This Country Might Be The Best Hidden Gem In Europe (Lithuania)
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- In this video, I'll go over what you need to know about Lithuania and look at where to visit in the country. While much of what I go over is travel tips that will help you make the best of your time in Lithuania without breaking the bank, I'll also discuss what is important to know before visiting this European hidden gem.
You may not hear many people talking about Lithuania, but it's a place you definitely want to add to your bucket list. Even if you only can make time for a short trip to Vilnius, you won't regret it! Lithuania is also cheaper than most European countries and has lots of unique things to offer. I make a point of going over all the great food that you can find in Lithuania, too, so don't miss that part!
I've traveled to Lithuania dozens of times and lived there for two summers, so I've got tons of experience with the country to draw from. Summer is the popular time to visit this Baltic country, but in this video I'll show you why you might want to consider visiting during the other seasons too. My most recent trip to Lithuania was during winter, so a lot of the footage you'll see was taken during this time.
After watching this video, there's a good chance that you'll want to travel to Lithuania in the future if it's not already in your plans. So do be warned and I hope you enjoy!
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00:00 Intro
00:50 What to know about Lithuania
01:44 Lithuanian superstitions
02:28 Lithuanian food
06:54 Getting to and around Lithuania
08:03 Today's Lithuania (important history)
08:41 Vilnius
10:48 Beyond Vilnius
14:11 Places to stay and when to plan
15:28 Free things
15:48 Outro
#travel #lithuania #travelguide #budgettravel
Ačiū!!❤️ Great video, thank you!! Greetings from 🇱🇹
Thanks for watching!
Even number of flowers is not so much bad luck, just that the tradition is to place even number of flowers on graves. So you can imagine the connotation gifting 2 flowers to someone... you know... alive :D
I may or may not have almost done this once 🙊
Visiting the Hill of Witches is a must. Mystical place, nothing like that exists elsewhere in the world.
Are you talking about the one in Juodkrante? That’s a cool stop on the way to Nida.
👋Aciu for watching everybody! Out of interest, what would you like to see featured from Lithuania (or other places) in future videos?
We are planning on visiting all three of the Baltic countries in summer 2024. No flight needed, we'll drive with our car and caravan from the very West of Germany. In two weeks, new travel guide books are going to be publishes, so we haven't bought any yet.
Iki means good bye - funny, it means the number 2 in Turkish.
Funny coincidence about “iki,” thanks for sharing. That sounds like a great trip for summer 2024, and a good chance to see some of Poland on the way too!
nope iki means see you soon or be right back
Goodbye in Lithuania is Viso gero 😄
@@aurered6387 My Lithuanian is only at a moderate level, but I can say for sure that iki, ate, and viso gero can all be translated to the English word "bye." In this video I chose to keep it simple and just give a handful of Lithuanian words to get everyone started.
It does mean bye u can use it differently iki greito see you soon means. be right back means in Lithuanian - Tuoj sugrįšiu@@aurered6387
Keep making more videos about lithuania and lithuania will be proud
I’ll keep that in mind, it could be nice to show some more of Lithuania during the summer.
@@DavidGTravelsSummer is the best time to showcase Lithuania. Winter slop and gloomy skies can really paint a pretty depressing picture of the country. But if everything is covered in bright, white, fluffy snow, then life is good again.
@@dolorian_dollar Snow really makes winter nicer, right?!
Really nice video, David! Thoroughly enjoyed watching it❤
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Greetings ✌🏻 Your channel popped up while I was researching my trip to the Baltics this May. You’ve got some great advice. Thank you!
So glad to hear you found it useful, happy travels!
Very good video. Thank you 😊 Greetings from Lithuania
Glad you enjoyed it!
Good job!Thanks
Thanks for watching!
thank you for this video. will visit lithuania next summer (hopefully) and this video was insightful!
Glad it was helpful, enjoy your trip!
Thank you about talking Lithuanian history, that means a lot, cuz a lot people thinks that we are part of russia, but we hate russia and never wanted to be part of them for the stuff they did to our grandpas/grandmas sending them to Siberia to die and a lot of other bad stuff they did to our country. Latvians, Estonians hate them too almost for the same reason. Good video
Thanks for the comment :). I'm a strong believer you can find good people anywhere. But, I'm very glad to be able to visit Lithuania frequently, and I hope to a bit more a talking about it in future videos soon. 🇱🇹
Thanks mate❤
Thanks for watching!
A little remark... In lithuanian "iki" means "see ya". It is used often in friendly manner, because, if we, lithuanians, like the person, we'd like to meet him/her again later. "Viso gero" is more official way to say goodby.
Aciu!
I've been to Vilnius on a business trip 3 weeks ago, and liked very much. The airline I'm working for now is from Lithuania, therefore, I will probably have more opportunities to return, hopefully.
Cool to hear! Which airline are you with?
@@DavidGTravels Avion Express, which is opening a branch here in Brazil.
By the way, you mentioned the surname Litvac on your video...is this your surname?
Cool, no with Litvak I was just referring the group of Lithuanian Jewish people that brought a lot of their traditions over to the Americas.
Na tai gražūs žodžiai 😊😊😊
Those words are beautiful ❤❤❤
Ačiū labai!
Superb approach to make videos
So nice of you, glad you enjoyed it!
You won a bed under my roof if in need cause of sūreliai :) nice video mr. David, appreciate it. Love from Lithuania
Awesome! Thank you!
Ha! "Place where it rains a lot". I was drenched in horizontal rain in Vilnius last summer but loved the place.
It's just got a certain charm!
Weather in Lithuania is very unstable, so you need to prepare for changeable weather.
I'm from Lithuania, so I know what I'm talking about
@@PauliusMGthanks for sharing!
Yes, changing quickly.But still very seasonable.Winter,Spring,Summer, Fall have their features represented in the full spectrum.
Nice!🎉🙈🇱🇹
Thanks!
it does NOT mean place were rains a lot it means place were there is a lot of little rivers all over Lithuania
Interesting interpretation, thanks for sharing!
❤ HELLO SIR, U DID GREAT VEDIOE'S , RESPECT 🙏 U AND GOD BLESS ALL OF U'R FAMILY, FROM SURANGA ( SRILANKA )
So nice of you
RESPECT ❤ U SIR, GREAT 👍 JOB KEEP IT UP GOD BLESS YOU AND ALL OF 🙏 U'R FAMILY SIR, FROM ( SURANGA ) , SRILANKA
Thanks!
Hi from Lithuanian 😁 nice video and for Bye or goodbye say better 'Viso gero or Ate" xD because 'iki" means see you soon or be right back
Thanks! 😃
Not Ate,but atia.
@@DavidGTravels
You can enter Lithuania from Denmark by plane or any other European country to Palanga airport.Then either to rent the car after you come or there are taxis (50 eu from Palanga to Klaipeda)or busses to Klaipeda( they are cheaper).There are also the flights from Europe to Kaunas airport.
Kaunas and Palanga are very underserved airports with few flights and mostly high fares. Most arrivals are to VNO.
And by the way, there is decent public transport between Palanga, Palanga Airport, and Klaipeda for around 5 euros.
I’m only interested in a Lithuanian woman. I had one and she was the sweetest girl I have ever encountered. Love from London
Really?
Ačiū im a lithuanian and ur making my country more popular
I hope so!
@@DavidGTravels same
Greetings from Canada thanks for sharing this video I'm interested in train travel throughout Europe according to Rick steves from the United States Europe through the backdoor, what's the currency the euro €
Hey there, thanks for commenting! Lithuania has some nice train routes, the Trakai and Klaipeda train routes I mentioned in the video are nice. There’s also the route that goes up to Visaginas that I haven’t had the chance to take yet. And then they just opened up a new route to Riga last month, so that could be useful.
A lot of towns only have bus service, so train travel is not quite as prominent as in some other European countries.
You can find Saltibarsciai all year round, no wrong time for saltibarsciai 😂
I like that attitude, but my experience trying to find saltibarsciai in the winter tells me different 😂
I traveled many countries in Europe. To me the best are where people are nice
My favorite are: Lithuania the people are friendly girls and guys. Croatia the people are very nice girls and guys alike.
Poland the guys are not very friendly, but the girls are very friendly and easy to make friends. Those are the best countries to visit in Europe. Go where you are treated best.
Nice
Lietuva meaning "the place where it rains" is a colloqual etymology. It's more likely to mean "floodlands".
Thanks for sharing
He even said Hi in Lithuania which shows how good this country is
Does it?
Ačiū i love IN lithuania
Great and throughout video. As a lithuanian I can confirm no lies were told in this video. Although I would really reccomend coming here only during may-semptember as other months as clearly in his video are quite depressing, rainy, wet and muddy. Decemeber and around christmas it can be also nice if it happens to snow a lot and you're up for winter snowy christmas vibe, but be prepared with proper winter clothes, scarf, hat, gloves etc. as it can get to -15c-20c sometimes
Thanks for watching! Agree that summer is a nice time to visit, and stay tuned for more Lithuania and other travel videos.
I lived in uk for 6 years and as a lithuanian I didnt get the joke about english weather at all. Compared to Lt, Uk is all clear and sunshine. At least east coast imo. But yeah summers are nice and winters used to be nice. Now we get a snowy weak or two then back to mud and broken bones.
@@xEroxSennin I guess you could basically categorize all of Northern Europe as relatively cloudy 🤷♂
Dont go to Klaipeda [if you have limited time], go to Palanga instead. Klaipeda is just regular city, while Palanga is for tourists/attractions based city. Also very unique is Juodkrante, Nida. To get there you will need to take ferry
I find Klaipeda and Nida a lot more interesting than Palanga, but I think this can be good advice depending on what someone is interested in.
I live in užupis, the “indipendence” thing is more of a symbolic gag rather than how the government and local authorities actually interact 😁 the idea was modelled after christiania in denmark, but christiania has a lot more legitimate indipendence from the city of copenhagen as they can sell grass there without police interferring. uzupis never reached that level of self-organisation as christiania. sadly. the artist population in uzupis and nida are large because the art academy is right next to uzupis, a lot of art galleries there, whereas nida is where the all the artists from the academy do their practice there officially. ive studied there so im giving you inside info😁
Thanks for sharing, super cool to read and I’m sure other folks reading through comments will find this helpful! Užupis and Nida are two my absolute favorite places in Lithuania.
@@DavidGTravels if you go to nida during the period when the academy is doing the practises for their students (especially the students of the new multimedia cathedral aka the “titanic”: the photographers, animators, etc.) you can go to the academy’s buildings where the artists live during the day and im 100% sure you’d be able to interact with the practising artists there, get to hang around, get content and perhaps even party. heck, i remember when i was there, there were always other people who were hanging about and making friends with us who weren’t from the academy, especially interesting foreigners. it was pretty wild. the academy had a lot of crazed artist party-heads when i was there, and i don’t think it has changed. if you get in on the lecturers and profs. good graces by for example making content about the academy while there, or generally with some kind of artistic endavour and good vibes, they are likely to welcome you. here’s to hoping thing haven’t gotten stricter since i left, but i seriously doubt it.
Sartai looks nice, I've driven near it but haven't had the chance to visit yet. Thanks for the tip!
Even nunber flowers are more for funerals and graves rather than bad luck.
Interesting tradition!
❤Aciu.
Nėra už ką!
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Well, that's a bit of shame that you didn't visit Kaunas. You were pretty close.
Hey thanks for the comment. I actually have visited Kaunas a few times, it’s nice and I even have some family roots in Kaunas! I mention it later on in the video along with Rumšiškės if you didn’t see that part.
@@DavidGTravels Oh well, my bad here. I was watching it fast.
i am lithuanian and i can say its easy to learn english if u are lithuaniaan
I wish it was easier to learn Lithuanian for English speakers though 😂
When I was in Estonia, I was told that whistling inside is considered rude. Is that true for other baltic countries?
I didn’t know that, would love to hear if that’s a thing in Lithuania too.
@@DavidGTravels Yea it applies to lithuania too. Whistling inside the house means you're inviting devil to your house or your house will be emptied. Although those superstitions exists in modern times it's nothing more than something people just know. It's just sort of funny thing to mention, but not to be worried about. Probably grandmas in their 70s or something only care about such things
@@DavidGTravelsYes thats a thing 😃 My parents and almost every other person will tell you "Its not the forest" or "Go to the forest if you want to whistle" 😁 Im not entirely sure but its probably because hunters in the forest would scream and whistle 😁
@@gustasraupys6331wow, that’s interesting to know! I’m lucky then because I can’t whistle 😂
There is a superstition in Russian and Latvian culture "if you whistle inside a house you are going to loose money" (don't know who picked it from who). I have heard Lithuanian brothers have something similar but it was not related to money but some other thing. Don't know if it's true though
what about Gira drink? It is my favorite - better than Coke.
I like it alright
Kaunas most know city in Lithuania because there is Kauno Zalgiris.
Love Kaunas!
I was there 2 years ago as a female solo traveller. Sadly i couldn't experience much of the country because everything was closed and there where no tours available because it was orthodox Easter. I should of done my research before flying to Vilnius. :( I will be back soon though, thanks to cheap Ryanair flights haha.
Really? I’ve been in Lithuania during orthodox holidays and never even noticed at all as it’s just a small minority celebrating them.
We do not close on orthodox easter. You probably mix something. Lithuania is a christian country.
Greek orthodox or Russian orthodox?They are Christian too.Lithuania is 80 % catholic.Orthodox Easter is different times.Sometimes they come together.Just google around before you come to Lithuania.
Maybe it was closed off because of quarantine
It's not a hidden gem Ryanair and wizz air have flown there for years
Interesting point of view, thanks for commenting. Wizzair and Ryanair have two of the largest route networks in Europe, so it would be surprising if they didn't cover the capital city of any EU country really.
Of course the term hidden gem is pretty subjective. But I think based on most interpretations of it, it's a pretty accurate term to apply to Lithuania. And as shown in the video, Lithuania has got a lot of cool stuff to offer that's not well known.
I not need too go too Lithuania becouse im Lithuanian🇱🇹🇱🇹🇱🇹🇱🇹
How do you like living in Lithuania?
wait, you guys pay for bread?
Not usually, that's just me being... me.
Iki "means "iki pasimatymo".English: see you later.Short "Iki".See you.
English synonym: "Bye"
David has chosen the worst season of a year to make this "publicity" for the country. Looking at the puddles and an overcast and rainy sky, you don't want to go there at all. By the way, I am Lithuanian myself. But I do not thank him for showing the country this way.
This isn't an ad or publicity. I just wanted to show people Lithuania during the winter, which I think can be good time to visit. I'll likely show more of Lithuania during summer in another video down the line.
I am from lithuania ne means no😂
Welcome to my channel!
Very expensive country
Really?
@@DavidGTravels if you go on summer time to palanga, you will see, dinner over 100 e. It's crazy
@@robirobi7300 ah okay, Palanga during the summer is really representative of normal prices in Lithuania
Brudda that’s for you cheap not for us 😅😅😅 for us it’s pretty expensive hahah
As a frequent visitor to Lithuania, the increase in prices with inflation has really been noticeable. Just to take a tiny example, the surelis price I show in the video is almost one euro - three years ago it was about 40 cents. Thanks for checking out the video!
@@DavidGTravels It's why I think it doesn't make sense to advertise Lithuania as a low-cost destination anymore. Usually it's done exclusively by people who lived in Lithuania in the late 2000s, like the Wolters World guy (who still claims we earn an average of 300 euros a month in 2024 because he lived here 20 years ago). I'm told by acquaintances that food and things like clothes are cheaper in Germany. The world has moved on and most of these past experiences are long past relevant.
@@PijusONLINE Fair points for sure, but I'd still consder Lithuania to be a lower-cost destination as far as EU countries go. I find Germany to still be signficantly more expensive than Lithuania for nearly every kind of cost - you could roughly say that the difference in costs between the two countries didn't change that much in the past few years as inflation drove up prices in both countries.
I can't really comment about the guy you referred to, but all the prices I share in this video are based on my last trip there this winter. And for sure the minimum salary isn't currently 300 euros a month. Thanks for the comment!
There are NO Baltic States, Only Baltic COUNTRIES. Lithuania was a kingdom once. They were all Ruzzia's Baltic states for a short time. That title is no longer appropriate, and really never was. There are many other countries bordering the Baltic sea which have never been called "states" They are: Denmark, Finland, Germany, , Poland, and Sweden. No need to call any of them "states".
Interesting opinion. In English state and country are pretty interchangeable terms and Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonian are commonly referred to as the Baltic states in academic settings.
Lithuanian language is the oldest in the😊 world not Europe!
It is one of the oldest languages currently spoken in Europe, but not in the world. Euskera (Basque) is likely the oldest currently spoken language in Europe.
not judging but the pronunciations ARGH IT MAKES ME MAD
really?
3:08 ''spirigucchi''? Sounds like Italiano 🤌
There are a few Lithuanian words that always remind of Italian, too, like pomodoras.
@@DavidGTravels Va bene, amico, ti prendevo solo in giro.🥸
It's actually 'spirguchiai'
“Spirgučiai” that’s not Gucci, but like gold on top of “Cepelinai”😌😛
lmao "spirigucchi" 🤌, even funnier when reading in Italian accent, I'm stealing that. The Lithuanian spelling is "spirgučiai" though and when pronounced correctly it doesn't sound too Italian.