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Although small and, considered by some, less than spectacular, Lithuania boasts some interesting attractions ranging from the intriguing Curonian Spit and the strange Hill of Crosses to the city of Vilnius, the historic and always lively capital.
Click on any one of the following below for specific information on getting around the Lithuania; attractions, museums, tours, and other places to go and things to see and do; and some ideas for accommodations and dining in Lithuania.
General
Information on Lithuania
Lithuania owes much to it's neighbor Poland as it once shared an empire stretching from the Baltic Sea almost to the Black Sea. The Lithuanian people are regarded as much more outgoing and less organized than their Estonian and Latvian counterparts, but that makes it all the more fun to visit there. It may be their Roman Catholicism which sets them apart from their Baltic neighbors.
Full name of the country is the Republic of Lithuania and there is an area of a little over 25,000 square miles and a population of almost 4 million. The capital city is Vilnius with a population of about a half million. The languages are Lithuanian, Polish and Russian. The government is a parliamentary democracy. Clink on the links below for additional information.
Passport and Visa
Information
Best Times To Visit
Currency and
Money Matters
Electricity
Health Risks
Time
Weights & measures
Click here for language helps, dictionaries, electronic translators, language software and other helps for learning a foreign language. Being able to speak at least some of the language in the country you are visiting will help you have a better time and enjoy your trip more. Jim.
Passport and Visa Information
You will need a passport to enter Lithuania and Lithuania requires visas from
most nationalities except citizens of the Baltic states, Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
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Health
Risks
There are no health risks to travelers who enter. Just
common sense should get you by just fine.
Time
The time in Lithuania is GMT/UTC plus 1 hour
Electricity
220V, 50Hz so you had better make sure you have
adapters and converters for your appliances.
Weights & measures
Lithuania is on the metric system.
Currency and Money Matters
The currency is the Litas (plural form Litu). Currency
exchange isn't a problem in Lithuania, although cashing travelers' cheques is
easier to accomplish in the larger cities such as Vilnius, Kaunas, Siauliai and
Klaipeda. Numerous ATMs give cash advances on Visa, MasterCard and Eurocard and
you can almost always use your credit card for payment in hotels and
restaurants. Lithuania has a value-added tax (VAT) of 18%, and it's
automatically included in all accommodation and eating costs.
Tipping isn't compulsory in Lithuania, but it's common to give waiters 5 or 10% by rounding up the bill. Some bargaining (but not a lot) goes on at flea markets.
Travel can be pretty inexpensive and a great place for those on a budget. Hostel accommodation is rarely more than US$10 and can go as low at US$2 for a bed in a shared room. This style of accommodation combined with eating in cheap canteens or cafeterias, or self-catering, and traveling by bus or train can keep daily costs down to under US$10 per person. If you prefer home stays or mid-range hotel accommodation and eating in quality restaurants, you will find your daily costs going up to around US$40 to US$60 per person. Still not too bad.
Sample prices for meals would be somewhere as follows: Budget - US$1-5, moderate - US$5-15, and the upper end from US$15 and upwards. For Lodging: budget - US$2-25, moderate - US$25-75, and the top-end - US$75 and upwards. Still in a good price range.
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When To
Visit
Summer and spring (May through September) are far and away the best times of
year to travel in Lithuania. The majority of foreign tourists come during July
and August, when low-budget hotels and hostels can be fully booked. While
there's usually a picturesque sprinkling of snow on the ground in winter
(November through March), there's also only a few hours of daylight each day
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Getting To
and Around Lithuania
By Air
Frequent flights operate between Vilnius or Kaunas
and most of the European capitals. Although there are not any direct flights
between Lithuania and North America, Australia and Asia, it is still pretty easy
to arrive there through a portal in Europe. Vilnius airport is about three miles
south of the city centre, in the suburb of Kirtimai, while Kaunas airport is six
miles north of the Old Town.
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By Train
The Berlin-St Petersburg train passes through Vilnius. If coming from
Poland, you can take a direct train from Warsaw to Kaunas, then pick up one of
the frequent connections to Vilnius. The direct train from Warsaw to Vilnius
passes through Belarus. If taking this route, make sure you have a Belarus
transit visa if you require one. The daily Baltic Express, which links Poland
with Estonia, stops at three Lithuanian destinations.
By Sea
Ferries link the west coast port of Klaipeda with Ĺrhus, Fredericia and
Copenhagen (Denmark), Kiel and Mukran (Germany), and Harwich (England).
By Land
Buses are the cheapest and most popular mode of transportation, but
perhaps one of the least comfortable methods of reaching Lithuania. There are
direct buses from Belarus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland,
Russia and Sweden. The buses between Poland and Belarus and Lithuania are
notoriously subject to long delays so, be warned.
Getting Around in
Lithuania
Buses and trains are the best ways to get around and you can find them almost
everywhere. Although buses are quicker and slightly cheaper, most visitors find
that train travel is far better and you can ride the rails for well over 50
miles on little more than small change in general seating class.
Driving is not a bad option and you will find most of the main roads are good with traffic light and distances between cities short. However, if you are traveling from other countries in Europe, it's best to bring your own vehicle as car rental is very expensive. Lithuanians drive on the right. Do not drink and drive as a zero blood-alcohol level is strictly enforced.
Cycle touring hasn't really taken off in Lithuania, but the country's flatness, small size and light traffic make it good pedaling territory.
If you have information you believe should be added to this area, please let me know. mailto:jimbruner@gettingaway.com
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Some
Things to See and Do in Lithuania
If you are lucky, you may be able to plan your visit around
some of the more interesting events. Perhaps one of the more interesting
cultural event is the National Song Festival, held every five years.
(Check with your travel agent for the date of the next one.). There are usually
over 100,000 people who attend and often join in with the singing of several
hundred choirs from the Baltic region.
Midsummer celebrations are popularly celebrated in this area. The night of 23 June, considered to have magical powers, is the climax of events. And you will often find Baltic folk festivals in the different Baltic capitals. Again, check with your travel agents for upcoming dates.
Other popular cultural events include horse races on Lake Sartai in Dusetos, near Utena, on the first Saturday of February; St Casimir Day, Lithuania's patron saint's day, on 4 March; April's International Jazz Festival, which attracts top musicians from all over the world to Kaunas; and the Life Theatre Festival, a week-long theatre festival that features avant-garde productions in Vilnius in May.
If you can, visit Vilnius during their week-long Summer Music Festival of street theatre, dancing, masked parades and craft fairs in the Old Town in July and Vilnius City Days, three days of musical and cultural events in theatres, concert halls and on the streets in mid-September. Velines (All Souls' Day) commemorates the dead with visits to cemeteries on 2 November.
Cross-country skiing, ice skating and tobogganing are all popular winter sports. One of the best places for cross-country skiing is in Aukstaitija National Park, in eastern Lithuania, where you will find some excellent cross-country skiing trails. This is also a good place for canoeing as trips can be organized and equipment rented from the park's tourism and recreation centre.
Bird watchers 'flock' to the west coast of the country, especially to the town of Vente, on the eastern side of the Curonian Lagoon, which is home to an ornithological preserve.
The Fisherman's Club in Vilnius provides advice on all types of fishing and can arrange a nice fishing trip for you. And, if you enjoy ice fishing, you can find none better than here in the depths of winter where it is popular on the frozen Curonian Lagoon.
Skydiving and ballooning can be arranged in Vilnius and you will also find numerous opportunities to rent bicycles along with some cycling tours.
If you have information you believe should be added to this area, please let me know. mailto:jimbruner@gettingaway.com
Cities, Towns and Areas of Lithuania
Vilnius
Angelika's Apartments offers a pleasant stay in several flats in the very heart
of Old Town, just a few minutes walk to Gediminas Tower and Cathedral Square. Two
modern apartments located in a quiet place with a courtyard and a parking lot
with a parlor, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Your apartment will be fully
furnished to include appliances and SAT TV. In the kitchen you will find all necessary
utensils. Not only businessmen, but tourists are also welcome. Address: Str.
Sv.Mikalojaus 7-15, Vilnius,
Lithuania. Phone: +370-698-72002. Fax: +370-5-2651183.
E-mail: info@angelika.lt Web:
www.angelika.lt
Vilnius
Lithuania's capital city has an international flavor, partly due to the influence of the big Lithuanian diaspora and partly because it has always been exposed to influences from central Europe and beyond. In the 16th century, Vilnius was one of the biggest cities in eastern Europe; it played a part in Poland's 17th-century 'golden age' and became an important Jewish city in the 19th century. Germany, Poland and Russia have all played pass-the-parcel with Vilnius this century. Post-WWII, with the Poles and the Jews mostly gone, Vilnius developed into the chief focus of Lithuania's push for independence. Particularly dramatic and tragic events took place here in January 1991, when Soviet troops trying to destabilize the situation stormed the city's TV installations, killing 13 people and injuring many others.
Vilnius lies 250km (155mi) inland from the Baltic Sea on the banks of the Neris river. It's in the southeast of Lithuania, just a stone's throw from the Belarus border. The centre of the city is on the southern side of the river, and its heart is Cathedral Square, an open square with the cathedral on its northern side and Gediminas Hill rising behind it. The Old Town, the largest in eastern Europe, stretches south from Cathedral Square. A church spire can be seen from every one of its winding streets, which, coupled with its countless hidden courtyards, make it intriguing to explore. Other landmarks include Vilnius University, the President's palace, an observatory and the old Jewish quarter and ghetto. Restaurants, pubs, nightclubs and cafés abound. Three Crosses Hill overlooks the Old Town and is a long-standing landmark. Crosses are said to have stood here since the 17th century in memory of three monks who were martyred by crucifixion on this spot.
The New Town lies 2km (1mi) west of the Old Town and was mostly built in the 19th century. City hall is situated here, as is the Museum of the Genocide of the Lithuanian People, housed in the former Gestapo and KGB building. The guides here are all former inmates and will show you round the cells where they were tormented. South of the river there's a bronze bust memorial to American rock legend Frank Zappa. Vilnius' Soviet-era suburbs are north of the river. There are plenty of accommodation options in and around the Old Town; this is also the best place to nose out a good restaurant.
Curonian Spit
The typical Baltic coastal scent of mingled ozone and pine is at its headiest on the northern Lithuanian half of the Curonian Spit which dominates Lithuania's Baltic coast. This area is made up of four settlements - Juodkrante, Pervalka, Preila and Nida - none of which are more than a couple of kilometres from the coast. There's a magical air to this isolated 98km (60mi) thread of sand, which is composed of dunes and lush pine forests inhabited by elk, deer and wild boar. Savouring fish freshly smoked to an old Curonian recipe is a highlight of a visit here. In summer you can hire jet skis or paddle boats in Nida; ice fishing and drinking vodka are the principal winter pursuits.
Check on the cleanliness of the waters of the lagoon and the spit before you dive in - they're often not fit for swimming. The dunes along the peninsula are delicate, and their continual steady erosion is of great concern to environmentalists. It's for this reason that you should only walk along marked tracks and should not pick flowers, since they help to stabilize the sand.
Buses run along the spit from Smiltyné, at its northern tip. Ferries cross to Smiltyné from the mainland town of Klaipeda, which has bus and rail connections to Vilnius and other centers.
Hill of Crosses
This two-humped hillock is covered in a forest of thousands upon thousands of crosses - large and tiny, expensive and cheap, wooden and metal. Some are devotional, to accompany prayers, others are memorial. It's thought that the tradition of planting crosses here may have begun in the 14th century. In the Soviet era the crosses were bulldozed at least three times, only to spring up again. It's an eerie place, especially when the wind blows and the silence is broken by the rattling of crosses and rosaries. The Hill of Crosses is 10km (6mi) north of Siauliai, 2km (1mi) east off the road to Riga, the Latvian capital. Siauliai is 140km (87mi) north of Kaunas and has good rail and bus connections with both Kaunas and Vilnius.
Druskininkai
This resort's status stems from its mineral springs, which have been in demand for their curative powers since the 19th century. Druskininkai is also well known as the birthplace of modern Jewish sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and the home town of outstanding romantic painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis, who is the subject of a large stylized statue and a memorial museum. In recent times, a new 'attraction' has hit the outskirts of town. Stalin World (officially the Soviet Sculpture Garden at Grutas Park) is described by the canned mushroom mogul behind its construction as combining 'the charms of a Disneyland with the worst of the Soviet gulag prison camp'. Druskininkai is in southern Lithuania, on the Nemunas river, not far from the border with Belarus. The resort has direct bus and train connections with Vilnius.
Palanga
This small city is quiet in winter, but in summer it's transformed into Lithuania's premier seaside resort, and accommodation is at a premium. It features a long, sandy beach backed by pine-covered dunes; a large botanical park with a rose garden; a hill thought to have been the site of a pagan shrine; and an excellent Amber Museum. Palanga hosts a grand opening of the summer season on the first Saturday in June; the closing of the season, on the last Saturday in August, is marked by a massive street carnival, market, song festival and pop concert.
Palanga is 30km (18mi) north of Klaipeda and 18km (11mi) south of the Latvian border. Kretinga, the nearest train station, is served by daily trains from Klaipeda and Vilnius. Bus services abound. Motorists have to pay a small entrance fee to drive into Palanga.
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
Should you harbor an inexplicable urge to be the progenitor of generations of mutants, then a visit to the world's largest RMBK Chernobyl-style reactor plant may leave you with a warm inner (and outer) glow. The Visaginas town centre, 2km (1mi) west of the plant, features a Geiger counter that records daily radiation levels. The plant boasts two RMBK reactors, which are graphite cooled and have no containment system; if an accident occurs, radiation is immediately released into the open air. Visaginas is 120km (74mi) north-east of Vilnius. If you don't have private transport, trains connect Vilnius with the town of Ignalina, 50km (31mi) south of the plant, from where you can catch a local bus or taxi to Visaginas.
Centre of Europe
In 1989 the French National Geographical Institute named a spot on the road to Moletai, 25km (15mi) north of Vilnius, as the centre of Europe. It's marked by a small, granite sculpture that has been vandalized, but a new sculpture - a pyramid with all the European capitals and their distances from the centre marked on it - is planned for the site. To get there, turn right off the Vilnius-Moletai road at the 'Europas Centras' sign.
Trakai
This old Lithuanian capital is now a small, quiet town in an attractive country area of lakes and islands. Most of the town stands on a peninsula dotted with old wooden cottages, many of them built by the Karaites - a Judaist sect originating in Baghdad that adheres to the Law of Moses. The Karaites were brought to Trakai by Vytautas the Great around 1400 AD to serve as bodyguards, and about 150 of them still live here. Their numbers are dwindling rapidly, giving legitimacy to fears that Lithuania's smallest ethnic minority could die out. There's a small Karaites museum here and an early-19th-century Karaites prayer house, both of which were renovated in 1997. Trakai is just 28km (17mi) west of Vilnius, connected to the capital by both train and bus.
If you have information you believe should be added to this area, please let me know. mailto:jimbruner@gettingaway.com
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Suggestions
for Accommodations in Lithuania
Angelika's Apartments offers a pleasant stay in several flats in the very heart of Old Town, just a few minutes walk to Gediminas Tower and Cathedral Square. Two modern apartments located in a quiet place with a courtyard and a parking lot with a parlor, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Your apartment will be fully furnished to include appliances and SAT TV. In the kitchen you will find all necessary utensils. Not only businessmen, but tourists are also welcome. Address: Str. Sv.Mikalojaus 7-15, Vilnius, Lithuania. Phone: +370-698-72002. Fax: +370-5-2651183. E-mail: info@angelika.lt Web: www.angelika.lt
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Travelocity, not only can you find
the lowest fare or best schedule on over 400 airlines, but you can also
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Great
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If you have information you believe should be added to this area, please let me know. mailto:jimbruner@gettingaway.com
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Suggestions
for Dining in Lithuania
Coming Soon. If you have information you believe should be
added to this area, please let me know. mailto:jimbruner@gettingaway.com
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Some
Favorites in Lithuania
Coming Soon. If you have information you believe should be
added to this area, please let me know. mailto:jimbruner@gettingaway.com
Some
Interesting Links About Lithuania
Click here for language helps, dictionaries, electronic translators, language software and other helps for learning a foreign language. Being able to speak at least some of the language in the country you are visiting will help you have a better time and enjoy your trip more. Jim.
| Commission free foreign currency delivered to your door. Transfer money to over 150 countries with Direct FX. Simple, secure and cost-effective money transfer service provided to you from Getting Away and Direct FX. Click here to order commission free foreign currency and travelers' checks. |
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