Visaginas was a closed atomic city until 1991. Ignalina was a sister to Chernobyl, decommissioned under EU accession. Today, a guided technical tour walks the same control rooms HBO filmed.
Visaginas was a closed atomic city until 1991. Ignalina was a sister to Chernobyl, decommissioned under EU accession. Today, a guided technical tour walks the same control rooms HBO filmed.
Two nights in Vilnius, two in Visaginas. The plant tour is a full day with a state-licensed guide, hard hats, dosimeter, and a working reactor hall. Plus context: the closed-city architecture, the Soviet Modern Aukštaitija lakelands, and the displaced families' stories.
A full day with a state-licensed guide — the same RBMK-1500 reactor hall HBO used to film Chernobyl. Hard hat, dosimeter, and a former operator who answers every question.
Designed in 1975 by Soviet planners for plant workers from across the USSR. Russian still spoken on every street. The most architecturally honest Soviet Modern town in the EU.
The route to Visaginas runs through Lithuania's lake country — 200 lakes, no real towns. Lake Drūkšiai, the plant's former cooling reservoir, is now a fishing lake.
INPP security caps the visit at six. We never exceed it. Departures are Tuesday and Thursday only because those are the plant's two visiting days.
Each day is built around one or two anchor experiences with deliberate slack for free time. Departure timings adjust slightly with daylight and weather.
Arrival at VNO. Transfer to your Old Town hotel. Evening briefing at our office on the Soviet atomic programme — archive photographs, declassified blueprints, and a working operator's stories. Welcome dinner.
Converted Pacai palace.
Drive 155 km northeast through the Aukštaitija lakes. Arrive Visaginas by lunch. Walking tour of the closed-city blocks — designed in 1975 for atomic-plant workers from across the USSR, with three architectural prototypes preserved as built. Russian-Lithuanian dinner at the workers' cafeteria the plant operators still use.
Full day inside the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Security clearance and dosimetry briefing at the gate. RBMK-1500 reactor hall, control room, turbine hall — the same rooms the HBO Chernobyl crew filmed in 2018. Lunch in the operators' cafeteria. Afternoon Q&A with a former plant engineer who started work at INPP in 1986.
Original 1979 building, fully refurbished. Half the rooms still face the plant's distant cooling tower.
Morning on Lake Drūkšiai — the plant's former cooling reservoir, now a designated bathing and fishing lake. Lunch at a forest tavern in Aukštaitija National Park. Drive back to Vilnius, arrive late afternoon for evening departure.
Every departure of this tour is private, no strangers join, no fixed dates. Pick a start date that suits you; per-person pricing scales with your group size.
Single supplement €240.
Group sizes, fitness, children, cancellations, the lot. We have answered the common ones.
This is a fully private tour. Your start date, your group, your pace. We confirm availability and pricing within 48 hours and hold your dates for a week, no obligation.