Centred around a charismatic old town where the Neris and Nemunas rivers meet, Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania. It’s renowned for its redbrick castle and striking cathedral, as well as being home to a poignant memorial museum that commemorates Lithuania’s holocaust victims.

Things to do

Spend an afternoon exploring the iconic Kaunas Castle whose double defensive walls were built in the 14th century to defend against invading crusaders. During the 16th century it served as a prison and it’s thought that inmates still haunt the castle. Today it houses the Museum of Kaunas, which showcases the city’s cultural history.

Ride the Žaliakalnis funicular railway from the Vytautas the Great War Museum to Christ's Resurrection Church, which boasts sweeping city views from its terrace. The funicular is the oldest of its kind in Lithuania, with its bright yellow, wooden-panelled coaches making the 142-metre climb since 1931.

Pay your respects at the mausoleum of much-loved Lithuanian poet, Maironis, while visiting the ornate Kaunas Cathedral. It combines late-Gothic and Renaissance architectural features while housing a 16th-century painting of Our Lady of Sorrows that attracts thousands of Roman Catholic pilgrims year-round.

Learn about the atrocities that occurred in Lithuania under Soviet and Nazi occupation at the Ninth Fort Monument that forms part of the late-19th-century Kaunas Fortress. Visit the immense concrete memorial by sculptor Alfonsas Ambraziūnas and learn about the events that took place while exploring the museum’s former prison cells and tunnels.

Getting around

Kaunas International Airport is 20 minutes’ drive from the city centre and regular trains make the one-hour journey to Vilnius. Trolleys and buses travel throughout Kaunas, which has an ever-expanding network of bicycle paths.