Lithuania

=== By plane === Vilnius Airport () has the best selection of flights. Kaunas () has Ryanair and other low cost flights from across Europe. Palanga () near Klaipėda has few flights, mostly seasonal. Riga () in Latvia has a wide choice of flights. Long-distance buses from Riga city stop here on their way into Lithuania.

Lithuania adopted the euro as its currency in 2015, replacing the litas. You can exchange the old currency at Lietuvos Bank indefinitely and without charge, at a fixed rate of €1=3.4528 litas. Bring your ID, and expect questions if the amount is over €10,000, the notes are damaged, or are pre-1991 issue. The LB exchange offices are at Žirmūnų g 151 in Vilnius and Maironio g 25 in Kaunas. Their standard hours are M-Th 08:30–15:30, F 08:30–14:30; but to 18:00 on Monday in Vilnius and on Thursday in Kaunas.

Lithuania has a small but useful rail network, run by LTG Link - see their website for timetables, fares and online tickets. The chief domestic route is Vilnius - Kaunas: these run hourly and take 70-90 min, with a single adult standard fare of €8-10 in 2025. First class is 50% more than standard, but for this you get a complimentary bottle of water, cup of coffee and cookie. The price of a return is simply the sum of each single, and child fares are 50% of adult. Discounts are available, eg for Lithuanian students or ISIC card holders. There's no extra fare to ride the domestic sector of the…

Lithuanian is the official language. It's one of the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family - Latvian is the other. Its complex grammar makes it difficult to master, and you have to factor learning time against how long you plan to be in the country. But even for a quick trip it's worth learning a few courtesies and basics.

In general Lithuania is a safe country, but you should take basic precautions:

You need adequate health insurance: for visitors an annual multi-trip policy is often the best deal. An EHIC / GHIC card covers immediate life-saving treatment, always a good start, but doesn't go anywhere near the full cost of a hospital stay, and a medical repatriation could be ruinously expensive.

Lithuania's phone code is +370, so if calling from abroad, substitute that for the leading zero. Thus the number for Vilnius airport changes from 0612 44442 to +370 612 44442, where + denotes your local system for initiating an international call.

Vilnius is a lively cosmopolitan place, but beyond (and in its less affluent suburbs) lies a rather traditional, conservative society. Roman Catholicism is the main religion, with only a small presence of Lutherans and Orthodox.