Lithuania
Lithuania's fabled Hill of Crosses is a symbol of defiance as much as a pilgrimage site. More than 100,000 crosses have been planted on this low hill,…
Must-see attractions in Lithuania
Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
Vilnius
If you only see one museum in Vilnius, make it this one. On a site that has been settled since the 4th century AD stands the latest in a procession of…
Vilnius
Stately Vilnius Cathedral, divorced from its freestanding belfry, is a national symbol and the city's most instantly recognisable building. Known in full…
Lithuania
With Soviet-era statues of Lenin, Stalin and prominent Lithuanian members of the Communist Party that once dominated Lithuanian towns lining the forest…
Vilnius
Founded in 1579 during the Catholic Counter Reformation, Vilnius University was run by Jesuits for two centuries. During the 19th century it became one of…
Lithuania
This museum on the site of a former Soviet nuclear missile base is situated deep in the heart of the Žemaitija National Park. The highlight is the chance…
Vilnius
This former headquarters of the KGB (and before them the Gestapo, Polish occupiers and Tsarist judiciary) houses a museum dedicated to thousands of…
Kaunas
Lithuania's dark 20th-century history is poignantly told here, 7km north of Kaunas. Begin in the sombre, church-like gallery with striking stained glass…
Vilnius
Climb the creaky stairs into the free-standing belfry of Vilnius Cathedral, once part of the city's 13th-century defences. Towering 57m high, it's one of…
Lithuania
Where the Nemunas, Lithuania's largest river, spills into the Curonian lagoon, it splits into four distributaries: the Skirvytė, the Atmata, the Pakalnė…
Nida
The 52m-high Parnidis Dune is simultaneously mighty and fragile. Past settlements around Nida have been engulfed by the moving sand dune but this is a…
Lithuania
Stepping across the wooden walkway to Trakai's Gothic castle is like tripping into a fairy tale. The castle is estimated to date from around 1400, when…
Curonian Spit National Park
A coven of wooden sculptures is gathered on a forest-clad hill in Juodkrantė, carved by Lithuanian artists over the years since 1979. At this open-air…
Lithuania
Some 21km north of Vilnius, off the Utena road, is Europos Parkas. Leading contemporary sculptors, including Sol LeWitt and Dennis Oppenheim, show over…
Vilnius
Katedros aikštė buzzes with local life. In the 19th century markets and fairs were held here and a moat ran around what is now the square’s perimeter so…
Lithuania
Housed in a neoclassical palace built by Count Feliksas Tiskevicius in 1897, this revamped museum showcases what is reputedly the world’s sixth-largest…
Lithuanian Ethnocosmology Museum
Lithuania
This unusual museum explores the cosmos’s connection to cultural ideas of hell, heaven and earth in its bubble-shaped exhibition centre. Dwarfing it are…
Vilnius
One of the main branches of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, the Tolerance Centre is simultaneously a museum of Jewish history and culture, and a…
Vilnius
The full name is 'Church of St Johns, St John the Baptist and St John the Apostle and Evangelist', but 'Sts Johns' (plural) will do nicely. Founded in…
Vilnius
One of two branches of the creative powerhouse of the Užupis Republic, the Galera shows exciting temporary exhibitions by local talent and invites artists…
MK Čiurlionis National Museum of Art
Kaunas
One of Lithuania's oldest and grandest galleries, Kaunas' leading art museum (founded 1921) is the place to acquaint yourself with the dreamlike paintings…
Lithuania
The pride and joy of the region brews over two dozen beers, including the Port of Discovery and Microhistory series. On-tap offerings include a temptingly…
Lithuania
The old granary and stable of the former Plateliai Manor now houses a highly worthwhile museum complex. The granary holds a multistorey exhibition…
Kėdainiai
Housed inside a former 18th-century Carmelite monastery, this is a particularly thorough introduction to the history of the region and the town. Displays…
Vilnius
Opened in October 2018, this assemblage of contemporary Lithuanian art and photography is the country's first private museum. An orderly union of sharp…
Lithuania
The Orvydas Garden was the work of stonemason Kazys Orvydas (1905–89) and his oldest son turned Franciscan monk, Vilius (1952–92). The carvings were…
Lithuania
Housed in Anykščiai’s old station, a couple of kilometres outside the town, this fun museum gives visitors the chance to ride on manual rail cars, a…
Kaunas
Kaunas-based Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara (1900–86) saved around 6000 Jewish lives between 1939 and 1940, issuing transit visas to stranded Polish…
Kaunas
This museum is devoted to the Devil, Lucifer, Satan, the fallen angel, the seducer, the cajoler, with over 3000 statuettes, carvings, masks and other…
Nida
This delightful woodland cemetery features some fine examples of krikštai (wooden grave markers). Their origins hark back to Lithuania's pagan roots and…
Kaunas
Artist Vytenis Jakas moved into this courtyard over a decade ago and turned it into an ever-evolving art project, creating murals and transferring onto…
Kaunas
Built in 1871, the only functioning synagogue of those that survived since 1941, and one of the few remnants of Kaunas' once-strong Jewish community, this…
Vilnius
This landmark statue depicts the early unifier of the Lithuanian tribes in the mid-13th century and the country's first king.
Vilnius
In this leafy suburb, little-visited by tourists, Antakalnis Cemetery is the final resting place of Lithuanian luminaries and locals lost to war…
Vilnius
With its hilltop location above the junction of the Neris and Vilnia Rivers, Gediminas Castle is the last of a series of settlements and fortified…
Vilnius
The southern border of Old Town is marked by the last standing of five 16th-century portals that were once built into the city walls. A suitably grand way…
Vilnius
This striking church is the city’s oldest baroque place of worship. St Casimir’s dome and cross-shaped ground plan defined a new style for 17th-century…
Kaunas
Built by Camaldolese monks in the 17th century, this striking baroque monastery lies 9km east of central Kaunas, on a promontory jutting into the Kauno…
Trakai Historical National Park
Lithuania
Lithuania's smallest national park at 82 sq km, this reserve encompasses Trakai's historic monuments, lakes and forests.
Vilnius
Flamboyant and Gothic St Anne's Church, a vision of undulating lines and red-brick arches, was built in 1500 on the site of a wooden church that burned to…
