Lithuania: the best country you’ve never been to

Lithuania is a small country that packs a big punch: an exciting history, beautiful scenery you won’t find anywhere else, and an amazing pizza chain. Here are just a few reasons Lithuania left such an impression on me.

Firstly, I apologise if you have in fact been, however, I’m a little bit in love with Lithuania. Having read a lot on this pocket-sized country, I finally spent a week travelling around it during my year abroad – but even after seven days, there are still plenty of sights left to see. There are plenty of reasons to visit Lithuania – below are just a few of mine

Why I loved Lithuania

1. The Curonian Spit

I have no idea why more people haven’t heard of this incredible natural beauty. A spit of land in the Baltic Sea shared by Lithuania and Russia, the area is home to a collection of tiny beautiful old German villages, a whole host of rare wildlife, and sand – lots and lots of sand. The spit has the highest moving sand-dunes in Europe – the Parnidis dune, just outside the town of Nida, is almost 230ft high. Apart from the dunes, the spit is also home to some of the best beaches on the Baltic Sea.

Everywhere along the spit looks like a perfect photograph – the place is amazing. But there’s plenty to do, too. After a day exploring the tiny town of Nida and the Parnidis dune, we went back the next day to do a 30km bike ride from Nida to Juodkrantė. The nearest city to the spit is Klaipeda, which has a nice old town and a sculpture park.

For more images, click here.

2. The Hill of Crosses

A 15 minute taxi drive out of Lithuania’s fourth biggest city, Šiauliai, you’ll find the Hill of Crosses – one of the weirdest places I’ve ever been.

It’s exactly what it sounds like – a hill with a lot of crosses on it. Except this hill is pretty big, and the number of crosses must be, at the very least, a few million. No-one really knows why it started, but people have been visiting the hill to place crosses for generations and attempts by the Soviets to prevent this only increased people’s vigour to do so. The effect is odd – simultaneously ridiculous, humbling and mildly creepy, the place attracts bus loads of Lithuanians (and even the Pope John Paul II), each of whom come and leave a cross.

Read more: 6 of the strangest places in Europe

3. Trakai Island Castle

Another reason to visit Lithuania is Trakai Castle, a traditional historic castle. Around an hour’s bus journey from the beautiful Vilnius, Trakai is a huge castle complex on its own island. The place is massive – and looks exactly like a castle should and it’s been expertly restored – no climbing over ruins here. Inside you’ll find a half-decent museum, and a place for archery. Yet the real draw is simply wandering around and taking in the grandeur of the place. However, saying you once tried your hand at archery in a castle on an island in Lithuania sounds pretty damn cool.

4. Čili Pizza

Čili Pizza (pronounced “Chilli Pizza”) was genuinely one of the highlights of my trip, and will be one of yours too if you love buying food so big you have to take a photo of it. A £4 pizza is practically the size of a table. It’s a chain, and I can personally recommend the restaurants in Klaipeda and Vilnius. (Think there’s one in Riga, too.)

5. More for next time

Despite spend six days in Lithuania, there is still plenty that I didn’t get to explore:

• Grutas Park aka Stalin World, a loosely-named theme park consisting of old Soviet statues and monuments collected by a farmer
• Kaunas, the country’s second city and (briefly) its former capital
• Palanga, the coast’s premier beach and party resort.

Read more: 9 things you didn’t know about Lithuania

I also wanted to note that the Hostelgate hostel in Vilnius is one of the nicest hostels I’ve stayed in, and a highlight in itself.

Of course, missing from this post is Lithuania’s beautiful capital, Vilnius, which deserves an entry of its own, though in the meantime, you can read more about it here.

What’s your favourite country off the beaten track?
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