How many days do you need in Vilnius?

Two to three days covers the Old Town and the city's Soviet-era history, plus a half-day trip out to Trakai – with Paneriai easily folded into the same day if you take the combined tour.

Is Vilnius worth visiting on its own?

Yes – a genuine UNESCO World Heritage Old Town, not just a base for the day trips around it, though Trakai is an easy and worthwhile half-day addition.

City guide

Things to do in Vilnius

Vilnius's Old Town is compact enough to explore on foot, and from it the country's biggest draws – a lakeside castle, and 50 years of Soviet-era history – are all a short trip away.

Experiences

Top picks in Vilnius

The experiences we'd book first, compared by length.

Experience	Duration
Soviet Vilnius walking tour	2.5 hours	Check prices
Vilnius Old Town walking tour	2.5 hours	Check prices
KGB Museum, Vilnius	2 hours	Check prices
Paneriai Memorial day trip from Vilnius	5-6 hours	Check prices
Trakai Castle day trip from Vilnius	4 hours	Check prices

Tours in Vilnius

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TourVilnius Old Town walking tourEurope's largest baroque old town, guarded by a red-brick tower, next door to a district that declared itself its own country.2.5 hours→TourSoviet Vilnius walking tourA human chain of two million people, and unarmed civilians who stood between Soviet tanks and a TV tower.2.5 hours→TourKGB Museum, VilniusA former KGB prison, in the same building that was Gestapo headquarters a few years earlier.2 hours→

Day Trips in Vilnius

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Day TripTrakai Castle day trip from VilniusA red-brick castle on its own island, once the seat of a Grand Duchy, and a Crimean community still living beside it more than 600 years later.4 hours→Day TripPaneriai Memorial day trip from VilniusA quiet forest outside the city where up to 100,000 people, most of them Jewish, were murdered during the Second World War.5-6 hours→

Coming soonWhere to stay in Vilnius→

Trakai Island Castle, a red-brick castle on its own island 28km away, was briefly the seat of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and is Vilnius's most-booked day trip. The Paneriai Memorial, just outside the city on the way there, marks one of the heaviest chapters in the country's WWII history.

Inside the city, a walking tour of Vilnius Old Town covers Europe's largest baroque old town, UNESCO-listed since 1994. For a completely different, more recent chapter, a Soviet Vilnius walking tour and the KGB Museum cover the city's 50 years under Soviet rule and its road to independence.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

A day trip to Trakai Island Castle (paired with the Paneriai Memorial on longer versions), a walking tour of the UNESCO-listed Old Town, and the city's Soviet-era history via a walking tour and the KGB Museum.