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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. === South towards [[Jelgava]], [[Siauliai|Šiauliai]] (LT) {{E|77}} === From just opposite Central station take trolleybus #27 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.html#trol/27/a-b/1028/map/en see route)] towards Ziepniekkalna D/P, 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 === North towards [[Pärnu]] or [[Tallinn]] ([[Estonia]]) {{E|67}} Cēsis, [[Valmiera]] {{E|77}}=== '''Option 1''' 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, traffic lights, a bus stop (and McD's in case you want to go to the toilet). 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!  '''Option 2''' Better option is to take bus #1 towards Berģuciems and get out at stop Brīvdabas 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.  Beware that most of the traffic is going North East so it might happen that you wait some time to get a 3 km ride to the right road if you are going north. So it's up to you to decide. Maybe a better option is to walk those few km already after you arrive at the spot. You can also take bus #1 one stop further than mentioned above (Till stop Berģi) and you won't have to walk that much. After you're on the road to Estonia walk up to a 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 === Southeast towards [[Daugavpils]], [[Rēzekne]], [[Russia]], [[Belarus]] {{E|22}} === You can take the tram #3, #7 or #9 to the end stop ''Dole''. Cross the street and find a bus stop near a parking place. Hitchhike from the parking place or, if it's 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 ''Maskavas Iela'' near traffic lights where cars drive slowly and you can easily get a ride at that bus stop.

== Hitching Out ==<map lat=You should aim to get to Koknese because that'56s the place where two highways meet ant become one, in Koknese there is a wide roundabout with great visibility.95' lng='24.1' zoom='10' view='0' country='Latvia' float='right'/>

=== South towards [[Bauska]]If you're going to Russia and have been dropped near the border, [[Jelgava]]you can cross it on foot without any problems. After the border the road is not busy and most of traffic is local, [[Kaunas]] (LT), [[Vilnius]] (LT) {{European Route Number|67}} ===but if you spend some time you can catch cars going far away. Consider using a big sign.

If you want to get === Southwest towards the south, get out of the city center first. There are several possibilities:[[Liepāja]] ===

* From RIX airport, try asking drivers of cars with Lithuanian number plates city centre (for example "LT13. janvāra iela").* Take a tram #10 towards ''Bišumuiža'' which is the big bus stop opposite Stockman centre and get off at the stop ''Ziepniekalna iela''. You will see a [[petrol train station]] just around the corner. Very few cars are actually going to ) take bus #4 ([[Lithuania]] from there, although you can still focus on the registration plates marked 'LT'http://saraksti. Do not refuse a short lift as there is one petrol station 20 km further away where one can get good rides straight to Vilnius, Kaunas, or even Poland and furtherrigassatiksme. It is more successful to ask drivers for a ride on that petrol station than to stand at the streetlv/index.* When you are around central html#bus station in Riga, you can find /4/a -b/7749b/map/en see route]) or bus stop called ''13#32 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/index.janvāra iela'' where you can take html#bus/32/a bus #23 (or 26, -b/7749b/map/en see foot noteroute]) towards ''Baloži'' (be careful and do not take the bus nr.23 from the opposite side of the road outside the "StockmannPinķi" shopping center, that bus has another, opposite destination - find one with the destination ''Baloži''!). This bus then will take you outside of the city of Riga in around half an hour to a perfect hitch-hiking spot. You can get off at the stop ''Sūkņu stacija'' - there you've got a traffic light and a bus stop - good place for hitchhiking since basically everyone's going towards [[Bauska]]! But you can also get off out at earlier stop called "Pagrieziens uz BaloziemPinķiem". It is a very good place and you You can easily identify it start hitchhiking already there, because you all the traffic that goes to [[Liepāja]] will pass a big ''Maxima'' distribution centerhere, but the bus will then take a right turn off the main road is big and right after that is that stop where fast so you get off, cross the road, go may just walk back to the junction, and hitch-hike from another bus stop there. (Note on bus nr.26: it doesnt turn right after ''Maxima'', it stops directly on the main road at this place/stop where you can hitch-hike from!)* 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!* Cross the main bridge of Riga which goes southwards. You can walk there, although you might as well take a bus or a minibus. Continue until the [[on-ramp]] are traffic lights so cars have to ''A7''slow down, then hitchhike towards Jelgava.* For and just after the equivalent of 1 euro you can take a regional train to [[Jelgava]], a much smaller city about an hour of train journey to the south. From traffic lights there, it is relatively easy plenty of space for cars to hitchhike towards [[Šiauliai]] ([[Lithuania]]) and other destinations in this direction, although sometimes, especially in [[winter]], the road can be pretty empty and one can get stuck there, as [[User:Sigurdas|Sigurdas]] has experiencedpull over.

Another option is to take bus Bus #1 43 ([http://saraksti.rigassatiksme.lv/?a=pindex.routes&transport_id=html#bus&t=xhtml&l=/43/a-b/7749b/map/en#2595 see route]) towards Skulte from the same "Pansionāts13. janvāra iela" stop and get out at stop "Brīvdabas muzejsBeberbeķi" which is first (Don't get confused with stop after lake that "Beberbeķu iela", there are still 3 stops to go). There you'll see on right. Walk just walk few steps back hundred meters down the road and here you'll be exactly at the same spot as mentioned above.are!

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'll 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 == Language Hitching by ferry ==''Darba diena'' means weekday, ''Sestdiena'' means Saturday Getting onto the ferries for free is not possible. Both cars and ''Svētdiena'' means Sundaytrucks 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.