Kaunas

Lithuania's second city at the meeting of two rivers, whose modernist buildings from its interwar days as provisional capital are a World Heritage Site, plus an old town, a castle and the quirky Devils' Museum.

Kaunas is Lithuania's second-largest city, located in the centre of the country at the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers, about 100 km from the capital, Vilnius. While Poland held Vilnius from 1920 to 1940, Kaunas served as the 'provisional capital' and in just two decades gained a wealth of modernist architecture, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2023 as 'Modernist Kaunas: Architecture of Optimism, 1919–1939'; it was also a European Capital of Culture in 2022. Plan your visit in three parts: the old town at the river confluence, with the Town Hall (the 'White Swan'), Kaunas Castle, the cathedral and Perkūnas House; the New Town to the east, centred on the 1.7-km Laisvės alėja (Liberty Avenue), linking the Central Post Office, the Devils' Museum, the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art and the Vytautas the Great War Museum – ride the century-old funicular up the hill to the rooftop terrace of the Church of Christ's Resurrection; and on the outskirts, the Ninth Fort Holocaust memorial, the lakeside Baroque masterpiece of Pažaislis Monastery and the Rumšiškės Open-Air Museum. The climate is mild continental; May–Sep is warm and pleasant and the best time to visit. Winters are cold with short days, but the old town's Christmas market in December is lively. Getting there: Kaunas Airport has budget flights around Europe, and the train from Vilnius takes about 1–1.5 hours. Walking and buses are enough in town, but a car is recommended for sights on the outskirts. Allow 2 days; Kaunas works as a day trip from Vilnius, but exploring its modernist architecture is worth an extra night.

Top sights

• Kaunas Old Town – A medieval old town at the confluence of the Neris and Nemunas rivers, dense with Gothic churches, Hanseatic merchant houses and cobbled st…
• Kaunas Castle – One of Lithuania's oldest stone castles. It once withstood the Teutonic Order and now houses a city history museum.
• Ninth Fort – One of the forts of the Kaunas Fortress and a Nazi Holocaust site from World War II. A massive memorial sculpture here is deeply moving.
• Kaunas Town Hall – A Baroque and Classicist town hall nicknamed “White Swan,” standing in the middle of Old Town Square. It now serves as a wedding registry o…
• Kaunas Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul – The largest Gothic church in Lithuania, with a red-brick exterior and Baroque interior. Its main altar and side altars are richly ornate.
• House of Perkūnas – A late-15th-century Gothic red-brick merchant house with stepped gables and intricate brick ornament, a showpiece of Old Town architecture.
• Church of Vytautas the Great – One of Kaunas’s oldest churches, built around 1400. Its plain red-brick Gothic form stands quietly on the bank of the Nemunas River.
• Santaka Park – The point where Lithuania’s two largest rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris, meet. A green riverside park at the western edge of the Old Town…
• Laisvės alėja – A tree-lined pedestrian boulevard of about 1.7 km, linking New Town shops, cafés and interwar modernist buildings.
• Church of St. Michael the Archangel – A neo-Byzantine church with a blue dome at the eastern end of Laisvės alėja. Built as an Orthodox church for the Russian garrison, it is no…
• Christ's Resurrection Basilica – A white, monumental church in interwar modernist style. Take the elevator to the rooftop terrace for a 360-degree view over all of Kaunas.
• Žaliakalnis Funicular – A funicular with wooden cars, opened in 1931, that climbs from the city centre up the hill where Christ’s Resurrection Basilica stands.
• Aleksotas Funicular – A vintage funicular opened in 1935 that carries you up to a viewpoint on the hillside south of the Nemunas. It is the classic spot for a vi…
• Devils' Museum – A quirky museum with over 3,000 devil figures from around the world, and one of Kaunas’s most popular attractions.
• M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum – A national museum holding the dreamlike Symbolist works of Čiurlionis, a composer and painter regarded as a national treasure of Lithuania.
• Vytautas the Great War Museum – A national military museum built between the wars, displaying Lithuanian military history and the wreckage of the Lituanica, the plane that…
• Pažaislis Monastery – A 17th-century Italian Baroque monastery in the pine woods beside the Kaunas Reservoir, celebrated as a masterpiece of Northern European Ba…
• Sugihara House – The former Japanese consulate where diplomat Chiune Sugihara issued “visas for life.” Now a memorial to humanitarian action during World Wa…
• Historical Presidential Palace – The presidential residence from Kaunas’s interwar years as temporary capital, with restored offices and exhibits on the First Republic.
• Kaunas Central Post Office – A 1932 modernist post office that blends Lithuanian folk ornament, and part of a World Heritage Site.
• Open-Air Museum of Lithuania (Rumšiškės) – One of Europe’s largest open-air museums, bringing together traditional villages from Lithuania’s four ethnographic regions.
• Vytautas Magnus University Botanical Garden – The botanical garden of Vytautas Magnus University, built on the site of an 18th-century manor, with ponds, arched bridges, gardens and a l…
• Lithuanian Zoo – Lithuania’s only national zoo, next to Kaunas’s historic oak grove park. Recently renovated, it is well suited to family outings.
• Žalgiris Arena – The largest indoor arena in the Baltic states and home court of EuroLeague basketball club Žalgiris Kaunas, with an electric atmosphere dur…
• Raudondvaris Castle – A red-brick castle manor on the Neris riverbank northwest of Kaunas, with a main building topped by round towers and a manor park that suit…
• Zapyškis Church of St. John the Baptist – A small 16th-century red-brick Gothic church standing alone on the Nemunas riverside meadows, one of Lithuania’s most photogenic churches.

Where to eat

• Nüman – A Michelin Bib Gourmand-recommended Nordic-style bistro, offering unexpected combinations of seasonal local ingredients…
• Spurginė – A Soviet-era doughnut shop on Laisvės Avenue, where you can stand at the bar and enjoy freshly fried doughnuts with cof…
• Uoksas – A representative of New Lithuanian cuisine consistently featured in the Michelin Guide, reimagining local flavors with…
• Monte Pacis – A Michelin-recommended restaurant tucked inside the Baroque Pažaislis Monastery complex, featuring a wine list of over…
• Bernelių Užeiga (Senamiestis) – A traditional Lithuanian restaurant set in an 18th-century building in the Old Town, popular with both locals and touri…
• Višta Puode – Whose name means "Chicken in a Pot," this restaurant revives old recipes using local seasonal ingredients and chicken…

Itineraries

• Lithuania: Cities to Coast by Public Transport – Trains and buses connect Vilnius, Trakai, Kaunas, and Nida, with no car rental required.
• Lithuania Grand Self-Drive Loop – A complete self-drive loop covering the capital, Kaunas, the Hill of Crosses, a Cold War missile base, the seaside, and…