ī Ū are simply longer versions of a e i u. Rīga is “REE-ga”, not “RIG-a”.
Hooks add a soft y
ģ ķ ļ ņ are g k l n said with a y after them — roughly the sound in argue, stupid, William, canyon.
Three letters to relearn
c is “ts”, š is “sh”, ž is the s in measure. And j is a y, as in German.
| Word | Say | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Rīga | REE-ga | The city. Two syllables, the first one long. |
| Vecrīga | VETS-ree-ga | The Old Town — literally “old Riga”. The c is a ts. |
| iela | YEH-la | Street. The ie pair is one sound, “yeh”. |
| laukums | LOW-kums | Square. au rhymes with how. |
| Kaļķu iela | KAL-kyu YEH-la | Our street. Both hooks soften: a y follows the l and the k. |
| Grēcinieku iela | GREH-tsi-nyeh-ku YEH-la | Where Milda is, in the Old Town. |
| Brīvības laukums | BREE-vee-bas LOW-kums | Freedom Square, by the monument. |
| Doma laukums | DUO-ma LOW-kums | Cathedral Square. In native words the o is a slide, “uo”. |
| Daugava | DOW-ga-va | The river the city sits on. |
| Rīgas satiksme | REE-gas SA-tik-smeh | The transport operator, printed on every tram. |
| labdien | LAB-dyehn | Hello, in the polite form you use walking into an office. |
| paldies | PAL-dyehs | Thank you. The one word worth arriving with. |
The recordings are a Latvian neural voice, not a native speaker in a booth — close enough to copy, and honest about what it is. Nobody expects a visitor to get these right, and English works everywhere you are likely to go. Trying anyway is noticed.
What to do with the gap
between two meetings
Riga was founded in 1201 and ran as one of the key Hanseatic ports in Eastern Europe from the 13th to the 15th century. The whole historic centre has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997 — which is a way of saying you cannot waste a walk here.
The Art Nouveau streets
In the early 1900s Riga became the European city with the highest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture: around 50 buildings of high architectural value in the medieval part, and more than 300 across the rest of the historic centre. Alberta iela is the concentrated version, and it takes twenty minutes.
The skyline from the far bank
The medieval core sits on the right bank of the Daugava, and the church towers are the only tall things in it. Cross to the National Library side and the view UNESCO cites as part of the site's value is simply there, for free.
Lunch at the Central Market
Ten minutes from our office, inside former Zeppelin hangars. Faster than a restaurant, and considerably more interesting than a hotel lobby.
Two stars, four Bibs,
one small city
That is the MICHELIN Guide Latvia 2026 in one line: 34 restaurants across the country, and Riga holds both of the starred rooms, four of the five Bib Gourmands, and most of the selected list. Everything below except Max Cekot Kitchen sits inside about two kilometres — walkable, or five minutes in a Bolt.
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JOHN Chef's Hall
Ausekļa iela 22
One star · Modern · €€€€ · In the A22 hotel, north of the centre.
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Max Cekot Kitchen
Jelgavas iela 42
One star · Creative · €€€€ · Across the Daugava — the one on this list you take a car to.
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SMØR Bistro
Krišjāņa Valdemāra iela 27-29
Bib Gourmand · French, Scandinavian · €€ · Smørrebrød at lunch, Gallic classics at dinner. Michelin's Latvian Opening of the Year for 2026.
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Milda
Grēcinieku iela 26
Bib Gourmand · Traditional Latvian · €€ · Pelmeni, grey peas with bacon. Old Town, and the cheapest way to eat properly Latvian.
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Shōyu
Ausekļa iela 20
Bib Gourmand · Japanese, ramen · €€ · Next door to JOHN, at a fifth of the price.
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Snatch
Elizabetes iela 39
Bib Gourmand · Italian · €€
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Riviera
Dzirnavu iela 31
Selected · Mediterranean · €€ · More than a thousand bottles in the cellar — Michelin's 2026 Sommelier Award.
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Stage22
Aspazijas bulvāris 22
Selected · Asian, fusion · €€€ · In the Grand Hotel Kempinski, on the boulevard ring.
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Le Dome
Miesnieku iela 4
Selected · French · €€€ · In the Dome Hotel, a minute from the cathedral square.
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Seasons
Pils iela 12
Selected · Traditional · €€€ · In the Grand Palace Hotel. Michelin's 2026 Young Chef Award.
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3 Chefs
Torņa iela 4
Selected · Modern · €€€ · In the Jēkaba Arcade, by the old city wall.
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Entresol
Elizabetes iela 22
Selected · Modern · €€€
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Chef's Corner
Jeruzalemes iela 5
Selected · Modern · €€€
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The Catch
Dzirnavu iela 34
Selected · Izakaya · €€ · Sushi counter and robata grill in a vaulted cellar. Michelin's 2026 Service Award.
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Māsa
Dzirnavu iela 31
Selected · Modern · €€ · Local produce with Mediterranean and Asian turns.
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LOWINE
Dzirnavu iela 43
Selected · Modern · €€
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B7
Ausekļa iela 7
Selected · Modern · €€
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Neiburgs
Jauniela 25/27
Selected · Traditional · €€ · In the Old Town, in the hotel of the same name.
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BABO
Dzirnavu iela 42
Selected · Traditional · € · The only single-€ room on the guide's Riga list.
Both starred rooms are €€€€ and small — book before you fly. The Bib Gourmands sit at €€ and suit a working lunch.
Two offices you will
probably never walk into
The State Revenue Service
The VID client centre is at Talejas iela 1, well north of the centre — but on-site client services have been suspended across Latvia. Everything runs through the Electronic Declaration System, or the helpline. Do not build a day around visiting it.
The Register of Enterprises
Three minutes' walk from our office, and you still will not need to go: company documents are filed electronically, and where a signature has to be given in person it is given at a notary, not at the register's counter.
What a trip is actually for is the bank, the notary, and meeting the people who will run your file. Everything else we handle without you in the room.