Grand Palace Hotel  - Riga, Latvia     

This is a lovely hotel in the old section of the city. The room was very pretty, clean and comfortable. But, it was too warm and humid not to have air conditioning. We had a good meal in the restaurant and found the staff to be very accomodating. The fitness center was a sad affair but we found our way to a health club at the Radisson. Breakfast was nice but drinks at the bar very pricey. Overall we found Riga to be rather dull and the people seemed dour. The old part of the city is very pretty but, at least when we were there, not very lively.

This was a trip I booked for my wife and I which in hindsight was a mistake. Don't get me wrong The Grand Palace Hotel is a lovely place to stay and the staff are very welcoming/helpful by Riga standards but I was under the impression that a five star hotel HAD to be fitted with air conditioning? The GPH did not have A/C in the room. The food was really nice although we only ate breakfast. The hotel was the highlight of our break as Riga itself does not offer much. Be prepared to be ripped off left, right and centre e.g. we took a taxi to the Lido for 5lats, our return to the same spot was 12lats. A 5 minute journey to the Skyline bar was 12lats. We decided to walk home from the Skyline bar but would not recommend this as Riga is a very menacing and sinister place after dark. This was compounded when we met 2 guys who had popped into Groks Pub after midnight and were forced, at knife point by the bouncers, to pay (after a body search and an escort to an ATM) a companionship fee of ?600! What happens is 2 females will innocently sit next to you, order wine, say hello, when you return the pleasantries you are required to pay this extortionate fee to the lovely bouncers who will multiply in numbers if any resistance is given. This was not isolated as we were told from other guys at the airport that they had been duped into paying similar fees. One of the guys said the doormen actually removed the door handles from the inside unless cash was given. Tour companies should be warning young guys, specifically in stag parties, of this danger. It's not right. To conclude, the people of Riga are mostly surly, rude and arrogant, I will not be back as they do not appear to welcome tourists, period.