Our quick guide to cheap family holidays in Riga. It's beloved by British stag parties, but Riga deserves to be placed back into holiday books as a great family holiday location. With beaches, history and plenty to explore, there won't be a moment of boredom.

Why take the family to Riga?

All Riga's fascintating nooks and crannies are easily explored on foot, from glorious pastel-coloured merchant houses, and cobbled streets to Art Nouveau buildings. History and heritage abound in the charming capital of folksy Latvia: 'the country that sings', like the rambling streets of the leafy Old Town, and the noble Daugava River. And with the country's steady increase in tourism, shopping and dining has reached high standards. The ace up Riga’s sleeve is its proximity to Jurmala where miles of beach can be enjoyed: bleary-eyed staggerers tend not to bother with the 25 minutetrain journey, so their loss is your family’s gain.

Top family attractions in Riga

• Hire a pedal-boat on Pilsetas Kanals, running through Bastejkalns Park in the Old Town centre.
• Latvia University’s Botanical Garden, one of the oldest in Europe, was voted the most family friendly recreational centre in Riga. Lose yourselves amid tropical palms, 80-year-old fig trees and poisonous plant exhibits (Latvian-speaking only).
• Visit the amusement park at the LIDO Recreation Centre for the Baltic’s biggest skating-rink. Hire wheels in the summer and blades in the winter. Penguin-shaped stabiliser-buddies are available for little’uns to cling to. Head inside the log building for traditional Latvian fare, delicious and very reasonably priced.
• Take a tour of Laima (Latvia’s Cadbury World) to see how their scrumptious chocs are made – and have a nibble.
• Livu Akvapark has both indoor and outdoor pools and water-slides galore.
• Head to the seaside resort of Jurmala for 33km of white beaches, charming wooden houses, pine forests and curative spas. Paddle the shallow waters on summer days or hunt the sands for amber on wintery afternoons.

Best Places to Stay

Gutenberg's, a stone’s throw from the Daugava, is a boutique-style hotel smack in the heart of the Old Town with an open-air summer restaurant on the roof terrace of the 5th floor.

The Baltic Beach spa hotel, Jurmala, is an ideal out-of-town base for families wanting to enjoy the beach.

Best Time to Go

The city can get very cold in winter with the mercury plunging into minus figures but the tourist hordes are fewer leaving you to enjoy a wintry wonderland. Summers are always warm with July and August experiencing temperatures around 30 °C.

Other Tips

Midsummer’s Festival, 'Jani' (23 June) is a huge event. It’s also a great excuse for kids to stay up a little later than usual to enjoy all-night bonfires, traditional folk songs and dancing while tucking into traditional caraway seed cheese and sausages.

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