Riga Is Running Short of Space for Traditional Burials

The short answer: the Riga municipality maintains 22 cemeteries covering 452.35 hectares, but a new plot is currently allocated at only two of them — Bolderāja and Jaunciems. Another 15 cemeteries are partly closed: burials there take place in existing family plots, while new plots are practically not granted. Four cemeteries are closed altogether. So a family without its own plot in Riga has fewer choices than most people assume.

If you need to know where a relative can be buried in your situation, a specialist of Riga City Funeral Service will find out and agree it with the cemetery. Advice around the clock: +371 2208 4540

What the map of Riga's cemeteries looks like now

The municipality charges nothing for allocating the plot itself — that has been the order since a court ruling in 2019. This is not about the cost of a funeral as a whole: grave digging, the coffin, transport and the rest are counted separately, and their structure is on the pricing page. The list of Riga cemeteries with addresses is in the cemeteries section.

Why there is less space

The municipality's cemetery development concept for 2026–2035 names the main problem plainly: capacity for traditional burials may run out as early as 2033–2036, and the scope for extending existing cemeteries is limited. Hence the plans for more columbaria and areas for scattering ashes: Riga's first columbarium was built at the II Forest Cemetery, and a new one is planned at the I Forest Cemetery. The concept forecasts that cremation could account for up to 65 % of cases by 2035.

The options when a family has no plot

In practice families choose one of these routes, and each of them can be arranged:

1. a new plot at an open cemetery — we agree the cemetery plot with the administrator;
2. a second burial in an existing family plot, where the cemetery's rules allow it;
3. cremation with urn burial — an urn is buried shallower, so it can more often be added to an existing grave;
4. placing the urn in a columbarium, if the family prefers that solution.

Which option to take is usually decided not by budget but by whether the family already has a plot in Riga. That is why we begin the conversation with that question rather than with a price list.

How we help

Riga City Funeral Service arranges funerals in full and takes on the part that concerns the plot:

• we establish whether a burial in the family plot is possible and agree it with the cemetery;
• we arrange the documents;
• we carry out grave digging to the cemetery's requirements;
• we fix the price before the work begins, so the sum is known from the start.

Call +371 2208 4540 — we will tell you what is possible in your case.

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