Gediminas Tower Vilnius: Tickets, Funicular, Hours and Upper Castle

💡 The Short Version: Gediminas Tower (Gedimino pilies bokštas) is the surviving red-brick redoubt of Vilnius Upper Castle, perched 48 metres above the city atop Castle Hill. An adult ticket is €8.00 and a concession ticket is €4.00 (National Museum of Lithuania). The tower is open daily from 10:00 to 20:00, with last tickets sold 30 minutes before closing. The funicular from the inner courtyard of the Old Arsenal costs €2 one way and €3 return, but you can also walk up the cobbled path for free in about 10 minutes. Or book a tour: Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guide & Chocolatead (from €21, 4.9 stars from 26 reviews) is a 2.5-hour Old Town walk with a local guide, which puts the hill in the context of the streets below it.

⚠️ Free on the last Sunday of the month. Admission to Gediminas Tower is free for everyone on that day. Arrive at 10:00, because queues form on the hilltop terrace by midday.

Ticket prices and concessions

The National Museum of Lithuania (Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus) runs the tower. Buy tickets at the box office on the tower’s ground floor or at the lower funicular ticket office. Advance booking is rarely needed outside peak summer weekends, but the queue inside can move slowly because the entrance doorway is narrow.

Concessions apply to school pupils and university students holding a valid Lithuanian student card (LSP) or international student identity card (ISIC), as well as senior citizens from EU and EEA member states. The Historical Triangle ticket saves €4.00 compared to buying individual tickets if you also intend to explore the Castellan’s House (Pilininko namas) and the Old Arsenal (Senasis arsenalas) at the base of the hill. Remember that the auxiliary branch museums are closed on Mondays from September to May, whereas Gediminas Tower remains open seven days a week year-round.

The official Vilnius Pass grants free admission to the tower; present your digital pass QR code at the reception counter for a printed entry ticket.

The Castle Hill funicular track to Gediminas’ Tower. Photo: Matka voi alkaa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Opening hours and best time to visit

The tower is open daily. Last tickets are sold and last entry is admitted 30 minutes before closing time each day (National Museum of Lithuania).

Go in the opening hour (10:00 to 11:00), when the morning sun lights Cathedral Square below, or about an hour before sunset. In midsummer the sun sets after 21:30, after the tower has closed; from November to February it sets between 16:00 and 17:00, so you can watch the city go dark from the roof.

Fog and low cloud can roll off the Neris in November and December and cut visibility to under 200 metres. Look up at the tower from Cathedral Square before you climb: if the tricolour flag on the mast is lost in mist, come back in the afternoon.

Getting up Castle Hill: funicular or walking path

Castle Hill (Gedimino kalnas) is 142 metres above sea level and 48 metres above the Neris River basin. There are two ways up:

1. The walking path: A cobbled path wraps round the northern and western flanks of the hill, starting near the Vilnia footbridge behind the Cathedral and Bernardine Gardens. It takes about 10 minutes. The river-stone paving is slick when wet and icy in winter, so wear shoes with grip. The path is free and open 24 hours a day, even when the tower is closed.
2. The funicular: It is in the courtyard of the Old Arsenal at Arsenalo g. 3 and climbs the steep northern slope on a short inclined track, covering the 71-metre incline in under a minute. A single ticket is €2 and a return is €3, sold at the machines and the attended counter in the lower pavilion.

The funicular runs daily from 10:00 to 20:00 and is suspended in strong winds, heavy snow or maintenance.

Upper Castle defensive ruins on Castle Hill. Photo: Bernt Rostad from Oslo, Norway, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Tours and guided walks

A tower ticket covers the museum and the roof platform. A guided walk adds the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and how this hill defended the river crossings against the Teutonic Order.

Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guide & Chocolate

From €21 · 4.9 stars from 26 reviews · 2.5 hours · local guide and chocolate tasting

Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guide & Chocolatead: a walk through the Old Town led by a local, covering the city’s history, everyday life and hidden corners, with chocolate as part of the tour.

Vilnius: Hidden Courtyards and Lost City Walking Tour

From €25 · 5.0 stars from 8 reviews · 2.5 hours · secret courtyards and passages

Vilnius: Hidden Courtyards and Lost City Walking Tourad: a guided route through the Old Town’s secret courtyards and passages, looking for traces of the lost city and hidden art.

Vilnius: Private Walking Tour with a Local

From €48 · 4.7 stars from 88 reviews · 2 to 6 hours · private walk with a local

Vilnius: Private Walking Tour with a Localad: a private walk with a local guide, shaped around your interests. Duration runs from 2 to 6 hours.

Official ticket or tour: the prices side by side

What to see inside the tower and on Castle Hill

The red-brick octagonal tower you see today is the western tower of the Upper Castle, originally reinforced in stone and brick by Grand Duke Vytautas after a catastrophic fire in 1419. The hill itself has been fortified since the Neolithic era, with wooden palisades established in the 9th century.

1. The Ground Floor Foundations: As you step inside, notice the immense granite boulder footings beneath the Gothic brickwork. Exhibition cases display archaeological artefacts recovered during excavations on the hilltop, including 14th-century crossbow quarrels, iron cannonballs, and decorative stove tiles bearing the Lithuanian Vytis (chasing knight) coat of arms.
2. The Castle Development Models: The second and third levels feature detailed architectural scale models tracing the transformation of the Vilnius castle complex from the 14th to the 17th century. You can observe how the Upper Castle once formed an interconnected fortress system with the Lower Castle (today’s Palace of the Grand Dukes) and the Crooked Castle on Bleak Hill (today’s Three Crosses Monument).
3. The Baltic Way Exhibition: A dedicated historical display commemorates the Baltic Way (Baltijos kelias). On 23 August 1989, approximately two million people joined hands across 675 kilometres connecting Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn in peaceful protest against Soviet occupation. The human chain originated right here at the foot of Gediminas Tower. UNESCO inscribed the documentation of the Baltic Way into the Memory of the World Register in 2009.
4. The Observation Deck: The open crenellated roof has the national flag mast, where the Lithuanian yellow-green-red tricolour was first hoisted on 1 January 1919 by Lithuanian volunteers. Looking south and west you see the red-tiled baroque roofs, the white colonnade of Vilnius Cathedral and the bell tower of St John’s Church at Vilnius University. To the north, across the Neris River, are the glass towers of the Šnipiškės business district.

View from Gediminas Tower. Photo: Nenea hartia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Practical visiting rules

• Stairs and Accessibility: The interior climb to the viewing platform involves 78 narrow stone and metal steps. The staircase is tight, so take care when descending. Wheelchairs and strollers can access the grounds and ramparts around the tower via the funicular, but the interior tower floors cannot accommodate wheelchairs.
• Luggage and Cloakroom: Large backpacks, suitcases, and bulky sporting gear are not permitted inside the tower. There are small security lockers near the ground-floor ticket desk, but space is limited. Leave bulky baggage at your hotel or at Vilnius Central Railway Station lockers.
• Photography: Personal non-commercial photography without flash or tripods is permitted throughout the museum and on the roof deck. Drones are strictly prohibited around Castle Hill without written permission from the civil aviation authority and the museum administration.
• Weather: Castle Hill is exposed to wind down the Neris valley, and the roof platform is cooler than the street even in summer. Bring an extra layer in spring and autumn.

What to see next

• Vilnius Cathedral and Bell Tower: At the western foot of the hill, with the royal crypts.
• Palace of the Grand Dukes: The rebuilt Renaissance palace and excavated medieval foundations beside the castle gate.
• Three Crosses Monument: Cross the footbridge over the Vilnia River into Kalnų Park for a second hilltop view.
• Vilnius in 1 or 2 Days: Where Castle Hill fits in a 24- or 48-hour plan.
• Vilnius city guide: All our Vilnius guides.