Honest tour of Riga with the best private guide in town

Experience an honest and objective tour of Riga with the best private guide in town. Discover the good, bad, and the ugly of the city while exploring must-see sights and enjoying a customizable itinerary. Book now!

Duration: 5 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Old City Riga (Vecriga) - This is the oldest part of Riga, here you’ll see the history - how the city of Riga and nation of Latvians formed during last 8 centuries. The most important medieval churches, merchants’ houses, parts of fortification systems and even last few residential buildings of simple people that have survived from medieval times….
What's Included
  • All tour costs included except for coffee/snacks at breaks.
Additional Information

Exclusive exploration of top attractions with Riga’s best* private tour guide
Every location has its highlights and lowlights, and often, only one aspect is portrayed. In our tours, we strive for transparency and balance, not neglecting the essence of a local perspective. While a 4-5 hour duration, inclusive of a coffee break, may appear stretched, such…

Location
Alberta laukums
Right in the middle of the Albert Square - since it's not a busy place, we'll find each other easily. (Some maps don't have it marked, in such cases use the address Vecpilsētas street 19)
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(34 Ratings)
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833bee
Jul 29, 2024
Outstanding. Really outstanding - I just can’t heap enough praise on this tour or on Harijs - I’ve done a lot of walking tours in a lot of cities and this is one of the very best, as is Harijs. Witty, informative, entertaining and at times also moving, he was even better than his reviews. He customised our itinerary as we all wanted to add some tastings at Central Market and he made it incredibly simple to do that - he was very quick and easy to communicate with during and after the booking process - and throughout the tour itself responded so willingly to our questions and digressions, clearly adding more information and expanding on things as he - and we- saw where our interests lay. He was very funny and utterly engaging. Some of what he told us was also deeply moving and we ended up with a real understanding of the history of Latvia and particularly what the inter- and post-war decades have meant to its people, and even how it felt to live through some of them. He brought Riga, its life, its culture, its history vividly and often hilariously to life, and he made the rest of our time in the city immeasurably richer. His mother and some of his friends are completely right - he absolutely is the best private guide of Riga. Book him today - you know you want to, and you definitely should.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
885sashas
Aug 28, 2023
Excellent tour, wonderful guide! - Our group of 12 spent two days with Harijs, touring Sigulda and Riga's Old Town, and had a wonderful experience. He designed the two days of touring based on our initial input, and continued to be flexible throughout the two days, as we made requests to adjust the schedule and work in one or two changes. We saw a broad range of Riga's highlights, and learned a ton about Latvian history. And we also got a great sense for modern Latvian culture, attitudes, and what life has felt like for the local population during the last couple years. Oh, and we got a taste of Latvia while visiting the market! Harijs was funny, engaging, and the many hours we spent with him seemed to pass very quickly, as his storytelling made the experience a lot of fun. He conducted the tour in flawless English, and was also comfortable switching to Russian for those in our group who speak it. And his love for Latvia came through constantly, even when undercut by his self-deprecating humor about the "lowly" achievements of his little country (e.g. in the olympics, as he introduced us to one of only ~10 bobsled tracks operating anywhere in the world). He clearly loves his country, and nowhere was that more evident than in the closing stages of our Riga Tour when he recounted the history of the Barricades, Latvians' heroic confrontation with Soviet forces sent to clamp down on Latvia's declared independence. Tour logistics were handled smoothly (coordinating a bus for us, managing the timing, breaks, etc.) throughout, and the whole experience worked well for kids and adults in our group. We would absolutely recommend Harijs to anyone looking for a great guide and a great tour, and we'd happily use Honest Tours again in the future!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Chris
Aug 21, 2023
Honest Tour Riga, Anete - I was in a group of eight friends, Anete greeted us and apologised for the change of plan in guide. Anete needn't have apologised, as she did an amazing job of showing us around Old Town and explaining the history of the sights, attractions and rich architecture. Everyone in the group was delighted with the experience and impressed with how well Anete kept us informed, engaged and interested, using personal stories from her life and even surprised us with a lovely singing voice to add colour to tour. Thank you to Anete from everyone in our group, Chris.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
205boriss
Aug 15, 2023
The experience could not be better - My extended family (3 generations) spent two fantastic days in the company of (without any doubt) the best private guide in Riga. And to say that Harijs is the best is really to say nothing. He is very knowledgable, very passionate about Latvia and its history, very attentive, has a very nice sense of humor, and has an absolutely great personality. It is possible to list another half a dozen "very" with other Harij's' qualities but it still. will not be enough to describe how good he is. From the very beginning before we even arrived in Latvia when I was arranging the tours Harijs was very helpful with suggestions on how to fit as much as possible into the two days of sightseeings. He combined the historic tour of Riga with the Taste of Riga tour and hired a minibus for the second day to show our group of 12 people Sigulda, the Turaida castle, and a lot of other places in the Latvian Switzerland as the Sigulda area is sometimes called. Although some in our group used to live in Riga and thought that we knew the city well, a lot of facts that we learned from Harijs were new for us. Harijs's English was perfect. And last but not least he was very flexible and accommodating to our requests during the tours although this extended the length of the tours and the time that he spent with us. To those reading this review I can give only one advice: if you want to have the best private guide in Riga go with Harijs. You will not regret!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Barbara
Aug 6, 2023
Great tour with Hariys - Hariys was absolutely the best! He is very knowledgeable about his city and very passionate about his country. It was very pleasant to learn about the Art Noveau buildings - something I knew very little about. He managed to get me inside one of the buildings to look at the amazing staircase. He gave a lot of good information about Latvia and the current political climate. He even walked me back to the ship, which was a blessing, as for some reason, I seem to have got lost at a lot of the ports on this trip. I really enjoyed my walk with Hariys and highly recommend it for anybody who wants to learn about Riga and Latvia.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nigel
Jul 17, 2023
An unforgettable experience. - Harijs’ passion for his country and his depth of knowledge gave us an eye opening few hours and memories which will last a long time. We visited Riga primarily to see the Art Nouveau buildings, but ended up learning so much more. Very highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Trek14271516994
Jul 12, 2023
Thank you, Eva! - We spent amazing 3.5 hours with Eva. She is very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and has a very warm personality which creates a special atmosphere. Both, my husband and I, enjoyed our tour very much and fell in love with Riga.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
246steel
Jun 5, 2023
Personalized and Tailored Tour - Harijs has good communication skills and was very good at personalizing his tour and tailoring stops and discussions to our interests. We had lots of questions and he took the time to answer thoroughly without watching the clock. He ended up spending quite a bit more time with us than promised in his tour description to ensure that we got all of our questions answered, but still didn't miss out on seeing anything.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Daniellm7666ys
Jun 5, 2023
A very Honest tour of Riga - Harijs, the guide, met me at my hotel on time an immediately started the tour. He was able to share his great knowledge of Latvia and Riga's history but he was also able to share personal experiences and stories that made the tour even more personal. In four hours we covered a lot of the landmarks and attractions in Riga both inside and outside the old town. I would highly recommend using Harijs to help you get the most from your visit to Riga.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Yevgeniya_b
May 31, 2023
Honest tour of Riga is honestly the best! - This tour was just amazing! For this very reasonable price we got a very high quality experience. Totally private and was almost 5 hours long !!!!! . The guide is really knowledgeable and the time flew by so fast. We all enjoyed the Riga tour ( including our 9 years old daughter). I would very highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Viator