Tourism in Lithuania

Use this page as the broad overview

Start here if you want the whole country in one view. For actual trip planning, jump next to the route, stay and coast guides below. They are more practical than a general tourism overview and answer the questions people usually have before booking.

Build the route

Use the things-to-do guide for 3, 5, 7 and 10-day routes, costs, transport and mistakes to avoid.

Open trip routes

Choose the base

Use the stay guide before booking: Vilnius for first trips, Klaipėda or Nida for the coast, Kaunas for a second city break.

Open stay guide

Add the coast

Use the Curonian Spit guide for ferry logistics, Nida, dunes, cycling and whether to stay in Klaipėda, Palanga or on the Spit.

Open coast guide

Why visit Lithuania

Lithuania sits at the geographic centre of Europe, yet it still flies under most travellers' radar, and that is much of its appeal. The country pairs a deep, sometimes turbulent history with low prices, short distances and crowds that never reach the scale of Prague or Kraków. It recorded just over 5 million visitor arrivals in 2024, and in early 2025 it was the fastest growing destination in Europe, with foreign arrivals up by around a fifth year on year. Travellers who still picture grey Soviet apartment blocks tend to be surprised within an hour of landing. Vilnius is a baroque city of churches and hidden courtyards, Kaunas runs on interwar design and student energy, and the Baltic coast holds some of the largest moving sand dunes on the continent. English is widely spoken in the cities, the euro has been the currency since 2015, and you can drive from the capital to the sea in about three hours. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are easy to combine into one trip, and the capital is a short flight from most of Europe.

Vilnius, the baroque capital

Vilnius Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest surviving medieval old town in Northern Europe, spread over roughly 3.6 square kilometres of cobbled lanes, baroque facades, Renaissance courtyards and Gothic spires. Its ceremonial centre is Cathedral Square, anchored by the neoclassical cathedral and its free standing bell tower, with the rebuilt Palace of the Grand Dukes alongside and Gediminas Hill rising behind for the finest view over the rooftops. Walk south to the Gate of Dawn and its revered Madonna, or stop at St Anne's, the slender brick church that Napoleon is said to have wanted to carry back to Paris. Across the small river Vilnia sits Užupis, a self declared artists' republic with a tongue in cheek constitution posted on a wall in dozens of languages. The city marked its 700th anniversary in 2023 and has used the moment to refresh its squares and museums, the MO Museum of modern art among them. Come evening, the cellar bars and courtyard restaurants reveal a craft beer and modern cooking scene that has quietly become very good.

Kaunas, the modernist city

Lithuania's second city is its best kept architectural story. Between 1919 and 1940, while Vilnius was held by Poland, Kaunas served as the provisional capital, and the building boom of those two decades left behind a dense, confident body of modernist architecture. UNESCO added that interwar ensemble to the World Heritage List in 2023, and the city had already been European Capital of Culture in 2022. The long pedestrian spine of Laisvės alėja is lined with cafes and shaded by lime trees, while the parallel Vilnius Street leads into a compact old town where the Nemunas and the Neris rivers meet. Ride the historic funicular for the view, or visit Pažaislis, the grand baroque monastery on the city's edge. Heavier history waits at the Ninth Fort, a former fortress and a site of wartime mass killings, now a memorial and museum. For something lighter, the Devil's Museum gathers thousands of devil figures from around the world, and the city's bold street murals have become a draw in their own right.

Klaipėda and the Baltic coast

Klaipėda is Lithuania's only seaport and the gateway to the coast. Founded by the Teutonic Order as Memel, it kept the German street grid and timber framed warehouses that still set it apart from the inland cities, and its old town is small enough to cross in an afternoon. The Lithuanian Sea Museum and dolphinarium sit across the lagoon at Smiltynė, a short ferry ride away. Half an hour north, Palanga is the main beach resort, at its busiest in July and August, known for its long wooden pier, its amber museum set in a palace park, and a summer street life that locals have enjoyed for generations. The annual Sea Festival fills the city each summer, and most Curonian Spit tours set off from here on the waterfront.

The Curonian Spit

The Curonian Spit is a thin finger of sand, 98 kilometres long, that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, shared today between Lithuania and the Russian region of Kaliningrad. The Lithuanian half is both a UNESCO site and a national park, reached by a short ferry from Klaipėda. Its great drifting dunes rise above 50 metres, and a marked boardwalk climbs the Parnidis Dune above Nida for one of the country's signature views, taking in lagoon, sea and the border in a single sweep. Nida itself is a village of blue and ochre fishermen's cottages where the German writer Thomas Mann spent three summers in a house that is now a small museum. Near Juodkrantė, the Hill of Witches winds a forest trail past carved wooden figures from Lithuanian folklore. Cycling between the villages, on the flat path through the pines, is the finest way to take it all in.

Trakai and the island castle

Trakai lies 28 kilometres west of Vilnius and makes the easiest day trip in the country. Its red brick Gothic castle stands on an island in Lake Galvė, linked to the shore by timber footbridges, and it is comfortably the most photographed sight in Lithuania. The town is also the historic home of the Karaim, a small Turkic community brought here at the end of the 14th century who held on to their language, faith and food. Their signature dish, the kibinas, is a baked pastry folded around minced mutton and onion, sold warm from bakeries near the water. Trains and buses run from Vilnius in well under an hour, and in summer you can take to the lake itself by rowing boat or yacht.

Nature, parks and the open country

Roughly a third of Lithuania is forest, and five national parks protect the landscapes that matter most. Aukštaitija, in the northeast, is a maze of more than a hundred lakes ringed by old pine and spruce, popular for canoe trips and slow village stays. Žemaitija, in the west, centres on Lake Plateliai and hides a Cold War missile base that is now a museum. Dzūkija, in the south, is the country's mushroom and forest craft heartland, its sandy soils and pine woods dotted with old wooden villages. Near Šiauliai, the Hill of Crosses carries well over a hundred thousand crosses left by pilgrims over generations, a moving sight that survived repeated Soviet attempts to bulldoze it. The spa town of Druskininkai, with mineral waters, a huge indoor water park and a year round ski arena, pairs neatly with nearby Grūtas Park and its open air collection of toppled Soviet statues. Lithuania's signed cycling network runs to more than 3,000 kilometres.

Food and drink

Lithuanian cooking is hearty and seasonal, built on potatoes, rye, pork, dairy and whatever the forest provides. The national dish is cepelinai, large potato dumplings stuffed with meat and served under sour cream and bacon. In summer everyone turns to šaltibarščiai, a chilled beetroot soup of an almost luminous pink, usually with a plate of hot potatoes on the side. Dark sourdough rye bread appears at every meal, and smoked cheese, kvass and forest honey fill the markets. Beer has deep roots, above all the farmhouse brewing tradition of the northern Aukštaitija region, and Vilnius now carries a lively craft scene alongside it. Leave room for šakotis, the spiked, tree shaped cake baked slowly over an open flame for weddings and holidays.

When to go

Summer, from June to August, is the high season, with long days, warm Baltic beaches, open air festivals and the busiest weeks in Nida and Palanga. Late spring and early autumn are quieter and often just as pleasant for the cities, and September stays mild as the forests begin to turn. Winter is cold and dark but full of character, with Christmas markets in Vilnius and Kaunas and a fair chance of snow. Try to time a visit around an event if you can. The St Casimir's Fair fills Vilnius with craft stalls every March, and the Song and Dance Celebration, a UNESCO listed tradition that gathers tens of thousands of singers and dancers, is a once in a few years spectacle worth building a trip around.

Getting there and around

Most visitors fly into Vilnius Airport, which opened a new departure terminal in 2025. Kaunas and Palanga handle further routes, the first a budget hub, the second the handiest door to the coast. Ryanair, Wizz Air and airBaltic carry most of the traffic, with Lufthansa, LOT, Turkish Airlines, Finnair and others linking the larger European hubs. The Rail Baltica line is under construction to join the Baltic capitals to the wider European network, with a rail link to Vilnius Airport on the way. Once you are in the country, distances are short and intercity coaches are cheap, frequent and comfortable. Trains serve the Vilnius to Kaunas and Klaipėda routes, and a hire car is the simplest way to reach the parks and the smaller coastal towns.

Practical essentials

Lithuania uses the euro and has done since 2015, and cards are accepted almost everywhere, including on buses and in small cafes. As part of the Schengen Area it is entered without internal border checks by most European travellers, and visitors from countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia can currently come visa free for short stays. The European Union's ETIAS travel authorisation is expected to apply later on, so confirm the current requirement before you book. The country is safe and easy to get around, mobile coverage is excellent and free wifi is standard in cafes and hotels. Tipping is modest, with rounding up or roughly ten percent seen as generous. A few words of Lithuanian are always welcome, though you will manage easily in English across the cities and the main sights.

Costs and value

Lithuania is still one of the better value corners of the European Union, even after years of catching up. A good coffee runs about 3 euros, a casual two course lunch lands around 12 to 15, and a sit down dinner with a drink in Vilnius often comes to 25 to 35 per person. A plate of cepelinai in a traditional restaurant rarely passes 10. Mid range hotels in the capital sit roughly between 80 and 130 euros a night outside peak summer, with guesthouses and hostels well below that. Intercity coaches between the main cities cost only a few euros, and a single city transport ticket is around 1. Step away from central Vilnius and the summer coast and prices fall further still.