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Literary travel

Literary travel is a form of tourism centered on great works of literature, literary movements, the literature surrounding cultural and political movements, or beloved authors. Just pick your favorite writer and do a little research: they all lived somewhere!

World

 * Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

Argentina
Anyone in Buenos Aires might look out for places associated with Jorge Luis Borges.

Brazil
A huge country with a wide host of major giant writers widely scattered apart. Jorge Amado comes from Bahia and writes mostly about Salvador with its huge bay and Ilhéus with its cocoa plantations. José de Alencar comes from Fortaleza, Paulo Leminski from Curitiba, father Érico and son Luis Fernando Verissimo from Porto Alegre, Guimarães Rosa from inner Minas Gerais and a whole lot of them from the former capital Rio de Janeiro. In Ipanema, check out Vinicius de Moraes street, named after the poet who was drinking with songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim at a bar, when a gorgeous blonde passed by. Together they seized the inspiration and wrote "The Girl from Ipanema". The bar is still there, renamed "Garota de Ipanema". As for the girls, Jobim once remarked wisely "...as you get older, they keep getting prettier and prettier...."

Canada
Any little Anne can visit the actual Green Gables in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island; visitors come from as far afield as Japan. Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake are known for their live performances of Shakespeare and Shaw respectively, despite the real Stratford-upon-Avon being in the United Kingdom. Statues paying homage to "Winnie", the real life inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, stand in Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park and in her hometown of White River (Ontario)

Various sites in Canada and the US recall Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Underground Railroad era, including the home of Rev. Josiah Henson (Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site in Dresden, Chatham-Kent), the First Parish Church in Brunswick (Maine), the author's home (Harriet Beecher Stowe House & Library in Hartford, Connecticut, USA), a Harriet Beecher-Stowe House in Cincinnati and the author's grave site in Andover (Massachusetts).

Colombia
Gabriel García Márquez set Chronicle of a Death Foretold in the beautiful city of Santa Cruz de Mompox. If you're a big fan, go to his birthplace at Aracataca, the inspiration for Macondo.

Mexico
The country's most prestigious literary event is the annual Guadalajara International Book Fair], held in late November to early December. It regularly attracts more than 1 million visitors and features keynote speakers from the world's top writers. Although George R.R. Martin was the keynote speaker in 2016, there is no truth to the rumor that half the audience ended up dead and dismembered in gruesome ways. More than 2,000 publishers take part in the exhibition at the Guadalajara Expo Center.

A number of authors of both Spanish and English language novels set their stories in Mexico. One of the most famous was Laura Esquivel's Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate), which is set in the Northern Mexico state of Chihuahua during the violent period of the Mexican Revolution. Pulitzer-Prize winner John Steinbeck set his novel, The Pearl in the fishing community of La Paz in Baja California, Steinbeck's story is a universal tale of greed and sorrow. Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia-Marquez loved fellow writer Juan Rulfo's novel, Pedro Paramo, so much that he's said to have memorized it word for word so that he could recite it forward or backward. Rulfo's novel is a story of Comala, Colima's history, told through the empty eye sockets of the town's dead. Those literary types sure are a bucket of laughs, aren't they!

If it's poetry that trips your literary trigger, the two biggest names in Mexico are Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, who wrote during Mexico's tumultuous colonial period and Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz if you want a more modern style of poetry.

Nicaragua
The proud home of Rubén Darío whose birthplace has since been named in his honor. León, a longtime home of the poet, hosts a museum dedicated to his legacy. Another treasure of Nicaraguan folklore is "El Güegüense" a work of popular theater pitting native wit against Spanish might. The 1979 Nicaraguan revolution and subsequent civil war also produced quite a bit of poetry and music with names like Ernesto Cardenal, Gioconda Belli and the Mejia Godoy brothers known the world around. Cardenal spent large parts of his life on Solentiname.

United States of America
Fans of Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" might want to visit Concord, Massachusetts. Essex County in the North Shore of Massachusetts is often the setting of H. P. Lovecraft's works, whose followers refer to the area as "Miskatonic County" (after a fictional river in the region) or "Lovecraft Country". You won't find the Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow, but you can find Washington Irving's grave there. Travelers to Hartford can visit the Mark Twain House and Museum and the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and Library; Mark Twain (whose real name was Samuel Clemens) fans can also visit his boyhood village of Hannibal on the Mississippi River.

Head west in the footsteps of the Beats, or follow Route 66 like the Joads in Grapes of Wrath.

You can find Cannery Row in Monterey, California; nearby are many places dedicated to the memory of John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. There are several sites related to "the book" (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the non-fiction novel by John Berendt) in Savannah, particularly Forsythe Park.

In Houston, fans of Morton Feldman can visit the actual Rothko Chapel. Fans of the Friday Night Lights franchise may be interested in Ratliff Stadium in Odessa, Texas, the home football stadium of the city's two main high schools—one of them being Permian High, whose 1988 football season was the subject of both the book that spawned the franchise and the later film.

Alaska has its share of literary spots too. Fans of Jack London must visit Skagway. Those who read the bestseller Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, about the exploits of Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, would want to visit Denali National Park, near Talkeetna.

The Old West has many stories.

Fans of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series on which the hit television series Game of Thrones was based, may wish to visit Santa Fe, where the author resides and owns a cinema in which he occasionally screens episodes of the TV series. Martin's alma mater, Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, is one of the premier universities in United States with a beautifully landscaped lakeside campus. Its journalism school, of which Martin is a graduate, is also widely regarded as one of the top journalism schools in the country.

Cyprus
Locals believe that the Othello Castle, part of the city walls of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus, is the setting of Shakespearean tragedy of the same name, although the text does not name any specific locations on the island.

Czech Republic
Although Prague is a Czech-speaking city and the capital of the Czech Republic, as the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia it was under the rule of the Habsburg Monarchy, which also ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1918, and for much of its history was a majority German-speaking city. As such, Prague has historically been home to many of the leading authors of German literature, with perhaps the most notable being Franz Kafka, who is known for his literary works such as The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) and The Trial (Der Process). Other notable German authors who were based in Prague included Max Brod, Franz Werfel and Rainer Maria Rilke.

Denmark
This Nordic country's national author is Hans Christian Andersen. The city of Odense is the author's birthplace and home. As well as a museum and a memorial gardens, the author of famous works such as The Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue), The Ugly Duckling (Den grimme ælling) and The Snow Queen (Snedronningen) is commemorated by statues, parades and annual events. Suffice to say, Odenseanere are immensely proud of their local legend.

Kronborg Castle in Elsinore is famous as the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Finland

Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, has inspired the whole country with its names or cultural references, and you can come across Kalevala-themed things even in the middle of Helsinki. Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884), who compiled the work, was born in Sammatti (today part of Lohja), but he also influenced Kajaani when he lived and worked there. The cultural centre Juminkeko in Kuhmo features one of the biggest Kalevala collection in the world. The songs themselves were mostly collected in Russian Karelia, where they had survived, in contrast to in Lutheran literate Finland. The Uhtua region, where many of the songs were collected, was renamed Kalevala on the work's centenary. Many songs were collected much more to the south; there is a statue of Pedri Shemeikka (1825–1915), one of the last great rune-singers, in Sortavala.

The work of Aleksis Kivi (1834–1872), the "national writer of Finland", was influenced by his childhood playgrounds on Taaborinvuori in the village Palojoki of Nurmijärvi. Various events are organized there in the summer. All over the municipality you can find references to Kivi's most significant work, Seitsemän veljestä ("Seven Brothers").

France
Paris has no shortage of literary sites, especially on the Left Bank and Montparnasse. Paris's answer to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is the Comédie-Française, also known as the Théâtre-Français — and what a ripe subject for comparison and contrast!

After paying your respect to the Lost Generation at Gertrude Stein's salon at 27 rue De Fleurs (and maybe also Natalie Clifford Barney's modestly titled Literary Salon of the Greats at 20 rue Jacob), you can shop in their footsteps at Shakespeare and Company or drink in their shadows at les Deus Magots, la Closerie des Lilas, or le Café de Flore. (A more contemporary version is l’Autre Café.) If you don't find Quasimodo in the ruins of Notre-Dame de Paris, visit Victor Hugo's house at 6 Place des Vosges, or enjoy the Basque cuisine at L’Auberge Etchegorry at 41 Rue de la Croulebarb, where he used to enjoy the Cabaret de Madame Grégoire. Or party like Arthur Miller at Brasserie Wepler (14 Place de Clichy).

There is also the famed Palais Garnier, which was the setting of the Gaston Leroux's Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, which in turn inspired the hit West End musical The Phantom of the Opera.

For contemporary poetry readings, check out La Maison Poésie, close to the Pompidou Centre, or, especially if you want to hear the empire write back, Culture Rapide. No bibliophile should leave Paris without a visit to the one-of-a-kind bookstore Tea and Tattered Pages, or the reading room in the back of Le Fumoir. At Musée de la vie romantique you can find out almost anything you'd want to know about George Sand; the Hôtel de Lauzun on the Île St. Louis inspired Baudelaire to write Les Fleurs du Mal - what effect will it have on you? Search for lost time viewing Proust's bedroom at the Musée Carnavalet, or, if the touristy morbidity doesn't offend you, visit the Cimetière de Montparnasse to find the graves of many of your favorite authors, including Baudelaire, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Or else look for the wallpaper that killed Oscar Wilde at l’Hôtel in the 6th Arrondissement, though you might prefer to enjoy the literary kitsch at the Apostrophe Hotel, or sleep where your heroes did at l’Hôtel Pont Royal. If you seek to join their ranks, you can consider joining a writing workshop with Paris Café Writing. When you win your own Nobel Prize, celebrate like Camus did, at La Coupole (102 Boulevard du Montparnasse). Evidently there are even Da Vinci Code themed tours! Even if that's not your thing, you might enjoy eating in the restaurant at Nicolas Flamel's house at 52 rue de Montmorency, the oldest stone house in Paris.

The Loire Valley: there could be no better place to read Alexandre Dumas or Charles Perrault. Honoré de Balzac, a native of Tours, wrote and set some of his novels there too. Other buildings in the Touraine inspired settings in Balzac's work.

Around Rouen you can find places claiming to have associations with Madame Bovary, and a museum dedicated to Gustav Flaubert in the home where he was born.

The medieval Play of Daniel was composed in Beauvais.

Germany
Admirers of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller cannot be excused for missing Weimar.

One of the most successful German language authors of all time was Karl May, whose heroes Winnetou, Kara Ben Nemsi and Old Shatterhand have accompanied many a German growing up for over a century now. Over 200 million copies of his books have been sold, half of which in Germany. He died and spent most of his life in Radebeul, Saxony, a suburb of Dresden. His former house in Radebeul has been turned into a museum and it is a must visit for any fan of his works. His works are still performed live in places such as Bad Segeberg in Schleswig Holstein or Rathen in Saxon Switzerland

Berlin has inspired many works of literature and other forms of art - from David Bowie to Alfred Döblin's "Berlin Alexanderplatz" and including a vibrant cultural scene to this day, Berlin is a place to be inspired and retrace the inspiration of others.

Germany was also home to the Brothers Grimm, whose collection of fairy tales has many stories that continue to enchant children around the world today. The German Tourism Board's recommended Fairy Tale Route takes people to places where the Brothers Grimm lived, and to places where their fairy tales were set in. Besides fairy tales, they also produced a dictionary for the German language that was ground-breaking not only for German linguistics but for the field as a whole.

Ireland
Fans of James Joyce will want to walk Ulysses in Dublin, especially on Bloom's Day (16 June). The diehards will even go to Ithaka. You know who you are. In general, Joyce's work is filled with detailed references to Dublin, often enabling the reader to trace the whereabouts of his characters on a map with surprising accuracy. Of course the city has changed since the early twentieth century but James Joyce's Dublin can still be discovered

Italy
Like E. M. Forster's characters in A Room With a View, you'll want to look down on the tourists around you who do not share your refined tastes! You might demonstrate your snobby superiority taking a walking tour of Dante Alighieri's Florence, or contemplating the complexities of Brumel's "Nuper rosarum flores" under Brunelleschi's Dome. Thomas Mann's writings made a lot of people wish to die in Venice. Naples was home to Giambattista Basile, whose Pentamerone (Neapolitan: Lo cunto de li cunti) was one of the earliest fairy tale collections to have been published. And, of course there's Rome, one of the most written-about cities on the planet.

Fans of epic poetry might want to trace the steps of Ludovico Ariosto, best known as the writer of Orlando Furioso, set during the Crusades, which in turn inspired numerous operas, including ones by famous composers such as Vivaldi, Handel and Haydn. You can visit some of his former residences, such as the ones in Reggio Emilia and Ferrara. There is also the village of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana in Tuscany that Ariosto ruled as governor the rule of the Este family.

Norway
Perhaps Norway's most internationally renowned literary figure is famous playwright Henrik Ibsen, best known for Peer Gynt, which was scored by the great composer Edvard Grieg. Skien, where he was born, and Oslo, where he spent his final years, have museums dedicated to his life.

Portugal
Lisbon has a special cherish for the two greatest national poets, Luís de Camões aka Camoens (1524/5? – 1580) and Fernando Pessoa (1888 – 1935). Both are buried at the venerable Hieronymites Monastery in Belém, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Camões Square, centered by his statue on a column, is the gateway to the Baixa neighborhood and its traditional nightlife, and some memorials to Pessoa, at places where he lived and drinked, are actually steps away. In Cascais, there's an amazing rocky seashore spot named Boca do Inferno ("Hell's Mouth"). It's worth looking for a marble plaque remembering the occasion when Pessoa helped his English friend Aleister Crowley fake his suicide in 1930.

Romania
The undead must visit Castle Bran in Transylvania and other sites associated with the Dracula legends of Bram Stoker.

Russia
In Saint Petersburg, you'll want to take "Raskolnikov's Murder Walk", described in Crime and Punishment (Преступление и наказание) by Fyodor Dostoevsky. If you have really read the book, it's easily realized, starting at Sennaya Ploschad ("Haymarket Square") metro station — Fyodor Mikhailovich lived in this area. Afterwards, go visit his grave in Tikhvin Cemetery (inside the Alexander Nevski Monastery, 3 metro stops away), alongside the ones of Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovski, Modest Mussorgski, Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov and most other Russian music giants. Another worthy option is to visit The Bronze Horseman ( Медный всадник ) statue of Peter the Great, the city's prime monument at its Center's urban focal point, and also the theme and title of one of the most important poems in the Russian language, written by Alexander Pushkin. Later, take fresh flowers to the poet's infamous duel site, in a park on the city's northern part. Both the Moscow and Saint Petersburg metros have stations named Pushkinskaya, with a bust and a statue of the famed poet respectively.

In Moscow, you can take a tour of sites from Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita (Ма́стер и Маргари́та) and his tomb at Novodevichy Cemetery (where you'll find also Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Vladimir Maiakovski, Dmitrii Shostakovich and many others).

Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pyatigorsk, Ekaterinburg and Elista in Kalmykia feature monuments to the classic comedic novel The Twelve Chairs (Двенадцать стульев) and its suave con-man Ostap Bender, aka "The Smooth Operator". Near Tula is Yasnaya Polyana, where Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace (Война́ и мир) and Anna Karenina (Анна Каренина). Pushkin is buried in his family estate in Pushkinskie Gory near Pskov.

Truly hardy adventurous travellers may consider retracing Chekhov's steps to Sakhalin Island and back, or even going to Magadan to pay homage to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's writings about the Gulag Archipelago.

Slovenia
Kobarid was the site of the Battle of Caporetto, which Ernest Hemingway described in A Farewell to Arms.

Spain
In March 2015 the grave of renowned writer Miguel de Cervantes was discovered. His best known work Don Quijote is set in La Mancha and some landscapes in this part of Spain still look like the descriptions in the book. Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares in 1547; the city preserves his birth house, and renamed after him its main square, a fine sight. The other Spanish writing giant of the Baroque age, playwright and poet Lope de Vega, whose sheer volume of literary output is greatly larger than Cervantes', is buried inside San Sebastian church on Madrid's Calle de Atocha.

Any Anglophone who runs with the bulls in Pamplona (or even thinks of it) follow the footsteps of Brett and Jake in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.

The sites of the Spanish Civil War of course inspired writers domestic but especially foreign, including luminaries like Hemingway and George Orwell.

Sweden
The Millennium Tour in Stockholm, inspired by Stieg Larsson's novel series; see Nordic Noir.

Astrid Lindgren is one of the most-read writer of children's books; see Astrid Lindgren tourism. Her works come to life at Junibacken at Djurgården in Stockholm, as well as Astrid Lindgrens värld in Vimmerby.

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf tells the story about the boy Nils who is magically shrinked, and joins a flock of wild geese on their migration across Sweden. It was intended to teach school children Swedish geography, but also doubles as a great travel log and a great story! In 1909 Selma Lagerlöf became the first female Nobel Prize in Literature laurate.

Ukraine
In Kyiv, the Taras Shevchenko National Museum is dedicated to the life and works of Taras Shevchenko, who is widely considered to be the greatest Ukrainian poet of all time.

United Kingdom

True Chaucerian pilgrims should leave London by the road to Canterbury, while lovers of the Bard may wish to drop into William Shakespeare's home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Anyone who ever longed to have their own bodice ripped by Rochester or Heathcliff would want to visit Brontë Country in West Yorkshire. If you're not afraid of Virginia Woolf, visit Monk's House in East Sussex. Or search for King Arthur and Merlin in Tintagel and Glastonbury. Besides what you'd find in London, Broadstairs is dedicated to Dickens. Swansea and neighbouring Carmarthenshire are all about Dylan Thomas. And setting aside all prejudice, Hampshire is the proud home of Jane Austen; see Jane Austen tourism.

Perhaps more of us would prefer to visit Hartfield in Ashdown Forest, the setting of the Winnie the Pooh stories, or Cumbria where various sites associated with Beatrix Potter can be found. If you can't get enough of talking animals larking about in boats, head to Wind in the Willows country, a tranquil stretch of the Thames straddling Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Statues remembering Robin Hood, H.G. Wells' Martian tripods, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan stand respectively in Nottingham, Woking, Baker Street and Kensington Gardens.

Wee sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beasties; look no further than Dumfries – Robert Burns' House competes for visitors with nearby Alloway's Robert Burns' Birthplace. Over in Edinburgh, Burns is celebrated alongside Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson in the Writers' Museum. The capital's Princes Street even has a monument celebrating Scott's achievements in putting his hometown on the literary map, a tradition which continues to this day with the annual Edinburgh International Book Festival.

In Devon is the little village of Bigbury-on-Sea, where Agatha Christie fans can find the Burgh Island Hotel, inspiration for And Then There Were None and Evil Under the Sun. Looking for a crime? The room named for her will set you back 450 quid. The more theatrically inclined could instead stay in the Noël Coward room. While you're in the area, a trip up to Dartmoor may prove to be your last, if you come face to face with the Hound of the Baskervilles. Should you survive, a hop over to Bram Stoker's Whitby (North Yorkshire) might finish you off.

As if Britain weren't mythical enough, many of its landscapes have inspired fantasy worlds. Shropshire's bucolic hills look as though they may be home to J.R.R. Tolkien's hobbits, while the Wrekin is a Lonely Mountain by any other name, but the true Arthurian land of Albion is Wales. Lewis Carroll's surroundings of Cheshire and Oxford were once weird enough to influence his hallucinogenic creation of Wonderland. Dorset doubles for Thomas Hardy's "Wessex", Northern Ireland is a more doable trip than Narnia or Westeros (but the scenery is just as good), and anyone wishing to get to Hogwarts need only board a train at King's Cross station. Please, no Muggles.

Another popular destination for literary tourists is the city of Oxford, home to the famous University of Oxford which produced many world-renowned authors of the fantasy genre such as Lewis Carroll (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings) and Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials). Tolkien and Lewis were part of a group of writers known as The Inklings, which met regularly at a pub known as the Eagle and Child

China
On the other side of the world, lovers of The Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦) will want to spend a few hours contemplating the Garden of the Humble Administrator in Suzhou, and anyone who knows The True Story of Ah Q (阿Q正传) might want to visit Hangzhou, where Lu Xun was imprisoned. Lu Xun’s hometown of Shaoxing is just 20 minutes by high-speed train from Hangzhou.

The city of Huai'an was the birthplace of the Ming Dynasty author Wu Cheng'en, who wrote Journey to the West (西游记), one of China's four great novels. The novel is a fictionalized account of the journey of Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang to India to collect Buddhist scriptures, with mythical elements thrown in. Wu's former residence has been restored as a museum. The historical Xuanzang made his journey to India via the Silk Road, parts of which can still be traversed today.

India
Fans of the Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore will enjoy Santiniketan, and readers of Rudyard Kipling will want to check out the places where Kim is supposed to have roamed.

Japan
Aspiring novelists might find inspiration at Ishiyamadera Temple in Otsu, where Murasaki Shikibu is believed to have written (or at least begun to write) The Tale of Genji.

Then take the Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Myanmar
Eric Blair (later known by his pen-name George Orwell) spent five years as a police officer in colonial Burma (now called Myanmar), and used his experiences in his first novel, Burmese Days. If you visit the country without having read it, stalls across Myanmar sell counterfeit copies of it for a few dollars. Individuals wishing to retrace Orwell's footsteps have a great many options. In chronological order, his time in the country began in 1922 when he entered the police training school at Mandalay. The hill station of Maymyo (now Pyin Oo Lwin) was his first posting in 1923, followed by Twante in the Ayerawaddy delta in 1924, and the oil refinery town of Syriam (now Thanlyin) in 1925. In 1926 he was posted to Moulmein (now Mawlamyine), where his mother grew up and where his grandmother lived at the time. He wrote the essay Shooting An Elephant based on his experiences during that posting. However, the town most important to Orwell's literary development was Katha, his final posting, in 1926-7. Burmese Days was set in and around the town, renamed Kyauktada in the novel, and many of the locations referenced in the novel are real places that can still be visited.

South Korea

Gayasan Mountain National Park includes Haeinsa Temple, where the Tripitaka Koreana, a landmark in woodblock printing, is held.

Tongyeong is often visited because it is the setting of Land by Park Kyeong-Ni.

Turkey
Troy is the scene of the Iliad, the first known work of Greek literature.

Orhan Pamuk's "The Museum of Innocence" actually exists in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. His novel Snow (Kar) is set in Kars in the far east of the country.

Agatha Christie's 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express was written in the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, then a grand old hotel serving rail passengers at the southern terminus of the main Paris-Istanbul Orient Express (1883-1962) route. The hotel maintains Christie's room as a memorial to the author.

Those looking for Yaşar Kemal's Çukurova of greedy landlords, noble outlaws, landless peasants, and involuntary nomad-cum-farmers will probably want to spend some time in the Cilician Plains.

Egypt
The oldest literary work ever is called The Maxims of Ptah Hotep. The author, a wise and not-so-famous vizier, was buried in a tomb that nowadays is more famous than himself, at Saqqara.

Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab writer to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1988), was born in Cairo. His most famous work, The Cairo Trilogy, depicts the lives of three generations of different families in Cairo from World War I until after the 1952 military coup that overthrew King Farouk. His classic novel Midaq Alley is wholly ambiented in a tiny space inside the Khan El Kalili bazaar.

South Africa
About 145 km outside of Durban, Alan Paton fans can find Ixopo, and look for the lovely road that runs from there into the hills. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the famed Lord of the Rings books, was born in Bloemfontein, though there is surprisingly little commemorating him in his city of birth.

Stay safe
Visit the "stay safe" sections of the Wikivoyage places for wherever you go, and remember that just because your favorite authors chain-smoked or enjoyed some absinth dreams doesn't mean you should! (If you must read and walk, read A Book Lover's Guide to Reading and Walking at the Same Time!)

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Lithgow

Lithgow is a town that developed around the coal mining industry, just west of the Blue Mountains. With the exception of the nearby Zig-Zag steam heritage railway, it has not long been a recognised as a visitor destination. Lithgow does have many areas of natural beauty close by and some evidence of its history remains around the town.

Get in
Lithgow is immediately to the west of the Blue Mountains, approximately an hour's drive from the westernmost suburbs of Sydney and about 1.75 hours from the CBD.

By car
From Sydney and the east take the Great Western Highway (A32) through the Blue Mountains. Lithgow is at the bottom of the descent of the mountains. The Bells Line of Road from Windsor is a narrower, quieter road, that avoids many of the Blue Mountains townships. It may be faster if you're leaving from The Hills.

From the west there are a few road links, including the Great Western Highway to Bathurst and links to Mudgee.

By train
Lithgow is the westernmost terminus of Sydney's electric train network. NSW TrainLink Intercity runs unbooked/unreserved trains to Lithgow departing every one or two hours during the day, and less often throughout the night. The train trip takes three hours from the centre of Sydney and two hours from Penrith in the west. In the mornings, two additional non-bookable/reservable express services originating in Bathurst provide slightly quicker, limited-stop services into the city, returning in the afternoon, known as the Bathurst Bullet.

NSW TrainLink regional trains booked/reserved services to and from Dubbo also stop at Lithgow once a day in each direction, a little faster, but more costly. You can only reserve seats from Sydney a few days before, as seats are held for travellers going to stations not serviced by unbooked trains.

By bus
There are several bus services every day from Dubbo, Bathurst, Orange, Forbes and Parkes, each designed to meet the trains to Sydney. These buses are run by NSW Trainlink Regional, Australia Wide Coaches and the local Lithgow Buslines. Buses depart from outside Railway Parade entrance to the station. Timetables are designed to connect with the trains.

Get around
The train station is right adjacent to the main street and shopping area of Lithgow, and has an entrance on both Main Street (pedestrian only) and from Railway Parade, where there is parking, drop-off area and the long distance bus terminal, as well as some under-cover seating, toilets, vending machines and an information/booking office. Taxis are available at the station. The pubs and hotels in the town are walkable (use the Main Street exit) and some of the motels are a short trip by taxi.

You can catch a train to Zig Zag - that will take you to the Zig Zag Heritage Railway, which is now re-open following closures from Covid-19 and the black summer bushfires. Regular trains only stop at the Zig Zag junction on request, so talk to the staff before joining the train. The local bus service comprehensively services the surrounding residential areas, but service frequencies aren't very good. Despite being surronded by the Blue Mountains, Lithgow itself is reasonably flat, and cycling around town is possible, though not common.

You will need a car to get any further afield, or to see any of Lithgow's natural attractions.

Do
The recently reopened is one of the most famous attractions near Lithgow. This original section of the western railway is a zig-zag due to the steepness of the descent. The train goes forward along a section of the track, the points are changed, and then it reverses onto the next track section. The track section is long bypassed by the main line, which now winds through tunnels to make its descent. It is accessible by both Zig Zag Station on the western end and Chifley Rd in Clarence on the eastern end. You can use the fire trails and dirt roads above Lithgow to get to places like the Lost City rock formations.

Drink
There is no shortage of pubs on the main street of Lithgow. In the space of three blocks, you'll find the Commercial, Court House, Lithgow, Tattersalls, and Grand Central. Just pick which ever one appeals.

Across the railway line you'll find Lithgow Workmens club, that likes to call itself 'Workies'. Cheaper drinks, bistro food, and poker machines in typical club surrounds. It's popular, and you may have to queue for the bistro even on a weekday evening.

Sleep
Several of the pubs in town offer accommodation, only a short walk from the station. The Commercial has motel accommodation attached. In addition, Lithgow has a wide range of accommodation including:

Go next
Many of the best destinations suitable for a day trip to Lithgow are eastwards, in the Blue Mountains. Good trips into the western side of the mountains include driving up the Great Western Highway or catching a train to Katoomba, and driving up the Bells Line of Road to the Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens.

A glow worm tunnel is 40 km north of Lithgow on a forestry fire trail. It is an old railway tunnel and the glowworms have taken up residence. The tunnel is a 1km easy and pretty walk from the carpark, use a car with a good ground clearance or 4-wheel drive, and well worth a visit. As the tunnel is long a turns a corner it is very dark in the centre of the tunnel. A torch would be useful in this section, but you can walk carefully and mind your footing without one.

Newnes is also well worth a visit, get info from the local tourist information center on the Bathurst road just outside of Lithgow.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Lithgow


text:
Lithia Springs

Lithia Springs is a city in Douglas County in Georgia (state), with a population of 15,000 people in 2010.

See

 * Ruins of the New Manchester Manufacturing Company Textile Factory

title: Lithia Springs


text:
Lithuania

Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuva) is a Baltic country in northeastern Europe. Lithuania possesses a unique character that distinguishes it from other Baltic countries. Its distinctiveness arises from being primarily a Catholic nation and having a history of being part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was one of the most powerful entities in Northern Europe.

Lithuania is a charming country with a rich history and culture that is definitely worth exploring. From the charming streets of Vilnius, the capital city, to the serene beauty of the Curonian Spit, there are plenty of reasons to add Lithuania to your travel bucket list.

Regions
Regional differences of Lithuanian culture reflect the complicated historical development of the country. Since the 13th century five ethnographic areas, or regions, have formed the current territory of Lithuania:

These ethnographic regions even today differ by dialects, ways of life and behaviour styles, while until the turn of the last century there were pronounced differences in dress and homestead styles as well as village planning.

Lithuania is justly proud of its unfailing treasures of folklore: colourful clothing, meandering songs, an abundance of tales and stories, sonorous dialects and voluble language. This ethnographic heritage is nourished by ethnographic and folklore companies and barn theatres. Ethnographic crafts and culinary traditions are being revived. Folk craft fairs and live craft days are organised during many events and festivals.

Cities

 * — capital of the country with many medieval churches

 * — second biggest city and temporary capital between the two world wars
 * — third biggest city, famous for its summer festivals
 * — fourth biggest city, with a sun theme and specialist museums
 * — on the shores of several lakes
 * — Lithuania's newest town, built by the Soviets in 1975 to house the workers of the now-decommissioned Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, and the only town in Lithuania with an ethnic Russian majority
 * — on the shores of several lakes
 * — Lithuania's newest town, built by the Soviets in 1975 to house the workers of the now-decommissioned Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, and the only town in Lithuania with an ethnic Russian majority

Other destinations

 * — a land of lakes, hills and forests, popular for water tourism and rural tourism in the summer
 * — unique sand dunes with rare flora, seaboard forest, white sanded beaches and old ethnographic villages
 * — the biggest forest (Dainavos) and swamp (Čepkelių) in the country, and some old unique villages in the middle of the forests
 * — site of religious significance, north of Šiauliai
 * — former Lithuanian capital at the bank of the river Neris and now a well-preserved archaeological site
 * — according to some measures the centre of Europe
 * — famous pilgrimage site, most visitors come in the beginning of July to visit the large church festival

Understand
Some visitors tend to see the Baltic states as being similar countries with regional differences. They share a common recent history: the three countries declared independence in 1918 at the collapse of the Russian Empire, were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, conquered by Nazi Germany in 1941, and incorporated into the Soviet Union from 1944 until independence was restored in 1991. However, there are differences between the countries' languages (Estonians speak a Finnic language unlike Latvia or Lithuania) and religion (Lithuanians are Catholics, Latvians are mostly Lutherans and Estonians are irreligious). Also, Lithuania is more oriented towards Central Europe, while Estonia is oriented towards Northern Europe).

Since 2004, Lithuania has been a member of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Lithuania is the only Baltic country with more than 800 years of statehood tradition, while its name was first mentioned one thousand years ago, in 1009. For a period in the 15th century, Lithuania was one of the largest states in all Europe, where crafts and overseas trade prospered.

In 1579, Vilnius University, an important scientific and educational centre on the European scale, was opened. In the 16th century, Lithuania adopted its First, Second and Third Statutes. They were the backbone of the legislative system of the country, and had a major impact on the legislation of other European states of the time. Despite merging with Poland and losing its independence, Lithuania managed to keep its Third Statute in effect for as many as 250 years, which was instrumental in preservation of national and civic self-awareness of the public. The Constitution of Lithuania-Poland together with the French Constitution, both adopted in 1791, were the first written constitutions in Europe. Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, became independent after World War I, and was annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940, before again gaining its independence in 1991.

Climate
Transitional, between maritime and continental; wet, moderate winters (average of -5 °C) and summers (average of +16 °C). Climate is maritime near the seaside with wet, mild summers and winters. Climate in South-Eastern Lithuania is influenced by the continental weather masses with dry, warmer summers and harsher winters.

Summer months receive the most precipitation (up to 50% of the annual precipitation), autumn and winter are drier with spring being the driest season. Snow occurs every year, it can snow from October to April. In some years sleet can fall in September or May.

Terrain
Lowland, many scattered small lakes, fertile soil. The fertile central plains are separated by hilly uplands that are ancient glacial deposits.

The highest point, Aukstojas Hill, is just 294.84 m (967.322 ft), about 24 km southeast of Vilnius, just off the main highway to Minsk and within sight of the Belarus border. 30% of Lithuania is forest covered.

History
Lithuania was formed in the middle of the 13th century. It became a huge feudal country stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea in the Middle Ages, and in 1569 entered a union with Poland to form a commonwealth. Lithuania was part of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth until the Polish Partitions in the 18th century when it became part of the Russian Empire.

Modern Lithuania gained its independence from Russia in 1918 following World War I and the dissolution of the Czarist monarchy. However, in 1940 Lithuania was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, and shortly thereafter occupied by the Nazis, who murdered almost its entire hitherto very prominent Jewish population and many local Poles, with help from local collaborators. Later in World War II, the Soviet Union recaptured Lithuania and also brutally persecuted and killed many Lithuanians, particularly during Stalin's reign of terror. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but this proclamation was not generally recognised until September 1991, following an abortive coup in Moscow. The Soviet Union recognised Lithuania's independence on 6 September 1991. A constitution was adopted on 25 October 1992. The last Russian troops withdrew in 1993. Lithuania restructured its economy for integration into Western European institutions and became a stable democracy and a member of the European Union and NATO.

Lithuania received comparatively fewer Russian immigrants than the other two Baltic states during the Soviet era, and the town of Visaginas is the only one with an ethnic Russian majority. However, significant ethnic Russian minorities exist in Lithuania's major cities. Lithuania was the only one of the three Baltic states to grant citizenship to its ethnic Russian minority following its independence from the Soviet Union.

National holidays

 * Independence Day – 16 February : Independence from Russian Empire in 1918 following World War I.
 * Restitution of Independence – 11 March : Restoration of independence from the Soviet Union.
 * St. John's Day – 24 June: Despite its Christian name, celebrated mostly according to pagan traditions (Midsummer's Day).
 * Statehood Day – 6 July : Commemorates the coronation in 1253 of Mindaugas as the first and only King of Lithuania. Later rulers of Lithuania were called Grand Dukes.
 * Christmas – 25 December

Visitor information

 * Lithuania Travel

Talk
The official language of Lithuania is Lithuanian, making up one of two languages (along with Latvian) of the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family. Its highly complex grammar makes it a very difficult language to master. That being said, attempting to learn the language will most certainly endear you to the locals.

English is widely spoken by the younger generation who grew up after independence, but the older generation who grew up under Soviet rule typically do not speak any English. Lithuanians who speak English are usually keen to practise it with foreigners.

Russian is commonly used as a second language in Lithuania, although its use is dwindling as most younger Lithuanians prefer to study English. Notwithstanding this tendency, Lithuania is home to a sizable ethnic Russian minority who speak Russian as their first language. According to EU data, 40% of Lithuanians speak Russian. In general, older generations are more fluent in Russian than younger generations, but the younger generation that was educated after independence is more likely to speak English than Russian. Younger ethnic Russians educated after independence are more likely to speak Lithuanian as a second language. Older ethnic Russians who were educated during the Soviet era, on the other hand, usually do not speak any Lithuanian.

Because of Lithuania's complicated and turbulent history with Russia, some ethnic Lithuanians may take offence if they are addressed in Russian. The usage of Russian may be interpreted as a lack of respect for Lithuanian language and culture, especially in delicate political circumstances or situations.

Other spoken languages include Polish and German, but their use is limited to a few pockets in the country.

In Samogitia (Western Lithuania), most people also speak Samogitian, which is somewhat different from Standard Lithuanian.

By plane
Most airlines arrive at Vilnius International Airport, the main airport. Low cost carriers serve Kaunas International Airport. And there is the smaller seaside Palanga airport.

Riga airport in Latvia is an attractive alternative for destinations in northern Lithuania. Other alternatives not far from the border are Minsk and Kaliningrad.

By train
From Poland: a daily train runs from Krakow at 04:00 via Warsaw Centralna at 07:30 to reach the border towards 15:00. Here you change onto the Lithuanian train for Kaunas at 16:30 and Vilnius at 17:30. (If you flew into Warsaw, you could take any train to Białystok then join the cross-border train at a more congenial 10:30 next morning.) The westbound train sets off from Vilnius at noon.

Another train lumbers on Saturday and Sunday between Białystok and Kaunas on the old route via Mariampole, which pre-dates the Rail Baltica line. So it's overtaken by the Krakow-Vilnius train and you'd only use it to reach one of the villages along the old route. From Belarus: the trains from Minsk are suspended in 2022.

From Russia: the trains from the exclave of Kaliningrad are suspended in 2022, as are the services via Minsk from Moscow and other Russian cities.

From Latvia: since 27 December 2023 there is now one direct train each way running between Riga and Vilnius, departing Riga at 15:28 and arriving in Vilnius at 19:51. See LTG Link's page for more information.

By car
Major "Via Baltica" road links Kaunas to Warsaw in the south and Riga and Tallinn in the north. The Baltic road, which links Vilnius to Tallinn, was just reconstructed. It is a very easy and pleasant route.

Overall, the major roads between the cities are of decent quality. Be extremely cautious when getting off the main roads in rural areas, as some of them may contain pot holes and general blemishes which could damage a regular car if you go too fast. While driving between cities there are usually cafes and gas stations with bathrooms and snacks.

By bus

 * Eurolines
 * Ecolines
 * Busturas
 * FlixBus

By boat
There are passenger/car ferries to Klaipeda from Sweden, Germany, Denmark operated by DFDS, Lisco, and Scandlines. However they do not run every day and are relatively slow, but most aim to travel overnight.

By train
State-owned railway passenger service LTG Link has services to major cities in Lithuania as well as an international service from Vilnius to Warsaw and Kraców with a change in Mockava. Most of the trains also stop at smaller stations along the way. Part of those smaller stations is inaccessible by any other means of public transportation. Fares are low compared to Western Europe: Vilnius-Kaunas around €9 – 104 km, Vilnius - Klaipėda around €23 – 376 km (as of Mar 2023). In major railway stations tickets are bought at the ticket office inside the station building until around 5 minutes before the departure. A ticket is valid only on the exact train for which it was sold. However it is possible to buy tickets in advance. When buying tickets for round trip 5% discount is applied for return ticket. Many smaller stops have no ticket offices and tickets are bought from the travel attendant on board the train. In case you board the train in a station with a working ticket office and want to buy a ticket from the travel attendant you will pay an additional fee of €2. However this might be the only option if one arrives too late to the station but manages to catch the train. The same rules for discounts apply as for other public transport in addition to occasional promotional discounts. In particular, there is a 50% discount for students with a Lithuanian Student ID or ISIC. There is also a discount for a group of passengers taking the same train the same day starting at 10% for groups from 3 to 20 people. Tickets are validated by train attendants and must be kept until the end of journey due to sporadic checks by the inspectors.

Depending on the route trains might be faster or slower option than buses or minibuses. Examples of intercity routes where it is faster to go by train is Vilnius-Klaipėda and Vilnius-Kaunas. There are no high-speed railway lines in Lithuania. Where routes overlap trains usually run less frequently than road transport. However train sometimes is the only option to reach remote destinations far from major roads and towns (especially on routes Vilnius-Marcinkonys and Vilnius-Turmantas). This make trains popular among wilderness visitors and citizens looking for wild berries or mushrooms.

In general trains are more spacious than buses making them suitable for those with large bags or oversized items (such as skis, bikes). It is possible to transport bicycles on board of all the trains however special bike-ticket is needed (fee depends on the distance). Most trains have special racks for bicycles located in the first or last car. However these can accommodate only 2-3 bikes and it is not uncommon to simply line the bicycles along the aisle. Such practice is acceptable provided that the bicycles do not restrict movement of people. Most regional trains have a configuration of 3-3 chairs next to 2-2 chairs across the isle. This means that up to 10 people can see each other simultaneously and makes trains popular among larger companies. In some trains 3 seats form one comfortable bench which is long and wide enough to be used as a bed - provided there is enough place for other passengers. Some of the long-distance trains have compartments which can accommodate six seated passengers, usually on Fridays through Sundays.

Historical Aukštaitija Narrow Gauge Railway in Anykščiai offers short trips to the Rubikiai lake. In summer it runs on regular schedule, rest of the time tours must be booked in advance.

By bus
In Lithuania it is easy to move by bus and practically all the bigger and most smaller places can be reached by bus. There are two types of intercity buses: express and regional. Express buses stop only at major towns and usually are much faster than regional. Express buses also tend to be much newer and comfortable. Sometimes (but not always) those buses are explicitly labeled as Ekspresas ("express"). It is the best option for longer distance travels between cities. In contrast, regional buses stop at every stop along the way. Thus they usually are slow, for example a 40 km trip can last an hour. Regional buses mainly are old cars that have been imported from the Nordic countries. Service quality in those buses might be lower compared to Western standards. Regional buses are best if you need to reach stations circumvented by express buses. However it is not uncommon for express and regional buses to service the same route thus it is better to ask in advance. Some buses are indirect, i.e. they go via towns out of the direct way between two cities. These are usually labeled as "CityA - CityB per CityC" (per meaning "via").

Buses operate regularly between the main centres and the regional centres. There is usually a bus company in every town. Some of the biggest and best are TOKS (from Vilnius), Kautra (from Kaunas), Klaipėdos autobusų parkas (from Klaipėda), Busturas from Šiauliai and mini bus company, Transrevis. For students with Lithuanian Student ID, bus companies grant 50% discount around the year. By law for students with ISIC (International Student Identity Card) issued in European Union countries, bus companies should also grant 50% discount. Remember to keep your ticket till the end of journey in case inspectors decide to check the bus in one of the stations.

The bulk of Lithuania's bus routes and turns has been listed in an address autobusubilietai.lt from which you also can reserve the tickets for certain routes. However, pay attention to the fact that the payment system supports only some of the Lithuanian banks, and your credit card at may not work. Another on-line bus ticket service is iticket.lt which has more payment options.

For buses and trolley-buses on routes within towns and cities it is recommended to buy the ticket in advance from a kiosk, board the vehicle using the middle door and stamp the ticket using one of the ticket punches. These used to be near the middle door, but with the introduction of electronic ticketing, there is often a single ticket punch behind the driver's seat. Tickets bought from the driver, rather than kiosks, are more expensive and may also generate an off-handed response if the bus is late or crowded and you don't provide the exact change. Students with Lithuanian Student ID or ISIC (International Student Identity Card) issued in European Union countries are eligible to 50% discount for single tickets and 80% discount for monthly tickets. Inspectors periodically check tickets and will issue a fine if you cannot produce a validated ticket or document proving eligibility to discount. The bus is exited by the middle door and it is important to head for the door before the bus has stopped - it can be impossible to leave once people have started boarding.

In addition to common buses, there are minibuses which usually operate express routes.

There exists a national public transport route planner visiMarsrutai.

By car
As with the rest of mainland Europe, Lithuanian traffic travels on the right, and all distances are posted in kilometres.

The road network in Lithuania is fairly good, especially the motorways. The quality of road surface on minor roads can vary. Many are unpaved and quite shaky. The improvement work hampers traffic in many places. The Via Baltica road goes through Lithuania from Estonia to Poland. Another important road is the A1 from Vilnius to Klaipeda.

Rules
Speed limits for M1 category vehicles:
 * 50 km/h inside cities
 * 90 km/h on rural roads
 * 70 km/h on roads without an asphalt or cement pavement
 * 130 km/h (April-October) or 110 km/h (November-March) on highways
 * 120 km/h (April-October) or 110 km/h (November-March) on motorways
 * headlights should be on at any time of the day

Turning right at a red traffic light is allowed where indicated by a green arrow (square white sign next to the red light, containing a green arrow indicating the permitted direction), provided that it does not endanger other traffic. The absence of such a sign means that turning right on red is not allowed, and the police will stop any driver seen breaking this rule. These signs began to be phased out in 2020, however they can still be found.

Many bigger junctions have a separate green light for traffic turning left, but only one red/yellow light. The green light for the other directions shows arrows going straight and to the right, but these are easily overlooked. Thanks to the white reflective frame around most of these traffic lights, they are most easily identified by their outline.

On two- or three- lane roads, it is polite to move out of the right-hand lane (if safe to do so) when you intend to travel straight ahead; this keeps the right-hand lane clear for right-turning traffic. When moving back to the right hand lane watch out for fast-moving vehicles approaching from behind.

If the right-hand lane is marked with 'A' it is a dedicated bus lane. A lane marked 'A / TAKSI' can also be used by taxis. Electric vehicles may also use this lane if this is indicated. Other road users may only enter the lane in order to turn right into a side road.

The older motorways still have some places in which U-turns are allowed to reach an exit on the opposite carriageway. Usually there is a lower speed limit around these places; the A2 (Vilnius–Panevėžys) has variable speed limit signs which activate when a vehicle is in the U-turn section.

Motorists do not necessarily observe traffic regulations, so especially the pedestrians should exert the same caution as elsewhere in former Soviet countries. Moving domestic animals and roe deer may cause dangerous situations on the roads and motorways.

Roundabouts are a feature of the Lithuanian road network, particularly in the cities. Visitors from countries where this type of junction is uncommon or not used at all, may find the Wikipedia article on roundabouts useful.

The blood alcohol limit is 0.4‰ in Lithuania for drivers of private passenger cars; lower limits apply for other vehicle categories, commercial transport or novice drivers (who have held a drivers license for less than two years).

Fixed speed cameras are frequent along country roads and motorways, usually near crossroads or pedestrian crossings, and in cities. These are usually announced by a sign. Many of them appear to be designed to be turned around from time to time, watching the opposite direction. There is also an increasing number of speed cameras controlling the average speed of the vehicle over the distance.

Fuel
Petrol and diesel fuel is available at all filling stations. LPG is available at most larger stations. EV is more seldom. Petrol nozzles are green, while diesel nozzles are black.

While there are EU fuel markings at filling stations, there is also the local system. Petrol is labelled with a number, which is usually used on the price sign and is displayed on the pump in larger digits. This number is the RON (Research Octane Number) of the fuel. "95" means 95 RON petrol fuel. It is available at all stations. Some stations may also have "98". The price of 98 RON petrol is not usually displayed on the sign; you need to look for the price at the pump.

LPG is labelled as LPG or SND. Stations that provide LPG will also have cabinets with 50-l gas cylinders. These cabinets are usually labelled as DUJŲ BALIONAI ("gas canisters"). A canister costs about €20. These canisters are used mainly for cooking in areas with no natural gas supply, as a cheaper alternative to electric stoves. These canisters are too large to fit into caravans.

Diesel fuel is usually labelled as "D", but it may also be labelled as "DK". Some filling stations (especially rural) may also have diesel nozzles labelled as "DK". These dispense diesel are meant for agricultural purposes, such as powering tractors and other farm equipment. This fuel is sold in bulk to farmers, which store and dispense it at their farm. It is sold at a discount to farmers, but there are 3 catches:
 * 1) There is a quota on how much can be purchased,
 * 2) you cannot use it in your car, and
 * 3) you need to provide a permit to buy this fuel.

EV chargers can be found at some large filling stations and private establishments.

Usually, you pay for fuel at the store, which will have a sign that reads PARDUOTUVĖ. Some stations may also have a self-service machine near the door to the store. You do not usually pay at the pump, except for unattended stations. At most stations, between 22:00 and 06:00, you need to pay before filling up.

Car rental
Some rental companies (especially in the Western EU) may not allow their vehicles to be driven into Lithuania, be sure to check before booking a car. If other modes of transportation do not work for you, you may need to change cars at the border.

Many of the international car rental companies also operate in Lithuania, but the density of rental stations is not as dense as e.g. in Western Europe. If you are near one of the international airports (Vilnius, Kaunas or Palanga, near Klaipėda), check the web site of that airport for any rental car companies which have a presence there.

Apart from that, there are many smaller car rental companies. Many of them will deliver the car to a previously agreed address (usually only within Lithuania) at a prearranged time. Car return works in the same manner; thus even one-way rental is possible. Surcharges might apply, however, for pick-up and return by rendez-vous. Such rental companies can be found through the two major automobile ad portals:

 * https://autoplius.lt, Skelbimai > Daugiau > Transporto nuoma > Lengvųjų automobilių nuoma (Classified ads > More > Vehicle rental > Car rental)
 * https://autogidas.lt, Nuoma > Automobilių nuoma (Rent > Car rent)

CityBee offers smartphone app based car rental.

By taxi
Taxis are run on a meter and can be booked by the phone numbers shown on the door of the taxi. Taxis are relatively cheap compared to western Europe. Some companies may not be as safe as others, common sense will keep you safe in this regard. "Taking the long way round" used to be common but had nearly been eradicated. However, there still were some reports of foreigners paying more than expected. Keep in mind that it is up to the operator to set embarkation and travel fees. Some taxis waiting at the strategic places (for example airports, bus stations) exploit this by setting fees several times higher than market average. In general it is cheaper to order a taxi by phone instead of taking one in the street. You can also ask to quote the price in advance while ordering taxi by phone or before embarking the car. Some visitors leave small tips for the driver however this is entirely optional.

If you do not need a fancy ride, taxi can be as cheap as €0.37/km. Taxi prices in regional cities tend to be considerable lower than in major cities making them more suitable for out of town trips.

Ride-hailing is available in Lithuania and the following are the most anticipated providers:

 * TAKSI 1820 Works only in Vilnius +37052500500
 * 1820 (smartphone app)

 * Forus (smartphone app)
 * Forus (smartphone app)
 * Forus (smartphone app)
 * Forus (smartphone app)

By bicycle
Cycling in Lithuania is quite popular, however it depends on the exact location as in major cities pavements usually will have a bicycle pathways with numerous signs, although getting around by bicycle in rural areas might become a bit of a challenge. Two international EuroVelo cycle routes across the country, EuroVelo No. 10 and EuroVelo No. 11 equipped with quality signs, bike paths are of excellent quality.

It might be dangerous to leave your bicycle outside alone for more than a few hours without locking it. The international bicycle project BaltiCCycle may provide you with an information and help.

By thumb
Hitchhiking in Lithuania is generally good, however there have been some incidents in the early 2020s. Use common sense. Get to the outskirts of the city, but before cars speed up to the highway speeds.

See

The most southern of the Baltic countries, Lithuania's historic heritage sets it quite apart from the other two. Visiting this small but colourful country today, few travelers might guess that this was once the largest nation in Europe. A few monuments are reminders of those golden ages, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stretched out far into modern day Russia, Poland and Moldova, but even fewer are still inside the Lithuanian borders. The archaeological site of Kernavė, then a medieval capital, is now a World Heritage Site and has historic hillfort mounds as well as a museum. The Trakai Island Castle in Trakai is sometimes called "Little Mariënburg". It's located on an island and was one of the main strongholds in the prime days of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Although it was severely damaged in 17th century wars with Muscovy, the castle was beautifully restored in the 19th century and is now a popular tourist sight. Kaunas Castle in Kaunas is even older, but only a third of the original building remains.

The country's lovely capital, Vilnius, is a small, pleasant place with a UNESCO listed historic centre. It's the perfect place to admire a range of architectural styles, as it boasts a mixture of gothic, renaissance, baroque and neoclassical buildings. Stroll through the narrow streets and cosy courtyards and kick back for a coffee in one of the many cafés on Pilies Street. Then, walk down Gediminas Avenue, the town's main street lined with governmental buildings and theatres, towards the old neighbourhood of Žvėrynas. With some 65 churches, the famous Gediminas Tower, the Cathedral Square, the Royal Palace, the Presidential Palace and many other monuments and museums, you won't run out of things to see in Vilnius any time soon.

For a day at the sea, the popular seaside resort of Palanga is the place to be. Although it gets crowded in summer, it has some great beaches and beautiful sand dunes. Sand dunes is also what you'll find at the almost 100 km long Curonian Split, which separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. It's a World Heritage Site shared between Lithuania and Russia and is best explored from the large port city Klaipėda, which is also a good hub for other seaside resorts on the Baltic coast. Not far from Klaipeda is the village of Juodkrante, which is famous for its Hill of Witches, decorated with sculptures from the country's legends and tales. The fishermen's town of Nida is praised for its shores and ancient ethnographic cemetery.

A few kilometres from the northern city Šiauliai you'll find the remarkable Hill of Crosses, an extraordinary and popular pilgrimage site. Over 100,000 crosses – small, huge, simple and exuberant – have been placed here by faithful from far and wide. On the other side of the country, in the very south, you'll find the popular and classy spa resort town of Druskininkai, surrounded by lakes and rivers.

Like its Baltic neighbours, Lithuania has a lot to offer for nature lovers. Dense forests, hills, beautiful blue lakes and rivers are the main base. The forested Aukštaitija National Park is perhaps the most popular of the country's national parks, and is home to elk, deer and wild boar. Some of the pines you'll see here are up to 200 years old and the park is a safe haven for many plants and birds that are endangered in the rest of the country. The 126 lakes and countless streams in between them make the park a great place for water sports activities and the villages in the park have some interesting wooden churches. Another favourite is the Nemunas Delta. The vast wetlands around the place where Neman River reaches the Baltic Sea are a popular eco-tourism destination and an important bird habitat.

Lithuania has many religious sites, especially of the Catholic faith. All of them are open for people of any religion and background. The most popular pilgrimage sites to visit are:
 * Žemaičių Kalvarija in Samogitia (most pilgrims come in July)
 * Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai
 * Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, Vilnius
 * Šiluva, Samogitia.

Do
If you are searching for some health treatment or recreation the best resorts for that are Druskininkai and Palanga. Neringa is a great option for a nice, calm holiday for becoming one with yourself.

Basketball is the national sport, and the nation is basketball mad, (comparable to the British with Soccer and New Zealand with rugby). Lithuania is one of the most successful teams in international competition, winning medals in three out of four Olympic tournaments, (bronze), and finishing fourth in 2008. All this from just five Olympic appearances. Major domestic clubs are BC Žalgiris from Kaunas and BC Rytas from Vilnius. For this reason in almost every park and playground you will find a basketball court.

Be careful if some people challenge you to a basketball game. Common Lithuanians are very good in basketball, and you might just embarrass yourself.

Money
€ Lithuania adopted the euro as its currency on 31 December 2015, replacing the litas (plural litai or litų). The old currency was converted to euros at a fixed exchange rate of 1:3.45280 Lt. You can exchange the old currency at the central bank indefinitely.

Tipping
5% is the standard tipping amount, but in some cases the 5% tip is already included in service charge.

Shopping
Lithuania has a lot of shopping malls for such a small population. There is no big difference between shopping malls here and in western Europe. Especially, Lithuania has become a shopping tourism destination for citizens of Belarus and Russia where some items are not available or cost considerably more.

Vilnius has become a shopper's paradise when plenty of massive shopping centres were opened all over the city. Akropolis (a chain of shopping malls in Lithuania) is one of them and definitely worth visiting if you are a shopping malls maniac, as it houses an ice skating rink, bowling lanes and a cinema. The largest shopping centers are Akropolis and Panorama.

Gariunai is the Baltic's largest open air market, located on the western edge of Vilnius. Thousands of merchants can be found there on a good weekend, from not only Lithuania, but also from as far away as Ukraine. Clothes, shoes, music and software can be bought there. Counterfeit goods are ubiquitous. A low price is guaranteed, quality is not.

Kaunas is also a city of shopping centers, and Laisvės avenue in the center of the city is a pedestrian thoroughfare. The main shopping centers in Kaunas are: Akropolis, Mega, Molas, Savas, HyperMaxima, and Urmas shopping area. There is even that symbol of "mall culture", which is new to Lithuania, Akropolis.

Klaipeda is a major shopping center for people from Latvia and Kaliningrad. The main shopping centers are: Akropolis, Arena, Studlendas and BIG. Many people coming to the city on cruise ships shop in Klaipeda, due to the good value and price combination.

Eat
Lithuanian dinners usually include meat, potato, vegetables and sometimes a curd sauce of some sort. Case in point: the cepelinai, or zeppelins, which are meat filled potato-starch based zeppelin-shaped masses traditionally slathered in a sauce of sour cream, butter, and pork cracklings. Pork is traditionally eaten, beef much less so. Vegans will have a hard time eating out, although some large restaurant chains will have vegetarian dishes on the menu.

Some fast food in Lithuania, such as Kibinai (from the Karaim people) small turnovers usually filled with spiced lamb, and Čeburekai (a Crimean Tatar snack), large folds of dough with a scant filling of meat, cheese, or even apples, can be found around the city.

Many restaurants have menus in English (usually in the Lithuanian menu) and to a lesser extent, Russian. Though use caution as sometimes menus in other languages may have inflated prices, although this is a rarity, and won't be found in Vilnius, or the better known chains such as Čili Pica.

While in Lithuania, one should try these national dishes: appetisers - Piršteliai prie alaus - thin, rolled-up puff pastries served with beer; main courses: Cepelinai (or didžkukuliai) su spirgučiais - potato balls with meat (about €3.20); Vėdarai - a sausage, made of a potato stuffed intestine of a pig (about €3); Skilandis - pig stomach stuffed with meat, garlic and cold-smoked; Plokštainis - meal of potatoes (€2.30–4); Bulviniai blynai (grated potato pancakes) with different sauces; Virtinukai - curd patties; Kastinys - soft sour cream butter; Šaltnosiukai - dumplings filled with lingonberries; Fish - pike or perch, is often baked whole or stuffed, or made into gefilte fish (various prices); Silkė - marinated, baked, fried or served in aspic herring; soups - Šaltibarščiai (a summer soup based on beets and soured milk), Juka (blood soup) or Cabbage soup flavored with carrots, ham, onions. Ruginė duona (dark rye bread) is very advisable to try with soups. Lithuanian cuisine is also famous for wide use of wild berries, mushrooms, and cheese. Honey and poppy seeds are commonly used as filling in pastries. For desserts, try Žagarėliai - twisted, thin deep-fried pastries dusted with powdered sugar or Spurgos - a Lithuanian variant of doughnuts, often filled with preserves.

Drink
Lithuania is a beer-drinking country, with the most famous brands being Svyturys, Kalnapilis, Utenos, Volfas Engelman and Gubernija. A visit to a kiosk will show that there may be more than 50 different brands of beer in this small country. Alcohol percentages are displayed on the label, and usually range from 4–9.5%. Compared to other European countries, beer is usually affordable, in shops €0.50–1 per half litre, in bars €0.75–2 per half litre. The beer tastes excellent, putting global brands to shame and it can be said that Lithuanian lager is of at least equal quality to Czech, Slovak, German and Polish lager. A request for a Lithuanian beer always generates goodwill, even in a Chinese or other foreign-themed restaurant.

When you visit a bar or restaurant without intending to eat, try one of the bar snacks, which are very popular among Lithuanians. The most popular of these snacks consists of a bowl of pieces of garlic bread covered in cheese.

In addition to beer, rather cheap but high quality vodka (or "degtinė" in Lithuanian) is consumed, but not to the extent usually associated with this part of the world. Also, every region has its own home-made speciality of which "Samane" is most famous or notorious and is best avoided. The larger supermarkets have an incredible variety of vodka from all the main vodka-producing countries.

Lithuanian mead, or "midus" is a beverage produced exclusively under government control. It is commonly made from various types of Lithuanian flora, from leaves and berries to some tree bark. Alcohol content range from 10–75% (considered medicinal).

For tourists, quality sparkling wines, such as Alita or Mindaugas, and local liqueurs are popular choices to bring back home.

Alcohol cannot be sold in shops between 20:00 (15:00 on Sundays) and 10:00, but can be purchased in bars, cafes and restaurants.

In shops and cafés different tea and coffee qualities are widely available. The selection in coffee ranges from northern European brands to French ones. In coffee houses, you should expect to pay up to €1.50 for your coffee. Some cafés offer also a variety of special coffees with more or less special prices. Many cafes (kavinės) still make "lazy" coffee, which is simply coffee grounds and boiling water, unfiltered, with grounds at the bottom of the cup, often surprising the drinker - ask before you buy. Tea is usually sold at 50% of the price of coffee. Some of the wonderful drinks such as the Marganito are great for fun filled party drinks and rated one of the top kinds of wine in the country, perfect for weddings.

Unlike restaurants, or pubs aimed at tourists, bars (Baras) may be frequented by heavy drinkers and can therefore be somewhat rowdy. Nevertheless, a visit may still be very rewarding, especially if you accept an invitation to participate in karaoke.

Smoking is banned in cafés, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, discothèques and other public establishments. However, many nightclubs have internal smoking rooms, which have a degree of ventilation.

Sleep
The price of accommodation depends very much on the place. For instance, in Joniškis (Northern Lithuania), you can get a good hotel room for €25 whereas an equivalent room might be as much as €100 in Vilnius. Some hotels do not have home pages. Nevertheless, the Internet helps considerably in planning.

Throughout the country, homestays, sleeping "with the grandmother", are typical. On main street of a town there are many elderly townsfolk offering spare beds in their extra rooms. These experiences are worth seeking out.

If you want to rent the apartment, the prices will be usually from €200 a month. In the biggest towns there are companies which rent apartments "to the long-time tourist or working here". In these you complete on good conditions the apartment furnished and cleaned by the cleaner. From €300.

If you are looking for an apartment for a shorter period (from a few days onwards), do a Web search for "trumpalaikė butų nuoma". This will give you some portals or sites of companies, though not all of them are available in English – some are, however, available in other languages such as German, Polish or Russian.

You will find the hotels of every town on their own interleaves. However, remember that this is the service maintained by the volunteers and you should not wait for current prices let alone that there would be all the possibilities listed.

An interesting accommodation alternative is a countryside accommodation or an own cottage. Countryside.lt offers the shining catalog for accommodation alternatives and you find nearly all the countryside targets and a reservation system from there.

Most large cities such as Vilnius or Kaunas have an abundance of hotel options. When traveling to a popular vacation spot in the summer (like Palanga or Druskininkai) make sure to book a room in advance because demand may outnumber supply. Additionally, some of the cafes on the main highways between cities also have rooms to rent.

Learn
Lithuania has one of the best educational systems in the world. Many universities participate in student exchange programs. Most popular international university in Lithuania is LCC International University in Klaipeda. The best universities of Lithuania are Vilnius University (Vilniaus Universitetas), Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Vilniaus Gedimino Technikos Universitetas) and Kaunas University of Technology (Kauno Technologijos Universitetas).

In Kaunas there is the biggest technical university, KTU, in the country and a medical university LSMU (Lithuanian University of Health Sciences), sports academy LKKA, music and theatre academy LMTA, agriculture university ASU and multidisciplinary University of Vytautas Magnus, VDU.

Klaipeda and Siauliai also has its own universities. In the country several lower educational institutions which go with the name kolegija (eng. college) also are found.

The course supply hangs very much from the university and there also are somewhere programmes for English. However, pay attention to the fact that Lithuania's official language is Lithuanian and in the law it has been prescribed that the Lithuanian student has a right to study in Lithuanian in Lithuania. Especially all the courses of the candidate level will be thus in Lithuanian and in the Master of Arts programmes in English the bulk of the courses is in English. Depending on the rules of the university the courses must have a certain number of foreign students attending before the lectures need to be in English (this concerns courses announced to be held in English) and if this limit is not exceeded, the lecturer may lecture, if desired, in Lithuanian.

The grading system in Lithuania is generally 1–10 in which 5-10 correspond to the accepted performances. The local students usually have to keep their average very high and still a higher one in order to get the scholarship in order to guarantee free studies. There is no financial aid for studies.

Work
There are now many work options in Lithuania. One seldom manages working life without control of the language, therefore basic working knowledge of Lithuanian is highly recommended. You may get by with Russian or, to an increasing extent, English, although your mileage may vary.

Any EU national can work and live freely in Lithuania. However, EU nationals spending more than 90 days over an 180-day period in Lithuania need to obtain a residence title (teisės Lietuvos Respublikoje gyventi pažymėjimas or just TLRGP). This document is issued to any EU national who can provide proof of a valid health insurance (in the form of a European Health Insurance card) and a source of sufficient income (the amount is determined based upon individual circumstances). It can be applied for at Migracijos departamentas (Department of Migration). Upon obtaining the residence title, registering your residence with the municipality of residence is mandatory within a month. This requires proof, such as a rental contract, the landlord's signature on the declaration form or an extract from the land register proving your ownership. Not all immigration officials are familiar with the procedures for EU nationals (which are much less stringent than those for non-EU nationals), therefore ask if you have doubts.

Non-EU nationals need a residence permit and a registered address for working.

The Migration Department provides its services in Lithuanian, English and Russian. Visits require registration through the web site, which is also where you can indicate what language you would like to communicate in.

As of 2021, workers in Lithuania pay 20% income tax (up to €400/month are exempt from taxes for workers earning less than approx. €2700/month) and 19.5% for health and unemployment insurance. Web sites such as Atlyginimo skaičiuoklė provide an exact breakdown.

Workers are required by law to undergo periodic health inspections if they are under 18, work shifts or during night hours, or if their workplace exposes them to certain risk factors. The latter is the case even for office jobs (risks being eye strain and carpal tunnel syndrome).

Stay safe
In general, Lithuania is a safe country. But you should take basic safety measures:

 * Take care when visiting potentially dangerous neighbourhoods at night. After dark it is safer to walk along main roads, than to take a short cut through a park or apartment complex, as these areas often have very poor lighting. Take a taxi if you are afraid of possible encounters. A thing to watch out for is bicycle theft, and it is advisable not to leave valuable things in your car.
 * As in other Eastern European countries, public displays of affection between same-gender partners such as holding hands or kissing may result in a confrontation from an onlooker. Suspicion of homosexuality may also cause problems.
 * Members of ethnic minorities, (particularly those of African descent), may experience some form of racism. This is not tolerated by the authorities and racist attacks are rare. However non-whites might be stared at by locals, especially in rural areas. More often than not this can be out of pure curiosity rather than malice. The issue of race relations, the history of slavery and civil rights are relatively unknown. That said, the presence of several Afro-American basketball players in the Lithuanian league does help and means that racism is perhaps not as big a problem as other eastern European countries.
 * Driving in Lithuania is considered dangerous according to European standards. Lithuania's rapidly expanding economy has led to an increase in traffic density, thus accident rates are high. As a pedestrian, take great care when crossing the roads, as pedestrian crossings are widely ignored. When driving be careful of aggressive, quickly going and irresponsible drivers. It's better to pass them even if they are flouting rules. Keep in mind that traffic police could be corrupt. Mind the forest roads, collisions with wildlife animals can easily occur.

Stay healthy
If bitten by a dog, wild animal or a snake, seek medical attention immediately. Snakes are not venomous in Lithuania, except for the European Viper (angis) whose bite only rarely is lethal though quite painful. A dog (šuo) or cat (katė) bite can carry the risk of rabies. Mosquitoes (uodai) carry no disease and are only an annoyance in the summer months. A forest tick (erkė) bite carries the risk of Lyme disease or encephalitis.

Tap water is suitable for drinking in many parts of Lithuania. In other areas, local people prefer to purchase bottled water or to run tap water through water filters. If you need to buy bottled water, a 5-litre bottle is not much more expensive than a one-litre bottle. Where in doubt about the tap water, seek local advice.

Mineral water is also offered in restaurants, cafés and shops, although it's a bit more expensive than tap water. Some popular brands are Birutė and Vytautas. But be warned - those are carbonated, and foreigners describe "Vytautas" as "sea water" due to its salty taste.

Respect

Lithuanians are a Baltic nation and are their own people; confusing them as Russians or anything else may cause offense or result in puzzled reactions.

Lithuanian is a notoriously difficult language to master and Lithuanians do not expect you to know it perfectly. Still, learning a few words of Lithuanian can go a long way.

Although most Lithuanians are members of the Catholic Church, Lithuanians are not ardently religious; church attendance is among one of the lowest in the world.

Societal attitudes towards Muslims, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities tend to be negative.

Lithuania was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union from the end of World War II until 1990. However, due to several historical events, including 19th century occupations by Tsarist Russia, territorial disputes with Poland in the early 20th century, and Soviet rule in the 20th century; discussions of disputes with neighboring countries can be sensitive. When referencing Lithuania in the context of the former USSR, it's essential to exercise caution as praising Soviet practices is unlikely to be appreciated by Lithuanians.

World War II and the Holocaust are emotional and sensitive topics for many Lithuanians.

Lithuanians may appear at times nationalist. Ethnic identities and local traditions might be taken very seriously. The history of the country is rife with invasions and confrontations. It is best to avoid superficial comments on sensitive topics such as World War II, Nazi occupation, and Soviet rule.

Lithuanians may appear sad, depressive (suicide rates in Lithuania are among the highest in the world), a little bit rude and suspicious. Smile at a Lithuanian in the street and most likely they will not respond in kindness. Smiling in Lithuania is traditionally reserved for friends; smile at a stranger and they will either think you're making fun of them and there's something wrong with their clothes or hairdo. Furthermore, an automatic Western smile is often regarded as insincere.

Lithuanians view friendships and relationships as long-term commitments; therefore, the journey to friendship is often a long process. Do not expect Lithuanians to open up to you that easily and do not be taken back if they do not show interest in you right away.

Women in the entire former USSR area are traditionally treated with respect. Female travellers should not act indignant when local male friends pay their bills at restaurants, open every door in front of them, offer their hand to help them climb down that little step or help them carry anything heavier than a handbag - this is not sexual harassment or being condescending.

As is the case throughout the Baltic countries, there is still widespread resentment and distrust towards Russia and Lithuanians are often stereotyped as "anti-Russian". Keep in mind that most Lithuanians have absolutely nothing against Russian people; rather, many of them only remain distrustful of the Russian government.

Anti-China sentiment is also high in Lithuania, and most Lithuanians are staunch supporters of the Taiwan independence movement. Taiwan's struggle for independence from China is seen by most Lithuanians as reminiscent of their own long and hard struggle for independence from the Soviet Union.

Land line phones
There is a monopoly operator for land line phones: TEO (it now belongs to "TeliaSonera AB"), a subsidiary of Sweden (Telia) and Finland (Sonera). Land line phones are easy to find throughout the country. Phones are used with cards, which you can find in kiosks, "TEO" or newspaper stands.

Mobile phones
There are three major mobile phone operators in Lithuania: Telia, BITE and TELE 2. About 97% of the country's surface is covered by the standard European GSM 900/1800 MHz network, the remaining 3% are non-walkable forests.

The pre-paid SIM cards you can buy in any kiosk and they are: Pildyk (Tele2), Labas (Bite) and Ežys (Telia). Pildyk has the cheapest internet, but the smallest coverage area (which should suffice unless you want to use internet in deep forests). For onward travel, only Ežys includes EU roaming allowances in its plans, while the others charge extra for this.

Getting a monthly-rate plan (if you intend to stay longer) can be difficult. As of 2021, Tele2 will not sell monthly-rate plans to foreigners (even EU citizens) unless they have a permanent residence permit. Bitė is more flexible in that respect.

If you are planning to live in Lithuania, get a plan which includes a mobile signature (mobilusis parašas). This provides you with a way to log in to virtually every government services and plenty of non-government ones (such as banking or utilities suppliers) using your phone. Being implemented as a SIM toolkit app, it works with pretty much any phone (not just smartphones) and doesn’t require you to download an app.

International calls
To call abroad from Lithuania:

 * From a land line phone: 00 Your Country Code The Number Abroad
 * From a mobile phone: + Your Country Code The Number Abroad

To call to Lithuania from abroad, dial the Lithuania country code, +370, then the number, as if calling from a domestic mobile phone. It is also often that the number is written with 8 in the beginning (i. e. 86XXXXXXX), in this case simply replace 8 with +370 to make a call.

International and roaming calls are expensive. To reduce your bill you can:

 * Buy "phone cards" for international calls
 * Talk over the Internet

Internet
If you're bringing a laptop, Wireless LAN Hot-Spots are available in distinct places (mostly "Zebra" from - TEO), sometimes free, otherwise not very cheap. Best chances of finding one are at airports, railway stations, in cafés, shopping malls, universities, various places. You can ask in your hotel, but be prepared to pay. For those who need to connect at an Internet cafes, major cities do have internet cafes. You can get free wireless Internet in Kaunas main pedestrian street, Laisvės Alėja. Download speed reaches 26.2 Mbit/s, while upload speed is 16.8 Mbit/s. The internet service that provide such speeds are not free.

With your mobile phone you can use: CSD, HSCSD, GPRS or EDGE, but the cost may be unattractive. There's 4G coverage almost everywhere in the country, except for a few spots in the countryside. If your phone is not SIM-locked, you may consider purchasing a pre-paid SIM card designed for data access.

If you want to communicate with your friends or locals using internet, you'll need Facebook Messenger. Whatsapp is not very popular here. Older generation people usually have Viber too. The most popular social websites are Facebook and Instagram. Though Facebook is being used by older people, while younger people choose Instagram.

Post office
If you see the sign "Lietuvos paštas" on a storefront, this doesn't mean it is a pasta shop! It is actually the post office where you can mail letters and packages.

title: Lithuania


text:
Lithuania Minor

Lithuania Minor is a region in Lithuania.

Towns

 * is Lithuania's third largest city.
 * is a village on the Curonian Spit near the spooky "Hill of Witches".
 * is a village among the dunes of the Spit.
 * has many interesting old buildings.

Other destinations

 * — unique sand dunes with rare flora, seaboard forest, white sand beaches and old ethnic villages
 * (German: Ruß) — town in Šilutė district, on the Rusnė Island in the Nemunas Delta, angling, birdwatching, ethnographic museum, polders

By bus
The only major city in the region is Klaipėda, which has frequent bus connections with Kaunas and Vilnius, along with other cities.

By train
Klaipėda is similarly connected to Kaunas and Vilnius by rail. As off 2023 the line goes through the north of the country, making train and bus travel to/from Vilnius take roughly the same amount of time.

By bus
The town of Nida is serviced by a bus from Klaipėda, stopping at some smaller towns along the way.

Klaipėda itself has a decent city bus system, but the network is mostly limited to the city limits.

By train
As of 2023, a daily train does travel to Šilute from Klaipėda. Since most locals own cars, it does not see much use, and often only runs with a single passenger car.

By car
Wanting to see smaller towns, the best method would be by car. There are several rental services in Klaipėda.

By ferry
Klaipėda City runs a mixed vehicle/pedestrian ferry from the city to the Curonian Spit. It runs every half-hour, and is very popular.

Private companies and individuals offer passenger service to towns on both sides of the lagoon.

title: Lithuania Minor