Things to Do in Lithuania

The Siauliai Hill of Crosses is a center of national pilgrimage just north of the small industrial city of Siauliai.

Many thousands of crosses cover a small hill. Ranging from tiny crucifixes to enormous metal or wooden crosses, they represent the Lithuanian peoples spiritual devotion and also act memorials to the thousands who have died during the country’s many uprisings and oppressions.

The tradition of placing crosses in this spot dates back to the founding of the city of Siauliai in 1236. Despite being levelled three times by the Soviets in the 1960s and 70s, local people and pilgrims replaced the hill and once again covered it with crosses, flouting the attempts by the Soviet army and the KGB to barricade the site.

Kaunas, Lithuania's second biggest city, sits at the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers. Formerly serving time as the country’s temporary capital when Vilnius was annexed to Poland in the early 20th century, Kaunas grew to become Lithuania’s industrial powerhouse.

Kaunas is also a cultural city and there are over 40 museums and an Old Town, whose buildings featuring Gothic, Renaissance, and baroque architecture. Most notable sights include the 14th century Kaunas Castle, Vytautas’ Church and Kaunas Cathedral Basilica - the largest Gothic building in Lithuania.

Kaunas center is defined by 2 pedestrian streets: tree-lined Liberty Avenue (Laisves aleja) and Vilnius Street, the latter leading to the Old Town.

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.

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.

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.

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.