Old Town
First-timersAt the meeting of two rivers: the castle, the town hall square, restaurants and most beds.
Kaunas city guide
Things To Do In Kaunas
The interwar capital: a modernist city built in twenty years, two wooden funiculars from the 1930s, a museum of devils, and the consulate where one man wrote thousands of visas that saved lives.
2
Hostels in the city
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Average, from 2,725 reviews
1920–1939
When Kaunas was Lithuania's capital
1.6 km
Laisves aleja, one of Europe's longest pedestrian streets
2022
European Capital of Culture
A capital for twenty years, and it built like one
Between 1920 and 1939 Vilnius was held by Poland, and Lithuania made Kaunas its temporary capital. The country spent those two decades building a modern state in a provincial town — ministries, banks, a university, thousands of apartment blocks — in an optimistic modernist style all its own.
That architecture is the reason to come. It earned Kaunas a European Heritage Label and it is unlike the interwar modernism of anywhere else, partly because it was built fast, cheaply and with local materials by architects who had trained abroad and come home.
The city also holds two pieces of Second World War history that should be visited together. Sugihara House was the Japanese consulate, where Chiune Sugihara issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish refugees in 1940 against his government's instructions. The Ninth Fort, on the edge of the city, is where tens of thousands of people were murdered.
Kaunas was European Capital of Culture in 2022 and has the student population and the street art to show for it. Two days.
Where to stay
An old town at the river junction, a modernist new town east of it.
New Town and Laisves aleja
Modernism and lifeEast along the pedestrian avenue: the interwar architecture, the bars, the cafés and the students.
Zaliakalnis
Views and quietUp the funicular: a hillside district of wooden houses and the Christ's Resurrection basilica.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 2 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Kaunas
Walk Laisves aleja, the 1.6-kilometre pedestrian avenue, and look up. The interwar modernist buildings along it and in the streets around are the city's real subject — banks, ministries and apartment blocks from the 1920s and 30s, built in a distinctive national style. The tourist office runs a modernism route and it is worth following.
Ride a funicular. Two of them, both from the 1930s, both still running with original wooden carriages, at about €1. The Zaliakalnis one comes out near the Christ's Resurrection basilica, whose roof terrace gives the best view of the city.
Sugihara House, about €5, was the Japanese consulate where Chiune Sugihara issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish refugees fleeing east in 1940, working against his own foreign ministry's instructions. It is a small museum and a large story.
The Ninth Fort, on the edge of the city, is a tsarist fortification used by the Nazis as a killing site — tens of thousands of people died there. The grounds and monument are free.
The Devils' Museum, about €5, holds some three thousand depictions of the devil from around the world and exists nowhere else.
Free things
Free things to do in Kaunas
The modernist architecture is free — Laisves aleja, the streets around it and the New Town grid are an open-air survey of interwar building.
The old town, the castle grounds, the town hall square and the river confluence cost nothing.
The Ninth Fort grounds and the enormous concrete monument there are free, with only the museum charging a small fee.
Kaunas street art is extensive and free to find, including several large and well-known murals that have become city landmarks.
Pazaislis monastery, a baroque complex on the edge of the city by the reservoir, is free to walk to and charges only a small amount inside.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Kaunas
Cheaper than Vilnius across the board. A main is €8 to €14 and lunch specials €5 to €8.
The Lithuanian repertoire applies: cepelinai, the zeppelin-shaped potato dumplings, and saltibarsciai, the cold pink beetroot soup in summer.
Kaunas also has a good modern restaurant scene for its size, a legacy of the 2022 Capital of Culture year.
The central market is cheap and good for produce and smoked goods.
A beer is €2.50 to €4.50, and the Lithuanian farmhouse beer tradition is well represented here — ask for kaimiskas styles rather than the industrial lagers.
Student cafés along and around Laisves aleja do the cheapest eating in the city.
Nightlife
Going out in Kaunas
Student-driven and cheap. Several universities put tens of thousands of students in a city of under three hundred thousand, and term time from September to June is when it works.
The bars are concentrated along and just off Laisves aleja, with more in the old town.
A beer is €2.50 to €4.50 and cocktails €6 to €10, noticeably below Vilnius.
The 2022 Capital of Culture year left a stronger venue and events scene than the city had before, and there is a reasonable amount of live music.
Summer moves onto the avenue, which has terraces along much of its length and stays busy into the evening.
Getting around
Getting around Kaunas
Trolleybuses and buses cost about €1, and the centre is flat and walkable — the old town to the eastern end of Laisves aleja is about half an hour on foot.
The two funiculars, both from the 1930s, run up to Zaliakalnis and Aleksotas for about €1 and are transport rather than an attraction, although they are also an attraction.
Trains from Vilnius take an hour and cost around €7, running frequently.
Kaunas airport is a budget hub with routes across Europe, and a bus runs into the city for a couple of euros. For many visitors this is the cheapest way into Lithuania.
Buses reach Klaipeda and the coast in about three hours, and Riga in about four.
Costs
What Kaunas costs
Cheaper than Vilnius, and Vilnius is already cheap. Dorms are €9 to €20, a main €8 to €14, and a beer €2.50 to €4.50.
A day is €26 to €50.
Lithuania uses the euro, so these are the prices you pay.
The modernist architecture, the Ninth Fort grounds and the street art are free. The paid sites — Sugihara House, the Devils' Museum, the fort museum — are about €5 each.
Lunch specials at €5 to €8 are the main saving.
The airport being a budget hub means Kaunas is often the cheapest entry point to the Baltics, and staying here rather than Vilnius saves money throughout.
Safety
Staying safe in Kaunas
Kaunas is a safe city and crime against visitors is low.
Petty theft happens around the bus and train stations and on Laisves aleja at weekends, at ordinary levels.
Winter brings ice on pavements, roof ice falling into the street and short days — about seven hours of light in December.
The Ninth Fort is a place where tens of thousands of people were murdered, most of them Jews from Kaunas and from across Europe. It is a memorial rather than an attraction: keep to the paths, and do not photograph yourself at the execution sites or the monument.
The same applies at Sugihara House, which is a small museum about a rescue rather than a feel-good story — around six thousand visas were issued, and most of the community they were issued from did not survive.
Emergency number is 112.
Day trips from Kaunas
A baroque monastery, a hill of crosses and the capital an hour away.
Hill of Crosses
Hundreds of thousands of crosses on a mound, bulldozed repeatedly by Soviet authorities and rebuilt overnight each time.
Vilnius
The capital, with the baroque old town and Uzupis.
What's on
What is on while you are there
A baroque music festival in a monastery, and a legacy of Capital of Culture year.
June to August
Pazaislis Music Festival
Pazaislis monastery
Classical concerts in a baroque monastery on the reservoir, running through the summer.
Spring
Kaunas Jazz
Citywide
A long-running festival bringing international acts to venues across the city.
Year-round
Modernism route
Laisves aleja and the New Town
A self-guided architecture trail through the interwar buildings that earned the city a European Heritage Label.
September to June
Term time
Citywide
When tens of thousands of students fill the bars and cheap cafés.
December
Christmas market
Town Hall Square
A market in the old town, smaller and calmer than Vilnius.
Hostels
Where to stay in Kaunas
A small scene in the old town and along the avenue, cheaper than Vilnius. Live from Hostelworld.
When to go
May to September, and term time for the city at full strength.
Jan
Freezing and dark. Cheapest, students in
Feb
Cold and snowy. Quiet
Mar
Cold but brightening
Apr
Thaw. Terraces starting on the avenue
May
Excellent. The avenue comes alive
Jun
The best month. Long light and Pazaislis festival
Jul
Warm, with students away
Aug
Warm and quieter
Sep
Superb. Term restarts and the city refills
Oct
Autumn and good value
Nov
Dark and grey. The hardest month
Dec
Cold, with a Christmas market on the town hall square
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs. Kaunas is inland and continental like Vilnius, with roughly seven hours of daylight in December against seventeen in June, and the student calendar matters as much as the weather.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros — Lithuania uses them.
Lithuania is in the eurozone, so these are the prices you will pay. Kaunas runs below Vilnius across the board.
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Kaunas travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
Why was Kaunas the capital?
Because Vilnius was held by Poland between 1920 and 1939. Lithuania made Kaunas its temporary capital and spent two decades building a modern state there — ministries, banks, a university and thousands of apartments in a distinctive modernist style that earned the city a European Heritage Label.
What is Sugihara House?
The former Japanese consulate, where Chiune Sugihara issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish refugees in 1940, working against his own foreign ministry's explicit instructions. It is a small museum, about €5, and the story is worth the hour. It is not a comfortable one — most of the community those visas came from did not survive.
Should I visit the Ninth Fort?
Yes, and treat it as a memorial. It is a tsarist fortification that the Nazis used as a killing site, where tens of thousands of people were murdered, most of them Jews from Kaunas and from elsewhere in Europe. The grounds and the enormous concrete monument are free. Keep to the paths and do not photograph yourself there.
What are the funiculars?
Two working funicular railways from the 1930s, with original wooden carriages, running up to the Zaliakalnis and Aleksotas districts for about €1. They are ordinary public transport that happens to be nearly a century old, and the Zaliakalnis one puts you near the best view of the city.
Is it cheaper than Vilnius?
Yes, across the board. Dorms €9 to €20 against €11 to €25, a beer €2.50 to €4.50, a main €8 to €14, and a day around €26 to €50. The airport is also a budget hub, which often makes Kaunas the cheapest way into the Baltics.
What is the Devils' Museum?
A museum holding around three thousand depictions of the devil collected from around the world, which exists nowhere else and costs about €5. It began as one artist's private collection and grew from there.
How long do I need?
Two days. The modernist architecture and Laisves aleja take a day, and Sugihara House, the Ninth Fort and Pazaislis fill the second. Vilnius is an hour away by train if you want both.
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