Trip Planning
The TakeYourBackpack guidebooks are your all-in-one travel companion, featuring the best cities, national parks, hikes, beaches, and unique sites, along with essential tips on when to go, how to get around, exchanging money, and even local phrases to get you started — everything you need for a smooth, unforgettable backpacking adventure.
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Planning a backpacking route through Lithuania can be tricky — you need to balance must-see places, travel times, budget, and how long to stay in each destination. Our free personalized Lithuania itinerary planner creates a route based on your travel style, trip duration, and interests, so you can spend less time researching and more time exploring.
Personal tip: I normally search on good rating for atmosphere (for meeting people) and location (for easy exploring). Cleanliness as a bonus.
Travel Essentials
No vaccinations are required to enter Lithuania. Make sure your routine vaccines are up to date, including measles-mumps-rubella, tetanus and diphtheria. Hepatitis A is often recommended for travelers. If you plan to hike or camp in forests between spring and autumn, consider the tick-borne encephalitis vaccine, because ticks are common in Lithuania.
vaccination requirementsWhen I first started traveling, I often spent part of my first day in a new country hunting for a local SIM card. While this can still be slightly cheaper, it also takes time and planning.
These days, it's much simpler to install an eSIM before leaving home. Once you arrive in Lithuania, you can activate it immediately and have mobile data from the moment you land — which is especially useful for ordering transport or navigating away from busy airports.
There are many providers nowadays, and price differences are usually small. I personally go with
Holafly, as it offers excellent network coverage throughout the country and strong global coverage, so you can manage multiple countries from a single app.
HolaFly eSimCulture & Customs
Lithuanians come across as reserved at first, so keep your voice low on public transport and don’t take the lack of small talk with strangers personally. If invited into a home, take off your shoes at the door and bring something small, such as chocolate, wine or flowers. Always give an odd number of stems, because even numbers are reserved for funerals. Don’t shake hands across a doorway, as many people still consider it bad luck. At toasts, make eye contact and say “į sveikatą.” Dress modestly in churches, behave quietly in cemeteries, and avoid casual jokes about the Soviet occupation, which remains a painful subject for many families. Women are unlikely to face issues specific to their gender, while same-sex couples may want to keep affection low-key outside central Vilnius.
Trying traditional food is always a great way to experience the culture. Here are some must-try dishes for Lithuania.
- Cepelinai: These are large, zeppelin-shaped dumplings of grated potato filled with minced pork or curd cheese. They come smothered in sour cream and crispy bacon bits. They are Lithuania’s heavyweight national dish and a fixture of family Sundays.
- Šaltibarščiai: This shocking-pink cold beet soup is made with kefir, cucumber and dill, and it is served with hot boiled potatoes on the side. It is the taste of Lithuanian summer, and Vilnius even holds a festival in its honor.
- Kibinai: These half-moon pastries are stuffed with mutton, beef or vegetables. They come from the Karaim community of Trakai and are best eaten fresh from the oven there.
- Kugelis (bulvių plokštainis): This is a dense baked potato pudding with bacon and onion, cut into squares and topped with sour cream. It is a classic of home cooking and village gatherings.
- Kepta duona: These are strips of dark rye bread fried in oil, rubbed with garlic and often served with a cheese dip. They are the bar snack Lithuanians order with beer.
- Juoda duona: This dense, slightly sour black rye bread appears at nearly every meal. Bread is treated with respect, and wasting it is frowned upon.
- Šakotis: This spiky “tree cake” is baked layer by layer on a rotating spit over open heat. It is the centerpiece of weddings and big celebrations.
Tap water in Lithuania is safe to drink, and most locals drink it straight from the tap. It comes from underground aquifers rather than rivers, so it tastes clean, although it is quite hard and mineral-rich. Tourists don’t need bottled water in the cities, though people staying in rural houses with private wells may prefer filtered or bottled water.
The main language in Lithuania is
Lithuanian. Backpacking is way more rewarding if you know a bit of the local language, so I'd suggest brushing up on the basics just in case your Lithuanian skills have become a bit rusty.
Want to understand locals better?The complete Travel Guide for Lithuania includes 52 essential words and phrases — greetings, thank-yous, ordering food, transport, numbers, and common local expressions you'll actually hear.
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Get the Travel Guide - In Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda you can get by in
English without much trouble, and staff in hostels, cafés and museums usually speak it well. Most Lithuanians under about 40 learned it at school. In villages and among older people, Russian is far more common, and it remains the most useful second language across Lithuania. Download Google Translate’s offline Lithuanian pack and learn “ačiū” (thank you) and “labas” (hello), which earn warm smiles.
Money & Payments
The local currency of Lithuania is EUR (€).
Lithuania uses the euro, and ATMs are easy to find in every city and most towns, especially bank-branded ones from Swedbank, SEB and Luminor. These usually charge no local fee, although your home bank may still add its own. Avoid Euronet machines, which charge around €3 to 5 per withdrawal and push unfavorable conversion rates, and always choose to be charged in euros rather than your home currency. Contactless card payments work almost everywhere, including supermarkets, city transport apps, hostels and most cafés. Carry some cash for farmers’ markets, small rural guesthouses and the occasional village shop. Bring euros or a card rather than US dollars, and if you need to exchange cash, use a bank or a licensed exchange office in a city center, never an airport kiosk or anyone on the street.
Tipping in Lithuania is appreciated but modest, and around 10% is standard in sit-down restaurants when service was good. In cafés and bars, rounding up the bill or leaving a euro or two is plenty. Taxi and Bolt drivers don’t expect tips, and card machines often let you add one at payment.
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Over the years, I've learned the importance of packing minimally. It's so much easier to jump on the back of a truck or squeeze yourself into the last spot of a minibus without that supersized backpack. If you're headed to a warm destination, leave your winter jacket at home; for colder regions, opt for thin thermal underlayers. Instead of packing your entire wardrobe, bring just three sets of clothes, as laundry facilities are available everywhere.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.