Viesnīca un restorāns Aparjods — Restaurant in Sigulda

Stayed here for two nights during the Latvian national holidays in early May, as a base for a wider tour of the Gauja National Park and the local '3 castles' walk. We paid €101 for an en-suite twin including breakfast, which was a little on the pricey side by rural Latvian standards, though Sigulda is a popular tourist spot.||||It's a perfectly serviceable mid-range motel but appears to suffer from delusions of grandeur. The photos and description on the web site rather give the impression of a luxury spa resort, and it's clearly a popular eating spot for a certain bling-laden nouveau riche clientele (quite a few Bentleys, Mercedes and Escalades with personalised plates in the car park, and at least one peroxide blonde with chihuahua in the restaurant).||||In reality, while the grounds are nicely landscaped, the motel is nestled between a petrol station, Hesburger fast food chain and shopping mall on a fairly busy road junction about 20 minutes walk from Sigulda bus & train station. The publicity photos are laughably selective - check out the location on Google Street View for the bigger picture!||||The rooms themselves are on a par with a UK Premier Inn - i.e. clean, modern furnishing and reasonably spacious - though the walls in our separate complex were paper thin and we were kept awake until around 3 by the partying guests in the next room.||||Breakfast was included in the rate and was average buffet fayre - certainly nothing exceptional. The evening meal in the restaurant on the first night was admittedly very good by motel standards, and we got the sense they do pride themselves on the cuisine - I'm guessing probably among the best in the local region.||||Sigulda itself is a very pretty little town but the accommodation and eating options are relatively limited. The popular 3 castles walk is certainly worth doing (though I imagine very busy in peak season), but you could easily do this as a long day trip from Riga if you preferred.||||All in all, a perfectly reasonable place to stay in Sigulda, but I'd recommend checking out other options in the area...

This restaurant was our last minute option on a recent trip to Sigulda. We've been turned down elsewhere due to absence of a reservation, and we were desperately looking for some place to grab a decent meal. Yes, yes, I know, you should always call ahead to book a table... but gosh am I glad we didn't!

The dinner was fantastic. I started with a light soup with lamb meatballs, green peas and broccoli... Honestly, just by looking at the ingredients, this doesn't sound like something I would love. But contrary to my expectations, it was absolutely delicious.

Following my standard MO, I ordered a rare steak for the main course, and while it wasn't quite as brilliant as the soup, it was still quite excellent. They did go a little overboard with sides for my humble taste, but I think that would be a plus for most people.

The environs deserve a special mention. The restaurant is a part of a small hotel complex consisting of a few single story buildings, and the place is incredibly cozy.

Between excellent cuisine and wonderful atmosphere I'd be very tempted to just stick with Aparjods if I'm ever again in the neighborhood, instead of exploring, and in fact the idea of just booking a room for a few days and exploring more of their menu seems very appealing to me. The place gets my unreserved recommendation.

One small downside is that the serving times are on the long-ish side, but yeah, it was totally worth the wait. The parking lot is quite cramped, but conveniently there was free parking just across the street. Depending on your order, you should expect to part with 30 to...

Wonderful apartment near Riga in a beautiful landscape!

There are a lot of things to highlight. First, reception and apartment staff were really supportive, helping with anything from a late check-in (we had our flight delayed and we arrived really late and nevertheless the check-in was perfect) to suggesting near beautiful places to visit and activities. The actual apartment was huge, full of amenities, really comfy and quiet and the parking was always available, not full and wide parking spaces. The restaurant in the facilities seemed really cool and tasty food as well. Perfect for a quiet vacation close to Riga but in a beautiful quiet city. To be fair all was perfect, in fact I would like to emphasize again the attention of the apartment staff...