I love seeing a city from above, it’s such a good way to get familiar with your surroundings, especially when you’ve just arrived in that city and luckily there are 4 amazing viewpoints in Riga to visit!
Here’s all the information you need to visit these Riga Viewpoints and get epic, panoramic views over Riga!
Viewpoints in Riga
1. St. Peter’s Church
I would recommend going to this Riga Viewpoint first!
Firstly the church is perfectly located in the middle of Riga’s Old Town so it’s easy to find. Secondly it gives a great and beautiful 360 view over the town old river and generally, the whole city so you’ll be able to plan your things to do in Riga from here!
Go straight into the church, buy a ticket for €9.00. You’ll be pointed towards a set of stairs before waiting for the lift to take you all the way up. The guy that works in the lift is so nice and warns you that it does shake a bit towards the top, but don’t worry, its okay! Take in this Riga viewpoint and make sure you get the iconic shot of the Old Town all looking colourful with its gingerbread-like houses!
2. Latvian Academy of Sciences – Panorama Observation Deck
If there was ever a really unique viewpoint in Riga. This is it!
Firstly, it’s an awesome viewpoint located on the 17th floor, 65 meters high and it looks over all of Riga.
In terms of what you can see, it is better than St Mark’s I think as it’s possible to see more, plus the viewing deck is very spacious! From up there its possible to see many many church spires, Riga’s TV tower- the third largest in Europe. You can see onto the markets close by, over onto the old town and onto the other side of the river. It’s also an interesting way of seeing how parts of Riga seem so different in terms of wealth and development, yet they are so close to each other.
Now its talk about the building itself as as I said, its very unique! The building is the Adacemy of Sciences and a symbol of the Soviet era which is very easy to see. It was built in honor of the Communist leader Stalin, finished in about 1961. I read that its called ‘Stalin’s Birthday Cake’ and this truly did give me shivers as I got up close and entered the building!
It states that the Riga viewpoint is open dawn to dusk and it costs €5.00 to enter. There’s a lift to the 15th floor and after that you need to walk up 2 flights of stairs. Be sure not to miss this wiewpoint in Riga!
For more information on the best things to do in Riga and best places to eat in Riga read my Full Guide to Riga here!
3. Riga Skyline Bar
For an evening viewpoint in Riga, head to the Skyline Bar located on the 26th floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel.
It’s well located, just a short walk out of the Old Town and the building isn’t hard to miss.
There may be a €3.00 or €5.00 entry charge depending on when you visit and cocktails start from €6.50 so its nice to make an evening of it.
Make sure you look out for the impressive Riga Nativity of Christ Cathedral below you and out of all of the viewpoints in Riga, this is the one you should plan for sunset!
4. National Library of Latvia
This is another unique Riga viewpoint to be honest. It’s definitely the least spectacular in terms of the 4 viewpoints in Riga I have noted in this post but I think it’s worth visiting because the library itself is one of the good places to visit inn Riga!
The library is located on the other side of the river to the Old Town and the 3 buildings I have noted in this post so its nice to have the excuse to cross the river. The building is very modern and looks a bit like a boat. On entry you are asked to hang your coat up which is free and store your bags in a locker which requires a €1.00 coin but you get the coin back when you open the locker. I went in the middle of Winter so it was actually quite nice to take off my heavy coat, bag and layers to feel a bit more free.
Get a visitor badge from reception and say you are going to the viewpoint and take the lift to the top floor possible.
The windows at the viewpoint do have dots on them which is a bit annoying, especially for photo taking but it’s still a good view when you look with just your eyes!
What I loved about this Riga viewpoint was being able to look in the opposite direction of the Old Town to again, see a real side of Riga that isn’t the iconic and touristy Old Town.
After you have finished at this Riga viewpoint, take a slow walk down the building as some of the floors are more museum like and quite interesting. There is also a nice cafe and restaurant on the ground floor and we had a nice coffee and cake there before heading back over the river!
I hope you manage to visit all of these panorama viewpoints in Riga, Latvia!