Did bachelor parties destroy Riga as a cultural destination?

What effect did stag parties have in Riga and have they tainted his image forever? Around 2005 cheap airlines started flying to Riga and since then the number of flight routes has increased. Many of these cheap flights take off from the UK and with them brought the highest class of British travelers: The Stag Party. Cheap booze, sexy leggy blondes, AK 47 strip clubs and strip clubs fed new guests to Riga with everything they would expect on a weekend with the boys. Unfortunately, Riga as a city was not prepared for the explosion of drunk and uneducated animals on its streets and problems soon began to appear.

Riga residents began to resent large groups of men who yelled at local girls, threw their money ruthlessly, and generally acted like idiots. The perception of the British had been tainted by a handful of hooligans on cheap weekends, could it get any worse for the well-thought-out Brits? The answer was “YES” in large capital letters.

It took a British drunk to do what good British drunks do: urinate in public. It was not the act of urinating in public that was the main problem, it was the place where the act took place and in many ways it would be like a foreigner in London urinating on the cenotaph. Of all places, the intoxicated Briton chose the Latvian Freedom Monument to relieve himself. The Freedom Monument is the most revered and important monument in the former Soviet state of Latvia and the event caused outrage across the country.

Since the urination event, there have been a number of other incidents involving drunken Britons, the most recent being a group naked and riding a huge wooden horse in the old town. It would seem that Riga may have turned into a debauched city with drunken men running around acting like children and somehow he would be right.

The good news is that most of these uneducated fools will only be found in the old town and many of the new local bars and cafes have strayed quite far from the tourist trap as a result. The other advantage is that the pound is now quite low against the lati; so there are fewer cheap booze hunters heading here to get drunk. You can easily avoid these louts, heading out of the old town on weekend nights and exploring the central districts, many bars and cafes.

So the effects of the influx of bachelor parties are clear, but its damage in this great city is much less than one would think. Compared to cities like Prague, where over the years the city has been literally invaded by bachelor parties, Riga has maintained a balance between cultural tourists and the animal side. In response to the question: Did the bachelor party destroy Riga as a cultural destination? The answer should be ‘No’. Riga is still a lovely city to visit and enjoy, come and see for yourself.