Choose from 26 Fun Things to Do in Vilnius
Pazaislis Monastery
The country’s finest example of Italian baroque architecture can be seen at the Pazaislis Monastery and church in Kaunas, the largest monastery complex in Lithuania.
Built in 1662 by the order of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, four Italian architects designed the church and monastery, while sculptors of Lombardy completed the frescos and plaster casts.
Converted to an Orthodox church by the Russians in 1832, the church was also used as an archive, a psychiatric hospital and an art gallery in its time before being returned to the Catholic order in the 1990s and reconstructed to its former glory.
Every year, the Pazaislis Monastery plays hosts to an international music festival. If you visit during the summer months, you won’t be able to miss it.
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Pazaislis monastery and church is on a peninsula in the Kaunas Reservoir near the Kaunas Yacht Club.
Gediminas Tower
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St. Anne's Church
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Bernardine Church
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Gediminas Avenue (Gedimino prospektas)
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Ginuciai Water Mill
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Aukstaitija National Park
At over 400 sq km (154 sq mi) and dense with pine, spruce and deciduous trees, Aukstaitija National Park is a real breath of fresh air.
The park’s forests attract deer, elk and wild boar but its biggest appeal, is its large number of lakes and rivers that make up 30% of the park’s total area. There are 30 rivers and 126 lakes in total and it is possible to explore many of them by boat or kayak. One of the prettiest lakes is Lake Baluosas, which has seven islands, one of which has a lake of its own.
There are over one hundred villages within the park, six of them protected as architectural monuments. Sights of interest within the villages include, the 19th century Ginuciai watermill, the bizarre Beekeeping Museum in Stripeikiai and an old wooden church (1750) and bell tower at Paluse.
AT 175m (574ft) the Ladakalnis peak offers breathtaking panoramic views of the forests and lakes below.
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Aukstaitija National Park is about 100km (62mi) north of Vilnius.
Museum of Genocide Victims (KGB Museum)
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Amber Museum-Gallery
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Curonian Spit & Kursiu Nerija National Park
The Curonian Spit is a 98km (61mi) long sand peninsula that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. This thin and curved piece of land has its southern half in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia and its northern half in southwestern Lithuania.
Formed about 5,000 years ago from a glacier, winds and sea currents generate enough sand to keep the Curonian Spit above sea level. In fact, the spit is home to the highest moving sand dunes in Europe. With dunes as high as 60m (196ft) in some places, the width of the spit varies greatly - from a minimum of 400m (1,312ft) in Russia to a maximum of 3,800m (12,467ft) in Lithuania (just north of Nida).
Nida is the largest town on the spit and a popular holiday spot for Lithuanian and German tourists. The spit’s best beaches are around here, along its northern shoreline.
Kuršių Nerija National Park was established in 1991 to protect the unique ecosystems of the Curonian Spit and Curonian Lagoon. Several ecological communities can be found here, from the spits outer beaches to dune ridges, wetlands, meadows, and forests.
The spit and lagoon are a popular feeding and resting ground for a large number of migratory waterfowl, and it is estimated that up to as many as 10 million birds may stop here during their spring and fall migrations.
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The Curonian Spit & Kursiu Nerija National Park are UNESCO World Heritage protected and efforts to combat wind and tide erosion through reforestation of the area are ongoing.
The Curonian Spit & Kursiu Nerija National Park is about 200km (124mi) from Kaunas by road and 240km (150mi) by boat (to Nida).
Museum of Ancient Beekeeping
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St. Peter and St. Paul's Church
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Artillery Bastion (Basteja)
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Vilnius Cathedral (Arkikatedra Bazilika)
Vilnius Cathedral - or Arkikatedra Bazilika - can trace its history back to the 13th century when the Lithuanian King Mindaugas built the original cathedral in 1251.
Having been burnt down and rebuilt several times over the years, the cathedral’s final reconstruction is in the neoclassical style (1801) according to the design of Laurynas Gucevicius.
Under Soviet occupation, the cathedral was used as a garage and several statues were destroyed. It has undergone several restorations since that time and its elegant colonnaded façade, ornate interior and 57m-(187ft) tall belfry, continue to stand proud as a symbol of the country’s Catholic faith.
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Vilnius Cathedral is in bustling Cathedral Square, at the base of Gediminas Hill in the Old Town.
Church of the Holy Spirit
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Gate of Dawn
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Grutas Park
Grutas Parks is a fascinating cultural center that exhibits Soviet era relics and statues in its museum and sculpture garden.
From 1989 to 1991, when Lithuania regained its independence, Soviet monuments were dismantled and dumped throughout the country. In an effort to preserve the monuments but with little money to do so, the government allowed Lithuanian entrepreneur Viliumas Malinauskas to open this self-funded sculpture park in 2001 near the town of Druskininkai.
Spread over 20 hectares (49 acres), Grutas Park has 86 monuments and statues set among re-creations of Soviet prison camps, guard towers and barbed-wire fences. Here you’ll find statues of the main Communist leaders and thinkers, including Lenin, Stalin and Marx, leaders of the Red Terror and the Red Army. The set-up is designed to help visitors understand the impact of Soviet ideology on the Lithuanian people.
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The park also includes a gallery of paintings and graphics in the Soviet realism style. There’s an on-site cafe, a large playground (Lunapark) and a mini zoo to keep the kids entertained.
Grutas park is located near Druskininkai, about 130 kilometres (81mi) southwest of Vilnius.