Riga Warnings Or Dangers

as someone who enjoyed there stay, i feel obliged to fire from the hip and advise any british people of the culture shock you WILL get.
1. smiles dont come easy from the locals, unless your in a bar
2. get ready for the constant shoulder barging whilst walking around
3. dont expect anyone to hold doors open for you,also, dont expect a thank you or smile if you open the door for anyone else.
4. no one lines up for anything, toilets, clubs, shops, so dont bother yourself.
5. get a really big feeling that tourists, or mainly english people are not welcome here.
6. watch your mouth! no one talks on the buses ,as soon as you open your mouth, you will be centre of attraction, and i dont think in a good way.
7. keep your hands on your money in your pockets
8. for gods sake, if your out drinking, make sure you dont end up on your own whilst pissed!, this is definately a place where the walls have eyes,
9. keep away from any bars or clubs (especialy strip clubs) where you have to go downstairs to gain entry, from the bouncer to the rats, there all in on it as soon as you enter.

If like us you chose to visit Riga later on in the year then Be Prepared for Cold and Snowy weather !!
We saw one young woman getting off the plane that we were about to board for our return journey, It was blowing a Blizzard and she was wearing open toed high heeled sandals -- Now exactly appropriate foot-wear for the conditions and getting chilblains is not a good way to start your holiday

Well it's not really a danger, but don't get lured into the fairytale that everything in Eastern Europe is cheap. Latvia is not and neither is Riga.

1 Lats equals the English Pound and prices easily match those of any western capital. But don't be tricked that everybody therefor is rich, Latvians don't make so much money and with the high prices they cannot afford as much as you would expect.

My experience was very bad, I was just going to my hostel - Turiba which was maybe 3-4 km from Riga centre and 100m in front of entrance two guys just came out of the bushes and attacked me. They wanted to take my wallet and backpack, by the way, security office was just 50 m from that place. I suceeded to escape and after I had told the story to the Turiba security only one minute after the attack, they told me: " It`s dangerous district, never go alone, if you want you can call the police!'' They could see those guys who had attacked me, but they didn`t do anything. I was lucky I had no trauma. So, never go alone, esspecially in districts out of the centre and if you are alone NEVER speak English!!!

Take care!

Having taken the Eurolines bus from Tallinn, we arrived at Riga Bus station, which is in a very crowded, busy part of the city and is itself quite crowded. Keep an eye on your stuff, and try and ignore anyone coming up and trying to start a conversation. Within a minute of us walking out of the front entrance, some guy came over and started demanding, "Mezny? Mezny?" I didn't know what he was saying, my Russian is pretty limited, but my girlfriend, who is Estonian, understood, answered, "Da, da, mezny!" and waved him away. He walked over to some other guys and they had a discussion while looking at us, but I have to say I felt a lot better being there with someone who spoke enough Russian to pass as a Latvian local (unless there is a sharp distinction in accent in Russian between an Estonian speaker and a Latvian speaker).
If you don't know Russian or Latvian, better to just shake your head and ignore them, maybe go back inside the station, who knows why a complete stranger comes over and starts demanding if you are "mezny" (local)? Not for any good reason, I would say.
For what it's worth I have learnt a new Russian word that I won't easily forget :-)
Also, except for this incident when we first arrived in Riga, I felt completely safe.

Be careful while walking through Old Town if there has been heavy snow, as it can and does fall from the roofs easily.

You may also see men on the tops of buildings scraping snow away and throwing it on to the roadside.

I consider Riga a safe city where you shouldn't have any problem but during the day there could be pickpockets in the main squares... so just watch out!

And I also saw a lot of children begging... they could be insistent... but I don't know if it's better give them some money or not... cause they will continue to beg...

At least in February you must also look up to see if there's snow or ice falling from the top of the buildings! In several occasions lots of snow fell right next to me until I learnt my lesson and began to walk in the middle of the street like locals!