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One thing is clear – Latvia is a super-power when it comes to culture. You don't have to wait for the next Song and Dance Festival with 30,000 singers-and-dancer sized concerts to get the feel of it. There is plenty of accessible culture to be enjoyed all year long, which you can track at the website of Live Riga (shows events also outside of Riga). As a matter of fact, the inhabitants of Riga often use the luring concert halls in Liepāja, Cēsis, Rēzekne or Jūrmala as excuses to spend the entire weekend outside the capital.
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Theater
The cold and dark parts of the day in winter can seem daunting at first – but only until you discover how Latvians compensate for it. Theater is definitely one of the favorite mood-boosters during the autumn-winter season. It is remarkably accessible with numerous high-level theatres with varying genres to pick from, all at very affordable prices. You only should make sure you don’t postpone the purchasing of tickets till last minute – they go fast.
The largest theaters are:
Learn more about the history and tradition of Latvian theater here.
Cinemas
Most cinemas are located in Riga, and there you will find one for each taste. They range from the larger cinema with all the hot releases (Forum Cinemas) to the more classical and theatre-looking cinema serving regional movies (Splendid Palace), to the minuscule alternative with several tables, but compensating with the wine (Kino Bize). Many cinemas have 2-for-1 deals for students on certain days, and ticket prices can drop as low as a couple of euros on special promotions. Typically, movies are shown in English with Latvian and Russian subtitles while most cartoons for kids will be dubbed in Latvian or Russian.
Museums
It will be impossible to list all the museums, but you may start with this bucket-list for your first year in Riga:
- Latvian National Museum of Art: this is your first stop if you are a lover of art; the permanent collection holds artwork of the most famous Latvian artists.
- Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum: here you can find out what Latvian houses, tools and traditions looked like up to the 18th century – all spread across the forest and lake-side just outside the border of Riga. It is also a good place to witness various Latvian traditions and festivities in their very authentic form; also don’t miss the biggest local crafts market of the year taking place each May.
- Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation: this is your place if you are curious about the history of the Latvian capital, founded as a Hanseatic city, but conquered also by the Swedes and Russians.
- Museum of the Occupation of Latvia: here you can learn about the Latvian history before and during the Soviet Occupation – a quite dark, but powerful story that is useful to understand what influences Latvians’ lives still today.
- The Corner House: this museum/exhibition house is the real building in which the KGB interrogated and imprisoned people during the Soviet era; it will give you a very powerful impression, only make sure you check the times of the guided tours (~3x/day).
- Riga Art Nouveau Centre: Riga is known for its large share of Art Nouveau architecture, which can be viewed also from an interior design perspective in this small museum.
Modern and Classical Music, Opera and Ballet
Music has a special place in Latvia. Singing is part of the mandatory school curriculum and there are probably more choir-singers per 100 inhabitants than most if not any other country. Also opera is big with many world-known opera singers coming from Latvia. So there is plenty to enjoy both at the Opera and Ballet House in Riga, and many very diverse genres of music to be heard also at the concert halls in the regions:
- Liepājas Dzintars, Liepāja
- Gors, Rēzekne
- Dzintaru koncertzāle, Jūrmala
- Koncertzāle “Cēsis”, Cēsis
If you are a fan of musical festivals, you are in luck. Every weekend of the summer is filled with a different outdoors event, the most known being Positivus, Summer Sound, Laba Daba, Under festival, Rockin’ Liepāja, Rīgas Ritmi and many more.
Tickets
Most tickets for cultural events can be purchased through the websites of biļešu paradīze or biļešu serviss. These pages also serve as catalogues for the full spectrum of available concerts and events around Latvia.
