Best Hostels with Social Events in Riga
3 top-rated hostels with social events in Riga Handpicked for travelers who want the best.
Riga's social hostel scene is compact but active, anchored by Naughty Squirrel's 24-hour bar and Cinnamon Sally's staff-led pub crawls through the Old Town and Central Station bar strip. Three hostels run actual event calendars โ beer pong, trivia, karaoke, live music and the Sigulda Olympic bobsled day trip that has no equivalent anywhere else on the Baltic backpacker trail.
Riga is a top-5 Baltic backpacker stop and it's priced accordingly โ a โฌ2.50 pint at Piens or Chomsky, โฌ1.15 tram ride anywhere in town, 45% Riga Black Balsam shots that half the hostels hand out on arrival. The backpacker social scene here is older than Tallinn's and a little grittier than Vilnius's, with Old Town bars like Folkklubs Ala doing live folk and cellar-ambiance Black Balsam shots, and Miera iela's craft beer strip a 15-minute walk east for the post-crawl morning-after coffee run.
๐Why Riga is Perfect for Social Events
Naughty Squirrel is Riga's flagship party hostel, Australian-owned since 2007, with a 24-hour on-site bar that hosts beer pong Tuesday, trivia Wednesday, Food Nights Thursday, and the Sigulda Olympic bobsled day trip (โฌ95 including transport, real 80 km/h runs on the actual Olympic track) which is genuinely unique on the Baltic backpacker trail. Three minutes to Town Hall Square.
Cinnamon Sally is the calmer social pick, directly opposite Riga Central Station, with staff-led free walking tours at 11am daily and pub crawls running Thursday to Saturday from the in-house bar. The adults-only, no-stag-party door policy keeps the tone traveler-sociable rather than drunk-chaotic, and the included breakfast buffet means you start the day with strangers in the breakfast room.
Hedgehogs rounds out the social trio on the second floor of the Cinnamon Sally building. Happy hour 6-8pm nightly, karaoke Wednesdays, live music on select weekends, and the ping-pong tournament once a month all make for a lower-key social hostel than Naughty Squirrel without the complete quiet of Blue Bird. In-house Latvian restaurant at โฌ8-12 per plate for the grey-peas-with-bacon dinner.
Traveler's take
โThree social hostels, three different vibes. Naughty Squirrel is where you go if you want a night one that definitely involves beer pong and possibly a bobsled ride the next morning. Cinnamon Sally is where you go if you want to make friends over a free 11am walking tour and a waffle breakfast. Hedgehogs is where you go if karaoke on Wednesday and live music on Friday sounds like the right calibration. All three are within a 5-minute walk of each other on or near Merฤทeฤผa iela, so you can crawl between them.โ
Our Top 3 Picks
Hostels in Riga with social events, sorted by guest rating.
Cinnamon Sally Backpackers Hostel
Centrs (opposite Central Station)
Wonderful
2,315 reviews
Cinnamon Sally sits at Merฤทeฤผa iela 1, directly opposite Riga Central Station and a five-minute walk to the Old Town. Famous in Baltic backpacker circles for its homemade breakfast, bottomless free coffee and a strict adults-only, no-stag-party policy that keeps the vibe travel-sociable rather than chaotic.
From
โฌ18//night
Why travelers love Cinnamon Sally Backpackers Hostel
โInterrailers on the Warsaw-Tallinn loop check in here for a reason. The breakfast buffet is unusually generous for the price bracket, the coffee machine runs around the clock, and the staff push free Riga walking tours and pub crawls at check-in. Entry is signposted through the McDonald's courtyard, which catches new arrivals out.โ
Naughty Squirrel Backpackers Hostel
Vecrฤซga (Old Town)
Excellent
503 reviews
Naughty Squirrel has been Riga's headline party hostel since 2007, a three-minute walk from Town Hall Square and home to the 24-hour on-site bar that runs beer pong, trivia and movie nights on rotation. Australian-owned, dog-friendly, and famous for organizing the Latvian Olympic bobsled trip in Sigulda and the AK-47 shooting day at the firing range outside town.
From
โฌ21//night
Why travelers love Naughty Squirrel Backpackers Hostel
โNot for light sleepers. Guests come here for the social scene, not quiet mornings, and the 24-hour bar with happy-hour pricing draws a stag-party crowd in summer. Old Town's medieval square sits three minutes away, the shared kitchen keeps food costs low, and the smart-card dorm access and under-bed lockers handle security without making it feel institutional.โ
Hedgehogs Backpackers Hostel
Centrs (Merฤทeฤผa iela, opposite Central Station)
Very Good
525 reviews
Hedgehogs sits on the second floor of the same Merฤทeฤผa iela 1 building as Cinnamon Sally, opposite Riga Central Station. The split is clear: Cinnamon Sally does breakfast and quiet, Hedgehogs does the bar, karaoke, ping-pong and live music nights. In-house restaurant, mini-mart, 24-hour front desk and a 9.6 couples location rating anchor it.
From
โฌ19//night
Why travelers love Hedgehogs Backpackers Hostel
โExpect a busier evening scene than most Riga hostels โ happy hour nightly, live music some weekends, karaoke mid-week, ping-pong tournaments, movie nights. The lounge has a vending machine for late snacks and the mini-mart downstairs saves the Rimi walk. Cinnamon Sally's free walking tour and Hedgehogs' bar crawl start from the same stairwell, which makes stacking activities easy.โ
๐กTips for Choosing a Hostel with Social Events in Riga
- 1Naughty Squirrel's Sigulda bobsled day trip books 48 hours out, weekend slots sell first. โฌ95 including transport, the real Olympic track at 80+ km/h.
- 2Cinnamon Sally's 11am free walking tour is led by staff, not an outside agency โ it's where you meet the other guests your first morning.
- 3Hedgehogs' Wednesday karaoke runs past midnight on the second floor of Merฤทeฤผa iela 1. Ask for a 3rd-floor dorm if you want to sleep before 1am.
- 4Happy hour at Naughty Squirrel (8-10pm) and Hedgehogs (6-8pm) overlap perfectly โ start at Hedgehogs, walk 30 seconds downstairs, finish at Naughty Squirrel.
- 5Folkklubs Ala on Peldu iela is the off-hostel social add-on for Riga Black Balsam shots and live Latvian folk music, 4 min walk from any of the three hostels.
- 6Cinnamon Sally's 'no stag parties' rule is strictly enforced. If you want stag-weekend energy, Naughty Squirrel is the only option on this list.
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