Quick answer: Riga Central Market is the one everybody should see — five Zeppelin hangars still working as the city’s food market. Go hungry, go in the morning, eat in the fish pavilion. Then cross the river to Kalnciema Quarter on a Saturday, or walk out to Latgale Market if you want the flea-market end of things.
Riga’s markets, ranked by whether you should go
Riga has the best market in the Baltics and it is not close. But the city has three or four others worth an hour, and they are all quite different from each other — one is a food hall, one is a restored wooden quarter, one is a genuine junk market.
Here is what each is actually like.
Riga Central Market: the essential one
Riga Central Market is housed in five vast pavilions that began life as German Zeppelin hangars and were brought to Riga in the 1920s. It is not a heritage attraction with a few stalls for tourists — it is the city’s working food market, and locals do their shopping in it.
Each hangar has a speciality: meat, dairy, fish, vegetables, general. Go to the fish pavilion. Smoked fish is the thing Latvia does better than almost anywhere — cold-smoked, hot-smoked, whole flounder, eel, sprats in every configuration — and you can buy a piece wrapped in paper and eat it standing up.
Practical: mornings are best; it thins out by mid-afternoon. Bring cash for the smaller stalls. It sits just behind the bus station, a ten-minute walk from the Old Town.
Behind the hangars, the outdoor section shades into a cheaper, scruffier zone selling clothes and household goods. Worth a wander if you like that sort of thing.
Kalnciema Quarter: Saturday only, and worth planning for
Kalnciema Quarter is a restored block of nineteenth-century wooden buildings on the left bank, and it runs Riga’s best farmers’ market on Saturday mornings. Local producers, good bread, cheese, honey, cider, and a programme of concerts and events through the year.
The buildings themselves are the other reason to come — Riga’s wooden architecture is a genuine architectural tradition and most visitors never cross the river to see it. Combine it with a walk through Āgenskalns.
Practical: Saturday morning is the market. Outside that it is quiet, though the courtyard cafés stay open. A tram or a twenty-minute walk from the centre.
Latgale Market: the flea market
Latgale Market, known locally as Latgalīte, is the junk market — Soviet badges, old tools, cameras, records, furniture, and a great deal of things nobody will ever buy. It is out past the Central Market in a less polished part of town.
Go for the browsing rather than with a shopping list. Weekend mornings are busiest. Haggling is normal and expected.
Berga Bazārs: the polite one
Berga Bazārs is not really a market any more — it is a nineteenth-century merchant’s courtyard complex just off Elizabetes iela, now full of small shops, cafés and a couple of good restaurants. It takes twenty minutes and it is a pleasant place to sit.
Include it if you are already in the Quiet Centre looking at Art Nouveau facades, which you should be.
Two more, for a longer stay
Otrā Elpa is a charity second-hand shop on Miera iela with a genuinely good selection — Miera iela being Riga’s independent strip, worth an afternoon in its own right. Robert’s Books nearby is an English-language bookshop with a bar in it, which is a better idea than it sounds.
A local tip
Do the Central Market first thing, buy smoked fish and black bread, then walk five minutes to the Latvian Academy of Sciences and take the lift to the rooftop terrace. It is the best view in Riga, it costs very little, and almost nobody does the two together. Note that the Riga TV Tower — the other obvious viewpoint — is closed for a reconstruction reported to run until around 2029.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best market in Riga?
Riga Central Market, without much competition. It occupies five former Zeppelin hangars brought to the city in the 1920s and still functions as the working food market. The fish pavilion is the highlight.
When is Riga Central Market open?
Daily, with mornings the busiest and best time to go. It quietens noticeably by mid-afternoon. Bring some cash for smaller stalls.
Is Kalnciema Quarter market worth crossing the river for?
On a Saturday morning, yes. That is when the farmers’ market runs, and the restored wooden buildings around it are an architectural tradition most visitors never see. Outside Saturday there is much less happening.
Where is the flea market in Riga?
Latgale Market, known as Latgalīte, out beyond the Central Market. It sells Soviet-era objects, tools, records and general junk. Weekend mornings are busiest and haggling is expected.
How far is Riga Central Market from the Old Town?
About ten minutes on foot. It sits just behind the central bus station, immediately south of the Old Town across the canal.
Find more in the full Riga guide.
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