Things to do in Vilnius

Landmark · Senamiestis

One of the largest surviving baroque old towns in Eastern Europe, UNESCO-listed, and still full of ordinary flats and offices rather than only souvenir shops.

Local tip: Walk it in the early evening when the courtyards are open and the light hits the stucco. Most of the best bits are through unmarked archways off Pilies and Didžioji.

Neighborhood · Across the Vilnia river

The self-declared 'Republic of Užupis', with its own constitution, flag and 1 April independence day — and an actual community of artists and residents behind the joke.

Local tip: Read the constitution on the wall of Paupio street. Article 12 — 'A dog has the right to be a dog' — tells you everything about how the district takes itself.

Landmark · City centre

The two viewpoints that frame Vilnius: the red-brick castle tower above the cathedral, and the white crosses on the hill opposite.

Local tip: Take the funicular up to the castle if you must, but walk to the Three Crosses — it is free, quieter, and the better view of the Old Town roofs.

Food · Senamiestis / Naujamiestis edge

The 1906 covered market hall: smoked fish, curd, rye bread, sour cream and a basement of butchers.

Local tip: Come Saturday morning for the farmers outside. The cheese and smoked-eel counters are where locals actually shop, not the prepared-food stalls at the front.

Nature · Žvėrynas / Vingis

160 hectares of pine forest wrapped in a bend of the Neris, with running paths, a Soviet-era stage and cross-country ski tracks in winter.

Local tip: The stage hosted the closing of the Baltic Way-era song festivals; in January the loops are groomed for skiing and half the city is out on them.

Culture · Rasos

An overgrown nineteenth-century hillside cemetery where much of Vilnius's Polish, Lithuanian and Jewish history is buried side by side.

Local tip: Almost no visitors, and quietly the most affecting place in the city. Piłsudski's heart is buried here with his mother, which tells you how tangled Vilnius's past actually is.