Stag party, Hotel Riga, Stag weekend, Stag night, Stag Riga

Airlines
If you are coming from UK the obvious choice might be Ryanair www.ryanair.com from London Stanstead, Liverpool and Dublin, and now Ryanair has a brand new route from East Midlands (UK) to Riga.
Also the scandinavian airline www.airbaltic.comhave flights both from London Gatwick, Manchester and Dublin. Also you can fly AerLingus from Dublin www.aerlingus.com

Currency
 
Use above pictured ATM or Currency Exchange in Arrivals straight away, as you might have trouble to find these later.

Do not bring Euros and US dollars. Latvia is not joined Euro yet and US dollars are not popular currency here either. By law, outlets are not allowed to accept foreign currency as a payment and very rarely you will be able to pay for something on other currency than Latvian Lats. Our Hotel also does not accept payments in foreign currencies.
Also you do not need to try to obtain Latvian Lats whilst in UK, it is regarded by some banks as "exotic" currency and they will charge you unreasonably high commission.
Just bring Pound Sterling and exchange them locally.
But the best and hassle-free way is just draw cash from local ATM using your UK card - the bank normally gives you the best exchange rate.

Riga is perfectly safe tourist destination, with locals being very tolerant and friendly towards almost anything a stag party might me up to. The only aspect a tourist should be alert about is choosing carefully which strip club to visit.

This section contains few scams to avoid so you pleasure from trip is not spoiled by few unscrupulous operators. If you been to Riga and know of any scam that is not listed here, please e-mail us on info@xdream.lv and we will post it on the website. Also when reading this please do not get an impression that if you go to Riga it is happening to you, in our opinion any tourist destination, including Prague, Barcelona or London, has few people who will take advantage of tourists.

We have this information, to save your money and relaxing atmosphere of the trip.

Taxis
Unfortunately, some taxi drivers will try to overcharge you using rigged meters, especially from the Airport. Use our transfer service, as Airport service is monopolized by single minicab operator who has higher rate specially aimed at tourist.

The general rule when using a cab is to agree set price for the trip rather than going by meter. This is what all we, locals, do. Then you will avoid unnecessary "sight seeing" and save on the trip cost. If the driver does not want to do a set price and insists on going by meter this is certain indicator that he is going to rip you off, there is no way professional taxi driver can not estimate a cost of the trip and give you a price. In this case tell him not to bother and hail another one.

Another general rule is to never hire a cab from the stand, but hail a passing one. The cabs standing all day, especially by the clubs and hotels in Old Town, rely on few tourist rides and will grossly overcharge you. The moving cab is burning petrol and will never turn down any client. Walk fifty yards away from the taxi rank and hail one. All cabs have to have a registration plate in yellow color with first two letters "TX". Never use a car that has all taxi attributes but no yellow TX plate - this is not a cab, and you do not want to find out what it is.

Often a taxi driver insists on taking you to a strip club or brothel, regardless time of your day or your initial destination. Unfortunately there is a number of such establishments doted around the town and aimed especially at tourists, the locals do not go there as it is a clear rip-off. Firstly you pay around 15Lats for entrance - all the money goes to the taxi driver and that's why they can be very annoying trying to get you there. Then every step you make there costs you a lot of money - a girl just sitting next to you goes on your bill for her time, all girls drinks while chatting to you (up to 80Lats per glass!), even girls walking by and putting their empty glasses on your table - you are paying. A private dance can be anything up to 100Lats per five minutes etc. It is all very smoothly presented and it is almost impossible to get an understanding of price structure until you leave - this is when you are paying, otherwise you would run away after paying for the first drink - and over sudden you are presented with a bill for several hundred pounds per person and the bouncers look's mean the business - no one leaves without pay.

Ignore little business cards with half-naked beauties on a dashboard in a taxi – these places are aimed at tourists and you are likely to get ripped off there

Estonian currency scam
When exchanging Sterling or getting change from vendors, clubs or taxis, please check that you are given Latvian Lats and not any other currency. On few instances our guest were given 10 Estonian Krone notes instead of 10 Latvian Lats note. 10 Latvian Lats are roughly 10GBP, but 10 Estonian Krones are about 30pence. See the difference between the notes

Estonian note (on the left) is slightly larger. Just avoid the notes with words "EESTI PANK" and "KROONI". You can see all Latvian notes here http://www.bank.lv/eng/main/lvnaud/papnaud/index.php?32634 
and all Estonian here
http://www.bank.lv/eng/main/lvnaud/papnaud/index.php?32634


"Best Strip Club" Scam
The nature of con is very simple - you are not paying for drinks, dances etc upfront, instead everything goes onto your bill.

When you are ready to leave, you will be presented with a three digit bill per person, as conmen operate two sets of prices - one that show you and then use hidden items such as girls company, girls champagne etc.

Not paying is not an option, clients are physically forced to draw cash, are threatened, beaten up, have wallets taken away. The police are little or no help.

In order to avoid this happening to you:

1. Avoid strip clubs with doormen - their only job is to beat the money out of the client. Genuine clubs in Riga do not have them - note the absence of doormen in our club. Strip clubs for locals in Riga NEVER have doorman. Genuine clubs use a panic button to call security firm, Riga is so small, the response time is always under five minutes, there is absolutely no need to waste money on doorman’s wage unless the club needs one to beat money out of foreign tourists, as genuine security firm of course will never do it.

2. In any strip club absolutely insist on paying for everything you and the girls having strictly upfront. If the club hesitates or tries to persuade you to put everything on bill - LEAVE. A genuine strip club (same as in UK or in any other country) will not allow a punter to owe anything to the club at any point for drinks or private dances