Kaunas

Kaunas Castle

Kaunas (Kowno in Polish, Kauen in German, Каунас in Russian) is a 288,466 inhabitants city crossed by rivers Neris and Nemunas, placed in the center of Lithuania (part of the ethnographic region of Suvalkija). This city was the capital of the Republic of Lithuania during the interwar period (during this period its nickname was Little Paris, because it drew many artists) and nowadays is the 2nd biggest city in the country. It's well-known by it old city center but this city has a lot more to offer.

How do I arrive to Kaunas?

  Kaunas is the 2nd most important city in Lithuania so there are many way to arrive there from all over the country and the neighbour ones. 

• Plane: there are some interntational flights to Kaunas Airport (14 km northeast from the city center of Kaunas). There are buses every hour and taxis to go from the airport to the city.
• Train: there are trains to Vilnius (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes; 5 €).
• Bus: there are many buses to Kaunas from Vilnius (aprox. 1 hours 45 minutes), Šiauliai (aprox. aprox. 2 hours 45 minutes) or Klaipėda (aprox. 3 hours 15 minutes; 14 €). As an important city it has connections with other countries like Riga (3 daily buses; aprox. 4.5 hours) in Latvia or Tallinn (3 daily buses; aprox. 10 hours) in Estonia.
• Car: in case of having a car from Kaunas it can be reached many places like Prienai (aprox. 30 minutes), Birštonas (aprox. 40 minutes), Kėdainiai (aprox. 45 minutes), Dzūkija National Park and Vilnius (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes), Panevėžys and Tauragë (aprox. 1.5 hours), Druskininkai (aprox. 1 hour 40 minutes) or Šiauliai and Klaipėda (aprox. 2 hours). Outside Lithuania it can be reached from Suwałki (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes) or Augustow (aprox. 2 hours) in Podlaskie Voivodeship (Poland) or Volodino in Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia), among others.

Once in Kaunas the best ways of moving in the city are public transport. Bus service goes from 5 am to 23 pm and their prize is 0.70€ (buying them to the driver), but there are city cards which reduce what you pay. Minibuses costs around 0.87€ and they stop wherever you want. Night buses around the cuty are also available.

History

The area between Nemunas and Neris Rivers was already inhabited between the 1st and 2nd milleniun BC. In 1361 Kaunas was first mentioned after the construction of its castle, which was captured and destroyed in 1362 by the Teutonic Order. Vytautas the Great granted Magdeburg Rights to Kaunas in 1408, in 1411 it joined the Hanseatic League and Kaunas Castle was rebuilt. In 1665, the Russian army attacked the city several times, and in 1701 the city was occupied by the Swedish Army. With the partition of the Polish–Lithuanian state in 1795, the city was taken over by the Russian Empire and during the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Grand Army of Napoleon devasted twice Kaunas. After the unsuccessful January Uprising against the Russian Empire, tsars started the russification of the country, but professors Antanas Baranauskas and then Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis taught in Lithuanian to preserve the language. In the end of the 19th century the 35% of the population was Jewish, 26% Russian and 22% Polish, being the remanent Lithuanian. After WW1 Kaunas was named capital of Lithuania, because Vilnius was annexed by Poland, and in the interwar period the culture flourished. During WW2 it was invaded by the Soviet army in 1939, then the June Uprising and again the Soviet occupation took place. In 1941 Nazi Germany conquered Kaunas (with Lithuanian help) and in the Ninth fort almost 50,000 Jews were murdered. When WW2 was finished, the Soviet Union took back control of Lithuania (with a guerrilla warfare till 1953). Later the country recovered its independence, being the main industrial city in the country. In 1993 the Pope John Paul II visited the city and it was named European Capital of Culture of 2022. 

Kaunas' top 5

If you have little or you just don't want to visit all Kaunas, here's a list of the 5 places you can't miss in Kaunas.

1. Kaunas Castle.
2. Kaunas Town Hall.
3. 9th Fort Museum.
4. Pažaislis Monastery.
5. Kaunas Cathedral.

What can I visit in Kaunas?

Kaunas is a very nice city and has a very nice walk. The old city is around Rotušės aikštė (which has 16th century German merchants houses) and Vilniaus gatvė. The new city grew around Laisvės alėja (which has Romas Kalanta Memorial, a statue remembering a guy which set fire to himself to protest agains the Soviet occupation) and it's a very green city (with parks like Vytautas Park, Ąžuolynas Park and Ramybės Park).

These are Kaunas's main attractions:

Kaunas Town Hall

• Kaunas Town Hall (10-18 Tue-Sat, 10-16 Sun; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced): 17th century Renaissance building that has been used as threater, prission or palace. In the 19th century it was rebuilt as a residence for Russian czars. In the basement it has a Ceramic Museum (11-17 Tue-Sun; 1.16€/ 0.58€  adults/ reduced), museum with a collection of archaeological findings from Kaunas and the surrounding area. There's a ticket which combines all the branches of Kaunas City Museum (8€ /4€  adults/ retiree, students and kids).
• St. Pranciškaus Ksavero Catholic Church and Monastery: 17th-18th centuries Jesuits complex formed by a monastery, a school and the church with the same name. The best views of Kaunas can be enjoyed from its towers (16-18; 1.50€). The famous poet Adomas Mickevičius was a teacher here in the early 19th century.
• Kaunas Castle (10-18 Tue-Sat and 10-16 Sun from Jun to Aug; 10-18 Tue-Fri and 10-17 Sat from Sep to May; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced): 14th century castle located at the confluence of rivers Nemunas and Neris used to defend the city from the Teutonic Knights. The remaining parts of it are a part of the wall and the moat and a rebuilt tower. There's a museum about its history inside.

  

  Inner part of Kaunas Cathedral

• Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum (9-18 Tue-Sat; 1.45€/ 0.58€  adults/ students and kids): 18th century Baroque palace where the writer and priest Jonas Mačiulis (Maironis) lived. Nowadays it has a museum about him, his literature and Lithuanian litherature in general with a large collection of books, manuscripts and art works.
• House of Perkūnas (14-17 Thu-Fri; 1.50€/ 0.80€  adults/ reduced): 15th century Gothic house that belonged to Hanseatic traders. It hosts an exposition about the poet Adomas Mickevičius. 
• Kaunas Cathedral: cathedral first founded by Vytautas around 1410 and regarded as the largest Gothic building in Lithuania. It's outter part was rebuilt in Baroque style and the poet Maironis is buried here since the 1930s.

• 

  Church of
  Vytautas the Great

  Church of Vytautas the Great: 15th century church considered one of the oldest churches in Kaunas. It has had several different uses like Orthodox church, storage...
• Kaunas Lutheran Church: small 17th century church in Baroque and Romanticism styles that used to be use by the German community of Kaunas. 
• St. Trejybės Catholic Church: 17th century late church that used to work as a Bernardine convent. Its style is a transition from Renaissance to Gothic style.
• St. Jurgio Kankinio Catholic Church: 15th century Gothic church that has survived to different fires all over its history. Its Gothic façade is unique and inside it's decorated in Gothic and Renaissance styles.
• Lithuanian Sport Museum (10-17 Wed-Sun; 1€/ 0.50€  adults/ reduced): small museum about Lithuanian sport people, specially related to the Olympic Games.

• 

  Historical Presidential Palace

  Lithuanian Pharmacy and Medicine Museum (10-17 Tue-Sat; 1.16€/ 0.58€  adults/ reduced): museum shows the medical advances in the country and traditional Lithuanian medicine.
• Gemmology Museum (10-18 Mon-Fri, 10-16 Sat; 2€/ 1€/ free  adults/ students/ kids under 10): small museum with rare minerals and precious stones from all over the world.
• Kaunas Folk Music Museum (10-18 Tue-Fri; 10-17 Sat; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced): 16th century Gothic house with a museum that shows traditional musical instruments (more than 7,000; among them kanklės, Lithuanian box zither), many of them done with unexpected materials.

• 

  St. Arkangelo Mykolo Church

  Historical Presidential Palace (10-19 Tue-Sat; 10-17 Sun; 2€ /1€ adults/reduced): 19th century Neo-Baroque building where Lithuanian Presidency was set during the interwar period. Its museum talks about it with pictures, presents and so on. In the garden there are statues of all Lithuanian Presidents.
• St. Gertrūdos Catholic Church: 15th century small church in Gothic style. 
• St. Arkangelo Mykolo Catholic Church (9-18): 19th century Neo-byzantine church, which was used as Orthodox church. It's main interest is the catacombs, where it can be found the Museum for the Blind (8-15 Mon-Fri), an art installation that was turnt into a museum and allows the visitor to feel like blind people for some time.

  

  Interior of Kaunas
  Choral Synagogue
  

  
  
• Kaunas Choral Synagogue: synagogue built in 1872 with a Neobaroque and an impressing bema (place where the Torah is read). It's one of the only places inherited by the Kaunas Jews community (which was important before WW2).
• Tadas Ivanauskas Museum of Zoology (10-18 Tue-Sun; 3€/ 1€  adults/ reduced): museum with a collection of stuffed and preserved animals that goes from giraffes to butterflies.
• Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery (11-17 Tue-Sun; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced): gallery with European paintings (between the 17th and 20th century and the only painting by Rubens in Lithuania) based on Mikolas Žilinskas private collection. There are other historical objects like ancient Egyptian amulets, Roman glassware or old tapestries.

  

  M. K. Čiurlionis National
  Museum of Art

• M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art (11-17 Tue-Sun; 4€/ 2€  adults/ reduced): museum about Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the most important artists and composers in Lithuanian history, father of Lithuanian folk art. Here are exposed many of his works, with a mixture of Romantic, Symbolism and Abstractionism styles. 
• Devil's Museum (11-17 Tue-Sun; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced): impressing and surprising museum with more than 3,000 devils, gathered by the painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius.
• Vytautas the Great War Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 2€/ 1€  adults/ reduced):

  

  Vytautas the Great War Museum

  interactive museum with historical artefacts pertaining to Lithuania from prehistoric times to the present day (including a collection of historical weapons) and expositions dedicated to the military skills of Vytautas the Great.
• Kaunas Picture Gallery (9-17 Tue-Sun; 2€/ 1€  adults/ reduced): gallery with works of art from Lithuanian artists (and Lithuanian émigrés) from the end of 20th century. It's part of M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art.
• Museum of Resistence and Deportation (10-18 Wed-Sat; 10-17 Sun; 4€/ 1€  adults/ reduced): small museum about Forest Brothers, organisation formed between 50,000 and 100,000 people who went into the woods to fight the Soviet occupation.
• Nemunas Island Park: park located in an island in the middle of river Nemunas. Here it's located Žalgiris Arena.

  

  Sugihara House

• Lithuanian Museum of Aviation (9-17 Mon-Sat; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ reduced/ kids under 5): museum located at the former airport of Kaunas and its exposition is focused on the development of Lithuanian aviation with some airplanes and aviation sings of different countries. Here it can be tried a real aviation simulator.
• Sugihara House (11-15 Mon-Fri; 4€/ 2€  adults/ reduced): museum-house of a former Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, who during WW2 saved more than 6,000 Jews.
• St. Dievo Motinai Russian Orthodox Church (free): church built in 1935 with a mixture of traditional Russian Orthodox styles.
• Kaunas Mosque: mosque rebuilt in 1930, the only style building of its kind in eastern Lithuania.

  

  9th Forth Museum
  

  
  
• Kristaus Prisikėlimo Catholic Church: church with shape of a Soviet hydroelectric dam where getting great views of Kaunas and beyond.
• 9th Fort Museum (10-16 Wed-Sun; 3€/ 1.5€  adults/ reduced): 7 km north from Kaunas can be found this place which gives an awesome homage to all the Jews killed by the Nazis. It has a WW1 fort, a bunker-church and a museum with pictures of those times. 
• Kaunas Botanical Gardens at Vytautas the Great University (10-17; 3€/ 1€  adults/ reduced): nice garden which belongs to Vytautas Magnus University.
• Pažaislis Monastery and Church (10-17 Tue-Sat; 10-16 Sun; 4€/ 2€  adults/ reduced): 17th century monastery built by Camaldolese monks located 9 km

  

  Pažaislis Monastery and Church

  west from Kaunas which has a very luxurous inner part. It's one of the most magnificent examples of Italian Baroque architecture in Eastern Europe.
• Lithuanian Folk Museum (10-18 from May to Sep; only its park the rest of the year; 4€/ 2€  adults/ reduced): museum 25 km east from Kaunas that shows the traditional villages of the ethnographic regions in Lithuania (Aukštaitija, Dzūkija,Suvalkija, Samogitia and Lithuania Minor) and craftsman doing pottery, carpentry and cloth.
• Kaunas has some interesting beaches on the banks of river Neumas, opened in summer, like
  

  Panemunė Beach or Lampedžiai Lake Beach.

Birštonas

Not far from Kaunas, 40 km south, can be found the municipality of Birštonas (Birsztany in Polish, Бирштаны in Russian), a popular balneological resort and a spa town with 2,646 people which host the best festival of its kind in Lithuania, Birštonas jazz festival. There are also other activities here like going on air ballons, hiking and cycling routes and boat trips across Verknė River. It has interesting places for sightseeing like Birštonas Museum (10-18 Tue-Fri, 11-16 Sat-Sun; 2€/ 1€  adults/ students and kids), museum with ethnographic, historical exhibits, documents, photographs and press collection about the town; Birštonas kurzhauzas, St. Antano Paduviečio Catholic Church (19th church first built in the 16th century) or Birštonas Sacred Museum (10-18 Tue-Fri, 11-16 Sat-Sun; 2€/ 1€  adults/ students and kids), museum about history, sacred art of Birštonas church with folk sculptures, liturgical vessels and altar accessories. It's the entrance to Nemunas Loops Regional Park, a nice place to practice outdoors sports like cycling, hiking and canoeing. It main interest is nature, enjoying hiking near Nemunas River and its nature The best place to enjoy the views is Balbieriškis Nemunas Observation Deck.

Nemunas Loops Regional Park

This Regional Park has a nice historic heritage, with many piliakalnis (hill forts) like the ones in Pagaršvys, Paverkniu, Punia or Mačiūnai ones and also some interesting churches, like St. Petro ir Pauliaus Catholic Church (19th century colourful church) in Nemajūnai or St. Jokubo Catholic Church (first church built by Count Vytautas, rebuilt in Neogothic style in the 19th century) in Punia. Its cultural patrimony is interesting as well, like Atminties takas (wooden statues to conmemorate stanilism victims). In the Regional Park there's another interesting city, Prienai (Prieny in Polish), 8610 inhabitants, that has Prienai Area Museum, which has some expositions about ethnography and folk art, partisans life and Lithuanian poetry. Other interesting places here are Kristaus Apsireiškimo Catholic Church (1750 church built in a folk Baroque style), Lithuanian Grand Duke Kestutis monument and Velniabliūdis cognitive path.

 

Didžioji gatvė in Kėdainiai

In the other direction, 50 km north, there's the town of Kėdainiai (Kiejdany in Polish, קיידאן in Yiddish, Kedahnen in German), 24,093 inhabitants, widely regarded as one of the oldest and nicest towns in Lithuania, place that has had multicultural population during many years. Visiting Kėdainiai Regional Museum (11-18 Tue-Fri, 10-17 Sat, 10-15 Sun; 1.60€/ 0.80€  adults/ students and kids) can provide more information about the history and traditions. One of its main branches is the Mausoleum of the Dukes Radziwiłł (; 2€/ 1€  adults/ students and kids). The town has also the only single minaret in Lithuania, Kėdainiai minaret, built in 1880 for Eduard Totleben (Baltic German general) to commemorate his service in the Russian-Turkish war. The town has many different churches like St. Juozapo Catholic Church (beautiful 18th century wooden church with nice altarpieces), St. Jurgio Catholic Church (16th century church; it's the oldest building in Kėdainiai), Viešpaties Atsimainymo Russian Orthodox Church (19th century church that substitued a previous wooden one from the 19th century), Kėdainiai Lutheran Church (17th century church built by Radziwiłł family and where some of the members of the family are buried) or Kėdainiai Synagogue, 18th century Baroque synagogue (one of the three synagogues in Kėdainiai). 

Which activities can I do in Kaunas?

 

Aleksotas Funicular Railway

Kaunas is a cultural center in Lithuania and its threater offer is quite big. The main threater in Kaunas is National Kaunas Drama Theater (main threater in Kaunas and one of the oldest in Lithuania). Other important threaters there are Kaunas City Chamber Theater (threater which shows plays for kids), State Puppets Theater (theater where puppets shows are played, producting plays that travel all over Europe), Kaunas Music Threater (19th century building where usually operas are played) and Kaunas State Philharmonic Society (main classical music concert hall). Another activity very nice here is taking the Aleksotas Funicular Railway (7-12 and 13-16 Mon-Fri; 10-12 and 13-16 Sat; 0.58€), a 1935 funicular with awesome views from the old city. Lithuanians are great basketball fans and in Kaunas is set the best team in Lithuania and one of the best in Europe Žalgiris Kaunas (plays as local in Žalgiris Arena, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50). 
In the area of Birštonas there's an important offer of spas like Birutės vila (10-20 Tue-Sun), Eglės sanatorium or Mineral water graduation tower "Druskupis".

What and where can I buy in Kaunas?

Here in Kaunas the visitor can find Akropolis (mall where buying food, clothes...) but there other interesting ships in the city like the bookshops Centrinis Knygymas (Laisvės alėja 81) and Humanitas (Vilniaus gatvė 30) or the art shop Egidijaus Rudinsko Grafikos Galerija (L.Zamenhofo gatvė).

Where can I eat in Kaunas?

As Kaunas is a quite big city in Lithuania, the gastronomic offer is quite important. In low budget circunstances supermarkets, Žalias Ratas (Laisvės alėja 59), the bakery Motiejaus Keplyklele (Vilniaus gatvė 7). For vegetarian and vegans these can be some nice offers: Raw Inn (Vilniaus gatvė 30-1) or Radharanė (Laisvės alėja 40). Among internationa food restaurants these are some: the Italian brand Buon Giorno or Casa della Pasta (Muitinės gatvė 1-2). Another choice for a medium price could be Bernelių Užeiga (Donelaičio gatvė 11) or the barbacue Real Texas Grill (Vilniaus gatvė 48). There are culinary offers with artesanal beers, like Pilies Sodas (Pilies gatvė 12) and Avilys (Vilniaus gatvė 34). The city has also a vast pubs and clubbing offer, with places like Skliautas (Rotušės aikštė 26), BO (Muitinės gatvė 9), Alaus Sapnas (Gedimino gatvė 30) or Džem Pub (Laisvės alėja 59).

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