Lithuania · Vilnius County
Plan your Vilnius trip
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Old Town (Senamiestis)
Best for first-timers and walkersCobbled baroque lanes with the highest concentration of churches, restaurants and sights within a short walk of your door — central, atmospheric, and the obvious first-timer base.
A boutique hotel in a converted merchant house near Cathedral Square
Look for a small historic-building hotel just off the main square itself for the shortest possible walk to the skyline's best viewpoints.
€€€An apartment near the university quarter
Staying among the university's baroque courtyards puts you close to St John's bell tower and the quieter southern half of the Old Town.
€€Užupis
Best for a bohemian, local-feeling stayCrooked riverside streets a few minutes' walk from the Old Town, with an artsy, slightly scruffy charm and noticeably calmer nights once the Old Town's restaurants wind down.
A design-led guesthouse near the Užupis constitution wall
A handful of small stays occupy converted riverside buildings here, putting you inside the 'republic' itself rather than just visiting for an afternoon.
€€Naujamiestis (New Town)
Best for modern conveniences and nightlifeThe wide 19th-century boulevards around Gediminas Avenue — shopping, government buildings and evening bars, with the Old Town a flat ten-minute walk away.
A contemporary hotel on or near Gediminas Avenue
The avenue's straight, flat walk into Cathedral Square makes this a practical base without sacrificing much proximity.
€€€Žvėrynas
Best for a calmer, local-feeling baseA leafy, almost entirely residential district of wooden houses across the Neris river — quiet, provincial in feel, and a genuine change of pace from the Old Town's density.
A quiet apartment among Žvėrynas's wooden houses
You'll trade a short bus or walk into the centre for genuinely residential streets and a noticeably slower pace at night.
€€Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Gediminas Castle Tower
The surviving remnant of Vilnius's Upper Castle, perched on a wooded hill above the Old Town since the early 1400s and rebuilt in the 1930s — the…
Tip Take the funicular up if you'd rather save your legs for the Old Town below; the walk down through the castle hill park is the nicer direction to do on foot.
Cathedral Square & Vilnius Cathedral
The Old Town's civic and spiritual centre, framed by a neoclassical cathedral, a free-standing bell tower converted from a medieval defensive…
Tip Come back after dark; the cathedral's floodlit facade against the night sky is a different, quieter version of the square than the daytime crowds suggest.
Vilnius University
One of Eastern Europe's oldest universities, founded in 1579, its enclosed baroque courtyards still used daily by students and open to wander between…
Tip Climb St John's bell tower inside the university grounds for a second, less crowded panoramic viewpoint than Gediminas Tower.
Užupis
A self-declared artist republic across the Vilnia river, complete with its own tongue-in-cheek constitution posted on a wall, an Angel statue as…
Tip Read the full multilingual constitution near the main footbridge — it's funnier and sharper than most summaries give it credit for, and sets up the neighbourhood's tone…
Gate of Dawn & Aušros Vartai Chapel
The sole surviving gate of the city's medieval defensive wall, housing a chapel and revered icon of the Virgin Mary that remains an active pilgrimage…
Tip Visit in the early morning if you want to see the chapel genuinely used for prayer rather than photographed as a monument.
St. Anne's Church
A soaring red-brick Gothic facade from the late 15th century, built from 33 distinct brick shapes in a style so intricate that Napoleon is said to…
Tip View it from across the small square in late-afternoon light, when the brickwork's texture and colour read most clearly.
Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights
A former KGB headquarters and prison, preserved largely as found, documenting Soviet and Nazi occupation, deportations and the underground resistance…
Tip This is a heavy, unsanitised visit rather than a polished exhibition — go with time to sit afterward, and budget at least ninety minutes.
Hill of Three Crosses
A hilltop monument recalling a local legend of martyred monks, rebuilt in the 1980s after the Soviets demolished the original, with one of the city's…
Tip Climb up for sunset — the crosses themselves are lit and the Old Town below catches the last light particularly well from here.
Halės Market
A restored 1906 covered market just outside the Old Town walls, mixing traditional Lithuanian produce stalls with contemporary food counters, and the…
Tip Go at midday on a weekday to see it working as a genuine local market rather than a weekend visitor draw.
Day trips from Vilnius
Trakai Island Castle
A fairytale lake-island castle thirty minutes west of the city by train or bus, built by the Karaim community's historic homeland — climb the tower,…
Day tripKernavė
A UNESCO-listed archaeological site an hour northwest, considered the first capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania — a cluster of ancient hillforts…
Day tripKaunas
Lithuania's second city, about an hour by train, with its own distinct Art Deco interwar architecture and a livelier, more student-driven bar scene…
Day tripEverything to do in Vilnius
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around
Vilnius is compact enough that the Old Town, Užupis and the New Town's Gediminas Avenue corridor are all within a comfortable twenty-minute walk of each other, and most visitors will do the bulk of their sightseeing on foot without ever needing transit.
Flights
Compare fares into Vilnius and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire from Vilnius
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.