Riga

Travelers' Takes

Rates and Deals

Lido Recreation Centre

More Photos
michaelhudson
michaelhudson
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
3
Photos
Editor Pick

Lido Recreation Centre

  • April 7, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by michaelhudson from Jarrow, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom
Lido Recreation Centre

The biggest and most famous of Lido's eight restaurants, Lido Recreation Centre is also one of the most inconvenient to get to. Whereas Alus Seta is located slap bang in the middle of the Old Town and the larger Vermanitis occupies a prime site on Elizabetes iela overlooking Vermanes Park, the chain's flagship restaurant is stuck a forty-five minute walk south of the city centre on Krasta iela, near the River Daugava, cathedral-sized car showrooms and an out-of-town retail park. Nonetheless, it's well worth the tram ride out of the centre.

The Recreation Centre holds over a thousand people in one of Europe's biggest log-cabin buildings, topped with a replica windmill (the English translation of the Latvian word Lido). The are wooden benches and miniature canals outside are perfect for long summer evenings. If the weather's not so good there's also a small amusement park and ice rink.

The interior is divided into a downstairs beer cellar and dancefloor which gets packed out on Friday and Saturday nights, a ground floor self-service cafeteria, and a more formal upstairs restaurant with table service and live music. As with all of Lido's restaurants, the food is eclectic but relatively basic, a point-and-order combination of traditional local staples like solyanka soup and rye bread mixed with spaghetti, potatoes, chips, salads and meat dishes, all charged for by weight. It's filling but hardly exciting, though there's something for everyone's tastes and it's the perfect accompaniment for the home-brewed beer which is, of course, the main reason to visit.

Half-litres of beer at the Recreation Centre cost around fifty santimes less than they do at Alus Seta, with Lido Special at one lat twenty santimes and the tasty honey beer Medalus ten santimes more. Better still, you can order by the litre, with huge glasses of Special costing just over two santimes. Lido's beer is among the best in Latvia and the prices here are some of the cheapest you'll find anywhere in Riga. Don't miss out.

The Recreation Centre is open daily from 10am (self-service restaurant) to midnight (beer cellar). There's a cashpoint near the entrance and a children's playroom open until 10pm. To get there take tram number 3, 7 or 9 in the direction of Dole and get off at Lido Atputas Cenrs. Tickets cost 40 santimes if bought from a kiosk or an extra 10 santimes from the driver.

From journal Going Out In Riga

Compare Riga Rates

1. Enter travel information

City

2. Select websites to compare rates

Each selected website will open a new window.

Riga Travel Deals