Burn Riga - Hans. Date of travel: Jun 2008
They stole €2912 from my account in Riga. A heavenly trip ended up as a nightmare. I had the intention to go back with some friends but I will advise them to never ever visit Riga. Thanks to nightclub Doll near the Belgian Beer Cafe. A very very disappointed Belgian.

Riga is the Soho of London, only worse - Vantutti. Date of travel: Jun 2008
I have been living in Riga for nearly 4 years and I have to say Latvia is one of the worst countries I have every lived in. The have a real hatred for the British people, in fact anyone from most European countries. They put everyone in the bracket as a Ryanair Sex tourist. I had over 5 mobile phones stolen in 1 year, I had two jackets stolen in my entire stay. The Taxi drivers try and rip you off, In general their are two prices, one for locals and one for visitors and non citizens. I had a good circle of Ex Pat friends that kept me from going insane. 95% of the woman act like hookers and try and rip you off, they are only interested in you buying them drinks and stealing your money or anything they can get their hands on. I saw it time and time again where the girls meet a visitor in a normal club, he is buying her a drink and when his back is turned, she disappears to meet her boyfriend or girl friends. The other trick is they stay with you for an hour and say "Lets go to another club" She does not tell you she works their and you can end up with a bill between 2 to 10 thousand pounds. One Irish man this year had his card put through over 23 times, each transaction was around £120.00. I was a local resident and one bar Coyote Fly wouldn't let me in because I was English, I ended up in 2 fights with Russians because I was an English guy talking to a local girl. They say how bad the English are and yet they are all coming to the UK to work, use are education system, bleed our taxes with pushing up the NHS waiting lists, claiming tax credits for children that have never been born here or lived here. They don't add to the economy in the UK, because they send all their money back, claim back the tax they pay here in the UK, they are creating unemployment for the British worker, this is why would a British worker come off benefits for an extra £50 PW, the employers are taking full advantage of this. They also drive around in their flash cars they brought over from eastern Europe and avoid paying car tax. When I live in Latvia, if I did not work, I had no money, If I had to go and see a doctor I had to pay and the same with hospitals, perhaps we should take a leaf out of their book. I was self employed because they don't employ British people. I also found you always have to pay someone off to get anything done, i.e the counsels, police and government ministers. The minister said in the Latvian National Newspaper The Baltic Times, "All English People are Pigs" Imagine if Tony Blair or Gordon Brown made such a statement? Or if a bar or club refused you in the UK over your nationality? Here is a minister who represents his country saying that about English people, such an example for his country... I also don't understand why we are making such an effort for them with putting newspapers, website etc here in their own language for services in the UK. You could say this is discrimination because they then should do the same for Chinese, Indians, Germans, Italians and so on. If they cant read and write English then they should not be here. I would suggest you never go their and spend your money as they don't deserve it. Latvia is in the Guiness book for world records as the most unhappy people. What I tell you is fact not fiction and I saw it as a resident of Latvia. It is the epitome of filth and I would say save your cash and go somewhere else unless you want your fingers burnt and your body damaged.

Great time in Riga - Joe and Will. Date of travel: Jun 2008
We are two Dutch guys who visited Riga. We had a good time going to the clubs and bars, but also enjoying its buildings, terras and parks. We'd recommend anyone to find an apartment in the 'Old-Town'. It's very close to all the interesting things to see and do in Riga. Luckily we also came across a taxi-driver who brought us all over town to see the good clubs which are also tourist friendly (some clubs rip off tourists). He also showed us the places to visit and see in Riga during the day. We'd recommend everyone to give him a ring when you are in Riga and want to have a good time: Max, 00 371 26333248. Hope you will have as much fun in Riga as we did!

Riga - Peter. Date of travel: May 2008
I'm English and have lived in Riga on and off for five years. I have steadily grown to dislike the Latvian people’s ‘attitude’ intensely; they are racist to everybody non-Latvian and laugh at you if you try to speak their language. The government is as bent as any banana republic, the people are dishonest, rude and frankly don’t deserve your money. Good-bye Latvia.

Dear Brits - Juris. Date of travel: May 2008
Please, do not come to the most terrible place on the Earth called Latvia. Until You started to come here, we thought you are educated and intellectual gentlemen. We were wrong. You would never find any Latvians as annoying as British stags. They come to my country expecting everybody is whore or cheap beer server. But no offence! Be open hearted and hard and selfish Latvian heart will open to you.

Do not like Riga - don't go! - Edward. Date of travel: Apr 2008
I came to Riga thinking it was going to be a place like Prague. Unfortunately it's the worse place on earth I've been too, prices you get ripped off especially at a bar and club. The girls are too pretty like Pamela Anderson but greedy. Never go to Mademoiselle bar this the worse strip bar in the world, expensive ripped off by excess off 2000 pounds. The scenery is pretty in some places on the tour bus. But overall it is just a dump. Definitely would not recommend it to any English speaking people. They are only after your money- sorry! But if you're serious go and make your own opinion and see what you get! Good Bye RIGA for good!!

Riga = fraud - Nicolas. Date of travel: Apr 2008
If I had an advice to give about Latvia, It would be "don't go there". If you travel to Latvia to visit museum or anything else like that you won't have a lot of problems. If you go to Riga because you heard that it was a nice town to have fun. You are wrong. Everything is fraud in this country. Believe me I lost €3000 there and I didn't go there for sex, just to drink with some friends. I thought I was in security because I drank in a pub in the old town but I was wrong.

Riga is the pearl of the baltics - William. Date of travel: Mar 2008
I really enjoyed my week end in Riga. The old town is beautiful and very well preserved. I highly recommend to walk through Alberta street where gems of the Art Nouveau buildings can be seen. I stayed at Dodo Hotel, very nice rooms for very good price (I appreciated the free Wifi, more Western hotel should do the same!)

Spoiled by the sheer rudeness and bad manners of the locals - Raymond. Date of travel: Feb 2008
I was unpleasantly surprised by the rudeness of the locals in Latvia. They were extremely unfriendly to the point of hostility. There is no finesse to their character - they are brutal, with no manners. They are happy to fleece you of your money though, and prices are not much cheaper than the UK for many things. Ruined my trip. I don't think they realise that there are prettier and cheaper places to visit, with much nicer people, so I would not recommend visiting Riga on any level. The old town is actually not that pretty either, it's pock-marked with soviet era monstrosities. The tour guides also don't say that the pollution levels are very high and incidents of TB are at epidemic proportions. DO NOT GO!

Riga was an experience! - Joe. Date of travel: Feb 2008
I visited Riga last weekend with 4 mates, we didn't have the same bad experiences as most seemed to have. It's true they are not the friendliest or most mannerly people, even to each other. But we weren't knifed, shot, beaten up or robbed! We did find that they will try to make a little extra money from you (twice we were told we didn't pay for drinks when we did), but hey it's the same tourist trap everywhere you go!! Also found it good value for money. It's a beautiful city and would have been more so had it not rained most of the time!

I didn't love Latvia - Jimmy. Date of travel: Oct 2007
Riga is a truly beautiful city with a wealth of architecture and history. Unfortunately the reality is the Latvians don't want the British tourist there. I'm middle aged and travelled with my wife, we're both respectable and respect other peoples cultures but have never met a more miserable, ignorant race of people anywhere in the world and believe me, we have travelled. If you are part of a stag or hen party stay away because the police (uniformed thugs) take great delight in beating you up and demanding money. If you venture down by the railway station beware of muggers and pickpockets too, though you can experience this in any major city. One thing that will stay in my memory for ever is the number of very old people begging on the streets, the government has obviously forgotten the years of struggle these people have had or sinply don't care. Would I go to Latvia again? NO! absolutely not.

Latvians really, really, really hate British people - shoogg. Date of travel: Aug 2007
Never met people as unwelcoming as the Latvians. Be prepared to be treated like dog dirt everywhere you go.

Rambo with a Russian lisp - Big Gun Dave. Date of travel: Jul 2007
No visit to Riga is complete without a tour of the big gun shooting, a cocktail of guns in an ex-nuclear bunker in Riga. You can fire Uzis, AK47s, pump action guns, and a Glock 17 - Dirty Harry style! The best shot in your group wins a golden bullet. Riga itself is, of course, totally excellent and ever so slightly bonkers.

Riga with a smile - BalticExpert. Date of travel: Jul 2007
There have been a few negative comments on this site about Latvia and Latvians. Of course there are some moody, ignorant people but if you come here with the attitude that this is what you will find you are bound to end up with a bad experience. If you want to make the most of Riga and Latvia then I suggest you team up with Out-There.eu That way you will only experience the happy, friendly side of the city, which, after all, is the main reason to visit a new country or city in the first place. Check out: www.out-there.eu

Riga - Joe Gallacher. Date of travel: May 2007
I found Riga to be a nice location for a break away. It is unfortunate, however, that there are so many horrible people in the city. I have never felt so unsafe in my life (I am 6ft 2 and 16 stone) due to so many people attempting to rob or beat us up. My friend was held up with a group brandishing a gun, another was held up with a knife, another severly beaten up and to top it all off three of us had our credit cards cloned. We found the people of Riga to be extremely unfriendly and unhelpful. Everywhere we went we were ripped off. Horrible, horrible, horrible place.

Dump and full of very very rude people - Simon. Date of travel: Dec 2006
Hated Riga and will never return. The latvians are extremley rude and obnoxious. You'd have thought this very poor country would enjoy the fact people are starting to visit their country and spend money. Not in the slighest. If you brush past someone, you get the middle finger. Dont try smiling at someone as you'll get a horrible look. If you buy something you'll get the change thrown in your face. Sorry, but I found it overrated, the so called nightlife is ok but I've been to thousands of better places.