REVIEW | Pullman Riga Old Town

August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It will most likely not be ready by 2030. But that doesn’t stop us. What to expect from the Baltics? Is it affected by overtourism?

In Riga we stayed at the Pullman, located at the edge of the old town. This provided us with an excellent base to discover the city from.

From the outside it looked like an old crooked building, but inside it was completely gutted and newly built. Despite not being that old they were already doing renovations to make sure the hotel stayed up to date, which is always positive.

We were given a room on what they called the second floor (they used the American system) but for us was on the first floor, at the back of the hotel overlooking a dilapidated building. Unfortunately the outlet of the air-conditioning system was right under our room, providing for a constant noise.

The room was on the somewhat smaller side but still contained two comfortable beds and a proper desk for Timothy. Powerplugs and USB plugs where at both sides of the bed. The reading lights also where equipped with touchless charging pads.

In the entrance area there was the wardrobe, where the also had the complimentary bathrobes and slippers.

The bathroom was in a rather strange layout, especially for the smaller size. In the main room was the sink and the walk-in shower behind a frosted glass wall. The shower was divided from the rest of the room with a small bump, making sure the room couldn’t flood.

On the walls all the different toiletries where mounted using multiple use dispensers. Peculiarly the conditioner was by a different brand than the other products.

In a separate room from the bathroom was the toilet. It’s nice that it was still a closed bathroom for a new hotel, but this very subdivided indeed.

The breakfast was served in the main restaurant on the ground floor. They had a big buffet offering and also an a la carte menu included in the buffet rate. The staff was very friendly and efficient and came to note down our orders in no-time. If you finished your first a la carte offer they proactively asked if you wanted anything else when clearing the plates.

The gym and wellness where located on the top floor. The pool had a very peculiar elongated shape, due to the size of the building and the shape of the wellness area. As it was built on top of the floor it also requires you climbing up a ladder on the outside to get in. There was also a sauna on the far end of the pool.

The Pullman provided us with a solid stay. The staff was very friendly and it was nice to see that they invested in keeping the property in top shape.