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,…

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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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Mindaugas

    Vilnius

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

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Pažaislis Monastery

    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.

  • St Anne's Church

    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…

  • Holocaust Exhibition

    Vilnius

    The 'Green House' exhibits the unvarnished truth behind the destruction of Lithuania's once-vibrant Jewish community, the Litvaks. The displays – mostly…

  • Kenessa

    Vilnius

    West of Jasinskio gatvė across the Neris River is this kenessa, a traditional Karaite (sect of Turkic Jews) prayer house, built in 1911. It's one of three…

  • 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…

  • 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…

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