Kaunas Day Trip from Vilnius: Trains, Interwar Modernism, Museums and Castle

In this guide

Kaunas is Lithuania’s second-largest city, roughly 100 kilometres west of Vilnius at the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers. Vilnius has baroque domes and medieval alleys; Kaunas has two other layers: a fourteenth-century castle that faced Teutonic attacks, and the years from 1920 to 1939, when it was Lithuania’s temporary capital (Laikinoji sostinė).

When Polish forces seized Vilnius in October 1920, the Lithuanian government, ministries, embassies and universities moved to Kaunas for nearly two decades. Lithuanian architects trained in Paris, Berlin and Rome built hundreds of residential, administrative and cultural buildings that blend Bauhaus functionalism with folk motifs. In September 2023, this architectural legacy was inscribed onto the UNESCO World Heritage List under the title “Modernist Kaunas: Architecture of Optimism, 1919–1939”.

Kaunas Town Hall, locally nicknamed the White Swan. Photo: Guillaume Speurt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

How to travel from Vilnius to Kaunas

The train is quicker than the coach.

Train journeys with LTG Link

• Departs: Vilnius Central Railway Station (Vilniaus geležinkelio stotis).
• Arrives: Kaunas Central Railway Station (Kauno geležinkelio stotis, M. K. Čiurlionio g. 16).
• Duration: Express electric double-decker trains make the journey in 70 to 85 minutes.
• Frequency: Trains depart roughly every 30 to 60 minutes from 05:30 to 22:30 daily.
• Tickets: Book in advance at ltglink.lt or via their mobile application to secure assigned seats during Friday afternoon and Sunday evening commuter peaks.
• From Kaunas station into town: The station sits at the southern end of the central district. Walk 10 minutes down Vytauto prospektas to the start of Laisvės alėja, or board trolleybus 1, 5, 7, 14, or 15 directly to the Old Town.

Buses from Vilnius Central Bus Station

• Regional coaches depart Vilnius Central Bus Station (Sodų g. 22) every 15 to 20 minutes.
• Travel time is 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes depending on traffic along the A1 highway.

Exploring Kaunas Old Town

From the western end of Laisvės alėja, cross Vilniaus street into the pedestrianised heart of Senamiestis (Kaunas Old Town).

Pedestrianised Vilniaus street running through Kaunas Old Town. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Vilniaus Street (Vilniaus gatvė)

Vilniaus street is the main pedestrian street of Kaunas Old Town, paved with stone cobbles and lined with sixteenth- to nineteenth-century merchant houses, shops, cafes and bakeries. It links the interwar New Town to Town Hall Square.

Town Hall Square (Rotušės aikštė)

Kaunas Town Hall (Kauno rotušė) is known locally as the “White Swan” (Baltoji gulbė) for its slender 53-metre white tower. Reconstructed in the eighteenth century, it once housed the magistrate, courts and treasury, and today holds the Kaunas City Museum exhibitions and civic ceremonies.

Landmarks around the square include:

• House of Perkūnas (Perkūno namas, Aleksoto g. 6): A late-fifteenth-century brick Gothic merchants’ house built by Hanseatic traders. Legend says an eternal pagan flame to Perkūnas, the Baltic god of thunder, burned here before Christianisation.
• Vytautas the Great Church of the Assumption: On the bank of the Nemunas, this red-brick Gothic church was commissioned around 1400 by Grand Duke Vytautas after he survived drowning at the Battle of the Vorskla River.

The restored round defensive tower of Kaunas Castle at the river confluence. Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Kaunas Castle (Kauno pilis)

Kaunas Castle stands just north of Town Hall Square in Santakos Park, where the Nemunas and Neris rivers meet. It was built in the mid-fourteenth century and withstood repeated Teutonic sieges, including a 1362 assault of over three weeks before the Teutonic forces breached its walls.

The restored round bastion and perimeter walls now house a branch of the Kaunas City Museum (kaunomuziejus.lt):

• Admission: €4.00 adult / €2.00 concession.
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:00; Sunday 10:00 to 17:00 (closed Mondays).
• Santakos Park: Behind the castle, lawns lead to the river confluence where the Neris meets the Nemunas, a popular sunset spot.

Kaunas’ museums

Several museums stand within a 10-minute walk of each other near Vienybės Square.

1. National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum (V. Putvinskio g. 55)

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) was a Lithuanian painter and composer regarded as a pioneer of abstract art and symbolism. His paintings are built on musical forms (sonatas, preludes and fugues) and show celestial spheres, fairytale kings and mythical forests.

• Admission: €10.00 adult / €5.00 reduced (ciurlionis.lt).
• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 (Thursday until 19:00; closed Mondays).
• Highlights: A listening room lets you sit among his painted cycles, such as Creation of the World and Sonata of the Sea, while recordings of his symphonic poems In the Forest (Miške) and The Sea (Jūra) play.

2. The Devils’ Museum / Žmuidzinavičius Museum (V. Putvinskio g. 64)

Directly across the street, the Devils’ Museum (Velnių muziejus) grew from the private collection of the Lithuanian painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius (1876–1966). It holds more than 3,000 carved figurines, sculptures and masks of devils, imps and folk spirits from over 70 countries.

• Admission: €8.00 adult / €4.00 reduced (same ciurlionis.lt page).
• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 (closed Mondays).

3. The Ninth Fort Memorial and Museum (Žemaičių pl. 73)

The Ninth Fort (IX Fortas) is 7 kilometres northwest of the city centre (bus 23 or 35 from Kaunas bus station). It was built in the early twentieth century as part of the Tsarist Kaunas Fortress ring. Under Nazi occupation it became a killing site where over 30,000 people, mostly Lithuanian and European Jews, were executed.

• Admission: €8.00 adult / €4.00 concession (9fortomuziejus.lt).
• Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 (closed Mondays and Tuesdays).
• Highlights: The cellblocks and the 32-metre memorial sculpture by Alfonsas Ambraziūnas that rises over the execution fields. The defensive wall and underground passages can be visited only with a guide.

Walking Laisvės Alėja and riding the funiculars

Laisvės alėja (Freedom Avenue) links the railway station area to the Old Town. It is a 1.6-kilometre pedestrian avenue lined with lime trees, and its interwar modernist facades include the Central Post Office, the Pienocentras building and the Officers’ Club (Karininkų ramovė).

At the eastern end stands the Church of St Michael the Archangel (Garnizono bažnyčia or Soboras), a neo-Byzantine church with five blue-and-gold domes, built in the 1890s for the Tsarist Russian garrison.

Kaunas’ historic funiculars

Kaunas has two funiculars from the 1930s:

• Žaliakalnis Funicular (V. Putvinskio g.): Running since 1931, it climbs the hill from behind the Čiurlionis Museum to the Christ’s Resurrection Basilica (Prisikėlimo bažnyčia), whose roof terrace has views across Kaunas.
• Aleksotas Funicular (Amerikos Lietuvių g.): Dating from 1935, it climbs Aleksotas hill on the south bank of the Nemunas to an observation platform overlooking the Old Town and castle.

Tours and organized excursions

To combine Kaunas with Trakai Castle without working out the transport, a small-group tour collects you in Vilnius.

From Vilnius: Kaunas, Trakai Castle, Paneriai Holocaust Site

From €250 for a group of up to 2 · 4.8 stars from 81 reviews · 8 hours · Kaunas, Trakai and Paneriai

From Vilnius: Kaunas, Trakai Castle, Paneriai Holocaust Sitead: a day out of Vilnius to Kaunas, Pažaislis, Trakai Castle and the Holocaust memorial at Paneriai, with sights from different periods of Lithuanian history.

From Vilnius: Kaunas, Rumšiškės Open-Air Museum & Pažaislis

From €220 for a group of up to 2 · 4.8 stars from 39 reviews · 6 to 8 hours · Kaunas, Rumšiškės and Pažaislis

From Vilnius: Kaunas, Rumšiškės Open-Air Museum & Pažaislisad: a tour combining the Rumšiškės open-air ethnographic museum, historical sites in Kaunas and Pažaislis Monastery.

From Vilnius: Kaunas & Nemunas River Castles Tour

From €199 · 4.4 stars from 5 reviews · 10 hours · Kaunas and the Nemunas river castles

From Vilnius: Kaunas & Nemunas River Castles Tourad: a day trip through central Lithuania to Kaunas, Raudondvaris Manor, Veliuona, Raudonė Castle and Panemunė Castle along the Nemunas river.

Practical advice for your Kaunas trip

• Best day to go: Wednesday to Saturday, when every museum is open. On Mondays the museums are closed, and the Ninth Fort is also closed on Tuesdays.
• Where to eat: Bernelių Užeiga (M. Valančiaus g. 9 in the Old Town) serves Lithuanian food. On Laisvės alėja, Caffeine Roasters does coffee and Spurginė is a retro doughnut cafe selling sugar-dusted curd doughnuts (spurgos).
• Return to Vilnius: Trains run until around 22:30, so you can have dinner in the Old Town before heading back. For the other excursions, see day trips from Vilnius or the Vilnius city guide.

Common questions

How long does the train from Vilnius to Kaunas take?

LTG Link double-decker electric trains take between 70 and 85 minutes from Vilnius Central Station to Kaunas Central Station, departing roughly every 30 to 60 minutes throughout the day. Book at ltglink.lt.

Is Kaunas worth visiting on a day trip from Vilnius?

Yes. Kaunas feels different from Vilnius: it was Lithuania's temporary capital from 1920 to 1939, which left UNESCO-listed modernist architecture, along with a fourteenth-century river castle and museums such as the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum.

Which Kaunas museums are closed on Mondays?

Almost all of them, including the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, the Devils' Museum, Kaunas Castle, the Historical Presidential Palace and the Ninth Fort Museum, which is also closed on Tuesdays. Plan the trip for Wednesday to Sunday if you want the Ninth Fort, otherwise Tuesday to Sunday.

How much are museum tickets in Kaunas?

The National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum costs €10.00 adult / €5.00 reduced and the Devils' Museum €8.00 / €4.00 (ciurlionis.lt). The Ninth Fort Museum costs €8.00 / €4.00 (9fortomuziejus.lt).

How do you get around Kaunas on a day trip?

From Kaunas railway station, you can walk straight down Vytauto prospektas to the start of Laisvės alėja (Freedom Avenue), a 1.6-kilometre pedestrian boulevard that leads right into the Old Town. Local trolleybuses and buses run across the city using the Žiogas contactless transit card or app.

Can you combine Kaunas and Trakai in one day?

Not comfortably by public transport: trains from Kaunas to Trakai require a transfer at Lentvaris. Full-day van tours combine Paneriai, Trakai Castle and Kaunas in an 8-hour day.