It’s a really close call, because I had such great experiences in all three countries, but I think Lithuania just might take the cake. If you’re just joining me on my 3 week tour of the Baltics, be sure to check out Estonia and Latvia first.
Klaipeda
Coming from Latvia, I began my Lithuanian tour in the coastal town of Klaipeda. In and of itself, Klaipeda doesn’t have a lot to see (except maybe a cute magical mouse), but it’s a great base to explore the Curonian Spit – a 98 kilometer long, one kilometer wide strip of sand stretching along Lithuania’s coast to Kaliningrad, Russia.
The Curonian Spit
In my opinion, the Spit is best discovered by bike. You can rent one in Klaipeda and pedal the 55 km down to Nida, the last stop before the Russian border. Nida is a small town filled with wooden cottages. It reminded me a lot of homes I had seen other places in Scandinavia. It’s possible to bike back to Klaipeda in one, long day (for those of us not used to biking), but you can also spend the night in Nida, or take the bus or ferry back.
This may seem shocking on such a thin island, but don’t expect to see much of the coast while biking. The ride is mostly through the forest. When you do get a glimpse of the beach, it’s because you walked over the large white sand dunes protecting the island from erosion. My first peek of the sea there had me running back to my bicycle! The wind is so intense that it surprised me to see people enjoying a day at the beach.
The Hill of Crosses
From Klaipeda, I spent a day traveling to Siauliai (please, don’t ask me to pronounce that) to visit the Hill of Crosses. It is exactly what it sounds like – a hill. Filled with crosses. This attraction was readily recommended to me by several other travelers with enthusiasm. While the oddity enticed me, the visit didn’t enamor me. Of course, visit if you have the time and it interests you, but as getting there and back takes all day I wouldn’t put it at the top of my list. You can get there with public transportation, but you’ll have to walk about a kilometer from the bus stop through some pretty farm fields on a regularly traveled road. The pilgrimage site has hundreds of thousands of crosses and you’re more than welcome to leave your own.
Kaunas
My next stop was Kaunas, an earlier capital of Lithuania. Kaunas is tiny, with one main drag and a market square to see. It’s a cute city with some churches worth checking out. My visit might have been improved with a tour, but I wasn’t able to find a free walking tour available at the time. Sometimes traveling is like that. You intend to visit a place, but end up just passing through.
Vilnius
I ended up heading on to Vilnius earlier than planned. But that was a good plan. I don’t know what it was about Vilnius, but I instantly fell in love with it – putting it high on my list of cities with the likes of Lisbon and Edinburgh, although in a different way. Having been in the Baltics for two and half weeks, I wasn’t expecting to land in such a metropolis. There are large impressive buildings, wide boulevards, funky hostels, and cool cafés even serving vegetarian food. You could easily spend several days in Vilnius, and I did.
Like Riga, Vilnius had multiple free tours, so I did the classic tour and the alternative tour. The classic tour included the artist district, courtyards, crazy Lithuanian history, and comparisons of the Baltic nations (completely non-biased from a Lithuanian, of course). The alternative tour included more about street art, the artist colony of Užupis, and most notably art of Trump and Putin smoking a joint.
Kernave
Based in Vilnius for a few days, I went on two day trips. The first was to Kernave, a place which most Baltic visitors do not even know exists. I love all things UNESCO and had found that this is one of the few in the Baltics that I would get to visit. In Kernave there are some ancient mounds from thousands of years ago. While exploring the mounds, I met a Lithuanian woman who tried her best to talk with me in English. We visited the rest of the museums together. The open air museum is replica showing how people lived long ago, including the houses of a blacksmith, an antler carver, and a jeweler. An indoor museum had lots of videos showing how different artifacts from the site would have been made.
Trakai
Just when I thought I couldn’t like Lithuania any more, I visited Trakai. Walking the two kilometers from the bus station has you wondering if the visit will be worth it, but then you spot the castle. It’s made of magnificent red bricks and sitting on an island in the lake. ON AN ISLAND! I really couldn’t get enough pictures.
Instead of visiting the castle, I would recommend taking a kayak tour with NorthNorthEast. My guide, Tomas, was so knowledgeable and passionate about sharing Trakai with us (I was on the tour with a few others). I cannot recommend this tour highly enough. I planned it last minute and Simas responded quickly with options for me. It is really well-run and organized. Tomas even takes pictures along the way and Simas sends them to you shortly thereafter.
Tomas showed us the cool places around the lake, told us the history of the city and castle, packed a picnic, and took us swimming off another small island in the lake. Lunch was Kibinae, a traditional meal from this region. A Lithuanian calzone, these pastries are packed with cooked vegetables and meat. We had one with spinach and curd and another with cabbage and egg. For dessert there was more Kibinae with apples and cherries.
It’s easy to see why Lithuania impressed me so much. Kayaking, biking, castles, and veggie food. What more could I need? With so much do to in all three states, please don’t tour the Baltics on a weekend! Each one has a variety to do, see, and experience and there are plenty of people excited to show you their home.