Library House “Bibliotekas nams” – Apartment with Park View

Hotel Description

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect when I first walked up to this place on Krišjāņa Barona – I mean, the street name alone had me practicing pronunciation in my head. But you know what? Library House totally lives up to its literary vibe, and that 9.5 rating isn’t just inflated booking site nonsense.

The apartment sits right in the heart of Riga’s Art Nouveau district, which sounds fancy but actually just means you’re surrounded by these gorgeous buildings with incredible architectural details that’ll have you constantly looking up. The park view they mention? It’s legit – you’re looking out at Vērmanes dārzs, and honestly, watching locals walk their dogs there in the morning while you’re having coffee feels pretty perfect. The whole setup has this cozy, lived-in feeling that’s way better than sterile hotel rooms. There’s actual character here – books scattered around (fitting, right?), comfortable furniture that doesn’t look like it came from a catalog, and windows that actually open properly. Small thing, but after staying in places where you’re sealed in like a spaceship, it matters.

What really sold me on this spot was how it sits in the neighborhood. You’re literally a five-minute walk from the Old Town, but far enough away that you’re not dealing with hen parties stumbling past your windows at 3 AM. The building itself is quiet – I was worried about street noise since Barona can get busy, but the park-facing side stays pretty peaceful. Plus, and this is key if you’re planning to explore, you’re walking distance to basically everything worth seeing. I found myself just wandering down to the Central Market for breakfast pastries, or cutting through the park to get to the cathedral area. The location lets you actually live like a local for a few days instead of just checking attractions off a list. Check-in was refreshingly straightforward too – none of that awkward lobby hovering while they “prepare your room.” The whole experience felt more like borrowing a friend’s place than doing the hotel dance, which is exactly what you want when you’re trying to get a real feel for a city like Riga.

Rooms

• Estimated price from: $95. One-Bedroom Apartment with 1 large double bed for Max persons: 2

Reviews

• Very enjoyable – Karen from United Kingdom – 15 May 2025 (10/10)

  Apartment was lovely met all our needs for the four days we were there. Ines was lovely and gave us some good tips . Would certainly stay again if in Latvia 😀
  
  What could be improved: Nothing

• Exceptional – James from Canada – 9 May 2025 (10/10)

  What could be improved: The lift go stuck regularly and that can be fixed. Doors need to close automatucally.

• Excellent apartment in a great location – Laura from United Kingdom – 9 October 2024 (10/10)

  Well equipped, clean, warm, comfortable, location, owner was lovely
  
  What could be improved: No toaster!

• Perfect – Justinas from Lithuania – 7 October 2024 (10/10)

  Great location, it was quiet, the flat is clean, and the view of the park is beautiful. We would definitely consider coming back!

• Small and a wonderful center city apartment! – Lisa from Greece – 11 August 2024 (9/10)

  The property is in a fantastic center city location across from the park and convenient to absolutely everything. It is beautifully restored building as well. The apartment is very small but well appointment with everything for your needs. The property owner was helpful and responsive.
  
  What could be improved: The lift only functioned about 20% of the time. This is not the fault of the property owner but older people or those with mobility issues should be prepared to walk the 5 flights of stairs.

• Highly recommend, we want to go back already! – Elina from United Kingdom – 31 July 2024 (10/10)

  We stayed in this amazing place for a week, while visiting friends and family in Latvia. Honestly, it's a gem – location wise, comfort wise, everything really. We'll be returning there as long as we visit as a couple. The host Inese was absolutely brilliant and had thought of everything we may need during our stay. It was a hot summer in July when we stayed, and given that my partner is always hot, we arranged a fan with Inese. It was lovely to be waking up and opening window shatters to a beautiful view over the Vermanes darzs park's trees.
  
  The building itself is so historic, I felt honoured to be staying there. Every Latvian would and should know this building.
  The lift is a traditional lift, if you have never tried it, definitely do and just imagine that you're in a James Bond movie 🙂 honestly, it's a great experience, nothing to be worried about at all.
  
  Location: you couldn't get more central. Train station that takes you to the white sand beach Jurmala in 30mins is just 5mins walking distance. From the flat. Old Town is just there, the centre of Riga has many wonderful bars and restaurants and cafés, everything is walkable. We ended up at Andaluzijas suns (andalusian dog) most of the nights, great service, cheese platters, drinks, and they have an outside space. Perfect for us. Added bonus: it's 1min walk from the flat.
  
  Inside the flat: (that was important to me)
  Coffee machine, absolutely loved it! Cafetiere where you can also prep your loose leaf tea.
  Quality iron, great hairdryer for long hair, fantastic washing machine for those quick washes. Fridge freezer, shower with a good pressure, everything was so clean and in good working order.
  
  A good size studio flat. Same as a large hotel room, but with all the extras included, plus a mini kitchen.
  
  Very important for us: we always look for a larger than standard double bed. This was it. In British terms, it was a good large double. Very comfy indeed.
  
  What could be improved: N/A

• Quiet and comfortable stay in the Old Town of Ryga – Ramune from Lithuania – 14 November 2023 (9/10)

  The instruction of the key collection was precisely correct. The host of the apartment was very helpful and communicated all the time.

• The best accommodation I've visited so far? – Denisa from Czech Republic – 18 August 2023 (9/10)

  This place really exceeded my expectations. Room was spacious, clean and nicely furnished. The shower was gigantic and easy to control. Despite being near a busy road, the room was surprisingly quiet. There were giant curtains that managed to block all sunlight which we loved and the view from the window was also nice. The location itself is very central and next to a nice park but still very close to the old town. But what this place excells at is all of the little things you might need. This is the first place I've ever visited that included things like sewing kit, paper glue and superglue, shoe polish, umbrella, shopping bag, many many little guidebooks, extra blanket and pillows in the closet and those are just the things I remembered off the top of my head. There are also many different shampoos and shower gels you can use. There's also a washing machine, which we didn't use but it's still nice to have. There's everything you might need for preparing food including basic spices and olive oil. The room was just full of surprises and for the price it's really an amazing choice.
  
  What could be improved: The only thing that comes to mind is the elevator in the building. It's VERY old and shaky, I've never had to use such an old elevator so we were always a bit scared if we will even arrive 😀 But nothing bad happened and of course this is not something the host can really help with. What scared me the most was the fact there wasn't a weight limit for the elevator written anywhere – makes me distrust it so when we arrived we decided to go one by one with our baggage just to be safe.
  
  Also one small detail but I used the extra blanket provided in the closet and it had some long black hair on it – I'm blonde so it was surely not mine so the extra blankets would probably benefit from a more regular washing. Nothing terrible though as there were no stains or anything.

• Nice appartment, great location – Katharine from United Kingdom – 30 July 2023 (10/10)

  Great location and lovely flat with everything we needed. Its opposite a park and there is a cafe just down stairs. Close to the old town and not far from the bus and train stations
  
  What could be improved: Nothing

• Great cozy place. – Alejandro from Spain – 16 July 2023 (10/10)

  Clean,spotless and cozy. Magnificent shower and great views from the 5th floor. The host was responsive and helpful.

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Facilities