Private Tour
Honest tour of Riga with the best private guide in town
Overview
Available languages
Mobile ticket
Honest tour of must-sees with the best* private guide of Riga
Every city has it's good, bad and the ugly, and there's always the option of highlighting just one side of the coin. On this tour we try our hardest to stay as honest and objective as possible, not loosing the perspective of a local at the same time. 4-5 hours, including a coffee break, might seem long, but a half day tour like that is the shortest possible time to cover all the most important sights that Riga's heart has to offer without a rush. Still - depending on your desire or availability, it can be longer or shorter as well - you can decide during the tour. It's customisable as well, so if you'd like to drop a thing from the itinerary or add something different (eg, central market), the guide will be happy to adjust.
We don't take tours more than 5 times a week, so the tour would stay fresh and the guide wouldn't become a machine of spouting facts and figures.
* as described by his mother and some of his friends.
Additional Info
Service animals allowed
Public transportation options are available nearby
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
Wheelchair accessible
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
What‘s Included
Everything, except your coffee/snacks at the break.
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
What To Expect
Vecriga
This is the oldest part of Riga, here you'll see the history - how the city of Riga and nation of Latvians formed during last 8 centuries. The most important medieval churches, merchants' houses, parts of fortification systems and even last few residential buildings of simple people that have survived from medieval times. You'll hear stories of how people lived starting from times back when the city was just founded, through centuries up until soviet occupation and the modern life of the independent Latvia.
Kronvalda Park
The circle of boulevards and parks serves as a transitional area between the centuries-old medieval German Riga and the "modern" Riga built by Russians and Latvians. Here you'll have a nice stroll through the greenest part of central Riga, see some monuments and museums, hear some stories of how the actual cultural transition happened.
Options
Honest tour of Riga with the best private guide in town
Pickup included
Reviews
37 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
A wonderful day
paulgolding2016,
Aug 23, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We had a fantastic day with Harijs. He thoroughly covered aspects of Latvian history with humour emotion and personal insight as we walked through the old town and the nouveau district. He also took us to a local kiosk for lovely coffee and pastries. The round trip took us back to our hotel . We loved Riga and would book Harijs without hesitation if we are lucky enough to return.
Informative and fun
melaniegI1143UB,
Aug 23, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00tour was informative and a great way to see the town. Our guide made it fun as well as educationaland was happy to answer all our questions. We usually get a map and guide book but we would have missed so much. Highly recommend the tour and guide
Best tour group for Rocky Mountain National Park
DianeG202020,
Jul 29, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Best guide. Best van! The guide knows all history and animals and trees! Stopped at lively overlooks. Drinks and snacks on board. Couldn't have had a better experience!
Higlhly recommend this tour! Great day in Riga!
Tory H,
Sep 2, 2024
- Review from Viator
5.00What a great day we had with Honest Tours of Riga. Our guide was so pleasant and knowledgable of the area history and architecture. Love having a local private guide since you get more than a generic tour....great to hear personal experiences from a local. Highly recommend booking this tour!
Outstanding. Really outstanding
833bee,
Jul 29, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00I just can’t heap enough praise on this tour or on Harijs - I’ve done a lot of walking tours in a lot of cities and this is one of the very best, as is Harijs. Witty, informative, entertaining and at times also moving, he was even better than his reviews. He customised our itinerary as we all wanted to add some tastings at Central Market and he made it incredibly simple to do that - he was very quick and easy to communicate with during and after the booking process - and throughout the tour itself responded so willingly to our questions and digressions, clearly adding more information and expanding on things as he - and we- saw where our interests lay. He was very funny and utterly engaging. Some of what he told us was also deeply moving and we ended up with a real understanding of the history of Latvia and particularly what the inter- and post-war decades have meant to its people, and even how it felt to live through some of them. He brought Riga, its life, its culture, its history vividly and often hilariously to life, and he made the rest of our time in the city immeasurably richer. His mother and some of his friends are completely right - he absolutely is the best private guide of Riga. Book him today - you know you want to, and you definitely should.
Excellent tour, wonderful guide!
885sashas,
Aug 28, 2023
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Our group of 12 spent two days with Harijs, touring Sigulda and Riga's Old Town, and had a wonderful experience. He designed the two days of touring based on our initial input, and continued to be flexible throughout the two days, as we made requests to adjust the schedule and work in one or two changes. We saw a broad range of Riga's highlights, and learned a ton about Latvian history. And we also got a great sense for modern Latvian culture, attitudes, and what life has felt like for the local population during the last couple years. Oh, and we got a taste of Latvia while visiting the market! Harijs was funny, engaging, and the many hours we spent with him seemed to pass very quickly, as his storytelling made the experience a lot of fun. He conducted the tour in flawless English, and was also comfortable switching to Russian for those in our group who speak it. And his love for Latvia came through constantly, even when undercut by his self-deprecating humor about the "lowly" achievements of his little country (e.g. in the olympics, as he introduced us to one of only ~10 bobsled tracks operating anywhere in the world). He clearly loves his country, and nowhere was that more evident than in the closing stages of our Riga Tour when he recounted the history of the Barricades, Latvians' heroic confrontation with Soviet forces sent to clamp down on Latvia's declared independence. Tour logistics were handled smoothly (coordinating a bus for us, managing the timing, breaks, etc.) throughout, and the whole experience worked well for kids and adults in our group. We would absolutely recommend Harijs to anyone looking for a great guide and a great tour, and we'd happily use Honest Tours again in the future!
Honest Tour Riga, Anete
Chris S,
Aug 21, 2023
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00I was in a group of eight friends, Anete greeted us and apologised for the change of plan in guide. Anete needn't have apologised, as she did an amazing job of showing us around Old Town and explaining the history of the sights, attractions and rich architecture. Everyone in the group was delighted with the experience and impressed with how well Anete kept us informed, engaged and interested, using personal stories from her life and even surprised us with a lovely singing voice to add colour to tour. Thank you to Anete from everyone in our group, Chris.
The experience could not be better
205boriss,
Aug 15, 2023
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00My extended family (3 generations) spent two fantastic days in the company of (without any doubt) the best private guide in Riga. And to say that Harijs is the best is really to say nothing. He is very knowledgable, very passionate about Latvia and its history, very attentive, has a very nice sense of humor, and has an absolutely great personality. It is possible to list another half a dozen "very" with other Harij's' qualities but it still. will not be enough to describe how good he is. From the very beginning before we even arrived in Latvia when I was arranging the tours Harijs was very helpful with suggestions on how to fit as much as possible into the two days of sightseeings. He combined the historic tour of Riga with the Taste of Riga tour and hired a minibus for the second day to show our group of 12 people Sigulda, the Turaida castle, and a lot of other places in the Latvian Switzerland as the Sigulda area is sometimes called. Although some in our group used to live in Riga and thought that we knew the city well, a lot of facts that we learned from Harijs were new for us. Harijs's English was perfect. And last but not least he was very flexible and accommodating to our requests during the tours although this extended the length of the tours and the time that he spent with us. To those reading this review I can give only one advice: if you want to have the best private guide in Riga go with Harijs. You will not regret!
Great tour with Hariys
Barbara L,
Aug 6, 2023
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Hariys was absolutely the best! He is very knowledgeable about his city and very passionate about his country. It was very pleasant to learn about the Art Noveau buildings - something I knew very little about. He managed to get me inside one of the buildings to look at the amazing staircase. He gave a lot of good information about Latvia and the current political climate. He even walked me back to the ship, which was a blessing, as for some reason, I seem to have got lost at a lot of the ports on this trip. I really enjoyed my walk with Hariys and highly recommend it for anybody who wants to learn about Riga and Latvia.
An unforgettable experience.
Nigel M,
Jul 17, 2023
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Harijs’ passion for his country and his depth of knowledge gave us an eye opening few hours and memories which will last a long time. We visited Riga primarily to see the Art Nouveau buildings, but ended up learning so much more. Very highly recommended.
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