A walk through Old Riga from St Peter's Church to the Monument of Freedom

(74 reviews)

Riga audio tour: A walk through Old Riga from St Peter's Church to the Monument of Freedom

This is a 0.9mi walking tour

It takes an average of 75 mins to complete.

Riga

Latvia

$6.99

Access all 17 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

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Reviews

About the Tour

If you’re looking for an engaging and informative tour that covers the complex history of Riga but also explores what it is like to live here today, then this is the tour for you. I’ve made sure that we don’t miss any of old Riga’s most famous landmarks on our walk including St Peter’s Church, Town Hall Square and Dome Square, but don’t expect a dry history lesson. On this tour, you’ll find out about the surprising origins of the Latvian language, the fate of churches during the Soviet occupation and the little known history of Latvia’s symbol of independence.

I’ve lived in Riga my whole life and worked as a tour guide for the better part of a decade, and this is both a personal and a comprehensive tour of the old town. I love telling people about my city and, having travelled a lot myself, I know how enriching an authentic local perspective can be.

Some of the highlights you can look forward to include:

Discovering the origins of the Christmas tree
The street used in the filming of the popular Russian production of Sherlock Holmes
The unique history of Dome square
The home of what was once the largest pipe organ in the world
An in-depth look at the local Russian community
The meaning behind Latvia's symbol of independence

The tour takes around 45 minutes to complete. There are plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars all along the route for breaks.

Tour Producer

Edvards Rutkis

2 tours

Hi, I'm Edvards and I am a professional tour guide in Riga.
Apart from guiding, I perform regularly at the Riga Improv theatre, and I have a background in political science and acting. Hope you like my tours and enjoy Riga!

Preview Location

Location 1

St.Peter's Church

Good day and welcome to the tour!

My name is Edvards and I will be your guide. I've lived in Riga pretty much my entire life and I work here as a professional tour guide. This tour is my attempt at showing you what I think are the most important sights here in the old town... Good day and welcome to the tour!

My name is Edvards and I will be your guide. I've lived in Riga pretty much my entire life and I work here as a professional tour guide. This tour is my attempt at showing you what I think are the most important sights here in the old town as well as give you a solid understanding of the history of the city and an insight into contemporary life here.

Before we start going anywhere I do think it is important that I try and give you at least a very, very general understanding of the history of this city to provide some context. So, with the wonderful background of St. Peters church in front of you, relax, feel free to walk around the square, and I will try and summarize the entire history of Riga in about 5 minutes. Ready? Let’s go.

The history of Riga begins a bit more than 800 years ago - 1201 to be exact and the reason why Riga exists is because back in the 13th century the Catholic pope decided that the Baltic States should be converted to Christianity. Keep in mind, at this time the Baltics are the last place in Europe which is still not Christian. So, the pope sends a man by the name of Bishop Albert, who later becomes the founder of Riga, to this region with an army of about 3000 crusaders and he basically starts asking the locals to choose between converting to Christianity or being killed. This strategy proved incredibly persuasive and in about 30 years the Baltics get converted to Christianity.

So, with that Riga is established and very quickly grows to be a rather prosperous city mainly due to trade. Yes, Riga, on account of its geographic location - we are located right between Germany, Russia and Scandinavia - becomes a major trading hub and, unfortunately for us, a very desirable piece of conquest for all of the major powers around us. I won’t bore you with all the intricate details but in short - the Germans rule this city for the first 350 years, then the Polish for the next 40, the Swedes rule for a 100 years after that and then the Russians for the next 200.

And then, after approximately 700 years of foreign ownership, on November 18 1918 Latvia, for the first time ever became independent. Hooray! Unfortunately, our first independence is pretty short lived - only 22 years and then the second world war breaks out. As you can imagine - that is bad news for Latvia. Being located between Germany and Russia at this time is a bad idea. And so, in 1940 Latvia was conquered by the Soviet Union in 1941 it was the Germans who took over and in 1944 it was again the Soviets and we were a part of the Soviet Union all the way until it’s collapse in 1991.

Since 1991 we’ve been independent once more. So it's been 29 years of independence - which is our new record by the way. And during this time Riga has changed a lot. Probably the biggest shift has been turning our focus more from the East to the West. Since independence we have made significant strides in integrating our country with the rest of Europe. In 2004 we joined the EU, the same year we joined NATO and ten years later we got the Euro as our currency. Speaking of Riga at the moment - we are the biggest city in the Baltic states with a population of nearly 70000, we are a rapidly growing tourism destination and, if we play our cards right - a city with a bright future.

So, with that introduction, let's get going!

Turn with your back to St Peter's church and walk to the street ahead, then turn right and keep going.

While you walk, I'll explain how VoiceMap works.

It uses your location to play audio automatically, at just the right moment. This means that you can put your phone away. Don’t worry if I stop talking from time to time as we move from place to place. This is quite normal. If you unsure where to go, there's an on-screen map, and if you stray too far from the path, VoiceMap will let you know.

If you're still at St Peters, with your back to it, walk to the street ahead, then turn right. I'll meet you a little further ahead. Read More

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Major Landmarks

The Powder Tower
The Freedom Monument
Powder Tower
Swedish Gate
Saeima
Three Brothers, Latvian Museum of Architecture
Dome Square
House of the Black Heads
Rīgas Rātslaukums
St. Peter's Church

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Reformācijas Laukums 1, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia
Total distance

1km
Final location
Central District, Riga, LV-1050, Latvia
Distance back to start location

500.74m

Directions to Starting Point

The starting point is the front entrance of St. Peter's church. To get there, you can use tram nr.1. and get off at "Grēcinieku iela"'or bus nr.3 and get off at "13. Janvāra iela"· Both of those stops are a 3-5 min walk away from St. Peter's. There are many other public transport options available.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

The Town Hall square, The Dome Square and Cathedral, The Monument of Freedom, The Three Brothers

Best time of day

Any. The streets will be more empty in the early morning and after 5 pm.

Precautions

Nothing special. Note that you have priority over cars everywhere in the old town.

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“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”