The Ultimate Riga Stag Do Guide 2023

It’s number one for a reason. Like inadvertently stepping into a scene from The Hangover, Studio 69 in the Royal Casino, Spa and Hotel Resort is Riga’s answer to a Vegas mega club. As soon as you walk through those doors, you’ll know you’re in for the night of your life; palatious indoor fountains, lad pad chesterfield sofas, a plush in-house casino and a massive nightclub with fit girls dancing on the podiums in their bikinis. Despite your exclusive surroundings, your average round will cost you about half of what it would back in England, so you can live the life of a baller on a budget. Open until 6am on Fridays and Saturdays, this is the ultimate stag do club.

As soon as you spot the 10 foot guitar, you’ll know you’ve hit the jackpot. Located in a former museum, Rock Cafe is the multi-storey, multi-room bar in Riga Old Town, with every single nook and cranny filled with entertainment. The quirky bar has live bands performing within the vault-like rooms, a karaoke area, pool tables and lots of different bars dotted around the floors – meaning queues are short and drinking time is long – cheers to that.

Buenos dias amigos. Slap bang in the heart of Riga’s Old Town, Cuba Cafe brings a slice of la vida Latino to your Riga stag do. This authentic and exotic bar may specialise in fancy cocktails, but its huge range of beers aren’t to be sniffed at and its lively Latino music will have your hips shimmying to that salsa rhythm (no, it’s not just the drink making you sway). Local DJs showcase their talents at nightly events here and regularly remix current chart toppers with Cuban undertones – trust us, it’s better than it sounds. There’s even a spacious outdoor terrace where you can have a breather and rest those dancing shoes.

Call us telepathic, but we recon you’re after some shots. Located on the edge of the Old Town, Shot Cafe has over 100 different kinds of shots, including everything from your standard Jagerbombs, to your more experimental – but equally potent – ‘Sex in a Volkswagen’. The tunes blasted through the speakers are sure to get you up and dancing as soon as that alcohol is running through your bloodstream. LNOF top tip: be nice to the bar staff or they’ll make you a ‘burning shotgun’ which is, in fact, as bad as it sounds.

Named twice so you won’t forget it, this nightclub and concert house is Riga’s number one (literally) venue for electronic music. Taking inspiration from the huge dance clubs of Berlin and the edgy hipster vibe of East London, it also showcases the very best in techno, minimal techno and house music, whipping crowds up into a whirlwind of bassy beats and hypnotic lighting. The spacious loft-like interiors will make you feel like you’re in the most comfortable of house parties, and will encourage you to shake those inhibitions and let loose on the dancefloor.

The three little words you need to know on your Riga stag do are I and Love and You. Behind its unassuming, traditionally Latvian exterior, this bar houses one of the coolest and most friendly bars in the whole of Riga. The plush seating areas with large couches and hefty drinks menu – including gin cocktails and local craft beers – ensure that once you’ve been, you’ll want to go back and back. If you’re after your musical fix, you’ll be pleased to know that I Love You even has its own small record label, making it the ideal spot to discover your new favourite artist or band. Not that we like to name drop, but the likes of Kings of Convenience and Sigur Ros have both performed here before they got famous.

HHC is your spirit animal. You’re on a stag do in Riga, so you’re resigned to the fact that you’re going to have one almighty hangover come the morning after (sorry, not sorry). Welcome to the Hardcore Hangover Club – you’re the latest recruits. This place, known affectionately as HHC to its friends, has two rooms - plenty of chill-out space in the back and a party room with a huge dancefloor and DJ table in the front. They serve up everything from locally brewed beers, to the slightly more expensive Brengulu on draught, but prices for single drinks never go over €5, meaning you can get tanked up for less.

You can pretend you want to soak up all of the local culture as much as you want, but sometimes your home comforts are just exactly what you’re after. It’s time to meet your best mate, Paddy Whelan – living in Riga but he’s an Irishman at heart, and invites you all to his cosy local for a night with the boys. Screening live sports on big screens and serving up some of the very best world light beers, dark beers, popular lagers, ales, stouts and 30 bottled brands of cider. And that’s not all, every Friday and Saturday night, from 11pm – 1am, you’ll get a third of the price knocked off any round of drinks. Cheers, Paddy.

If you like to stray away from the norm, you need to head to Riga’s Kalnciema Quarter. Just half an hour from the centre of Riga, this cool area is home to some pretty impressive 19th century buildings and regularly plays host to some edgy events in the area. With open air concerts showcasing the best in young rock, jazz and classical talent, quirky art exhibitions and lively outdoor market stalls on Saturdays, some of which even serve traditional Latvian bevs, it’s a great spot to head to for a bit of culture through the day.

You simply can’t go to Riga and not experience the thrill of a go on the Sigulda Bobsleigh and Luge Track. Opened in 1986, this Olympic standard track is 1,200 metres and features 16 curves – meaning you can reach speeds of up to 125km/hour, so hold on tight. It’s also one of the only tracks in the world which is accessible to both professional athletes and visitors to the city – book your spot here.

Affectionately known as ‘Milda’ (impress the locals with that nugget), Riga’s most well-known tourist attraction has to be Freedom Monument. Towering above the Old Town and central Riga, this granite and copper structure honours soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence. Considered an important symbol of freedom, without what that tower stands for, you wouldn’t even be considering Riga for your stag do.

Regardless of whether you’re heading to Riga for a massive p*ss up, or just to take in some of the local culture and admire the unique, Eastern European architecture – you’ll be spending a lot of time in Riga’s Old Town. As well as being the oldest section of Riga (included in the UNESCO World Heritage List), it’s home to Riga Cathedral and St. Peter’s Church, which offers breathtaking views of Riga from its 72 metre observational tower.

Probably the most recognisable building in the whole of Riga is the Nativity Cathedral, with its cool dome-shaped peaks and unusual façade. It’s one of the most prominent buildings which you can spot from Radisson Blu’s Skyline bar, as well as on your walk to the Old Town. It’s also super close to Freedom Monument, meaning that you can tick two things off your Riga cultural list at once and tell the missus that she was wrong about what goes down on stag dos… well, sort of.

We totally forgive you if sunshine, palm trees and golden sands aren’t the image you conjure when you first think of Riga, but just a few miles out of Riga, you’ll come across the untouched paradise that is Jurmala Beach. There are some seriously cool beach bars lining the seafront, accompanied by panoramic white sands and beautiful Latvian women sunbathing. Temperatures average around 30°C in the summer, so ticking this off your cultural list will be no hardship.

Despite the gross images that its name conjures, Riga’s House of Blackheads is pretty spectacular. Built in 1334, this palace like building was once used for upper class merchants for meetings and banquets – beats the function room of a Travelodge, ay? Basically, it is what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, so make sure to whack it down on your ‘must see’ list. It’s in Riga’s Old Town, so you’ll pass it when you’re bar hopping anyway.

Impressive in any season, at any time of the day or night, Town Hall Square is one of the main squares in Riga. During WWII, this area was heavily bombed and subsequently destroyed, but has been completely reconstructed and painstakingly restored to its former glory. It is home to the aforementioned House of Blackheads, as well as the reconstructed Town Hall and other impressive structures, as well as some pretty awesome Christmas markets in the festive season.

If you’re into your history, you must check this out. Built in 1698, when Sweden took over the city, the Swedish Gate and old city walls are the only structure in the Old Town that has its original features preserved, untouched by WWII bombings. Plus, it’s in the Old Town so you can casually check it out as you’re flitting between bars. Interestingly, the apartment located above the Swedish Gate used to belong to the city’s executioner, who would put a red rose in his window, the night before an execution.

You thought those strip clubs and rowdy bars were packed with wild animals? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. If you need a break from the 24-hour drinking session, a good way to clear your heads is getting back to basics with a trip to the zoo. Packed to the rafters with around 4,000 animals of nearly 500 species, you can become one of the 300,000 annual visitors to the zoo. You can get here by taking Tram 11 from the city centre.