Riga...anyone been?

My Riga story, copied from reddit post history so have censored swearing;

TL:DR; How I ended up with an hours credit in a brothel in Riga.

Me and a friend were in Riga, Latvia. The fact he was a co-worker is relevant and also the fact this was his first trip aboard that wasn't to a beach resort. I'd arranged the trip as he was interested in the off the beaten path type of travel I enjoy and was a bit on edge as in the last 3 days I'd taken him into the Chernobyl exclusion zone and also had a run in with a soldier in Belarus.

Anyway in Riga I had arranged for us to go shoot some AK47's and we were getting picked up. A top of the range Audi pulls up and two guys get out who look like they have no business owning a car that expensive. Stereotypical gangsters with shaved heads with scars. We get in and head over to the shooting range which turns out to be closed. One of them has a heated phone call then explains that the owner is hungover but will open the place in an hour or so. They say they run a bar we can have a couple of free beers in whilst we wait. It's 10am but sod it.

We then drive for a bit and pull up outside a house with bars over the windows and an electric gate closes behind us. Bit weird. We go into the house and there is a swimming pool in the hallway and we walk over to cream leather bar. They let us know the beers normally cost 7 euro but we can have two free each, anymore and we have to pay. Bit nervous at this point so we get through the first beer quickly and relax a bit and start chatting with the guys. After a bit one of drops the bombshell that this is the best brothel in Latvia and if we get bored there are girls downstairs for 40 eur an hour. ***** sake what've we gotten into.

After another beer I decide that it'd be interesting to chat with them about what it's like to be a gangster running a brothel. After a graphic conversation and being shown photos of various A-List celebrities sitting at the bar we are at they then ask what we do for a living. I mention we work for a gambling company and realise I've made a mistake immediately. "You guys must have a lot of money then?". ****. "Maybe you come back tonight and break the brothel record?". My friend asks "What's the brothel record?" as he doesn't have a single inkling of what they could mean. "11" the guy responds. "11 what?" says my friend. My mouth is agape at this point. "11 girls at the same time". This is the point where most people would do the math in their head but my friend did it out loud. "11 girls, that's 440 eur so 480 eur would break the record. I can afford that.". **** **** ****. I mutter to him that they don't know he isn't serious. One of the guys starts to walk off saying he's going to arrange it for tonight. "No no no!" I manage to explain and we laugh it off.

Anyway they realise we aren't going to spend any money so we start to drive back to the shooting range. Whilst driving one of the guys turns around and says "There is no shooting range. Get your cards and PIN's ready. We are going to play a game of whether you live or die." Major ****. Me and my mate look at each other and go white. Dead silence for about 10 seconds before the guy starts laughing and says it was a joke. *******.

We get to the shooting range and I don't care at this point and am just getting through my rounds as fast as possible. At the end the guy informs me they don't have the hand grenade I paid for. I ask for the 40 eurs I paid for it back and the guy says no, surprised I even asked to be honest. He says "You can have explosion at my house". I tell him I don't want to blow stuff up in his garden and replies "No no no, explosion in bedroom at brothel, 1 hour credit!". I say no but he insists and writes me out a voucher .
 
Sitting outside a restaurant here in Riga. Sunday afternoon, nobody got beaten up or robbed over the weekend.


Lovely place. Yes I get the feeling that you might only be one wrong turn from trouble but we've had a great time.
 
I loved Riga... just went for a week of drinking etc.

Stags are really not liked there, it used to be a notorious stag location but got cleaned up. Now most places don't accept stags.

The city itself is beautiful, had a great time there!
 
Stags abroad aren't liked because you get the stereotype 20 something that hits the gym a few times a week, and after a few beers things he's the best/hardest man alive. Then they met people who have proper hard lives and they soon realize they're still pussy whipped mummy's boys after they get a good hiding from the locals.
 
I know this is a bit of a thread revival but there are some handy bits to read in here and has saved me creating a new thread about it! Looking like I will be doing a joint stag do with my best mate (both getting married next year) in April so on the look out for best things to do etc.

So far beer bikes and gun shooting are on the agenda!

Anyone been more recently and able to shed any do's and don'ts and whats good and bad to do over there?
 
I went earlier this year on a stag do. The old town was nice and pleasant to walk through but I didn't think much of it otherwise.

The best way to explain it was that it felt like everywhere you turned it seemed like something could catch you to cause you problems.

The locals really don't like stag do's either. On the first day the stag was dressed as a woman (original) and I'm surprised the Latvian soldiers we passed didn't shoot him. They didn't like it one little bit.
 
I went to Riga as part of a 'lads' holiday (We're not really laddish) 10 years ago.

I'm sure it's changed a lot since then, I just remember all the women being absolutely stunning and all the men having that shaved head soviet-bloc look about them.

And weirdly, all the older ladies looked really awful
And everyone smoked constantly.

There's probably a correlation between the above two points...

And the fashion at the time for men was to were awful plastic 'fake leather' biker jackets
 
To add to the two posts above that I agree with, I survived the trip and didn't have any real grief. We did compile a list of bars not to go to.

I of course didn't check this, and bought a round of 5 drinks in one of them and got charged around £130 if I remember correctly. It was laid out to me clearly that I wouldn't like the consequences of not paying and that was that.

If I'm honest I got ripped off more in Munich this week (partly because of poor exchange rates) though I never felt threatened.
 
Ben Cole said:
To add to the two posts above that I agree with, I survived the trip and didn't have any real grief. We did compile a list of bars not to go to.

I of course didn't check this, and bought a round of 5 drinks in one of them and got charged around £130 if I remember correctly. It was laid out to me clearly that I wouldn't like the consequences of not paying and that was that.

If I'm honest I got ripped off more in Munich this week (partly because of poor exchange rates) though I never felt threatened.
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Can you share said list of bars? I've heard about the scams the bars pull where they either drug your drinks and straight out Rob you or just whack you with a huge bill and threaten to beat the **** out of you if you don't walk with them to an ATM and get cash.
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
Can you share said list of bars? .
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Just sat down with my mate that wss with me and he found this list on his phone:

Barfly is the one that did me.


Riga blacklist

Ampir (Livu square)
Bar bar (Dzirnavu 55)
Barfly (Kaleju 14/16)
Brilliant club (Blaumana 9)
Livu krodzins (Livu square)
Shot bar (grecinieku 1, entrance Skarnu)
Vina Seta (maza smilsu 7)
 
I would never go to Riga as a lairy stag group simply because I know how much the locals absolutely hate it, and how can you have a 100% fun and relaxed time when you know that people want to either rip you off or do you harm?

The only way to go there and have a good time is as a group of maximum 3, dress like bosses, go to well-researched local bars and restaurants, and don't act like douchebags.
 
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Richdog said:
I would never go to Riga as a lairy stag group simply because I know how much the locals absolutely hate it, and how can you have a 100% fun and relaxed time when you know that people want to either rip you off or do you harm?

The only way to go there and have a good time is as a group of maximum 3, dress like bosses, go to well-rehearsed local bars and restaurants, and don't act like douchebags.
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After starting this thread and then going on the stag do I would tend to agree.
It is worth a visit but why go on a stag do when there are so many other safer and more entertaining options?
 
To be honest I hear dodge stories like this about any European city. I know a few people who have been that say it is a good place to go for a stag do.

If we stay out of the dodgily ran bars/strip joints i'm sure we'll be OK.
 
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