With kids · Riga · Latvia
Riga with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0
Quick answer
Riga is relaxed with children: Old Riga's lanes are traffic-free, parks run along the city canal, and the zoo, Open-Air Museum, Motor Museum and Jūrmala beaches fill longer stays. Cobbles make pushchairs bumpy in the Old Town. Top picks: Mežaparks and Riga Zoo, Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum and Riga Motor Museum. Families usually base themselves in City Centre.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 6
- Best area for families
- City Centre
- Rainy-day options
- 1
- Busiest months
- July
Best things to do with kids
Zoo · Mežaparks
1.Mežaparks and Riga Zoo
Founded in 1912, Riga Zoo sits among the pines of the Mežaparks garden suburb beside Lake Ķīšezers, with a tropical house, giraffes and northern species. The surrounding forest park has walking and cycling paths, playgrounds and the huge open-air stage used for the national Song and Dance Festival.
Take tram 11 from the centre and pack a picnic for the lake shore afterwards.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Museum · Jugla
2.Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum
Founded in 1924 on the wooded shore of Lake Jugla, this is one of Europe's oldest open-air museums, with farmsteads, windmills, fishermen's houses and wooden churches moved from every region of Latvia. Craftspeople work in the buildings in summer, and its annual crafts fair is one of the biggest in the country.
Go on the first weekend of June for the crafts fair, or around Midsummer for traditional celebrations.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Architecture
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Museum · Mežciems
3.Riga Motor Museum
Reopened in 2016 in a modern building in the eastern suburbs, the museum displays cars and motorbikes from the early 1900s onwards, including vehicles used by Soviet leaders, among them a Rolls-Royce crashed by Leonid Brezhnev. Interactive displays make it popular with children.
Allow time for the Soviet-era section, which is the most unusual part of the collection.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- History
Park · City Centre
4.City canal and Bastejkalns park
The curving city canal follows the line of the old fortifications between Old Riga and the boulevard district, edged by a chain of parks with footbridges, fountains and the small hill of Bastejkalns. Small boats run canal-and-river cruises in the warmer months, and couples hang padlocks on the bridges.
Take a one-hour canal cruise in summer for a different angle on the Old Town and the Daugava.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Couples
- Kids
Market · Moscow Suburb
5.Riga Central Market
Opened in 1930, Riga's Central Market occupies five enormous pavilions built from German zeppelin hangars of the First World War, each devoted to meat, fish, dairy, vegetables or gastronomy, with outdoor stalls of flowers, berries and mushrooms around them. It is one of the largest markets in Europe and a good place to taste smoked fish and rye bread.
Visit in the morning, try the smoked fish in the fish pavilion and keep valuables zipped away in the crowds.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Food
- Free
- History
- Rainy day
Neighbourhood · Old Riga
6.Old Riga walk
The UNESCO-listed medieval core packs guild halls, churches and merchants' houses into narrow lanes between the Daugava and the city canal. A loop from Town Hall Square takes in Līvu laukums with the Great and Small Guild halls, the Cat House with its arched-back cats on the turrets, the Swedish Gate of 1698 and the long yellow Jacob's Barracks on Torņa iela, ending at the Powder Tower.
Walk early in the morning or in the evening, and follow Jēkaba iela and Mazā Pils iela for quieter lanes.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Free
- History
- Architecture
- Photo spot
Rainy-day ideas
- Riga Motor Museum — Allow time for the Soviet-era section, which is the most unusual part of the collection.
Where families should stay
$$ · Best for first-timers, shopping and families
City Centre
The centre beyond the canal is laid out along wide 19th-century boulevards around Brīvības iela, with the Freedom Monument, the Bastejkalns and Esplanāde parks, Vērmanes Garden and the Nativity of Christ Cathedral. It has many mid-range and international hotels, theatres and shopping streets such as Tērbatas iela, and is a short walk from both Old Riga and the Quiet Centre.
- Good
- Central with parks nearby; Wide choice of hotels at fair prices; Easy airport bus access
- Watch out
- Busy roads along the boulevards; Less historic charm than Old Riga
- Nearby
- Freedom Monument, Vērmanes Garden, Nativity of Christ Cathedral, Latvian National Opera
Family travel tips
- The Jūrmala beaches have shallow water and wide sand, good for young children in July and August.
- Vērmanes Garden and the Esplanāde in the centre have playgrounds and space to run.
- The Laima Chocolate Museum on Miera iela runs workshops where children decorate their own chocolates.
- Many restaurants have children's menus and high chairs; Lido buffets make it easy to let children choose.
- Pack rain gear in summer, when sudden heavy showers are common.
Day trips for families
- Jūrmala (About 30 minutes by train) — A string of resort towns along a long, white-sand beach backed by pine forest, with hundreds of carved wooden villas.
- Sigulda and the Gauja valley (About 1 hour 15 minutes by train) — Sigulda sits above the forested Gauja river valley in Gauja National Park.
- Cēsis (About 1 hour 45 minutes by train) — One of Latvia's oldest towns, with the ruins of a 13th-century Livonian Order castle whose dark towers visitors explore by candle lantern, a cobbled old town and access to the sandstone cliffs of Gauja National Park.
- Ķemeri National Park (About 1 hour by train plus a walk) — The Great Ķemeri Bog boardwalk loops over a raised peat bog dotted with pools and stunted pines, with an observation tower over the landscape.
When to go with children
The best months overall are May–September. July is the busiest, so book the big sights early. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Riga good for kids?
Riga is relaxed with children: Old Riga's lanes are traffic-free, parks run along the city canal, and the zoo, Open-Air Museum, Motor Museum and Jūrmala beaches fill longer stays. Cobbles make pushchairs bumpy in the Old Town.
+What can kids do in Riga?
Mežaparks and Riga Zoo, Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, Riga Motor Museum, City canal and Bastejkalns park and Riga Central Market.
+Where should families stay in Riga?
City Centre: Boulevards, parks and shopping streets between the Freedom Monument and Vērmanes Garden.