Must-see attractions in Lithuania

  • Hill of crosses

    Hill of Crosses

    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,…

  • Vilnius Cathedral

    Vilnius Cathedral

    Vilnius

    Stately Vilnius Cathedral, divorced from its freestanding belfry, is a national symbol and the city's most instantly recognisable building. Known in full…

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    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…

  • Bust of Vladimir Lenin, sculpture park of former Communist-era sculptures, Grutas Park, Grutas, Lithuania

    Grūtas Park

    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 University

    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…

  • Aerial view of the Cold War museum made in Plosktines abandoned missile base near Plateliai lake in Lithuania.

    Cold War Museum

    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…

  • Lithuania, Vilnius, Names Of Victims On Wall Of Museum Of Genocide Victims, Formerly KGB Headquarters

    Museum of Genocide Victims

    Vilnius

    This former headquarters of the KGB (and before them the Gestapo, Polish occupiers and Tsarist judiciary) houses a museum dedicated to thousands of…

  • Ninth Fort

    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…

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    Cathedral Bell Tower

    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…

  • Mindaugas

    Vilnius

    This landmark statue depicts the early unifier of the Lithuanian tribes in the mid-13th century and the country's first king.

  • Nemunas Delta Regional Park

    Lithuania

    Where the Nemunas, Lithuania's largest river, spills into the Curonian lagoon, it splits into four distributaries: the Skirvytė, the Atmata, the Pakalnė…

  • Orvydas Garden

    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…

  • Trakai Castle

    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…

  • Europos Parkas Sculpture Park

    Lithuania

    Some 21km north of Vilnius, off the Utena road, is Europos Parkas. Leading contemporary sculptors, including Sol LeWitt and Dennis Oppenheim, show over…

  • Cathedral Square

    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…

  • Narrow-Gauge Railway Museum

    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…

  • Amber Museum

    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…

  • Tolerance Centre

    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…

  • Sugihara House

    Kaunas

    Kaunas-based Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara (1900–86) saved around 6000 Jewish lives between 1939 and 1940, issuing transit visas to stranded Polish…

  • Sts Johns' Church

    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…

  • Užupis Art Incubator

    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…

  • Rinkuškiai Brewery

    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…

  • Plateliai Manor

    Lithuania

    The old granary and stable of the former Plateliai Manor now houses a highly worthwhile museum complex. The granary holds a multistorey exhibition…

  • Museum of Devils

    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…

  • MO Museum

    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…

  • Kiemo Galerija

    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…

  • Choral Synagogue

    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…

  • Energy & Technology Museum

    Vilnius

    Vilnius' first power station, in operation from 1903 to 2003, now houses exhibitions on energy, technology and their historical development. The original…

  • Antakalnis Cemetery

    Vilnius

    In this leafy suburb, little-visited by tourists, Antakalnis Cemetery is the final resting place of Lithuanian luminaries and locals lost to war…

  • View of the facade, the New Arsenal, home to the National Museum of Lithuania, Vilnius Castle Complex, historic centre of Vilnius (Unesco World Heritage List, 1994), Dainava, Lithuania

    National Museum of Lithuania

    Vilnius

    This wide-ranging museum (inside the New Arsenal) exhibits art and artefacts from Lithuanian life from Neolithic times to the present day. Early history…

  • 500px Photo ID: 97929297 - Gediminas caslte 2013 autumn. Vilnius. Lithuania.

    Gediminas Castle & Museum

    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…

  • The Presidential Palace in Vilnius, the official residence of the President of Lithuania.; Shutterstock ID 692036209; Your name (First / Last): Gemma Graham; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Vilnius destination page

    Presidential Palace

    Vilnius

    The Bishops of Vilnius’ Palace in the 16th century, this classical edifice now houses the president and chancellery. It gained its current Russian empire…

  • Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Vilnius. Lithuania.; Shutterstock ID 712536580

    St Michael the Archangel Church

    Vilnius

    This grand early-17th-century chuch, built by the Sapiega family, now houses a wonderful museum of sacral art. The building itself, with its single Gothic…

  • Gate Of Dawn In Vilnius, Lithuania

    Gates of Dawn

    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…

  • 500px Photo ID: 121014055 - The historians suppose that in the 13th century before the conversion of Lithuania to Christianity on this hill seven Franciscan monks, that preached the new religion, were murdered. The monks were crucified and then four of them were tossed into the river to check whether a new god could work wonders and save his servants..In the 13th century the third Vilnius castle, the so called Crooked Castle, stood on the hill on the bank of the river Vilnia. In 1390 it was burnt to the ground by the sword-bearers and never rebuilt. On its spot, in 1613, the first crosses were erected to honor the monks that had died the death of martyrs. In 1916 the concrete crosses designed by the architect A. Vivulskis replaced the old wooden ones. In the postwar years at the behest of the Soviet Government the crosses, as well as many other religious monuments, were blown up and buried. The Three Crosses Monument was re-erected on the day of commemoration of the June massive exiles of the population in 1941 (June 14, 1989). The blasted crosses lie nearby the new ones to remind the contemporaries of the tragic Lithuanian history and to warn the posterity against the neglecting of the country's tradition..From the top of the hill one can enjoy a breathtaking panorama of Vilnius.

    Three Crosses

    Vilnius

    Crosses were first erected in the 17th century, in memory of a group of monks martyred by pagans three centuries earlier. The current crosses replace…

  • The Church of St. Casimir in Vilnius, Lithuania.

    St Casimir's Church

    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…

  • Paneriai Memorial Museum

    Lithuania

    This small museum is densely packed with details about the atrocities committed in Paneriai's forests. Between 1941 and 1944, around 100,000 people …

  • Klaipėda Castle Museum

    Klaipėda

    The castle museum is spread across four exhibition spaces around Klaipėda's castle – two of these are located in atmospherically lit tunnels and deal with…

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