As a local in Riga, I often visit various restaurants in Riga. This summer I decided to visit the many rooftop restaurants and share my reviews of those! Most of these are located in hotels, but all places are accessible also for regular visitors not staying at the hotel. All of the places are quite popular, so an advance reservation is a must!
Reviews of the best rooftop restaurants in Riga, Latvia
Gutenbergs
Restaurant Gutenbergs is located on the roof of the hotel Gutenbergs. I am a regular customer of this place for many years! It is suitable for cold and rainy days as well, as it has a roof and side panels that can be closed to protect you from the elements. It has a spectacular view of the Dome church and Daugava river. Nice waiters and tasty foods! One of my favorite places in Riga.
Pullman Riga Old Town
The rooftop terrace of the hotel Pullman is primarily for hotel guests. I reserved in advance and when I arrived, the waitress brought up the menus, but wasn’t stationed there all the time. Having a meal there we were the odd ones out, as hotel guest dressed only in a bathrobe was reading a book at the table next to us, and a few hotel guests came by to see what the terrace was about. So not quite the atmosphere of a restaurant, but might be ok for drinks. The views are primarily to the Bastejkalns park and inner yard. On the day we visited, it was very windy, and as the place only has large umbrellas, we got really cold and moved to the 1st floor restaurant in about an hour for tea.
Islande Hotel
I remember Islande Hotel from the times it only had a indoor restaurant, so I was pleasantly surprised there is an outdoor one now too! It has truly exceptional views to the Vansu bridge, the Old Town and the port. Relatively simple menu, affordable prices. Part of the terrace is under the roof, and part isn’t, so when booking, request the location you want. It can get quite sunny and hot on summer afternoons here! This was my top discovery of the year.
Le Dome
A small, very private-feel terrace with the view to the Dome and St.Jacob’s cathedrals, as well as the surrounding roofs. Located on the premises of the Dome Hotel. Although the terrace does have an extendable roof, the sun can still get to you from the sides, and it gets very hot during the summer! The menu is exquisite, exclusive and quite expensive. I would recommend this either for private events or afternoon dessert.
A22 – JOHN
Hotel A22 roof terrace of the restaurant JOHN is only availab le for bookings for more than 6 people or 500 eur deposit (as explained to me by the staff), so I only visited to take a look at the place and the beautiful view to the Viesturdarzs park. If you are visiting as a smaller group, I cannot recommend enough the afternoon tea at the lobby bar! I am sad it isn’t available at the terrace, as would have been an exceptional offering!
Shopping center “Galerija Centrs” rooftop terrace “Burzma”
Shopping center “Galerija Centrs” rooftop terrace “Burzma” must be the best value for price of all the rooftop places in Riga, as there is a really wide variety of cafes all on the same terrace, so you can pick whichever meal you like and go sit on the terrace outside or anywhere in the indoor area! My favorite place there is “Bao”. Unfortunately “Vīnkalni” pizza was disappointing (and I recieved some unpleasant private messages from them after sharing my review).
This terrace does not have umbrellas, so better visited on a sunny day.
Grand Hotel Kempinski Riga – Stage 22
Hotel Kempinski rooftop terrace Stage 22 has a view to the Opera house. I tried to book it several times, but it was busy every single time, as a private event was taking place here! I visited a few years ago for a corporate function, so this is a popular place for various presentations. I hope you have better luck booking than I did!
Galleria Riga – Herbārijs, d’arte
Galleria Riga has several rooftop restaurants located on the roof of a shopping center – Herbārijs un d’arte. I haven’t visited these myself, but the reviews of my friends are good!
When I asked my readers for recommendations of rooftop restaurants, I received two more:
- Hotel Relais Le Chavalier, which is not a terrace, but more of a green-house type of roof with a view to the yard, used by hotel guests for breakfast. It is available for outside bookings for breakfast as well.
- AC by Marriott on Alberta Street. When I inquired at the hotel, I was told the terrace is closed and not available for visitors, and there is no rooftop restaurant or bar to book.
Do you know of any other rooftop restaurants in Riga?