15 years ago I discovered Ryanair, while being Erasmus student in Finland. Many love stories begin like this, and this is a long lasting one. It all started with the flight from Tampere to Kaunas, a night in a hostel there, and a return flight from Vilnius.
Plus of the pluses I met a friend of the US Work & Travel group and I think all these firsts, were unforgetful. I also remember I got D in the exam, because I was obsessed with planning the trip, while all my friends had Bs & Cs. But I am thankful, I think I remember more from my lesson. I also thought I remember everything about Vilnius, true to be, I remembered 0. So I am glad we did this trip to Lithuania, with 0 expectations and the result was great weekend.

Once we landed in Vilnius we were amazed by how the airport looks, like a royal train station somewhere in western Europe. The screen with busses was showing direct connection to Minsk, and I already thought, I need another flight to the city to check off the European bucket list.
Getting from Vilnius airport to the city center is very easy, Busses are running frequently, even after midnight, and cost 1 euro, and it takes maximum 15 minutes, if you decide for Bolt, then the ride would be around 5 euros. Since we had the bus in front of our nose, we went for it.

Accommodation wise, I thought Vilnius will be ultra cheap and will have plenty of options, well, it was on the okayish side, but its not like in the imagination, still we got good deal, having two separate rooms, and we paid around 40euros per person for 2 nights. It is not expensive, but lets say we were searching a lot to find this apartment.

Hostel: New & Lovely Apartment
Train Station: 10 minutes walking
Recommendation: Very close to the Old town Centre, and to areas with bars and pubs, two separate rooms great for traveling with friends.
Breakfast included: NO
Price: $$

We arrived late at night, and we were double minded should we go out or should we go to sleep. Option one won, and we did a little stroll, checked out the vibe, and ended up on the city Market Hall which in the night transforms into space with bars/clubs, each with their own DJ. It was nice to feel youngish again. Then we continued to Flow Bar, as this was the closest option to our apartment. Very chill and highly recommending it.

We started the day, on the same place that we ended the nigh. Inside the market hall, and we were amazed. There were plenty of options for specialty coffee, bakeries, lunch spots, and ultra kind sellers of pickled stuff, local cured meats and cheeses. We made twi rounds inside, and each round was richer than the previous. Market halls are simply the best.
And please do try the cured meats and cold cuts.

It is already 12 and we still didnt have coffee? How is this possible? Because we spent way too much time at the market. Then we tried going in Backstage Cafe, unfortunately it was packed, so we crossed the street to Italala Cafe and I think that was a win. Very kind and knowledgable staff and amazing food and cake bar. Here we tried the traditional “lazy cake” in chocolate and in reinvented salted caramel peanut butter version. They serve coffee from Ditta Artigianale and the daily brew hit all the taste buds.

It is 14 o clock and we still haven’t seen any sightseeing spot except bits and bobs of the jewish quarter? time to change that. We started our way towards the hip Uzupis area, had a stroll and wine, and then went to check out a fancy market hall, Paupio Turgus. Here the accent was on asian and south American cuisine, it was a lovely place, but I liked the outside area even more. It reminded me of some Scandinavian city. Everything was impeccable and one store especially the Raštinė cafe and stationary story.

Time for the real tourist spots, St Ana Church, the Cathedral Square and the Gedimnis Tower. Gedimno is the father of the nation and up the hil there is a tower left from the city walls having his name. Climbing up the hill takes 10 minutes, but there is a funicular option for 2 euros return ticket.
We tool the Pilies street afterwards, one of the notable streeet of the old town and went on the lunch hunt.

The hunger is calling and we already knew where we want to go, at Snekutis, as this place was having all the traditional dishes in a chill non restaurantee vibe. We’ve tried everything possible and even had food to pack. My winner was the cold beetroot soup, the national dish of Lithuania.

We were walking again stretching our route as long as the daylight and took many streets bustling with restaurants and cafes like Vilnius Street and Islandijos street and reached a shopping area point or the new centre. Our aim was the Lukiškių kalėjimas – the old prison transformed into a cultural space, but we decided it was enough.
After a short break it was night life time and we went in one of the old fashioned but full of students and locals bar around the Lithuanian State Youth Theatre.

The morning after started with light rain, visit of the supermarket, and checking out the last point of the food list ceburekai. Dough filled with different things like meat, cheese, mushrooms etc. YOu can try it, but lets say it wasnt the favourite in the group. We managed to take the fast train to Kaunas which need around 70 minutes, and on group tickets of 4 people we had a discount. Yey. The ticket was 7.2 per person.
Kaunas was somehow silent, maybe because it was Sunday. There were people in the cafes but not so much on the street and especially not in the old town. Here we did the basics as well: St Archangel Michael church, Laisvės alley, the Yard Gallery, the Old Town and the Kaunas Castle, and yes both St Peter and Paul Church and the city hall.
We stopped for lunch at the very touristy spot “Bernelių užeiga”, restaurant that exists on 4 locations in Kaunas and 2 in Vilnius, the food was okay and traditional, but once we left it, we spot cool brunch place with a DJ next to it – Marsas Mieste, and regretted not spotting it before. Then another shop that was haunting us through the trip and needed to be checked off was the Holly Donut sweet bar .

The busses to the airport are running on hourly basis, and you can take one from the city center too, for us the too options were either arriving too early or tight for the flight, so we took Bolt which turned out 11euros. The airport in Kaunas is super small and we could have made it by bus as well, but how else would we have enjoyed one more beer?

It was a great short trip doing it city by city would have made more sense in order to explore more of the cities or an extended weekend would be a perfect time to visit Lithuania.