Lithuania,
the wooded south.
Baroque cathedrals, basketball, and the longest amber coastline of the three. The southern gateway, where the Baltic story begins.
Lithuania, at the pace of a long read.
Lithuania is the largest of the three and the most southerly, rolling out from the Belarusian border in slow forests and dark rivers until it meets the cold Baltic at Klaipėda. It carries the deepest historical weight, having ruled an empire that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and it carries that weight lightly. Vilnius, its capital, is a baroque city built mostly of brick, painted in the same cream and ochre as the rest of the old continent, but with a quietness particular to a place that has spent five centuries looking inward.
The country is intensely catholic, intensely literary, intensely fond of basketball, and surprisingly fond of jazz. Outside the capital, the landscape is a low patchwork of pine, birch and water — 6,000 lakes, no real hills, and a coastline that ends in the wildest sand peninsula in Europe.
- Capital
- Vilnius
- Population
- 2.8 million
- Area
- 65,300 km²
- Forest cover
- 33% of land
- Coastline
- 99 km, mostly sand
- Independence
- March 11, 1990
- Highest point
- Aukštojas, 294 m
- Lakes
- 6,000+
Why come to Lithuania.
Not the postcards. The reasons our guides, who live here, would book you a ticket.
A baroque capital, made of brick
Vilnius has the largest baroque old town north of Florence, built mostly in plain brick and rendered in cream — austere where Italy is theatrical, and all the better for it.
The Curonian Spit
98 km of moving sand between a freshwater lagoon and the open sea. UNESCO listed, almost empty, and the most singular landscape in the Baltics.
The Hill of Crosses
Near Šiauliai, a single small mound carries over 200,000 crosses, planted by ordinary people in defiance of three Soviet attempts to bulldoze it.
Trakai, by water
A red-brick island castle in a lake of three colours, half an hour from Vilnius. Visited by the Karaim community since the 14th century, who still bake the kibinai.
Three regions.
Travelling end to end takes a week. Travelling slowly inside one region takes the same. Both are good. Here is the country in three thirds.
Vilnius & the south,
the baroque core.
The capital and its hinterland of lakes, oak forests and ducal castles. Trakai, Kernavė, the Aukštaitija national park, and the wild rivers of Dzūkija.
The coast & the Spit,
where the dunes move.
Klaipėda's old port, the long beach at Palanga, and across the lagoon, the moving dunes of the Curonian Spit. Smoked fish, amber, and the slow silver light of the western sea.
Žemaitija & the north,
the quiet country.
Lake Plateliai, the Hill of Crosses, and the wooden churches of the Samogitian uplands. The least-visited corner — and, by the count of locals, the most Lithuanian.
A kibinai bakery in Trakai, family-run since 1968.Cold beet soup, and a long summer.
Lithuanian food is rooted in long winters and short, generous summers: rye, dill, mushrooms from the forest floor, fresh-water fish from the rivers, smoked pork from the family farm. In June the markets fill with new potatoes, sour cream and šaltibarščiai — the cold pink beet soup that arrives at the table the colour of a sunset over the lagoon. There is also kibinai, the half-moon pastries of the Karaim of Trakai, baked from a recipe that has not changed since the fourteenth century.
In June the markets fill with new potatoes, sour cream and the cold pink beet soup that arrives at the table the colour of a sunset over the lagoon.
When to go.
Five amber months of long light and warm sea, four blue months of dark, and three shoulder weeks at either end that quietly outshine the rest.
Tours that visit.
Each is privately guided, designed by the local team, and bookable in any week of the named season. Use them as a starting point: every itinerary can bend.
Lithuania, good to know.
How many days do you need in Lithuania?
Three to four days covers Vilnius, Trakai and a day in the countryside such as the Hill of Crosses or the Curonian Spit. A week lets you reach Kaunas, the coast and Aukštaitija national park.
What is Lithuania best known for?
Vilnius has one of Europe's largest baroque old towns, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Lithuania is also known for the Hill of Crosses, the sand dunes of the Curonian Spit, amber, and a deep tradition of basketball.
When is the best time to visit Lithuania?
Late May through September for warm, long days. June brings midsummer celebrations, and September offers golden forests with fewer crowds.
Is Vilnius worth visiting?
Yes. Vilnius pairs a remarkably intact baroque old town with a creative, low-key modern city, and it is far less crowded than better-known European capitals.
The practical bit.
Everything you would otherwise have to ask. The rest, your guide will know.
Begin in the south.
Two ways in: a long weekend in Vilnius and the lake country, or a slow week down the coast to the Curonian Spit. Either is a good first chapter.