Yahoo News Want An Alternative City Tour When Visiting Riga, Latvia? Try Night Kayaking
[Photo by DeAgostini & Scott Barbour/Getty Images]
Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states, as the capital of Latvia it has been a European Capital of Culture and is on the UNESCO World Cultural list. One of our favourite stops on our Baltic trip, Riga offers culture, history, activities and a great nightlife.
The old town is filled with beautiful Art Nouveau buildings, but it’s a proper city filled with life including the biggest market in Europe. In the bustling city you’ll find hip bars, boutiques and galleries alongside a real sense of history.
Of course you can take a walking tour through the picturesque cobbled streets and wide boulevards, but to be honest that’s easily done by yourself.
Instead try an alternative city tour through Riga. Available to anyone is a night kayaking tour which takes you from the Daugava River through the Riga canals that allows you to see the best sights in a brilliant way.
One of the best things about the Riga by Night Kayak Tour is going from the open waters into the canal. Kayaking under lit up bridges is truly stunning.
They say there are about 19 lit bridges in the canals, each and every one of them drew grasps and made everyone smile.
If you’re lucky, you may even see beavers; we didn’t, but apparently they’re there, so keep your eyes peeled!
It is quite a leisurely ride, but to be honest we were bit rubbish at it, regularly lagging behind the 3 other kayaks for most of the three hour tour.
We were so rubbish that we managed to get ourselves tangled up in some fishing lines and were yelled at by a group of Latvian fishermen. They were having a relaxing night, but the idiot tourists (us!) ruined their evening as we were too busy admiring the sights such as the Freedom Monument and the National Opera House.
However we did get a free language lesson that evening, stupid in Latvian is “stulbs!”
You don’t need any kayaking experience to see Riga in this amazing and alternative city tour, but be prepared to be called things if get distracted by the illuminating night time sights as we were. However it was well worth the experience and memorable in so many ways.
If you’re still feeling active after all that, the nearby Sigulda in the Gauja National Park has gorgeous scenery you can hike through and fairytale castles to explore.
For more alternative experiences in Riga, check out the horror experience by Psaiho. It’s brilliantly scary and entertaining (definitely not for kids). Your adrenaline will be pumping as you wander through a dark warehouse being chased by clowns and chainsaws. If you need it, there’s a bar there to calm your nerves afterwards.
Read more about our adventures in Riga, Lativa including: the UNESCO central market, fairytale castles, and scary clowns.
