Get out of Vilnius for the day. Lakes, forests, old castles and open-air museums are all within a day's reach of the city, and each trip on this list gives kids room to run, something to climb or explore, and enough to fill a day without rushing. Some are a short hop from town, others are worth an early start.
Medininkai Castle is the largest castle by area in present-day Lithuania, built in the early 1300s about 32 km from central Vilnius. Four towers and 15-meter walls enclose a 1.85-hectare courtyard, ringed by a double ditch.
The five-story keep holds the Trakai History Museum's permanent exhibition, with an observation deck on top. The courtyard hosts festivals, the yearly Medininkai Castle Games and educational sessions for children.
At 195 hectares, this is Europe's largest open-air ethnographic museum: farmsteads and a small town gathered from every region of Lithuania, dating from the 18th to the early 20th century. Kids can step inside furnished homes, the church and the inn, and watch craftspeople weaving, making pottery and carving wood. A manor house stands at the northern end, and the museum hosts folk music and cultural events.
The Lithuanian Zoo sits on the edge of a large oak grove in Kaunas and keeps about 2,500 animals from 189 species, from lions and other big cats to native Lithuanian wildlife. Paths run between the enclosures under the trees, and the Egzotariumas education center holds indoor exhibits for a break from the weather.
A 300 m metal walkway that climbs gently through the pine canopy of Anykščiai Pinewood to 21 m above the ground, ending at a 34 m observation tower. From the top, kids can spot the bends of the Šventoji River and the towers of St. Matthew's, Lithuania's tallest church.
Six stands between the information center and the path introduce the forest's trees and the Puntukas Stone.
Grūtas Park gathers 86 Soviet-era statues of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Lithuanian Communist figures, taken down after independence and set along wooden paths across 20 hectares. Guard towers and barbed-wire fences echo the Gulag camps, and indoor museum rooms show how Soviet rule worked. For younger kids there is a mini zoo with birds and small animals, and an old Soviet-era playground with carousels.
Europos Parkas is an open-air museum of contemporary art across 55 hectares of rolling forest, with more than 100 works by artists from around the world, including Magdalena Abakanowicz and Sol LeWitt. Kids can touch, swing on and pose inside many pieces, from a human-sized running wheel to LNK Infomedis, a Guinness-record sculpture built from TV sets.
It suits families happy to walk: there are no rides or shows.
Kernavė was one of the first centers of the Lithuanian state in the 13th century. Five hillforts rise over the Pajauta Valley on the Neris River, inside a 194-hectare reserve with 18 protected heritage sites.
In the valley, an open-air museum rebuilds three medieval craftsmen's homesteads, built using only an axe. The indoor museum shows what archaeologists have found here since 1979.
Užutrakis is a count's estate on a peninsula between lakes Galvė and Skaistis, built around 1900 by the Tiškevičius family. The 80-hectare park, laid out by French landscape architect Édouard André, has replicas of antique sculptures and about a hundred kinds of trees and shrubs.
The palace keeps Louis XVI style interiors and hosts concerts and exhibitions. Its terrace looks across Lake Galvė to Trakai Island Castle.
Trakai's red-brick Gothic castle was built in the 14th and 15th centuries on an island in Lake Galvė, and a bridge leads to its gatehouse. Past the forecourt walls and a moat sits the ducal palace, with a 33-meter keep and wooden galleries around its inner yard.
The palace holds the Trakai History Museum. The western casemates add 16 halls of clocks, pipes, stamps, china, glass and hunting trophies.
Get out of Vilnius for the day. Lakes, forests, old castles and open-air museums are all within a day's reach of the city, and each trip on this list gives kids room to run, something to climb or explore, and enough to fill a day without rushing. Some are a short hop from town, others are worth an early start.
Medininkai Castle is the largest castle by area in present-day Lithuania, built in the early 1300s about 32 km from central Vilnius. Four towers and 15-meter walls enclose a 1.85-hectare courtyard, ringed by a double ditch.
The five-story keep holds the Trakai History Museum's permanent exhibition, with an observation deck on top. The courtyard hosts festivals, the yearly Medininkai Castle Games and educational sessions for children.
At 195 hectares, this is Europe's largest open-air ethnographic museum: farmsteads and a small town gathered from every region of Lithuania, dating from the 18th to the early 20th century. Kids can step inside furnished homes, the church and the inn, and watch craftspeople weaving, making pottery and carving wood. A manor house stands at the northern end, and the museum hosts folk music and cultural events.
The Lithuanian Zoo sits on the edge of a large oak grove in Kaunas and keeps about 2,500 animals from 189 species, from lions and other big cats to native Lithuanian wildlife. Paths run between the enclosures under the trees, and the Egzotariumas education center holds indoor exhibits for a break from the weather.
A 300 m metal walkway that climbs gently through the pine canopy of Anykščiai Pinewood to 21 m above the ground, ending at a 34 m observation tower. From the top, kids can spot the bends of the Šventoji River and the towers of St. Matthew's, Lithuania's tallest church.
Six stands between the information center and the path introduce the forest's trees and the Puntukas Stone.
Grūtas Park gathers 86 Soviet-era statues of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Lithuanian Communist figures, taken down after independence and set along wooden paths across 20 hectares. Guard towers and barbed-wire fences echo the Gulag camps, and indoor museum rooms show how Soviet rule worked. For younger kids there is a mini zoo with birds and small animals, and an old Soviet-era playground with carousels.
Europos Parkas is an open-air museum of contemporary art across 55 hectares of rolling forest, with more than 100 works by artists from around the world, including Magdalena Abakanowicz and Sol LeWitt. Kids can touch, swing on and pose inside many pieces, from a human-sized running wheel to LNK Infomedis, a Guinness-record sculpture built from TV sets.
It suits families happy to walk: there are no rides or shows.
Kernavė was one of the first centers of the Lithuanian state in the 13th century. Five hillforts rise over the Pajauta Valley on the Neris River, inside a 194-hectare reserve with 18 protected heritage sites.
In the valley, an open-air museum rebuilds three medieval craftsmen's homesteads, built using only an axe. The indoor museum shows what archaeologists have found here since 1979.
Užutrakis is a count's estate on a peninsula between lakes Galvė and Skaistis, built around 1900 by the Tiškevičius family. The 80-hectare park, laid out by French landscape architect Édouard André, has replicas of antique sculptures and about a hundred kinds of trees and shrubs.
The palace keeps Louis XVI style interiors and hosts concerts and exhibitions. Its terrace looks across Lake Galvė to Trakai Island Castle.
Trakai's red-brick Gothic castle was built in the 14th and 15th centuries on an island in Lake Galvė, and a bridge leads to its gatehouse. Past the forecourt walls and a moat sits the ducal palace, with a 33-meter keep and wooden galleries around its inner yard.
The palace holds the Trakai History Museum. The western casemates add 16 halls of clocks, pipes, stamps, china, glass and hunting trophies.
