Mobilly tickets, Bolt rides and direct Vivi train bookings
Latvia uses euros. Cards work in most hotels, shops and restaurants, but carry a physical card with its PIN and some cash for smaller places and rural stops.
Bolt is the practical first taxi app; at RIX use its marked P1 pickup, an official airport taxi with a displayed tariff, or the terminal's Bolt kiosk or prepaid voucher. Riga transport tickets must be bought before travel and registered immediately after boarding. Mobilly is useful, but its current registration accepts only numbers from the EU, UK, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Ukraine, so other visitors should buy a physical yellow ticket. Use Vivi or its website for trains and check the actual operator for regional buses.
If driving, keep right, use front lights and buy the current Jūrmala vehicle entry pass when required. Latvian is the official language. Save essential addresses offline, install 112 Latvija for official alerts and location-aware emergency contact, and call 112 for urgent help.
General navigation, address search and offline road maps for Latvian cities, coast and countryside.
Riga code tickets, schedules, regional tickets, parking and Jūrmala passes for users with a supported-country phone number.
Optional Latvian text, voice and camera translation with downloadable language data for simple offline use.
Official Latvian rail app for schedules, direct tickets, live train positions and service changes.
Convenient regional train and bus ticket seller when the traveler's phone number is from a supported country.
Official emergency calls and structured SMS, safety guidance, alerts and nearby shelter information for Latvia.
Reliable mobile internet at better prices than most travel eSIMs, with polished iOS and Android apps and support for making and receiving phone calls.
One of the biggest travel eSIM brands, with a very large destination catalog.
Known for unlimited-data plans in many destinations, at a higher price per gigabyte.
A Zelta Zivtina SIM without an active package falls back to a poor default rate, around EUR 0.36 per day for just 30 MB, and that rate applies in EU roaming too, so activate a package immediately. When a package allowance runs out, speed is cut to a crawl rather than billing on: workable for messaging, useless for maps. Ignore older guides recommending Amigo, which ceased operating as an independent brand back in 2019. Latvia is in the EU and eurozone, so roam-like-at-home applies to packs that include it, but Baltic operators are inconsistent here: check your specific pack rather than assuming. The ZZ self-service site is only in Latvian and Russian.
The incumbent, with the best coverage and fastest speeds, and the strongest rural reach toward Sigulda, Cesis and the Latgale lakes. Prepaid is sold as LMT Karte.
On par with LMT for coverage and often the cheapest for prepaid data. It does not sell prepaid under its own name: look for the Zelta Zivtina (ZZ) brand.
The smallest network, fine in Riga and along the coast. Its prepaid brand is Bites Karte.
The essential apps for Latvia are Bolt, Wolt, Google Maps, Mobilly, Vivi Latvija.
We've curated 10 apps across 11 categories for traveling in Latvia, including 6 essential apps.
Bolt is the top-rated ride hailing app in Latvia. Latvia's most useful ride app, with upfront pricing and broad city coverage but variable regional driver supply.
Local taxi apps, lek cash and offline maps matter more than global brands
Public transport first, with city and Alpine tools that prevent expensive mistakes
Carry BAM, use local transport apps, and stay on established routes
National rail, regional transit and simple card backups for Belgium
Licensed taxi apps, city-specific transit tools and euro cash backups
Use SBB first, keep a card and francs handy, and prepare offline maps for the mountains
