Page 376 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

374 SUR VIV AL GUIDE

Communications in Latvia DIRECTORY
The telephone and mail networks in Latvia are both efficient Useful Numbers
and reliable, although some post office branches need
Directory Enquiries
modernization. Nevertheless, post offices are present in most
Tel 1188.
towns and villages of significant size. With the rise of mobile
phone use, under-used public phones have been removed Mobile Phones
across the country. Internet access is excellent in Rīga and
other major cities, with Wi-Fi hotspots in many cafés and Bite
hotels, and continues to improve throughout Latvia. ∑ bite.lv
LMT
∑ lmt.lv
Tele2
∑ tele2.lv
Postal Services
DHL
∑ dhl.lv
DPD
∑ dpd.lv
A Plus Punkts kiosk selling SIM-card packages and top-up credit, Rīga
Latvijas Pasts
Making a Phone Call Brīvības bulvāris 32, Rīga.
second phone, which can be
All valid telephone numbers in found at shops and stalls in Tel 6750 2815.
Latvia have eight digits, except shopping malls, and signing up ∑ pasts.lv
those for contacting some to a pay-as-you-go plan.
special public services. All
mobile numbers start with 2; open longer, from 7am to 9pm,
landlines start with 6, and The Internet on weekdays, from 9am to 8pm
occasionally 5. Speedy, free-of-charge Wi-Fi is on Saturdays and from10am to
Now that public telephones widely available at restaurants, 8pm on Sundays.
have been withdrawn, the hotels and cafés in Rīga and Major international couriers
easiest way to make much of the rest of Latvia. The such as DHL and DPD
international calls is simply with rapid growth of its availability operate in Latvia, but the
your own mobile phone after means that Internet cafés have cheapest way of sending a
registering with one of the three become redundant and are parcel home is probably with
mobile phone operators active virtually non-existent. One can Latvijas Pasts. They can send
in the country, LMT, Tele2 or easily be guided by a local to parcels to a specific address,
Bite. EU regulations ensure the nearest Wi-Fi connection. from post office to post office,
that roaming charges are not or via courier.
extortionate for those using
a European phone. If roaming Postal Services
charges are a concern, you Branches of Latvia’s state- Dialling Codes
could purchase a prepaid owned post office, Latvijas • Mobile numbers start with
calling card for international Pasts, are found all over the 2; landline numbers tend to
start with 6.
calls, which allows connection country. In Rīga the biggest • Toll-free numbers begin
through a toll-free number and is located at Brivibas iela 32 with 80; premium-rate
gives automated instruc tions in (entrance on Merkela iela), but numbers start with 8 or 9.
numerous languages. there are smaller post offices in • To make an international call
the city centre. Sending a letter from Latvia, first press “+”,
of up to 50 g within Europe then the destination’s
Mobile Phones
costs €0.90; to send it country code and number.
Latvia’s three mobile phone registered costs €1.70. • To call Latvia from abroad
operators LMT, Tele2 and The busy Brivibas post office dial the international access
Bite provide prepaid SIM cards branch is open from 7:30am to code (00 from the UK, 011
(your own phone will need to 7pm on weekdays and from from US and Canada),
be unlocked). Visitors staying in 9am to 3pm on Saturdays, but followed by 371, Latvia’s
Latvia for longer periods have is closed on Sundays. A branch country code.
the option of buying a cheap at the central train station is