Wonderfully situated in the scenic Kuršių Nerija (Curonian Spit National Park) on the peninsula that runs between Lithuania and the little Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, Neringa is a modern spa town that stretches for miles in a landscape of dunes and windswept sandy beaches. It came into being in the 1960s when the Curonian towns of Pervalka, Preila, Juodkrantė and Nida were unified, and today it is one of Lithuania’s most popular tourist resorts, a spa town and a mecca for artists, who come here to capture the extraordinary clarity of the region’s light.
Once denuded of its trees and topsoil by extreme timber felling, the Curonian Spit is a 61-mile (98-km) UNESCO World Heritage-listed peninsula of ever-shifting sand dunes and forest now
under a preservation order that includes a careful program of sustainable replanting. The region is now one for swimming in the mineral-rich Baltic Sea, combing for amber along the shores,
walking in the forests and sailing, as well as fishing for bream and bass in the Curonian Lagoon.
The spit is also a popular stopping off point for up to 10 million seabirds on their annual migrations.
Practical Info
Neringa is in western Lithuania on the Curonian Spit, which is about 120 miles (200 km) from Kaunas by road and can also be accessed by ferry from Klaipėda. There is an admission fee of 50LTL (70LTL in June through August) for cars traveling into the Curonian Spit National Park.
Address: Curonian Spit National Park, Neringa (Nida), Lithuania
Admission: Admission fee of 50LTL (70LTL in June - August) for cars traveling into the Park.
