Questions about Vilnius

I am interested in information about Vilnius - what to see, what to avoid, where to stay, the best way to travel, etc...

Does anyone have any knowledge of the city? We will travel from Riga to Vilnius near the end of August then return to Poland afterwards.

Also, we are planning to visit Białystok on our way back to Kraków - but if anyone has a better suggestion of a place to see in NE Poland, this part of our itinerary is wide open.

Thanks in advance...

Hello BLS,


It really depends on what you are interested in?.
Let me know and I will be of more use.

Check these two tourist magazines
Lithuania Today or

Vilnius in your pocket

I recommend, the KGB museum in the centre of Vilnius,



The hill of crosses.

They have wonderful churches too. St. Anne's church is my personal favourite façade (Flamboyant Gothic and Brick Gothic styles) and St'Peter's and Pauls is my favourite interior, with over 2000 sculpting inside, a black Jesus and a crystal ship hanging above the aisle.

Vilnoja Sculpture Park Click here
stoneart.lt/en

And if you are very religious go see the "Gate of Dawn"



For a very good bar, restaurant and nightclub, i recommend Cozy.
People will be able to speak English in there and you can get lots of info.

My best advise is to stay in the old town, it is more safe and tourist friendly.

I used to live in Vilnius for a few years, the first time I went it was in 1997 for a month just travelling around for a month.

It has changed a lot since then.

P.S. I think you PMed me about this and I never replied, so I put more effort in to this post to redeem myself :)


Obviously I meant "click" Freudian slip or a typo, I will let you decide :)

Also check the TV Tower not much to look at but of great historical importance.

And Vilius Cathedral, it's the centre of the city.
A short walk behind this Cathedral is a castle tower, offering panoramic views of the old town, for a price.

Thanks, Sean!

No problem, as I said, if there is anything you are particularly interested, let me know and I will post something here.

But the things I have posted already are the main attractions.


It's a 12 to 14 hour straight drive from Vilnius to Krakow.
And as I was working in both places, I never did much sight seeing but Augustów looks really beautiful (Reminds me of Carrick-on-Shannon in Ireland).

And Białystok, is home to Żubrówka :)

Here is a video I took during the winter.

youtube.com/v/W8TYPhQYAy4

Also watch your speed limit in Lithuania, the cops take bribes and often over charge for the speeding tickets.

No driving - just buses and trains. I understand that public transportation between Vilnius and Poland is a bit dodgy - any thoughts?

Fly, if you can, last I heard is LAL (Lithuanian airlines) went bust.
FlyLAL suspended operations on 17 January 2009.

But there should be other airlines operating.

I get the feeling that you don't want to fly to experience more of the countries, there are coaches of course.
The coaches are at the train-station in Vilnius.
Although the only time I took it to Poland I had an annoying experience full of loud drunk Poles coming from Riga on their way home.

So that leaves the train, I have never taken the train.
I have heard from hitch-hikers that there is a train from Vilnius direct to Poland these days.
Check PKP website for times.

And now for some useless but interesting info...
The last train passed through a nonEU country, which meant a long wait at the passport control boarder crossing and I heard you even had to change train as E.U. have different size train tracks than Russian.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_profile#Europe

Hi BLS,

We recently visited Vilnius and stayed in HostelGate: hostelgate.lt

It is probably one of the better hostels in Vilnius as there isn't a huge selection.

I also recommend taking a half day excursion to see Trakai Castle. You can get there by bus and it is a 45-min ride from the central bus station.

Jack