Weekly note
Riga
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Photo by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Riga in January

avoid · not the best time to go · the coolest month of the year

The year in Riga

Tap a month for its page

  1. Riga in January: avoid
  2. Riga in February: avoid
  3. Riga in March: ok
  4. Riga in April: ok
  5. Riga in May: sweet spot
  6. Riga in June: good, busy
  7. Riga in July: good, busy
  8. Riga in August: good, busy
  9. Riga in September: good
  10. Riga in October: ok
  11. Riga in November: avoid
  12. Riga in December: avoid
  • Sweet spot
  • Good
  • OK
  • Avoid
  • Busy
January is ruled out at Riga: bitter cold: 0C daily max.

The numbers

Daily high0°C
Nightly low-4°C
Feels like, afternoon-5°C
Rainy days, 1 mm or more9 · 55 mm
Humidity86%
Sunshine2.2 h/day
Daylight7.5 h/day
Crowds80 / 100, higher is quieter

Ten-year averages for this calendar month. A rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts it. The model these figures come from drizzles more than a rain gauge, the more so the warmer the month, so its days count from 2 mm, rising to 5 mm in the hottest.

Weather read at the old town, 9 km from the airport (RIX): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

How busy it gets

January: quiet. Busiest from June to August; quietest from January to March.

Public holidays in January

Holidays crowd a place out and push fares up around them; they count toward the crowd score above.

Riga in pictures

What to pack

  • A proper coat, hat and gloves: nights average -4°C.
  • A packable rain jacket for the 9 or so rainy days.
  • Humidity averages 86%; breathable fabrics dry faster.

Each line is a threshold over the ten-year figures above, not advice from anywhere else.

Before you go

Cost of livingcheap — prices run about 57% of the United States' (World Bank, 2025)
CurrencyEuro
LanguagesLatvian
PlugsType C and F, 230 V
DrivingOn the right
Calling code+371
Travel advice No advice against travel — UK Foreign Office, updated 2026-08-11
HealthUK Foreign Office health advice

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank, refreshed 2026-10-08. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

On arrival in Riga: the apps, paying, getting around, tipping and the emergency numbers.

January elsewhere

In January from

The other months at Riga

← December · All twelve months at Riga · February →

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