Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum, Riga Region, Latvia

5averyglenthorne 5:00 PM Sep 29, 2022

Beware ticket inspectors
I visited in September 2022. The museum is very good and I spent 2-3 hours but could easily have been there longer. It is not a good thing to do on a rainy day. I travelled there on Bus 31 from Riga from the Terbatas bus stop on the opposite carriageway to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral (coming back the equivalent bus stop is Esplanade). This bus stops outside the museum entrance at stop Brivdaba Muzejs. The bus journey takes 30 minutes. Now a warning. I thought I could pay the bus driver or tap in with a credit card but that is not the case. Polite but unsmiling ticket inspectors fined me 20 euros and told me that I needed to get an e ticket from a Narvissen or Maxima store before boarding!

4MKMapman 5:00 PM Jun 18, 2020

Quiet and spacious open air museum
The Open Air Museum can be reached by an easy 2km walk from the terminus fort Tram #1 at Jugla, using the pavement (sidewalk) beside the main highway, with some of the preserved buildings in the museum visible across the lake. There is also a bus stop on the main road not far from the entrance, with a roughly hourly service from the centre of Riga. The museum is very spaciously laid out in an undulating pine forest On my visit, I chose to go around it in a roughly anti-clockwise direction, but on a Monday morning in July found all the buildings in the first area were closed and the information boards outside were not very informative. However further on more buildings were open; there were some attractive chests displayed in a former fish hall. Further on there were more people around, including a few employees dressed in national costume. The area that contained the Catholic and Orthodox churches and three windmills was perhaps the most interesting. In spite of earlier rain, the mostly earth paths were not too muddy underfoot, and in some places had bark surfaces; however they would be difficult for anyone with mobility restrictions. Overall it’s not up to the standard of the best Scandinavian open air museums, but still makes a pleasant half day out from Riga and as noted above is easily accessible.