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My Shore Excursion
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Best of Riga Shore Excursion

  • Private tour
  • Duration: 4 h
  • Moderate walking
  • Multiple languages

Overview

Riga was a Hanseatic trading city before it was anything else, and it shows twice over: in the medieval lanes of guild houses and merchants’ homes that UNESCO listed in 1997, and in the boulevards outside them, where the money of the 1900s went into the greatest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture in Europe. This four-hour tour takes in both.

The tour covers:

  • The Art Nouveau quarter and the Eisenstein facades on Alberta street
  • The Freedom Monument, the Opera and the Daugava riverbank
  • The old town, the guild halls, Riga Castle and the Powder Tower
  • Riga Cathedral and its organ of 6,718 pipes
  • The House of the Blackheads, the Three Brothers and the Cat House

Please note that the tour order and the time spent at each venue may vary.

What you will see

  • Four hours with a private guide and an air-conditioned car
  • More Art Nouveau facades than any other city in Europe
  • The medieval old town, a UNESCO site of guilds and merchants
  • The House of the Blackheads, rebuilt from photographs in 2001
  • Free time for coffee and shopping in the old lanes

Itinerary

  1. Meeting by the ship

    Meeting by the ship. The start time of the tour is given approximately and will be adjusted depending on your ship arrival time. The exact meeting time will be specified on your confirmation letter.

  2. City drive

    A drive through the boulevards of the 19th-century centre, past the National Opera, the Freedom Monument of 1935, whose figure of Milda holds up three stars for the historic regions of Latvia, the wooded Bastion Hill along the old moat, the University of Latvia and the bank of the Daugava.

  3. Art Nouveau quarter

    A walk through the Art Nouveau quarter around Alberta and Elizabetes streets. About a third of the buildings in central Riga are in the style, more than in any other city in Europe, most of them put up in a building boom between 1899 and 1914. The richest facades are by Mikhail Eisenstein, father of the film director, and are loaded with masks, screaming faces, peacocks, sphinxes and geometric ornament.

  4. Old town walking tour

    A walk into the medieval town, which UNESCO listed in 1997. Riga was founded in 1201 by Bishop Albert and grew rich in the Hanseatic League, and the lanes still hold the buildings of that trade: the Great and Small Guilds, St Jacob's Church, Riga Castle of 1330, now the president's residence, and the Powder Tower, the last of the towers of the city wall.

  5. Riga Cathedral

    Riga Cathedral on the largest square in the old town, begun in 1211 and the biggest medieval church in the Baltic states. Its organ, built by Walcker in 1884 with 6,718 pipes, was the largest in the world at the time and still draws organists from everywhere.

  6. Town Hall Square

    The House of the Blackheads on Town Hall Square, first recorded in 1334 as the guild house of unmarried foreign merchants. Bombed in 1941 and levelled by the Soviet authorities, it was rebuilt from photographs and drawings for the city's 800th anniversary in 2001. The Three Brothers nearby are the oldest dwelling houses in the country, the eldest of them from about 1490, and the Cat House carries the two black cats a merchant is said to have turned rump-first towards the guild that would not admit him.

  7. Free time

    Half an hour of your own for coffee, amber and other local shopping

  8. Return to the ship

    The drive back to the cruise port

Price includes

  • English speaking guide for 4 hours; other languages are available upon request
  • Transportation in a A/C vehicle for 4 hours
  • Pick up and drop off in the port

Not included

  • Lunch
  • Tips (recommended tips for guide: 10% of the tour cost, for driver: 5% of the tour cost)

Meeting point

The meeting point is located inside the cruise port area. Please, make sure to read disembarkation instructions sent through email with other documentation.

Prices

PeoplePrice per person
1€459
2€229
3€165
4€124
5€99
6€98
7€91
8€79
PeoplePrice per person
9€71
10€64
11€58
12€53
13€49
14€45
15€44
16€42

Good to know

Visas and tour tickets

US and EU citizens need no visa or tour ticket to come ashore in Riga.

Payment
  • A deposit of 50% is due when you book.
  • The balance is due on the day of the tour, in cash (euros) or by credit card.
  • Full payment is due when you book a single excursion.
  • You receive a confirmation as soon as your online payment goes through.
Cancellation
  • Tell us in writing if you or anyone in your party cancels a confirmed booking.
  • Deposits are refunded in full up to 72 hours before the tour.
  • Deposits are not refunded within 72 hours of the tour.
  • No refund is given for a no-show.
Availability and notes
  • Ask us about availability at least 48 hours before your ship reaches the port.
  • The schedule is adjusted to the arrival time of your ship.
  • The tour is not suitable for guests with limited mobility.
  • Contact us first if you travel with a wheelchair or a mobility scooter.
Tips and discounts
  • Children aged 7 to 17 and students pay 10% less.
  • Tips are not included in the price.
  • We suggest about 15% in total, split as 10% for your guide and 5% for your driver.
  • Please carry some cash for this, though tipping is always your choice.

Book this tour

from €42 / person

Estimated total €458

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