Lithuania Holidays:
The Complete UK Traveller's Guide

Vilnius has one of the largest surviving medieval Old Towns in Europe — a sprawling, hilly labyrinth of Baroque churches, cobbled alleyways, Renaissance courtyards and Gothic spires that UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 1994. Unlike some European old towns that have become open-air museums, Vilnius's feels alive: coffee shops and wine bars occupy the ground floors of 16th-century buildings, street art brightens backyard passages, and locals cycle and stroll through the lanes on their daily business.

Cathedral Square is the natural starting point — a grand baroque cathedral flanked by a distinctive white bell tower, surrounded by open space that serves as the social heart of the city. From here, the medieval streets of the Old Town spread south and east. Pilies Street is the main artery, lined with amber jewellery shops, bakeries and restaurants. Follow the lanes uphill and you'll reach Gediminas Tower, the remaining turret of the Upper Castle, which offers the finest elevated view over the terracotta rooftops of the Old Town.

St Anne's Church is the architectural highlight of the Old Town — a masterpiece of Baltic Gothic, with an extraordinary facade of red brick and tracery that Napoleon reportedly wanted to carry back to Paris in the palm of his hand. Just beyond it is the Bernardine Church, and together they form a UNESCO-listed church ensemble that stops photographers in their tracks.

For something entirely different, cross the Vilnia River into Užupis — a bohemian neighbourhood that declared itself an independent republic in 1998, complete with its own constitution (displayed on mirrored plaques in multiple languages) and its own 'Angel' statue. It's part art installation, part genuine community of artists and creatives, and one of the most charming corners of any European city.

Trakai is where the postcard version of Lithuania was created. The town, set on a peninsula between a series of beautiful lakes 28km west of Vilnius, is home to Lithuania's most photographed sight: a perfectly preserved 14th-century red-brick island castle rising from the waters of Lake Galvė, connected to the shore by a wooden bridge. On a clear day, with the castle's towers reflected in the lake and rowing boats drifting past, it looks almost too picturesque to be real.

The castle itself is in extraordinary condition for its age — most of it is 14th and 15th century, with significant restoration in the 20th century. Inside, it houses the Trakai History Museum, with exhibits covering the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the height of its power — a medieval empire that, at its greatest extent, stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The views from the castle towers over the surrounding lakes and forests are excellent.

Don't leave Trakai without trying kibinai — small pastries filled with mutton or curd cheese, a speciality of the Karaim people (a small Turkic community who settled in Trakai in the 14th century). The Kybynlar restaurant on the lakeshore has been serving them for generations and is invariably packed with day-trippers who've been coming for years.

There is nothing quite like the Hill of Crosses anywhere else in Europe. On a low mound outside the town of Šiauliai in northern Lithuania, hundreds of thousands of crosses — from tiny devotional pieces to elaborate wrought-iron monuments several metres tall — have been placed by pilgrims over the centuries, creating an extraordinary dense forest of religious symbols that creaks and rattles in the Baltic wind.

The site's origins are ancient, but the crosses took on profound political significance during the Soviet occupation, when the authorities repeatedly bulldozed the hill. Each time, Lithuanians returned overnight and planted more crosses. It became a symbol of national identity and quiet defiance that the Soviets ultimately could not extinguish. Pope John Paul II visited in 1993 and called it "a place of hope, peace, love and sacrifice." The hill has grown continuously since then.

It is one of those rare travel experiences that genuinely transcends visual description — the atmosphere, the scale, the history and the sheer improbability of it all combine into something deeply affecting, regardless of your faith or lack of it. Visiting requires either a day trip from Vilnius (a long but doable round trip by car) or an overnight in Šiauliai.

The Curonian Spit is one of the most surreal landscapes in Europe: a 98km-long narrow peninsula of pine forest and colossal shifting sand dunes, sandwiched between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon. The Lithuanian section (the northern half; the southern portion is Russian Kaliningrad) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the main resort town of Nida has a quiet, painterly beauty quite unlike anywhere else on the continent.

The dunes here are extraordinary — the Parnidis Dune near Nida rises to 52 metres and offers sweeping views across an otherworldly desert-meets-sea landscape that feels entirely out of place this far north. Walking the dune ridge at sunset, with the lagoon on one side and the Baltic on the other, is an experience that stays with you. The Thomas Mann House in Nida — where the German Nobel laureate spent three summers in the early 1930s — is a pleasant small museum and a reminder of the spit's long history as a retreat for northern European intellectuals.

The spit is best visited in summer (July–August) when the sea temperature reaches 18–20°C and the pine-shaded beaches are at their best. Spring and autumn offer a more solitary, atmospheric experience. Getting there requires taking a ferry from Klaipėda (Lithuania's main port, directly connected to Vilnius by train).

Kaunas is Lithuania's second city, and the one most Lithuanians consider the country's cultural heart. It served as the interwar capital of independent Lithuania (1919–1940) and accumulated an outstanding collection of Art Deco architecture during that period — a legacy that earned Kaunas a UNESCO Creative City of Design designation. The pedestrianised Laisvės Alėja (Freedom Avenue) is one of the finest tree-lined boulevards in the Baltic, flanked by elegant interwar buildings, cafes and boutiques.

Kaunas also has a small but well-preserved medieval Old Town at the confluence of the Neris and Nemunas rivers, anchored by Kaunas Castle (one of the oldest in Lithuania) and the beautiful Gothic-Renaissance Town Hall. The Ninth Fort, a 19th-century fortification turned Nazi extermination site during WWII, is a sobering and important memorial that should not be missed. The city is also notably free of the tourist crowds that have begun to accumulate in Vilnius — a genuinely local experience in a beautiful setting.