Best Eastern Victoria Hotel - Riga - Riga, Latvia 

This was the 3rd time I have stayed here... The hotel had at least that time still "not renovated" side which I found very nice (shared toilets/bathrooms, but no queuing ;)).. ... still the old ceiling lights etc. Art Nouveau style.. Very nice, I think I´ll always stay here when I´m in town. The hotel is 3 star place so you can get better equipped rooms if paying a bit more...

I arrived on a warm Sunday afternoon and I just wanted to take a shower. Walked from the chaotic, crowded bus station to the Viktorija. I had no reservation. They gave me a nice room on the 5th floor. It was a warm peach color that added coziness to the two rainy days (I stayed 4 nights)....a nice change from the plague of beige and dirt tones of McHotels...and it had a nice pre-World War view of A. Caka Street with ever-changing rain clouds and sunsets. It had cable TV if that is what you came to Latvia for and the bathroom was shiny clean. The breakfasts offered quite a variety of foods and I appreciated the cut fruits, cucumbers, tomatoes, red pepper. The staff was very attentive and pleasant. The young staffmembers were very helpful, friendly and provided a much more hospitable face of Latvia than some of the older Soviet era staffmembers. This seems to be true throughout Riga. You will find very sweet, ready to talk Latvian speakers and a few extremely rude and miserable Russian speakers who should not be allowed near the public. The latter do damage to the Latvian tourist industry. This said, I could live in Riga, a city for creative people. The Hotel Viktorija has its own personality and may not be for those who prefer a generic chain-hotel predictability. The STABURAGS restaurant in the corner of the hotel is a Riga treat. The smoked salmon was the best that I have ever tasted. The maizes zupa dessert was delicious and so was the Lido beer. A block away at 38a Gertrudes Street is PAsaka, a pleasant little Latvian fastfood pelmeni shop run by merry and motherly women. An inexpensive, but throughly Latvian experience. The Viktorija is an example of living Art Nouveau architecture and it is in a good location. It provided good memories of Riga and I will probably stay there the next time I go to Riga.