Lithuania 7 Day Itinerary
Vilnius has the largest surviving Baroque old town in Northern Europe, a functioning bohemian republic within its city limits, and a restaurant scene that has quietly become one of the most interesting in the Baltic states. Lithuania is also one of the most affordable EU destinations, which is worth knowing when you are deciding between cepelinai at a tavern for eight euros or a tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant for sixty. Seven days is enough to cover Vilnius properly, take a day trip to the Hill of Crosses, and reach the Curonian Spit before flying home.
Practical Essentials
Lithuania is an EU and Schengen member state. Most Western passport holders do not need a visa; citizens of countries outside the visa-free list should check requirements through the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs before booking. The currency is the euro. English is widely spoken by anyone under forty in Vilnius and Kaunas. Outside cities, Polish or Russian are more commonly understood alongside Lithuanian than English.
Vilnius Airport is small and well-connected to the city centre. Bus 1 and Bus 2 run to the main train and bus station (Vilniaus Stotis) for about 1 euro; taxis to the old town cost around 10 to 15 euros and take 15 to 20 minutes. The national bus network (Toks, Lux Express) and trains connect major cities, though trains are slower. For Kaunas the bus is faster. For the Curonian Spit you need a bus to Klaipeda and then a short ferry crossing.
Day 1: Arrive in Vilnius, Old Town Orientation
Land, check in, then walk to Vilnius Cathedral on Cathedral Square. The neoclassical exterior is deliberately plain after Soviet-era stripping; the interior holds several centuries of buried Lithuanian grand dukes beneath it. The detached bell tower was originally part of the medieval city fortifications.
From the cathedral, walk up the Castle Hill path to Gediminas Tower. The climb takes ten minutes and the view over the red-tiled rooftops of the old town toward the river is worth every step. This is the correct introduction to Vilnius: the scale of the Baroque city laid out below you, the Lithuanian flag on the tower, the modern city visible further out.
Descend and walk south along Pilies Street, the main pedestrian artery of the old town, to St. Anne’s Church. This is a late-Gothic red-brick church that Napoleon reportedly wanted to carry back to Paris on his palm. The claim is probably exaggerated but the church is genuinely beautiful, especially in late afternoon light when the brick turns amber.
For dinner, go to Uzupis. This is the neighbourhood that declared itself an independent republic in 1997, complete with a constitution (translated into forty languages and posted on a wall) that includes the right to be a cat and the right to be idle. The cafes and restaurants around Uzupio Gatve are mostly owned by artists and are priced for people who live here rather than tourists. Try Uzupio Kavine on the river for Lithuanian food with good atmosphere and main courses around 12 to 18 euros.
Day 2: More Vilnius, Museum of Occupations, Trakai
Start the morning at the Museum of Occupations and Fights for Freedom, housed in the former KGB headquarters on Gedimino Prospektas. The basement cells where interrogations and executions took place are preserved intact. It is difficult and important; allow two hours at minimum. Entry is around 8 euros.
After the museum, walk to the Gate of Dawn (Ausros Vartai), the sole surviving gate of the original city wall. The chapel above the gate contains a silver-cased icon of the Virgin Mary that has been an object of Catholic pilgrimage for centuries. The gate connects the old town to the Uzupis side; the neighbourhood on either side feels visibly different in character.
In the afternoon, take a marshrutka (shared minibus) to Trakai, about 40 minutes from the Vilnius bus station and costing around 2 euros each way. Trakai Castle is a red-brick island fortress in Lake Galve, connected to the shore by wooden bridges, and it looks almost too picturesque to be real. The museum inside covers the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. While in Trakai, try kibinai, flaky crescent-shaped pastries stuffed with mutton and onion, a dish brought to the region by Karaite Jews (a Turkic-speaking minority community) several centuries ago. Several kibinai shops line the main street near the lake.
Day 3: Kaunas
Take a morning bus to Kaunas (roughly 90 minutes, about 7 euros from Vilnius). Lithuania’s second city was the interim capital between the wars when Vilnius was occupied by Poland, and it shows: the downtown has a coherent interwar modernist character that Vilnius lacks. The M.K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, named for the symbolist painter and composer who is something of a national genius figure, is the most significant art museum in the country. The collection of his paintings is genuinely strange and moving.
Walk the old town: Kaunas Castle is a fourteenth-century fortification, partially restored; the town hall on the main square is an elegant white Baroque building locally called the White Swan. The Žaliakalnis funicular is a short ride up a residential hill and costs almost nothing. The view from the top is modest but the ride itself, two wooden cars on a steep incline through a residential neighbourhood, is a good glimpse of ordinary Kaunas life.
For food, Kaunas has a strong cafe culture and several good Lithuanian restaurants. Berneliu Uzeiga has a branch in Kaunas offering reliable cepelinai, the giant grated-potato dumplings stuffed with pork and served with sour cream that are the most filling thing you can eat in Lithuania. One serving is usually enough for two meals.
Return to Vilnius in the evening or stay overnight in Kaunas (cheaper hotels, quieter streets).
Day 4: Hill of Crosses and Siauliai
This is the long-transport day but it is worthwhile. Take a morning train from Vilnius (or Kaunas) to Siauliai. The journey from Vilnius takes around two and a half hours and costs 9 to 17 euros depending on the service. From Siauliai bus station, take a local bus toward Joniškis and ask the driver to stop at Domantai (about 12 km from the city, 15 minutes, roughly 1.20 euros). Walk the signed 2 km path to the Hill of Crosses.
The site cannot be adequately described in advance. It is a low mound covered in somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 crosses of every size and material, from Soviet-era iron crucifixes planted by Lithuanians defying occupation to tiny beaded rosaries. Pilgrims have been placing crosses here since the nineteenth century and the Soviet authorities bulldozed the site three times; each time the crosses returned within weeks. The cumulative effect is genuinely overwhelming. There is no entrance fee and no gift shop. Bring something to leave if you want to.
Siauliai city itself has a decent Bicycle Museum and a Cat Museum (yes, a museum of cat-related art and objects; it is exactly as it sounds and is worth 30 minutes). Return to Vilnius or Kaunas in the evening.
Day 5: Kernavė Archaeological Site and Rural Lithuania
Kernavė is 40 km northwest of Vilnius. Take a bus from the Vilnius long-distance bus station (about an hour, cheap) or arrange a taxi for the day. The site is the archaeological remains of a medieval Lithuanian capital, with five earth mounds above a bend in the Neris river that were once fort hills. The UNESCO-listed site is partly excavated; the museum explains the archaeological layers from the Stone Age through the medieval period. It is calm, scenic, and completely unlike anything in Vilnius.
On the return to Vilnius, stop at Hales Turgus if it is a weekday. This is the main covered market in Vilnius, in an ornate 1906 building near the train station, with fresh produce, local cheeses, pickled vegetables, smoked fish, and casual lunch counters where you can eat traditional food for 5 to 8 euros. It is better than any restaurant for understanding what Lithuanians actually eat.
In the evening, walk the streets east of the Vilnius Cathedral toward the Bernardine Garden and the Bernardine Church. The garden is a quiet local park running along the Vilnele river, popular with young couples and dog-walkers. The Baroque church interior, under ongoing restoration, still has fragments of original frescoes.
Day 6: Klaipeda and the Curonian Spit
The Curonian Spit is a 98-kilometre sand tongue separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The Lithuanian half is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most unusual landscapes in Europe: moving sand dunes up to 60 metres high, pine forests, and small fishing villages. Take an early bus from Vilnius to Klaipeda (around three hours, 12 to 18 euros), then a short car ferry from Klaipeda’s Old Castle Port to the spit village of Smiltyne (crossing takes about five minutes, a few euros). From Smiltyne, take a local bus south to Nida, the main town on the spit (about 50 km, 45 minutes to an hour).
In Nida, walk to the Parnidis Dune, the most dramatic dune accessible by foot. The summit is 52 metres above sea level and has a granite sundial. The view over the lagoon on one side and the Baltic on the other is one of the more spectacular things you can see from Lithuanian territory. Be aware that walking off the marked paths on the dunes is prohibited and the fines are enforced.
The Thomas Mann House on a hill above the lagoon is where the German novelist spent his summers from 1930 to 1932, writing parts of the Joseph and His Brothers tetralogy. Entry is around 5 euros. The collection is modest but the thatched cottage with its view is exactly the kind of place where a Nobel laureate would want to spend the summer.
For dinner in Nida, local restaurants serve smoked fish from the lagoon (the grey mullet and bream are both good) and traditional Curonian fish soup. Stay the night in Nida if your schedule allows; the morning light on the dunes before day-trippers arrive is worth an early alarm.
Day 7: Return to Vilnius and Departure
Take the morning bus from Nida back toward Klaipeda, ferry across, then a bus back to Vilnius. Allow at least five to six hours total for the journey; the connections are straightforward but not fast. If your flight departs in the afternoon, buy the earliest bus from Nida that still gets you to Vilnius two hours before check-in.
If you have time in Vilnius before the flight, the Hales Market or Gedimino Prospektas for a final coffee and cake (try the sakotis, a spit-cake that looks like a spiky cylinder, at any bakery) are both better options than the airport departure lounge. The airport cafes are adequate but not memorable.
One last tip: Book accommodation in Vilnius old town as early as possible for summer travel. June to August is peak season and the better small hotels fill well in advance. The streets around Uzupio and Bernardinu Gatve have the best options for character and location combined.