1At a glance
Everything you need to decide if this is the trip, before you read all eight days.
| Category | Cost for two | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Flights (CPH↔VNO) | €400 | SAS direct, economy, booked ~2 months out |
| Hotels (7 nights) | €750 | 3–4★ boutique, Vilnius / Kaunas / Nida |
| Car hire + fuel + ferry | €280 | 4 days, Kaunas pickup → Vilnius airport drop-off |
| Food (all meals + 1 splurge) | €740 | Casual lunches, hearty dinners, one Michelin tasting menu |
| Activities & entries | €140 | Castles, museums, dune park fee |
| Total | ~€2,310 | ~€1,155 per person |
2Getting there & around
Fly nonstop, train to Kaunas, then rent wheels for the coast.
CPH → Vilnius flight options
Curiosity: Ryanair doesn't fly CPH–Vilnius, but does fly CPH direct into Kaunas (KUN) — a genuine open-jaw option if you'd rather start the trip on the coast side and end in Vilnius. This itinerary keeps it simple and flies both ways through Vilnius.
Getting around
Vilnius ↔ Kaunas: LTG Link trains run roughly hourly, 1h–1h40m, from about €10 second class. No car needed — Old Town to Old Town is easier by rail than by road.
Kaunas → Klaipėda → Curonian Spit: here a hire car earns its keep. Kaunas–Klaipėda is a straight 2h drive; Klaipėda to the Spit requires the Smiltynė car ferry (about every 20–30 min in season, ~€23 return for a car with driver and passengers), since there's no bridge — the Spit is only reachable by ferry or from the Kaliningrad (Russian) side, which this trip doesn't cross into. Once on the Spit, driving down to Nida takes ~45 minutes and passes the Neringa National Park vehicle checkpoint (local environmental fee applies, collected at the Alksnynė control post).
Car hire: pick up a compact/mid-size in Kaunas (Sixt, Europcar, Green Motion all operate there) for ~€35–45/day including basic insurance, and drop it at Vilnius Airport on the way to the flight home. Lithuania drives on the right — identical to Denmark, no adjustment needed. Roads are good, tolls are minimal, fuel runs slightly cheaper than in Denmark.
3Day by day
Vilnius (3 nights) → Kaunas (1 night) → Nida / Curonian Spit (2 nights) → Vilnius (1 night) → fly home.
Morning
Fly SAS direct CPH→VNO (e.g. 08:00–10:30). Bolt taxi into the Old Town (~15 min, ~€15 — skip the unofficial taxi touts at arrivals). Drop bags at the hotel, coffee to reset.
Afternoon
Walk Cathedral Square, go inside the white neoclassical Vilnius Cathedral, then ride the funicular up to Gediminas' Tower for the red-roof panorama over Old Town — the single best orientation view in the city.
Evening
Wander down Pilies gatvė, the Old Town's main artery, past amber shops and street musicians, before dinner.
Morning
Deeper Old Town loop: St. Anne's Church (the Gothic brick facade Napoleon reportedly wanted to carry home), Vilnius University's historic courtyards, and the secondhand-book charm of Literatų gatvė, where dozens of small artworks honour Lithuanian writers.
Afternoon
Cross the footbridge into Užupis, Vilnius's self-declared "independent republic" — read the tongue-in-cheek 41-article constitution posted on the wall (mirrors in multiple languages), browse artist studios, photograph the bronze Užupis Angel.
Evening
Back across the river for the trip's one true splurge — book ahead.
Morning
Bus from Vilnius bus station to Trakai (~35 min, ~€2, departs every 30–60 min — no car needed). Walk the lakeside causeway out to Trakai Island Castle, the red-brick 14th-century fortress on Lake Galvė, restored as the History Museum with medieval armor and coin collections.
Afternoon
Rent a pedalo or take a short boat ride on the lake for the classic castle-from-the-water photo. Visit the small Karaim ethnographic exhibit — Trakai has been home to the Crimean Karaim community since the 14th century, and their wooden houses with three street-facing windows (for God, the family, and the Grand Duke) still line the main street.
Evening
Bus back to Vilnius by early evening; keep dinner easy in the Old Town.
Morning
LTG Link train Vilnius→Kaunas (~1h05, hourly, ~€10). Check into the hotel, then walk Kaunas Old Town: the Town Hall ("White Swan"), Kaunas Castle ruins at the river confluence, and Vytautas the Great Church.
Afternoon
Walk the 1.6km Laisvės Alėja pedestrian boulevard into Naujamiestis, the heart of Kaunas's UNESCO-listed interwar modernist architecture — over 1,500 buildings from the 1918–1940 period when Kaunas was Lithuania's temporary capital. Pick up the rental car here (Sixt/Europcar in town or at Kaunas Airport).
Evening
Hunt Kaunas's famous street art in Žaliakalnis and around the Old Town — look for the recurring funky cat motif that's become a city mascot — before dinner.
Morning
Drive Kaunas → Klaipėda (~2h). Stroll Klaipėda's small half-timbered Old Town and Theatre Square, where Hitler gave his 1939 annexation speech — now marked by the Ann statue and a fountain.
Afternoon
Load the car onto the Smiltynė car ferry (every 20–30 min in season, ~15 min crossing) — the only way onto the Curonian Spit from the Lithuanian mainland. Pay the Neringa National Park vehicle fee at the Alksnynė checkpoint, then drive down the Spit (~45 min) to Nida, watching pine forest give way to the first dune views.
Evening
Check in, then walk straight to the Parnidis Dune for sunset over the Curonian Lagoon — one of the best light shows in the Baltics.
Morning
Climb the Parnidis Dune sundial for daylight views over the "Dead Dunes" — a lunar, treeless expanse of drifting sand that swallowed several villages in the 19th century. Nearby: the Thomas Mann Memorial House, the writer's modest 1930 summer cottage.
Afternoon
Walk or cycle Nida village — the wooden fishermen's houses with carved weathervane crests (each once marked a family's fishing rights on the lagoon), the small Amber Gallery-Museum, and the yacht marina.
Evening
Second dinner on the Spit — go all-fish this time.
Morning
One last dune walk or a slow coffee by the lagoon before the drive. Ferry back across at Smiltynė, then the long haul to Vilnius (~4h driving, or split it with a lunch stop in Kaunas, adding ~30 min).
Afternoon
Drop the rental car at Vilnius Airport (or a downtown branch if returning the next morning suits your flight time better) and taxi back into the Old Town for one last night.
Evening
Slow last evening — no agenda beyond a good final dinner.
Morning
Free morning — the Halė covered market for last-minute amber, honey, and rye bread; or a final coffee on Pilies gatvė.
Afternoon
SAS direct flight VNO→CPH, home by early evening.
4Where you sleep
Three bases, all boutique, all walkable to what matters.
Shakespeare Boutique Hotel — Vilnius (4 nights)
A 17th-century palace two minutes from Cathedral Square, each room named for a writer and furnished with antiques and curated books. Old Town location covers days 1–3 and the return night 7.
Daugirdas Old City Hotel — Kaunas (1 night)
4★, right on Kaunas Old Town square — walk to the castle, the cathedral, and Laisvės Alėja without needing the car yet.
Vila Kastytis — Nida (2 nights)
Small, family-run guesthouse a short walk from the harbour and the Parnidis Dune trailhead — private parking for the hire car, quiet residential Nida street.
5Dinner highlights
If you only remember six meals from the week, make it these.
€€€€ · ~€110pp
€€€ · ~€45pp
€€ · ~€20pp
€€ · ~€15pp
€€ · ~€12pp
€€ · ~€25pp
6Budget breakdown
Honest ballpark for two, mid-range comfortable, shoulder season.
| Item | Detail | Cost (2 people) |
|---|---|---|
| Flights | SAS direct CPH↔VNO, economy | €400 |
| Hotels | 4 nights Vilnius + 1 Kaunas + 2 Nida | €750 |
| Car hire | 4 days, compact, incl. basic insurance | €180 |
| Fuel | Kaunas–Klaipėda–Nida–Vilnius loop | €60 |
| Ferry & park fee | Smiltynė car ferry return + Neringa vehicle fee | €40 |
| Food — casual meals | ~13 lunches/dinners across the week | €520 |
| Food — splurge dinner | Nineteen18 tasting menu for two | €220 |
| Activities & entries | Gediminas Tower, KGB Museum, Trakai Castle, Kaunas museums | €140 |
| Total | ~€2,310 | |