How much does Riga cost per day in 2026?

Budget €35-45/day ($40-52). A hostel dorm in Vecrīga runs €12-18/night. Lunch at Lido, the Latvian self-service chain, costs €4-6 for a full plate. Dinner at a šašliku grill on Avotu iela or Čaka iela comes to €5-7. Two Rīgas Satiksme bus rides at €1.15 each on an e-card, and a half-liter of Užavas lager at Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs on Peldu iela costs €3-4. Midrange €80-100/day ($93-116). A three-star hotel near Centrs station runs €50-70/night, lunch €10-12, dinner with wine €20-30, one museum €5-7. Luxury €200+/day ($233+). Grand Hotel Kempinski or Hotel Bergs at €150-250/night, fine dining at €60-80 per person, taxis everywhere. The midrange bracket is where most Riga trip reports land. One thing to factor in. Restaurant prices across Latvia rose roughly 25% between 2022 and 2025, so guidebook figures from that era run low.

The cheapest reliable meals in Riga are at Lido, a local self-service chain with 7 locations. The biggest, Lido Atpūtas Centrs on Krasta iela 76, is a log-cabin complex near the Daugava that feels like a food court crossed with a Latvian folk museum. The warm bread smell hits from 10 meters out. You point at trays of buckwheat porridge, pork schnitzel, sauerkraut, and beet soup behind glass, and a full plate with a drink costs €5-6. Skip the Lido on Kaļķu iela inside Old Town. Same food, 20-30% markup. The Centrāltirgus (Central Market) at Nēģu iela 7 occupies five pavilions built from Zeppelin hangars in the 1930s. The fish pavilion sells smoked sprats for €2-3 per bag, cold and sharp with brine. The dairy pavilion has local Jaunpils cheese and dark rye bread for under €4 combined. For a sit-down Latvian meal outside the tourist zone, look east of Brīvības iela in the Quiet Centre. Grey peas with smoked bacon (pelēkie zirņi) cost €5-7 at a neighborhood place, heavy and peppery with a salt-forward finish.

Rīgas Satiksme runs buses, trams, and trolleybuses across the city. A single ride on a green e-card costs €1.15. Buying a paper ticket from the driver costs €2.00, a 74% markup for not having the card. The day pass is €5, and it only breaks even after 5 rides. Most budget travelers staying in Vecrīga or the Quiet Centre won't hit that in a day. The walk from Riga Cathedral (founded 1201) to the Freedom Monument (1935) takes 8 minutes. Mikhail Eisenstein's ornamental apartment buildings on Alberta iela are 15 minutes north of the Monument on foot. Buy single e-tickets instead of the day pass. The e-card costs €2, refundable when you return it. Airport bus Nr. 22 runs from RIX to the center for €1.15 on the same card, every 10-15 minutes, taking about 30 minutes total. Bolt, the Estonian ride-hail app, charges €8-12 from the airport to Old Town. Skip the metered taxi rank outside RIX Arrivals, where the same trip runs €15-20.

The best parts of Riga cost nothing. The Freedom Monument on Brīvības iela, the Art Nouveau facades on Alberta iela and Elizabetes iela, the Saturday market at Kalnciema Quarter with live music and local food stalls, and the Central Market are all free. Riga Cathedral charges €3 to enter. The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia (founded 1993) runs on voluntary donations, which currently means free. St. Peter's Church tower elevator costs €9 for the 72-meter platform, and the view over red tile rooftops and the Daugava is the one paid sight in Old Town that earns its price on a clear afternoon. The Latvian National Museum of Art on Kr. Valdemāra iela charges €6, with free entry on the last Sunday of each month. Riga Motor Museum (founded 1989) on S. Eizenšteina iela costs €10, but it sits 8 km east of Vecrīga, so add a bus fare and 40 minutes each way. Pick one paid attraction per day and the admissions line adds €5-9 to your daily budget.