Is this Europe’s most underrated capital?
Unsung and unexpectedly buzzy, this city is a pocket-sized dynamo. Now, it’s in the spotlight for offering visitors a heady mix of Baroque architecture, historical intrigue and a newly thriving restaurant scene.
When Lonely Planet positioned Lithuania in the number-two spot of its Best in Travel in 2025, before Fiji, Laos and Kazakhstan, it roused surprise, curiosity and thrill. Bordered by Latvia, Poland, Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad, this magical dill-scented Baltic nation of medieval castles, wolf-roamed pine forests, glassy lakes and 262 kilometres of breeze-caressed coastline has been hiding in plain sight at the precise geographical centre of Eastern Europe since it declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
Lithuania’s heritage and culture, with its quirky, bohemian spirit, gentle lisping language, Nordic-style cuisine and long-standing multiculturalism, had been left in the shadows by a long, dark cloak of oppressions, occupied by both Tsarist Russia and Nazi Germany before it was absorbed into the USSR in 1944. Unsurprisingly, the democracy-loving Lithuanians have hitherto been consumed by people’s right to every freedom.
“Our place in Europe was somehow written out of history,” says historian and Vilnius guide Lina DuseviÄienÄ—. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest and most-dominant states in Europe – and a role model of religious tolerance. Quiet, village-y capital, Vilnius, was once known as the “Jerusalem of the North” for its Orthodox Jewish population, which coexisted in harmony with Catholics and followers of the Russian Orthodox faith.
Vilnius’s Unesco-protected medieval centre, razed and rebuilt after the cataclysmic 1655 Russian invasion and six-year occupation, is one of Europe’s best-preserved and most-northerly Baroque old towns, with 3.59 square kilometres of low-rise mansions in sherbet lemons and pinks, herring greys and pistachio greens, above which the long necks of Neo-Byzantine domes, church spires and bell towers peer. Napoleonic street lamps on broad cobbled streets transport strolling visitors back centuries.
Today, behind the preserved fronts of Vilnius’s Baroque houses lie a delightful smorgasbord of avant-garde coffee shops, linen boutiques, wine and Champagne bars and accomplished restaurants that tantalise taste buds with traditional fermenting and pickling techniques. The Michelin Guide made its first visit to Lithuania in June 2024, leaving with 34 entries including four Michelin-star anointments and a Green star award for Red Brick, set on a 700-hectare working farm in Radiškis, north of Vilnius.
Respect for nature is not a recent fad, but integral to the Lithuanian psyche. In the nation’s ancient mythology, goddess of the forest and nature Medeina presided over everything: felling a tree is still felt to be taking a life. With plenty of green spaces, Vilnius offers urban fishing in the fast-running Vilnia River, which tightly hugs the city, and hiking in forest-clad hills roamed by wild boar, beavers and elk. A long tradition of herbal medicine, bathing in mineral waters and hot-mud therapy adds a wellbeing halo.
Since Vilnius hosted the 2023 Nato Summit, a newly confident Lithuanian identity has gone from strength to strength. This year is the 150th anniversary of the birth of national hero Mikalojus Konstantinas ÄŒiurlionis, Lithuanian composer and one of the pioneers of European abstract art: Vilnius airport has been renamed in his honour and a host of events will be staged across the country. The contribution of Kazimierz Siemienowicz, the 17th-century pioneer of rocket science, is also becoming increasingly acknowledged. Today Lithuania is a world leader in the likes of genetic engineering.
In terms of national and spiritual landmarks, the hill of Gediminas and its red-brick tower is arguably the most significant. Gediminas, Lithuania’s Grand Duke in the 14th century, is considered the nation’s medieval father. He cannily married off his 12 children across Europe, thereby extending his realm to the Black Sea. After a prophetic dream about an iron wolf on the top of a hill, he built a castle on the surreally appointed spot and founded Vilnius, so the story goes. Its ruins offer a map-like view of the Old Town from above as well as Cathedral Square. Meanwhile, a number of renovation projects have lately been completed: the final phase of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (the National Museum), Pacai Palace (now Hotel Pacai) and Baroque masterpieces like Sapieha Palace (completed in 2024). A number of slick lodgings are opening across the country, including RÄ—ja in the port city of KlaipÄ—da. As southern Europe increasingly heats up, Lithuania represents a charming breath of fresh Baltic sea air.
THE HOTEL
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When it opened in 2018, Hotel Pacai wasn’t just Vilnius’s first Design Hotel, but a fundamental cornerstone of the Lithuanian identity reborn. The Baroque palace was built in 1677 – expanding the original 15th-century building – on Didžioji, the royal route that connected Vilnius to Poland during the Commonwealth, as the home of statesman Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas. The luxe-leaning Lithuanian tapped Italian sculptor Giovanni Pietro Perti and fresco master Michelangelo Palloni to embellish the residence in suitably regal style. It subsequently became the nation’s diplomatic cradle, hosting the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte. By some miracle, the building survived into the 1950s, after which it was used by the Soviet regime as a police station and archive facility. It took five years of restorations, during which time local talents, architect Saulius Mikštas and Yes Design, worked hand-in-hand with the Lithuanian Department of Cultural Heritage to undo the damage of Soviet Russia’s negligence and abandonment of the city centre.
The result was a 104-room celebration not only of the original Baroque palace, but Lithuania itself: the bones of the building (foundations, columns, a statue of Athena, vaulted stone ceilings, herringbone brick floors) left elegantly exposed and spotlit by contemporary lighting; sections of frescos are framed with cut-outs on ceilings and appear beautifully wasted on otherwise empty walls. The black-and-white abstracts of local artist Dalia KirkutienÄ—, which resemble satellite images of Lithuania, float above wolf-grey leather sofas and splash-print carpets that recall both the pattern of marble and clouds over the Baltic Sea. Marble is everywhere at Pacai: black, white, green, brown. Walls are illuminated through amber-hued resin panels in the restaurant and low-lit spa, which must rank among the sexiest in existence with slate walls and a midnight-black sauna. hotelpacai.com; designhotels.com
THE OLD TOWN
Getting lost in the 70 winding streets of this district is Vilnius’s greatest pleasure. Here, Renaissance, Gothic and Classical Revivalist structures shoulder Baroque townhouses – all this the elaborate pastel packaging of independent kavinÄ—s (cafés), boutiques, cocktail bars and eateries. Vilnius University, founded by Jesuits in 1570, is a grand three-dimensional stone patchwork positioned around 13 courtyards. A European centre of learning, it attracted migrants from both East and West to an already multicultural city. Gediminas invited Jewish merchants and craftsmen to settle here during medieval times, while the Vilnia River drew jewellers, leather workers, blacksmiths and mills.
Across the river today is Užupis – a former slum of artists, bohemians and outliers during the Soviet era, it was pronounced a “republic” of creative freedom in 1997, with the old mill house as its tongue-in-cheek “Bar-liament”, and streets of murals and sculptures. Nearby are two churches with the kind of whimsical turrets and spires that belong to fantasy literature: St Anne’s, an extraordinary example of Gothic brickwork, and, peering from nearby forest, the twin towers of the Baroque Missionary Church.
North of the Old Town is the Palace of the Grand Dukes. Originally constructed in the 15th century, it became the epicentre of power of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, despite suffering almost repeated destruction, including multiple fires. It was entirely demolished in 1801, and rebuilt in two phases between 2002 and 2018 as a symbol of Lithuania’s rebirth. valdovurumai.lt
EATING AND DRINKING
A culinary tour of Vilnius should start at Ertlio Namas in the parquet-floored salons of a seal-grey Baroque townhouse near Cathedral Square. A dinner here doubles as a history lesson in noble Lithuanian cuisine dating back to the Middle Ages, the result of founder and chef Tomas Rimydis’s meticulous research. Over a six-course tasting menu, one might learn that Lithuanians once fasted from meat 200 days a year, were mocked as “leaf eaters” by the Polish for their use of sorrel for soup stock, and feared the primal effects of eating moose – except before battle. Deconstructionist dishes include eel, smoked trout, and pike caviar, as well as rabbit dumpling in sorrel broth. Blueberry wines from Western Lithuania could be pinot noirs from northeastern France, while rhubarb five ways is served with dandelion-flower mead. “The highest quality of ingredients is the secret of Lithuanian cuisine,” explains Rimydis. “We have forests for game and foraging mushrooms, lakes for freshwater fish, and a long Baltic coastline.” ertlionamas.lt
The freshness of local ingredients is also behind the micro-seasonal menus at Michelin-starred Džiaugsmas, headed up by hot Lithuanian talent Martynas PraškeviÄius and set in another smoke-grey townhouse not far from Vilnius University. Dishes such as beef tartare with marrow, smoked egg yolk and fermented blackcurrants, which provide the only colour in the moody restaurant-studio, are served on ceramics in the iron hues of medieval armour and paired with natural wines. dziaugsmas.com
Senatorių Pasažas, a new epicurean hub, opened in 2020 in the courtyard of a 17th-century mansion in the Old Town with a bakery, butcher, farm shops, natural wine bars and notable restaurants such as 14 Horses, the Vilnius outpost of the hyperseasonal Red Brick – its farm feeding the city kitchen. Flower-adorned plates include turnip tarte Tatin with lingonberries and duck cooked on the bone with sausage and cucumber salad. At Nineteen18, chef Andrius Kubilius excels at playful and polished 10-course tasting menus. 14horses.lt; nineteen18.lt; senatoriupasazas.lt
After dinner, Nick & Nora shakes up cocktails with Lithuanian ingredients such as the Vilnius Spritz with Prosecco, cucumber and local krupnikas spirit and the Nick & Nora Fizz with gin, rhubarb and birch sap. Another atmospheric bar can be found at Heji, a new Asian beauty whose East meets West-inspired cocktails use jasmine tea, kombu dashi and Kokuto shochu. nickandnora.lt; heji.lt
THE MUSEUMS
The Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights was founded in 1992 as a testament to the souls lost and tortured during 50 years of Russian occupation and five years of Nazi rule. The dilapidated mansion built around 1899 has always been the dark administrative heart of oppressive foreign regimes, functioning as a courthouse under Imperial Russia, the headquarters of the Gestapo during World War II and the KGB’s pretrial detention centre from the 1940s to 1991. Most grisly are the padded cells and those where prisoners were tortured. But the museum is an important stop for those who wish to be more than just daytrippers to Lithuania. olkm.lt
A visit to the nearby derelict Soviet prison built during the reign of Imperial Russia in 1904 might seem a little gratuitous after this, but there are two draws. First, the architecture: Lukiškes, designed by GA Trambitski, was influenced by the social reforms of Jeremy Bentham and his idea of the all-seeing maximum-security panopticon prisons. Most impressive is the metal Neo-Byzantine dome of the Russian Orthodox church within the penitentiary. Second is the regeneration of the building as a concert space, a project started by Lithuanian music agency 8 Days a Week – British indie band Jungle played here in 2022. The vast complex rents studio space to 600 artists. lukiskiukalejimas.lt
Vilnius’s MO Museum of modern art began life in 2008 as the private collection of scientists DanguolÄ— ButkienÄ— and Viktoras Butkus, who amassed 6000 pieces of modern and contemporary Lithuanian artworks, telling the story of the nation’s post-war modernisation and journey to cultural freedom. It took a decade for their idea for a museum to acquire walls, which were finally designed by prestigious Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind on the site of the old Lietuva Cinema. Around 250 artists are represented, including post-war artists, those from the 1980s and surrealist works of painter and graphic artist Stasys EidrigeviÄius. Its collection is continually supplemented with new works. mo.lt
THE EXCURSION
Just 28 kilometres west of Vilnius is Trakai, a fantastical lake district of pine forests and painted wooden houses with over two hundred bodies of freshwater and 21 islands. On one sits Trakai Island Castle, rising out of the mirrored lake like a pink turreted mirage from an Arthurian romance. East of here, the Canadian teak-clad Esperanza Resort at the foot of a pine forest on Lake Uguris will be reborn this May as a Design Hotel and spa with Axel Vervoordt-style wabi-sabi interiors (black Balinese wood furniture, semi-circular Italian Flex chairs and modular sofas) and two restaurants, one a stilted lakeside outpost of Heji. designhotels.com; esperanzaresort.lt
The writer was a guest of Hotel Pacai and Lithuania Travel. lithuania.travel
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