Riga

Capital of Latvia: population, location, elevation, climate and landmarks.

Overview

Riga is the capital of Latvia. About 742,572 people live in the city proper, making it the 1st largest city of Latvia in our atlas.

It lies at 56.95° N, 24.11° E, about 6 m (20 ft) above sea level, and keeps time on the Europe/Riga time zone. At this high latitude, summer days are very long and winter days very short.

Location

Red dot: Riga. Green dots: other major cities of Latvia. Map data: Natural Earth.

Climate

Riga has a continental (warm summer) climate (Köppen Dfb). The warmest month is usually Jul, with average highs near 22°C (72°F); the coolest nights come in Feb at about -8°C (18°F). Around 764 mm (30 in) of rain and snow falls in a typical year, spread fairly evenly through the year.

-3°-7°Jan59-2°-8°Feb482°-4°Mar469°1°Apr4816°7°May5119°11°Jun7622°14°Jul8221°14°Aug8016°9°Sep599°4°Oct784°0°Nov740°-4°Dec63mm

Bars: average daily high and low (°C) for each month; blue columns and figures: average precipitation (mm). Gridded 2001-2025 averages from NASA POWER, so mountain and coastal spots can differ from local station records.

Landmarks and places to see

Riga Castle
Riga CastleCastle in Riga, Latvia
House of the BlackheadsBuilding situated in the old town of Riga, Latvia
Riga Motor Museum
Riga Motor MuseumMuseum in Latvia
Powder Tower
Powder TowerTower in Riga, Latvia
Riga Zoo
Riga ZooZoo in Riga, Latvia
Zunda Towers
Zunda TowersSkyscraper in Riga, Latvia
Vērmanes Garden
Vērmanes GardenLatvian cultural monument No. 5583
Akmens tilts
Akmens tiltsBridge in Riga, Latvia

Popular sights within a few kilometres of the city centre, ranked by how widely they are documented on Wikipedia.

What to eat in LatviaNational dishes, street food, desserts and drinks on Intercontinental Chef.

Nearby major cities

← LatviaAll cities

Sources

Text written by Geographical Effect from these sources.

Photo credits
  • Riga Pils Latvia (cropped): Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
  • Rīgas motormuzejs (09.09.2022): Nenea hartia, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
  • Torre del Polvorín, Riga, Letonia, 2012-08-07, DD 01: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
  • Riga Zoo: Michael Vokabre Camera location56° 51′ 23.4″ N, 24° 54′ 55.2″ E View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap 56.8, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
  • Riga Constructions (82409277): Kristof Zerbe, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
  • Vermanes Garden View: UnknownUnknown, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
  • Riga akmens tilts stone bridge: Paul Bischoff, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)