VacationSelector
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Riga or Windhoek?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Windhoek for

Windhoek does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Riga leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Riga 52, Windhoek 36: Riga leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Riga 66, Windhoek 30: Riga leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Riga 52, Windhoek 25: Riga leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Riga 55, Windhoek 52: Riga leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Riga 60, Windhoek 14: Riga leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Riga 50, Windhoek 30: Riga leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Riga 68, Windhoek 22: Riga leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Riga 45, Windhoek 30: Riga leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Riga and Windhoek are level on 62.
Live music & performing arts. Riga 65, Windhoek 18: Riga leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Riga 50, Windhoek 30: Riga leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Riga and Windhoek.

Your match

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

Riga
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

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
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RigaWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRigaWindhoek
Official languageLatvianEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m1,650 m
Main airportRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureRigaWindhoek
City population588,911486,169
People per km²-95
Museums within 10 km125
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Windhoek 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.