VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Los Angeles or Riga?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Los Angeles for

  • shopping
  • families
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’s own page.

Choose Riga for

  • getting around
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Los Angeles 60, Riga 40: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Riga 52: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles and Riga are level on 66.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Riga 52: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Riga 55: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles and Riga are level on 60.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Riga 50: Los Angeles leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Riga 68: Riga leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Riga 45: Los Angeles leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Riga 62: Riga leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Riga 65: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Riga 50: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Riga.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and families with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesRiga
Official language-Latvian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m6 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesRiga
City population3,898,747588,911
People per km²2,994-
Museums within 10 km3912
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles or Riga somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.