Hotel Domina Inn

On Pulkveza Brieza 11, a street located in the art nouveau district of Riga, and overlooking Elizabetes iela (where the most famous facades are). From the hotel, you can get to the old town in 15 minutes on foot.
The airport is 6 mi from Riga. Allow for a 15 minute trip.

Previously the Viesnica, this hotel now belongs to the Italian Domina Hotel chain. This is where it gets its new name from: the Domina Inn. It re-opened after work in 2005. Its interior is very luminous, and has been restructured; however, its art nouveau facade has been preserved: it dates from 1913.
Accommodation Advice
The higher category rooms are more spacious than the standard (around 54 sq ft more), however, the decoration is still the same. The 1st category room (the "classic") is suitable for a couple. Families can ask for a suite (with a sofa-bed). There will be no jealousy as regards the view: all the rooms look over the courtyard of a block of houses.

The Domina Inn consists of two buildings of 7 and 11 stories connected by a covered passageway favouring the light (glass covered by cloth blinds) and the contemporary architecture (parquet floor, wooden beams). There are armchairs and leather sofas in this passageway to free up the space around reception. A door, located by the counter, takes you to the bar and then to the restaurant. You can also get to these two places from the street, where the tables are arranged as a terrace in summer. To complete the tour of the premises, the room with the whirlpool bath and sauna is on the 11th floor. There is a view of the courtyard from the two windows, and a rest room beside the whirlpool bath. This room needs to be booked in advance, subject to payment (about £39.50).

There are 110 rooms and suites, whose surface area ranges from 183 sq ft (a "classic" room) to 474 sq ft (the largest of the suites). None of the accommodation looks over the street, so there is no noise. The only disadvantage of the rooms located on the lower floors is their view, which is limited to the glass roof connecting the two buildings. The suites on the 11th floor of the building offer a broader panorama. Always over a courtyard though. As regards the furnishings and fittings, the hotel has taken the "less is more" option. This is a shame, in view of the noticeable art nouveau influences on the other places. With their walls, armchairs, curtains and pale bedcovers, the rooms are very restful; maybe too much so. Since they also offer a good level of comfort and new amenities, we will not complain. A flat screen television, a direct telephone line, air conditioning and a minibar can be found in all the categories of room. Use of the safe is free of charge. There is a bath, hairdryer and bathrobes in the bathroom, around the pale marble washbasin... but only two small soaps as hospitality products.

Of course, eating Italian in Riga hardly allows you to discover Latvian gastronomy, however, if you would really like to give yourself a treat, come here. Owned by an Italian chef, the Antonio restaurant is reputed, and rightly so. Its decoration, which is simple, chic and colourful, evokes certain contemporary places in Rome or Milan. And this is not an exaggeration. Not all the walls are brick-coloured, the paintings hanging on them show stylised blown-up flowers. You sit at a table covered with a white tablecloth, you are served impeccably, and as in most good Italian restaurants, every dish makes you feel hungry. Try them with your eyes closed (by placing your finger on the menu at random): you will find orecchiette (pasta) with asparagus and tuna, Roman lasagne, or ravioli with ricotta and spinach (around £9 a dish). In the morning, breakfast is served in the same room, around a full buffet (omelettes, bacon, tomatoes and cucumber in a salad, pancakes, as well as rolls, pastries, and cereal). You serve yourself freely, and also for the coffee.