Lithuania

See

thumb | 300px | Gates of Dawn, Vilnius Vilnius Old Town is a 2 km strip from Aušros vartai ("Gates of Dawn") south, past the Town Hall and University quarter, to the castle, cathedral and main museum in the north. It's a part-pedestrianised mix of gothic, renaissance, baroque and neoclassical buildings, and a . Užupis is a boho eastern district of Vilnius that proclaimed itself a wacky independent republic. Trakai Island Castle is the most attractive of the country's castles for its setting, with its red towers reflected as if in an infinity pool. Curonian Spit is a 99 km bootlace of sand dunes and forest reached by a short ferry ride from Klaipėda. "Hill of Witches" near the village of Juodkrantė is decorated with sculptures illustrating the country's folktales and legends. Hill of Crosses 12 km north of Šiauliai has been planted with over 100,000 crosses, from the small and simple to the huge and exuberant. Aukštaitija National Park is a landscape of lakes and forest, home to elk, deer and wild boar. Kernavė north of Vilnius is a well-preserved archaeological site.

Do

thumb | 300px | Žalgiris fields several teams Beaches: Palanga has the best, long and sandy, punctuated by a curious L-shaped pier. Curonian Spit is good for water sports on its breezy west coast. The sheltered lagoon is better for kiddy-bathing. Football: The men's national soccer team usually play in Kaunas, which has the country's principal sports venues. The domestic playing season is March-Nov to avoid the harsh Baltic winter. Ten clubs play in TOPLYGA the top tier. Basketball is an even bigger sport in Lithuania, and major clubs such as Žalgiris in Kaunas field basketball, soccer, ice hockey and other sports teams. Nemunas Delta is a wetland near Šilutė, a quiet place for bird-watching and fishing. Pilgrimage: Žemaičių Kalvarija is the main focus, with a "Stations of the Cross" walking route around the village. Šiluva and the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai are two others.

Eat

thumb | 300px | Cepelinai or "Zeppelins" Lithuanians like their meat, and eagerly consume all parts of the pig - partly this symbolises escape from repressive impoverished times. Vegetarians and vegans should do okay in Vilnius and Kaunas but may struggle elsewhere, and there's not much in the way of international cuisine, since Lithuania never drew in the overseas workforce, cultures and cuisines that you encounter in the west.

If you're given a menu in English or German, take a glance at the Lithuanian version in case it offers lower prices.

Appetisers: Piršteliai prie alaus are thin, rolled-up puff pastries served with beer. Soups include Šaltibarščiai a summer soup based on beets and soured milk, Juka (blood soup), or Cabbage soup flavoured with carrots, ham, onions. Ruginė duona - dark rye bread - goes well with soup.

Cepelinai (Zeppelins) are potato dumplings with meat. Vėdarai is sausage, a potato-stuffed pig intestine. Skilandis is pig's stomach stuffed with ground meat and garlic, cold-smoked. Plokštainis is a serving of potatoes. Bulviniai blynai are grated potato pancakes with different sauces. Virtinukai are curd patties. Kastinys is soft sour cream butter. Šaltnosiukai are dumplings filled with lingon berry.

Fish (pike or perch) may be baked whole or stuffed, or made into gefilte fish. Silkė is herring, marinated, baked, fried or served in aspic.

Wild berries, mushrooms and cheese are common ingredients, and honey and poppy seeds are commonly used as fill…

Drink

thumb | 300px | Beer seller's kiosk Beer is the main drink: in Lithuanian ask for alus, think of "ales". Popular brands are Svyturys, Kalnapilis, Utenos, Volfas Engelman and Gubernija. These are every bit as good as international brands, without the price tag.

Vodka (degtinė) is consumed, but not as much as you might expect for East Europe, and there's only two distilleries in the whole country. Samane traditionally meant moonshine, you only concussed yourself with it because the authorities advocated sobriety, but like Irish Poitín it's become a mainstream brand.

Midus is mead, fermented honey. Its strength ranges from that of beer (3.5% abv) to that of fortified wine (20% abv) and it can be distilled into brandy or honeyjack at 40%+.

Wine: for a list of Lithuanian vineyards click ---> here <---. Until climate change alters this, sparkling wines such as Alita or Mindaugas are made from imported grape concentrates.

Alcohol cannot be sold in shops between 20:00 (15:00 on Sundays) and 10:00, but can be purchased in bars, cafes and restaurants any time they're open.

Tea and coffee is widely available, with local and foreign brands. Kavinės - coffee-houses - often serve "lazy" coffee: boiling water over coffee grounds, unfiltered, leaving a bitter gloop of grounds at the bottom of the cup.

Smoking is banned in cafés, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, discothèques and other public establishments. Nightclubs may have smoking rooms.

Sleep

thumb | 300px | Kaunas old town Vilnius has by far the best selection in all price categories, and Kaunas has a good selection. Since it's a small country, you can base there and day-trip most places.

Viešbutis is the word for a hotel and the larger provincial towns have one or two, see individual pages. They're mostly aimed at business travellers and are clean and modern.

"Staying with grandmother" means renting someone's spare room, though grandmother has probably been shunted elsewhere to free up more lucrative space. The countryside is dotted with self-catering lets and these pages don't attempt to list them, but they show up on Google Maps. Countryside.lt is one third-party website that catalogues them.

Stay safe

In general Lithuania is a safe country, but you should take basic precautions:

Dark corners: you have no reason to be in rough neighbourhoods, especially at night, but any short cut through a darkened park or apartment complex may expose you to opportunistic attack. Stay on main roads, which are lit and may have CCTV coverage. Take a taxi if it's any distance. Road safety: drive defensively, the other fellow won't, and pedestrians never imagine that vehicles will respect pedestrian crossings. Never leave valuables on display in cars. Homophobia is official, Lithuania has "anti-gay propaganda" laws similar to those of Russia, Poland and Ukraine. Hotels and similar premises may proclaim themselves LGBTQIA+ friendly but attitudes on the street are another matter. Public displays of affection between same-gender partners may result in a confrontation from onlookers. Racism is not official but endemic. Outright attack is uncommon, but Blacks, Chinese and Indians may be made uncomfortable, and Roma are openly despised.

Stay healthy

thumb | 300px | Romuva is a neo-pagan movement You need adequate health insurance: for visitors an annual multi-trip policy is often the best deal. An EHIC / GHIC card covers immediate life-saving treatment, always a good start, but doesn't go anywhere near the full cost of a hospital stay, and a medical repatriation could be ruinously expensive.

Be up-to-date on all the immunisations recommended for your own country (including seasonal flu for older people), you don't need anything extra here. Along with your usual medications (plus a bit extra in case of travel delay) bring evidence that they were properly prescribed.

Tap water is safe to drink. If you prefer bottled, a 5-litre bottle is not much more expensive than a one-litre bottle.

Lithuania was declared rabies-free in 2022. So if bitten by a dog or wild animal, get the cut seen to (it's likely to become infected) but you won't need anti-rabies vaccine. Re-introduction of rabies from Poland or Belarus remains an outside risk.

The only venomous snake is the European Viper (angis), with a bite no worse than a bad hornet sting to a healthy adult but possibly fatal to a dog or small child.

Mosquitoes are a confounded nuisance in summer: they carry no disease, but think twice about camping if you react badly to bites. Forest ticks confer a risk of Lyme disease or encephalitis.

Respect

Vilnius is a lively cosmopolitan place, but beyond (and in its less affluent suburbs) lies a rather traditional, conservative society. Roman Catholicism is the main religion, with only a small presence of Lutherans and Orthodox.

The status of the ethnic Russian minority is generally not as sensitive as in Latvia and Estonia, as they were granted Lithuanian citizenship following independence. However, since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine symbols of Lithuanian national identity and pride are more fiercely defended.

Connect

Lithuania's phone code is +370, so if calling from abroad, substitute that for the leading zero. Thus the number for Vilnius airport changes from 0612 44442 to +370 612 44442, where + denotes your local system for initiating an international call.

Until February 2025, a leading 8 instead of the leading zero was used for national long-distance calls used, you may still occasionally come across numbers written in that manner. Replace the leading 8 with 0 (or the country code, if calling from a mobile phone).

Land lines have a monopoly operator TEO, jointly owned by Telia of Sweden and Sonera of Finland. Land line phones and booths are still to be found, though they're retreating before the advance of mobiles. Public phones don't take cash, you need a card, obtained from newspaper kiosks and shops displaying a TEO sign.

Mobile phones have three operators: Bitė, Telia (also branded as Ezys) and Tele2 (also branded as Pildyk). About 97% of the country has at least 4G coverage, and the major cities and highways have 5G. Quiet parks and forests may have no signal. See individual city pages for more detail, which may influence your choice.

Pre-paid SIM cards are available from any kiosk or store chain for each operator. As well as price and coverage, you might want to check their deal for other countries, as EU roaming may be included in the deal or incur extra charges.

If you're staying longer and use the phone a lot, a monthly plan is better. You may have to supply proof of re…

Go next

Latvia: highways and trains head north to Riga, the must-see capital. Routes west, crossing near Daugavpils, are better for transit towards Estonia. Estonia: Tartu and the capital Tallinn both rank as must-see. A fast ferry plies from Tallinn to Helsinki. Poland: the obvious destination is Warsaw, but take time to explore the country's eastern parks, where bison roam. Belarus since 2022 is difficult to enter. Minsk the capital is squeaky-clean, to reassure visitors that the rest of the country under its wise leadership is equally immaculate. Kaliningrad Oblast as part of Russia is likewise difficult. The main city Kaliningrad was once Königsberg in Prussia.