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'''Riga''' is the capital of [[Latvia]] and the biggest city of the [[Baltic states|Baltics]].

=== From [[Kaunas]] (LT), [[Vilnius]] (LT) Lithuania direction to Estonia {{European Route NumberE|67}} === 

The first roundabout as you come towards Riga on the E67 has the road into the city going straight and the road signposted tod Tallinn turning right. If your driver is going into Riga, ask him to leave you here, but do not hitch from this roundabout as there is no room to stop a truck. Just walk down the road one kilometer to the next roundabout, which has plenty of room. From there try getting a lift completely around the city and towards the north of Latvia on the E67, because you may lose a couple of hours if you are dropped off in certain places. For example, at the junction after Salaspils where a driver turning onto the E22 will leave you, there is no room to stop a car, and after the junction cars are driving too fast to even notice you, so you will have to walk 6 or 7 kilometers to the next hitchable point. == Hitchhiking out == === South towards [[Bauska]], [[Kaunas]] (LT), [[Vilnius]] (LT), [[Poland]] (PL) {{E|67}} ===  '''Option 1''' By walking Cross Salu bridge direction out of Riga than turn left on road A7. Place next to Hesburger has extra line for stopping  '''Option 2''' Take a minibus from the Central Bus Station. Platform for this bus is 14. The bus is 6844 to the village of Ķekava about 20kms south-east out of Riga. When the minibus does a u-turn off the highway '''get off''' at that bus-stop called Ķekava on the opposite side of the road from which the minibus came from! From there, you've got about a 2 km walk south along the highway A7 to the hitching point 100 m past the large roundabout. You can try to hitch as you walk. It is worth the trouble and expense to get here as you will cut out all the local traffic and there will be a lot of long distance traffic at a slow enough speed to safely pull over onto the side road just 100 m after the roundabout exit.  '''Option 3''' When you are around central bus station in Riga, you can find a bus stop called 13.janvara iela (It is opposite the Stockman center) where you can take bus 23 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.html#bus/23/a-b/map/en see route]) towards Baloži or bus 26 towards Katlakalns. Get out at stop called Pagrieziens uz Baloziem. There is a nice bus stop and a traffic light just before, so the traffic is pretty slow.   '''Option 4''' From airport If you are next to RIX airport, try asking drivers of cars with Lithuanian number plates LT.

== Hitching Out =South towards [[Jelgava]], [[Siauliai|Šiauliai]] (LT) {{E|77}} =<map lat='56.95' lng='24.1' zoom='10' view='0' country='Latvia' float='right'/>

=== South towards From just opposite Central station take trolleybus #27 ([[Bauska]http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.html#trol/27/a-b/1028/map/en see route)]towards Ziepniekkalna D/P, [[Kaunas]] (LT), [[Vilnius]] (LT) {{European Route Number|67}} ===get out at the Mežkalna iela and walk back on the road to Jelgava. Best place to hitchike will be somewhere after Rimi Aleja supermarket. City ends there

If you want to get === North towards the south[[Pärnu]] or [[Tallinn]] ([[Estonia]]) {{E|67}} Cēsis, get out of the city center first. There are several possibilities:[[Valmiera]] {{E|77}}===

* From RIX airport, try asking drivers of cars with Lithuanian number plates ("LT").* When you are around central bus station in Riga, you can find a bus stop called ''13.janvāra iela'Option 1' (It is opposite the Stockman center) where you can take bus #23 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/?a=p.frameset&schedule_id=2800&t=xhtml&l=en see route]) towards Baloži or bus #26 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/?a=p.routes&transport_id=bus&t=xhtml&l=en#2801 see route]) towards Katlakalns. Get out at stop called "Pagrieziens uz Baložiem". There is a nice bus stop and a traffic light just before, so the traffic is pretty slow. After you have got ar ride the best thing to do, if you are going to Poland, is get out at roundabout just after Ķekava. Even if the car can take you to Iecava or Bauska. There you will see a lot of traffic going straight to Poland or even further.* From the central bus station, take a minibus to ''Kekava''; from there find the main road '''E67/A7''' in the direction of Bauska. Just find a good spot - and good luck!

=== South towards [[Jelgava]]Take tram #6 or #3 from the city centre (for example, from a stop called Merķeļa iela) to the final stop called Jugla - there you will find a road to the north, you will see a petrol station, [[Šiauliai]] traffic lights, a bus stop (LTand McD's in case you want to go to the toilet) {{European Route Number|77}} ===. To get to the hitchhiking spot you will have to walk around 1 km North East next to lake. You will see a spot with a lot of space for a car to stop. And most probably some other hitchhikers, so you won't miss it!

=== North towards [[Pärnu]] or [[Tallinn]] ([[Estonia]]) {{European Route Number|67}}, North East towards [[Cēsis]], [[Valmiera]] {{European Route Number|77}} ===Take a tram #1 or #3 from the city center (for example, from a stop called ''Merķeļa iela'Option 2') to the final stop called ''Jugla'' - there you will find a road to the north, you will see there a petrol station, traffic lights, a bus stop (and "McDonald's" in case you want to go to the toilet). To get to the hitchhiking spot you will have to walk around 2km North East. You will see a spot with a lot of space for a car to stop. And most probably some other hitchhikers, so you won't miss it!

Better option is to take bus #1 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/?a=p.routes&transport_id=bus&t=xhtml&l=en#2595 see route]) towards "Pansionāts" Berģuciems and get out at stop "Brīvdabas muzejs" Muzejs which is first stop after you see lake on the right side. Walk few steps back and you'll be exactly at the same spot as mentioned above.

=== South-Beware that most of the traffic is going North East towards [[Daugavpils]] and [[Belarus]] {{European Route Number|22}} ===Take the tram #7 or #9 so it might happen that you wait some time to get a 3 km ride to the end ''Dole'right road if you are going north. So it's up to you to decide. Cross the street and find Maybe a bus stop near parking place. HH from better option is to walk those few km already after you arrive at the parking place or if its full, stand before bus stopspot. You can get also take bus #1 one stop further by bus as noted below, but than mentioned above (Till stop Berģi) and you won't have to many peoplewalk that much. After you's mind, starting at Dole and ending in next town Salaspils, is re on the road to Estonia walk up to a place where prostitutes stand.bus stops on Option 3

'''Option 3''' More out of city Out of city for Parnu, Tallin. Take regional bus to Baltezers. Catch a bus Riga - Adazi from Central Bus Station till final stop Adazi and walk to E67/A1 highway. Price is 1.15 euros  Out of city for Cesis, Valmiera. Catch a bus Riga - Vangazi nr 6826 from bus stop Merķeļa Iela till Langstiņu Pagrieziens and you are on perfect place on E77 highway. Price is 1.15 euros == Language = Southeast towards [[Daugavpils]], [[Rēzekne]], [[Russia]], [[Belarus]] {{E|22}} === You can take the tram #3, #7 or #9 to the end stop ''Dole'Darba diena'. Cross the street and find a bus stop near a parking place. Hitchhike from the parking place or, if it' means weekdays full, stand before the bus stop. The problem with this spot might be that it is still in the city so a lot of traffic is local. Better option is to take bus #18 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.html#bus/18/a-b/7749b/map/en see route]) towards "Dārziņi" and get out at ''Pagrieziens uz Darziniem''. You'll be at ''SestdienaMaskavas Iela'' means Saturday near traffic lights where cars drive slowly and you can easily get a ride at that bus stop. You should aim to get to Koknese because that's the place where two highways meet ant become one, in Koknese there is a wide roundabout with great visibility. If you'Svētdienare going to Russia and have been dropped near the border, you can cross it on foot without any problems. After the border the road is not busy and most of traffic is local, but if you spend some time you can catch cars going far away. Consider using a big sign. === Southwest towards [[Liepāja]] === From city centre (for example "13. janvāra iela" which is the big bus stop opposite Stockman centre and the train station) take bus #4 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.html#bus/4/a-b/7749b/map/en see route]) or bus #32 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.html#bus/32/a-b/7749b/map/en see route]) towards "Pinķi" and get out at stop "Pagrieziens uz Pinķiem". You can start hitchhiking already there, because all the traffic that goes to [[Liepāja]] will pass here, but the road is big and fast so you may just walk back to the main road, there are traffic lights so cars have to slow down, and just after the traffic lights there is plenty of space for cars to pull over.  Bus #43 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.html#bus/43/a-b/7749b/map/en see route]) towards Skulte from the same "13. janvāra iela" stop and get out at stop "Beberbeķi" (Don't get confused with stop "Beberbeķu iela", there are still 3 stops to go). There you just walk few hundred meters down the road and here you are!  === Northwest towards Ventspils, Talsi, Tukums === You can try to get to the same bus stop Pagrieziens Uz Pinķiem as mentioned above. Only from there walk back North, get on the big road and try to hitch. Make sure you have a good sign there, because most of the traffic is going only to Jūrmala.  In the same point as mentioned above, you can get little cheaper by using train. Go to train station, buy ticket (~1 euro) till Priedaine (and take train going towards Sloka, Tukums or Dubulti). Get out in Priedaine station which looks kinda deserted and walk ~150m as railroad stays on your left and then turn left - cross the railroad and walk through forest (there is good asphalted bicycle path and road going)for about 1km. On crosroads turn right and there you' means Sundayll see road going under bridge, go through and there is ideal spot for you. This way you can get from Riga centre to hitchhiking point in 20-30 minutes == Hitching by ferry == Getting onto the ferries for free is not possible. Both cars and trucks pay per person.

In Riga you can get around by bus, tram and troleybustrolleybus. There are a lot of controls, so better buy a ticket! If you dare to blackride, your best bet is to empty your wallet. If there is are no police around they , inspectors are likely to just let you go if you can't pay. Besides, in summer time there are controls at random points between the stops which you can hardly avoid. During winter however, ticket inspectors are waiting only at stops and usually are easy to spot, so if you are careful you can avoid them by just leaving when they enter.  Tickets cost 1,15 EUR if you don't buy it from driver. If you buy it from the driver it's 2 EUR. You can buy tickets at Narvesen, ticket vending machines, supermarkets "Rimi", "Maxima" and other places.