Why Riga Central Market Should Be on Your 2025 Travel List

Riga Central Market (Rīgas Centrāltirgus) is the quintessential Latvian experience. Built in old war-time zeppelin hangars, it’s one of the biggest markets of its kind still operating in Europe. I didn’t realise this on my first visit though: I entered the market from the train station side and only saw the meat pavilion – without realising that the outdoor market and the rest of the hangars are on the other side, I wasn’t much impressed. 😂 I’m glad I went again and realised my mistake though!

It’s one of the places near Riga Old Town that has more locals visiting than tourists. 80,000-100,000 people shop there per day on the average!

Official opening times are 7 am until 6 pm (5 pm on Sundays), but I advise going as early as you can. A lot of the stalls will close earlier if it’s not very busy. Also in the summer time, if you go early in the morning, you will avoid the tourist crowd in the late morning and early afternoon.

How to get there

Riga Central Market is an easy 10-15 min walk away from the Old Town. Head towards the bus station and you will find the hangars on the other side of the little canal. It’s a very good place to visit before catching your bus, too, so make sure you leave enough time for quick visit.

Seasonal Highlights

You can really tell how the seasons change by visiting the market at different times of the year. This is my favourite thing about the Central Market!

In the summer you the main focus is on local (or Polish) vegetables and fruit, as expected.

In the autumn, outside along the separate meat pavilion, you find all the grannies that have been to the local forests to earn some extra money and picked local berries and mushrooms. My favourites are cranberries and yellow chanterelles.

Colourful citrus fruit will start appearing in the autumn, too. 

When the winter approaches, all the indoor halls spring to life with fermented cabbage (well, basically fermented everything and anything!) 

The spring makes way for more fresh produce again.

Indoor pavilions 

You have five different indoor pavilions: off to the side and a bit apart from the others is the meat pavilion. There’s meat in all imaginable forms: raw, cooked, and smoked. In the summer it is actually quite quiet there, as there’re not too many sellers.

The bigger building is four separate hangars, or pavilions, combined under one roof. The first one you enter if you arrive from the Old Town is the one with regular shops selling things such as clothes or cosmetics. On my second visit in July I thought it was pretty dead and quiet, and I was thinking that the market must be losing popularity. Little did I know that most of the shop owners were probably on their summer holidays. 😂 There’s a lot more action here in the wintertime.

The second hangar is for sweets, spices, honey, milk products (and Latvians reaaaaally love their cheeses and sourcreams) and baked goods. 

There are a few restaurants here that are very nice for local food. 

My favorite restaurant in at the Central Market is located in the middle and called Street Food. It’s got the best kebab I’ve ever tried, hands down. Try the kebab in lavash for 7 €, you won’t regret it! Another one that’s quite fun to try out is a soup served inside bread! You have options to try lots of other local (and not so local like sushi or tapas) food like pelmeni and pancakes, too.

One of the middle hangars was under renovation the whole time I was in Riga, but I’d imagine they move the vegetable sellers there once it’s finished as it’s called “Vegetable pavilion”.

The last one is where you can find all the fish and seafood. To be honest, the smell in this pavilion is quite overpowering, so if you’re sensitive to smells or allergic to fish or seafood, you should definitely skip this one. It does have most of the fermented produce in the winter time though!

There are also some cafes and a small supermarket inside the Central Market. You have second hand clothing shops upstairs of the different pavilions. In the summer these will be quiet and even closed most of the time.

Outside Market

In the summer the market outside is twice the size of the indoor areas. 

You have all the vegetables you can imagine, but also shoes, clothes, pots, pans, souvenirs, herbs, flowers… Basically anything you would ever want for your house!

Make sure you go all the way around the bigger hangar to check out all the vegetable stalls and the other small shops.

On the side of the meat hangar you find all the “independent” sellers, as I like to think of them. There’s small stalls often used by local grandmas and grandpas to sell their own crop or daily catch.

What to buy from the Riga Central Market

Apart from the obvious fruit and vegetables, which are often cheaper than in the supermarket, you can find a lot of different souvenirs here. 

Buy Riga Black Balsam (they sell them in tiny bottles too, for like 2 euro a piece) or amber jewellery.

You can also shop for second hand clothing (in the Central Market, or there’s Humana outside too) and whatever seasonal clothes and accessories might be needed.

Best part is trying all the local foods though! If you ask politely, the ladies might give you a taste of their fermented cabbage before you buy.

There’s bakeries, there’s different kinds of sweets and sooo many different types of cheeses.

Remember to bring cash! Most of the vendors only operate with cash, and try to make sure you have small change with you. You might offend someone if you buy 15 cents worth of onions and try to pay with a 50 euro note. Also note that it is rude to hackle here. Just pay the price they ask and be happy.

My tip for buying vegetables is to try to pay attention to the scales the sellers have. You can see the price of your purchase each time they weigh the items, and you can do some mental maths to add up your total, in case you buy many different things. Many of the (especially older) sellers don’t speak English so I’ve found this to be the easiest way to make sure I give the correct change. Otherwise I will leave the market with so many copper coins. 😀

Tip: If you buy fruit or vegetables, there’s a fountain between the solitary pavilion and the bigger building. Use it to wash your products so you can enjoy them there and then! It’s not in use in the winter though.

How much time do you need?

I would reserve at least one hour to go through everything! There’s lots to see and many rows of little stalls to get lost between (especially outside). Of course, if you sit down for a meal, then you’re easily spending a lot longer.

Is Riga Central Market worth visiting?

I say 100 % yes! Whenever somebody asks me for tips on what to see in Riga, this one is always on the list.

A visit here is not just about shopping: it gives you an insight into locals’ life, you get to taste and see what this country is all about!