Kaunas, the second largest city of Lithuania, which is situated on the valley of the confluence of the two biggest rivers of Lithuania – the Nemunas and Neris, is first mentioned in the 11th century. For many years it has been known as the city of trade, culture and sports. Kaunas is easily reached by tourists by any means of transport. While traveling from Helsinki towards Western Europe or from the Baltic sea towards Vilnius and East, you will always pass this city.

Kaunas played an important role not only as the economic center, but also as the provisional capital of Lithuania during the inter-war period. The City retained one of the oldest oak parks in Europe, managed to establish a number of new museums, preserved a unique Old Town with wonderful Gothic, Renaissance and Classicism architectural monuments. The Town Hall square, beneath which one can find the wax melting furnace of the 15th – 16th centuries, is surrounded by impressive architectural objects – churches and monasteries. The Town Hall, which is also called a “White Swan” is standing in the center of the square. Nearby, there are the Dome Cathedral, the House of Thunder and other tourist attractions and objects of architecture.

Vilniaus street unites the Center of the City and the Town Hall square. Kaunas is very proud of the pedestrian street – Laisves avenue. Kaunas people and guests like Vilniaus street and Laisves avenue as there are a lot of cafes, restaurants, shops where one can get various pieces of art and souvenirs.  The center of the City is always full of young people as there are about 50 thousand students in Kaunas. The City has more universities than any other city in Lithuania.

The City has retained the objects of technical heritage - the only funiculars in Lithuania that were built in the years of 1930 and 1935. One of the funiculars takes passengers up to Zaliakalnis hill, the other one - to Aleksotas hill. From hence one can have marvelous views of the Old Town and the Center of the City. An important point in the panorama of the City is the Church of Resurrection that is now under reconstruction.

Kaunas has the National M.K.Ciurlionis Art museum, Mykolas Zilinskas Art museum, Vytautas Magnus Military museum, Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy history museum, Precious Stones (gemology) museum, Antanas Zmuidzinavicius museum, Lithuanian sport museum and many others. Here tourists get to know the history of the City and the country, the Lithuanian life style, customs and culture.

The guests of the City are especially fond of Pazaislis monastery which is a recognized masterpiece of Baroque. Visitors here are astonished by the harmony of architecture and nature, which was not destroyed by Kaunas sea, an artificial water pool which was formed at the bottoms of the river Nemunas in 1959.

Life at Kaunas is dynamic, here are always various cultural events taking place. Kaunas people and guests especially love the international music festival of Pazaislis that lasts during all summer and attracts the representatives of the music elite world-wide: solo artists, ensembles, conductors. Jazz lovers of Lithuania meet at “Kaunas Jazz” festival. One of the most significant cultural events of Kaunas – the Birthday of the City – is celebrated on 20, May. The main events of this festival take place on the streets of the Old Town, near Kaunas castle and other places of the City. The lovers of opera and operetta are fond of the international festival “Operetta at Kaunas Castle”, the fans of dancing – the international modern dance festival organized by the modern dance theater “Aura”. Children are anxiously waiting for puppet-theatre festival “Smiling dolls and children” as well as a number of other events.

Kaunas City is widely renowned for sport traditions. The careers of world-wide famous sportsmen such as Arvydas Sabonis, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Algirdas Socikas, Povilas Vanagas as well as many others started in Kaunas.  It is not accidental, that Kaunas has the main sports training school – Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education - which is an important education center and fosterer of physical training and sports traditions. During the years of its activity, the Academy prepared about 9 thousand teachers of physical education, highly qualified coaches of various fields of sports, specialists of physiotherapy, managers of tourism and sport. A great number of graduates of the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education are winners, champions and prizewinners of the Olympic games, world and European championships.

Kaunas also has the Lithuanian sports museum. The sports exposition opened in 1993 presents the development of the Lithuanian sports history up to nowadays. The majority of place is devoted to the most popular field of sports of Lithuania – basketball. But also the expositions of football, handball, boxing, swimming, rowing are found here.  

Kaunas cordially welcomes tourists. The City has more than 1210 beds in 18 hotels and 4 motels, as well as in several guest houses and private apartments. There are 47 tourist enterprises in the City. The City also offers many restaurants, cafes and bars where tourists may taste both Lithuanian as well as exotic dishes.

Welcome to Kaunas! We truly hope that the time you spend in our City will give you most memorable impressions and you will always want to come back to Kaunas once again.

• Kaunas city website
• Kaunas in Your Pocket