Lithuania in euros: Vilnius baroque, Kaunas, the Curonian Spit, 112, traveler tips, and an eSIM for maps from the airport bus.
Des eSIMs sûres, efficaces et privées partout dans le monde
Lithuania is the southern Baltic republic, and Vilnius is a baroque old town in a river bend: pink and ochre churches, a republic that once declared itself on a forgotten street (Užupis), and a food scene that has outgrown the dumpling cliché. Kaunas, the interwar capital, is the second city people skip and then regret — modernist streets and a river confluence that feels like a real place, not a day-trip checkbox.
The coast is a different country of pine and dune. The Curonian Spit — Nida, the shifting sand, smoked fish — needs a night if you can give it. Inland, Trakai's brick castle in a lake is the easy Vilnius extra. Midsummer and late spring are when terraces work; February is for museums and cepelinai steam.
The currency is the euro. Lithuania is a card-first, app-friendly country. Lithuanian on signs, English in Vilnius hospitality, a little Polish and Russian in older neighborhoods. 112 is the emergency number. Tap water is fine. The Vilnius airport bus and the train to Kaunas are how locals actually move; you do not need a car for a city-and-spit trip if you read the timetable.
Eat cold beet soup, a potato dumpling the size of a fist, and rye with something smoked. Do not crush Vilnius, Kaunas, and Nida into 48 hours. The country is small on the map and larger on the ground than influencers admit.
Essentiels
Conseils de voyageurs
De vrais conseils de personnes qui sont allées en Lithuania, sélectionnés par notre équipe avec des liens vers les sources d'origine.
Walk it in the morning, read the constitution on the wall, eat on the quieter side of the river. Weekend noon is a queue of people photographing a sign they will not remember.
The interwar modernism only lands if you stay after the day-trippers leave. Laisvės alėja at dusk is the argument. Treating Kaunas as "on the way to the coast" is how you see a station.
Ferry from Klaipėda, then buses that do not run for your sunset. Book lodging in Nida or Juodkrantė. Climbing the dune in flip-flops is a short story with a long walk back.
One plate is lunch. Share or walk it off on the Neris. The tourist cellar that only serves dumplings in English is not the best version; look for a room that still writes the soup of the day in Lithuanian.
Go early, walk the lake path, skip the most aggressive stall street. It is a brick castle in water, not a half-day of museums. Afternoon is better spent in the capital's courtyards.
TripAdvisor Forums
The hill sits well outside town, past the last useful local bus. Train in, agree a return with the driver, walk the maze of crosses, ride back — it is not a Vilnius suburb stroll.
Voir la sourceRick Steves Travel Forum
Vilnius’s Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights is the former prison. Give it the quiet hours; it is the opposite of a castle-and-lunch circuit.
Voir la sourceFAQ
Yes. The old town is walkable, buses cover the rest, and Kaunas is a train. The Curonian Spit is the piece that needs a ferry timetable, not a rental desk at the airport.
City maps, tickets, and some coast photos: a gigabyte-class daily habit is typical. Download the spit trails. Hotspot workdays need a larger plan.
Towns are fine. Dunes and forest loops drop. Screenshot the bus back to the ferry before you walk toward the Russian border end of the spit — you will not be crossing it.
You can. An eSIM means the airport bus is already in the map app, which is the local way to start — practical, then baroque.
Only on a regional Europe plan that lists those countries. Country-only plans stop at the border, and both neighbors are close enough to tempt a day trip.
Forfaits eSIM
Vilnius airport to the old town is a bus number and a map, and the spit ferry will not wait while you log into café Wi-Fi. A prepaid eSIM is online when you land, which is how this digital-first country actually expects you to move.
If Poland or Latvia is on the same ticket, buy a regional Europe plan. A Lithuania-only eSIM is honest until the first border.