Riga in November: The City's Most Latvian Fortnight
Ten thousand candles along the Riga Castle wall on the 11th. A military parade on the Daugava on the 18th. Light installations across the Old Town in between. November is the month Riga stops performing for visitors.
Quick Answer
November is grey, wet and dark — average highs around 5.5°C, about 8 hours of daylight, and roughly 12 days of rain. It is also the month with Riga's two most significant national occasions: Lāčplēsis Day on 11 November and Independence Day on 18 November, with the Staro Rīga light festival running between them.
If you want to see Latvia rather than a Christmas market, this fortnight is the answer — and it's still off-season pricing.
Check November hotel rates →11 November: Lāčplēsis Day
Lāčplēša diena — Latvian Freedom Fighters' Remembrance Day — commemorates 11 November 1919, when the newly formed Latvian army, with civilian volunteers, drove the Bermontian forces back from Riga during the War of Independence. The name comes from Lāčplēsis, the bear-slayer of the Latvian national epic, and from the military order named after him.
The observance is not a parade. It's a slow, quiet procession of people carrying candles to the ringwall of Riga Castle, along the embankment that is itself named 11. novembra krastmala — the 11 November Embankment. The tradition dates to 1988, in the last years of Soviet rule, and it has grown to the point that the castle wall now carries a purpose-built steel screen, 184 metres long, to protect the historic brickwork from the heat. It holds around 10,500 candles, and on a busy year it fills.
Candles also appear in apartment windows across the city through the evening. There's a torchlight procession and concerts elsewhere in Riga, but the embankment is the heart of it. Go after dark, buy a candle from one of the stalls nearby, and walk the length of the wall. It is the single most affecting hour a visitor can spend in this city, and almost no guidebook sends anyone to it.
A note on behaving well: this is a remembrance occasion, not a spectacle laid on for tourists. People are there for their own family histories. Photograph the candles rather than the mourners, keep your voice down, and don't step over the line of lights.
18 November: Independence Day
A week later comes Latvia's national day proper. On 18 November 1918 the People's Council proclaimed the Republic of Latvia at what is now the Latvian National Theatre. It's a full public holiday, and the day follows a broadly consistent shape year to year:
- Morning — an ecumenical service at Riga Cathedral, followed by the laying of flowers at the Freedom Monument.
- Midday — a ceremonial sitting of the Saeima, Latvia's parliament.
- Early afternoon — the National Armed Forces parade on the 11 November Embankment beside Riga Castle, the day's main public event. This is the one to plan around; the riverfront fills well before it starts.
- Evening — a concert at Freedom Square by the monument, the President's address, the national anthem, and a closing light and laser show.
Exact times shift slightly each year and are published by the city in the weeks beforehand — worth a check on riga.lv once your dates are fixed. Expect road closures around the embankment and Freedom Monument for most of the day, and plan on walking rather than taxis in the centre.
In Between: Staro Rīga
The Staro Rīga light festival runs for several nights across the same fortnight, deliberately timed around the national holidays. Large-scale projections and light installations appear across the Old Town, on Riga Castle, and along the City Canal, and the whole thing is free to walk.
It is the practical reason November's darkness is an asset rather than a problem: with sunset before five, the installations are visible from early evening rather than requiring a late night. Exact dates and the installation map are published closer to the season.
The Weather Is the Price of Admission
There's no dressing this up. November averages a high of about 5.5°C and a low of about 2.5°C, with roughly 12 days of rain and 87% humidity. Daylight starts the month at about nine hours and ends it at barely seven and a quarter — on 30 November the sun rises around 08:35 and sets at 15:49.
That combination — above freezing, persistently wet, dark by mid-afternoon — is why November is Riga's quietest tourist month, and why hotel rates sit near their annual floor outside the two holiday nights. If you're coming, come for the events and treat the daylight hours as museum time. The Art Nouveau district is one of the few outdoor things that reads well under grey skies; the facades were designed for this light.
Waterproofs beat warm layers. An umbrella is less useful than a hood, because the wind off the Daugava will invert it.
Book Near the Riverfront for These Two Weeks
Both national days centre on the same stretch of the Daugava embankment beside Riga Castle, and both involve road closures. Staying in Old Town or the Quiet Centre means you walk to the candles and the parade instead of working out which trams are still running. Rates are at off-season levels for most of the month — but the nights of 10–11 and 17–18 November do tighten up, so book those ahead.
What to Do with the Daylight
Eight hours of grey is not enough for an ambitious walking itinerary, and the evening events run late. The sensible shape for a November day is one indoor or guided thing in the afternoon, then the city after dark. Walking tours still run year-round and are considerably more pleasant with a guide setting the pace than trying to self-navigate in the rain; a sauna session is the other obvious answer, and it's a genuine Latvian tradition rather than a hotel add-on.
Planning Around November
Arrive in the last days of the month and you can pair the national holidays with the opening weekend of the Christmas market, which typically starts on the final weekend of November. A trip a few weeks later lands in December, when the market is the whole story and prices are higher. For cold and cheap with no events at all, January and February are the value floor.
The full year, month by month, is in the Riga events calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is November a good time to visit Riga?
It's the best month to see Riga as Latvians experience it rather than as a tourist destination. The two national holidays on 11 and 18 November, plus the Staro Rīga light festival between them, fill an otherwise empty fortnight with genuinely local events — and prices are still at off-season levels.
What is Lāčplēsis Day in Latvia?
Lāčplēsis Day, on 11 November, is Latvia's remembrance day for its freedom fighters, marking the 1919 defeat of the Bermontian forces outside Riga. Since 1988 the central ritual has been placing lit candles along the ringwall of Riga Castle on the 11 November Embankment, alongside a torchlight procession.
What happens in Riga on 18 November?
18 November is Latvia's Independence Day, marking the 1918 proclamation of the Republic. It's a public holiday built around a military parade on the 11 November Embankment in the early afternoon, an ecumenical service at Riga Cathedral in the morning, flowers at the Freedom Monument, and an evening concert and light show at Freedom Square.
How cold is Riga in November?
Average highs run about 5.5°C and lows about 2.5°C, so it's chilly and wet rather than freezing. Expect around 12 days of rain across the month and roughly 8 hours of daylight, dropping to under 7½ by the end of November.
Is the Christmas market open in November?
Only right at the end. The Dome Square market typically opens on the last weekend of November, so a trip in the final days of the month can catch both the market's opening and the tail of the national-holiday season.
Are shops and museums open on Latvian national holidays?
18 November is a public holiday, so expect reduced hours at some shops and restaurants, and check museum opening times rather than assuming. 11 November is a remembrance day but not a day off, so the city runs normally apart from evening road closures near the embankment.
Coming for the national holidays?
Last updated: September 2026. Weather and daylight figures are historical averages for Riga and vary year to year. Holiday programme timings follow the pattern of recent years; the city publishes exact schedules for 11 and 18 November in the weeks beforehand.