Riga Old Town

Riga's old town is a compact tangle of medieval streets and Hanseatic wealth, its skyline pricked by three great church spires and its squares ringed with guild halls and merchant houses. It is the historic core of a UNESCO-listed city that also holds the finest art nouveau district in Europe just to the north.

What you actually see

• House of the Blackheads - the ornate Dutch-gabled guild hall on Town Hall Square, rebuilt after the war.
• Riga Cathedral and St Peter's - the great churches; St Peter's tower has a lift to a city view.
• The Three Brothers - the oldest surviving dwelling houses in the city, side by side.
• The Swedish Gate and city walls - fragments of the medieval fortifications and the powder tower.

When to go

Summer for open squares and long evenings; December for a small, traditional Christmas market on Doma Square. Early morning gives you the cobbles almost to yourself before the tour groups arrive.

Honest expectations

Much of the old town was destroyed in the war and carefully rebuilt, so some landmarks are faithful reconstructions rather than survivors. The core is small and, around Town Hall Square, heavily geared to visitors. The art nouveau district a few streets north is the thing many people remember most.

Nearby

The Alberta iela art nouveau quarter is a ten-minute walk; the Central Market and its zeppelin hangars sit just beyond the old town's southern edge.