Travel to Vilnius
Flying to Vilnius
Airlines that fly to Vilnius from various destinations across Europe including Aeroflot, airBaltic, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Belavia, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Finnair, KLM, LOT, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Ryanair, SAS, Turkish Airlines and Wizz.
From the UK, Ryanair and Wizz offer direct flights from Belfast, Birmingham, Doncaster, Leeds, Liverpool and London.
There are no direct flights from the USA; the quickest route is via Copenhagen with SAS.
Flight times
From London - 2 hours 40 minutes
From New York - 10 hours (including stopover)
From Los Angeles - 16 hours (including stopover)
From Toronto - 12 hours (including stopover)
From Sydney - 26 hours (including stopover)
Travel by road
There is a good network of roads in Lithuania, with modern highways connecting Vilnius with Klaipeda, Kaunas and Panevezys. Traffic drives on the right and the minimum driving age is 18 years. Speed limits are 50kph (31mph) in towns, 70-90kph (43-56mph) on country roads and 100-130kph (62-81mph) on highways.
Winter conditions can be severe in Lithuania so winter tyres are a legal requirement from November to March. Dipped headlights are also compulsory all year round. Drivers must be in possession of a valid national driving licence supported by photo-bearing ID.
Emergency breakdown services
Altas Assistance (tel: 1810, in Lithuania only).
Routes
Lithuania has a well-developed road network with the A1 Highway linking Vilnius to Kaunas and to the coastal town Klaipeda. The A10 and A12 highways head north towards the Latvian border and onwards to Riga. There are also several roads head south to Poland and east to Belarus.
Coaches
Vilnius’ bus station is centrally located by the main railway station on the edge of the old town at Sodu 22. Services run to all major Lithuanian towns and cities as well as outside the country to Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Germany.
Major operators include Eurolines (tel: +370 5 233 5277; www.eurolines.lt), Lux Express (tel: +370 5 233 6666; www.luxexpress.eu) and ECOLINES (tel: +370 5 213 3300; www.ecolines.lt).
Time to city
From Kaunas - 1 hour 5 minutes; Minsk (Belarus) - 3 hours 50 minutes; Riga (Latvia) - 3 hours 40 minutes; Kaliningrad (Kaliningrad) - 4 hours; Warsaw (Poland) - 6 hours 30 minutes; Tallinn (Estonia) - 7 hours 30 minutes.
Travel by Rail
Services
The centrally located Vilnius Railway Station (Geležinkelio g. 22) offers domestic train services to Lithuania's second city of Kaunas and other domestic destinations such as Trakai and Klaipeda, as well as international services to Minsk (Belarus), with onward connections to Moscow, St Petersburg and Warsaw.
Beware that if passing through Belarus by train, a transit visa is required.
Operators
Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (tel: +370 7005 5111; www.litrail.lt) is Lithuania's national railway operator.
Journey times
From Minsk - 2 hours 30 minutes.
