VacationSelector
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Riga or Vienna?

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 Riga for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Vienna for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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. Riga 40, Vienna 27: Riga leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Riga 52, Vienna 68: Vienna leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Riga 66, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Riga 52, Vienna 50: Riga leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Riga 55, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Riga 60, Vienna 74: Vienna leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Riga 50, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Riga 68, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Riga 45, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Riga 62, Vienna 44: Riga leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Riga 65, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Riga 50, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Riga and Vienna.

Your match

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

Riga
55match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Vienna
Best match
66match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RigaVienna

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRigaVienna
Official languageLatvianGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m151 m
Main airportRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRigaVienna
City population588,9112,028,289
People per km²-4,890
Museums within 10 km12152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Riga or Vienna 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.