Report: Vilnius, I love you!

I loved Vilnius, too--visited in 2019 as part of my Baltic itinerary that started in Tallinn, then Riga, then Vilnius. The people were very friendly and helpful, and like you I was impressed by the all around good feel of the city. And the food, oh my! My favorite, ate there twice in a 3 night stay, was Etno Dvaras on Pilies.

It sounds like I need to go….

Oh yes, I loved Vilnius and its beautifully maintained Bernardine Gardens with the fountain choreographed to every genre of music!

We took the O.A.T. Baltic tour in 2018 and really enjoyed Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. At that time the tour also went on to St. Petersburg. We enjoyed St. Petersburg and we found the Russians citizens we met to be friendly and curious. It is unfortunate the Russian government has become impossible to deal with.

Valerie, did you end up using Bolt from the airport to your hotel?

I visited Vilnius (and Riga, and Tallinn) in 2016. I liked Vilnius and definitely think it is worth a visit, but it's not a place I quite fell in love with. It is less touristy than Riga and Tallinn I guess because the cruise ships stop near those two. Vilnius has some really nice pedestrian streets for sure. But I saw plenty of graffiti and some wrecked buildings. At least in 2016, it felt like some areas had been fixed up and others had been neglected. (I guess that may have changed since I was there.) It has kind of a rambling feel. (And a whole bunch of churches!)

The Antakalnis Cemetery a little outside of town is really cool - if you like European cemeteries I highly recommend it. (I took a bus to get there, very easy.) There are some interesting World War II memorials there.

I took the public bus from the airport to the old town and easily walked to my hotel from there. I bought a bus pass and took buses everywhere. With Google Maps as my guide on my phone, it was very easy to get around by bus wherever I needed to go. But much of the town is walkable.

I also spent a night in Lithuania's "second city" of Kaunas. It is even less touristy than Vilnius and has a different feel. Vilnius definitely feels like the real "first city," though - Kaunas was interesting but felt a little sleepy.

The town of Šiauliai is near the famous Hill of Crosses tourist attraction. I stopped on the way to Riga. The town itself feels like a monument to communist-era architecture, really interesting but not really aesthetically appealing.

@CWsocial - we ended up using a taxi booked by our hotel. I’m so wary of metered cabs that I almost never use them anymore and I have the Bolt App but just decided to have something fixed fare and hotel-trusted ready for us. It was 20 Euros - probably a bit more than a metered cab fare but I was happy with it. I just re-read all of your reporting from Vilnius and I’m trying to see if there’s any nighttime light shows we can see - those look amazing and I love light art.

We get to see Klaipeda for a couple of days as well and are heading out to see Trakai and the castle today.

@PaulB - when we first started considering this tour it still included Russia and I’ve always wanted to go, but of course it’s not possible. The replacement city - Helsinki - looks fun, though!

Valerie, €20 is a good price and not much of a markup for your peace of mind!

Please report back if you find your light shows.... that will be a good entry for my "next visit" list of things to do that I start for every city while I'm still there.

That's how I ended up in Budapest this week.... an entry from last visit to "see a ballet when the opera house renovation is complete." I don't need much of a reason to go back to Vilnius!

@CWsocial - we are always just a country or two apart on our travels, somehow! Glad you’re back in Budapest! You remind me that maybe I should get back there too!! We’re going to be in Poland for two weeks in September…maybe…

Depending on your timing in Poland, there is an Oktoberfest coming up this weekend in Budapest and the weather is perfect for it!

I really need to stop reading this forum because my travel list is getting impossibly long!

Hi,

Did you have the opportunity to visit Klaipeda? Worthy of your time?

@Fred - we did spend 2 nights in Klaipeda. It’s a little town but nice. OAT used it mainly as a place for us to stay while we went to see the Curonian Spit - we spent a day hanging out there and I really liked it. We took the ferry over and spent some time walking on the Hill of Witches sculpture park, which I loved. We walked on the beach at the Baltic Sea there, looked for amber, and took an amber-identification and polishing class. The winds are insane on the Baltic beaches - maybe our visit day was worse than others - but I could barely stand up on the beach.

@ Valerie....Thanks for the information. In spite of the wind, it sounds that visit was worth your time and effort.

Transportation-wise Klaipeda can be reached by ferry from Germany, ie the Kiel to Klaipeda ferry trip that takes more than 24 hours.

You went to an important historical place as the city was known prior to WW1 as Memel, the farthest tip of East Prussia with the river by that name too, the Memel River. The immediate region of the Memel, the surrounding countryside , was Memelland.

I went to Klaipeda on a Baltic Cruise in 2019. Being on a cruise the choice had to be made as to whether to see the City or the Spit.
I chose the City and was quite charmed by it, and the juxtaposition of Soviet era architecture and the newer Western parts. A very rare example where I took a shore excursion.
I did note that on a future visit I could take one of the little ferries on several routes across to the Spit then the public bus. I'm the sort who'd take one ferry route, bus down the spit then a different ferry back.
It was one of those days when we arrived in a pea souper of a fog, and left in glorious sunshine.
One of those ports where local performers are on the quay- folklore dancing and a band, and were there all day.