"NIDA" a Nida Travel Page by sashanyc28

Once home to the famous German writer , Thomas Mann , Nida has attracted artists and visitors for many years..

Nida's charming village of colourful houses, weathervanes, pine trees and sand dunes make this the perfect relaxing get away.

Located on the Curonian Spit, a natural sandbar peninsula on Lithuania's Baltic sea coast.

The Curonian Spit is a National Park with bucolic pine forests, sandy beaches and small fishing villages. The forest is known to over thirty different species of elk and wild boars, and over 200 species of migrating birds.

The spit can be reached only by passenger and car ferry from Klaipeda (on the mainland) to the small village of Smiltyne.

The ferry cost about 20 Litas each way, and foot passengers ride free.

All visitors must pay a fee of 3 or 4 Litas entrance to the park. All vehicles must pay 15 Litas per car and driver.

From there, the relaxing drive to Nida takes less than an hour from Smiltyne. If you don't have a car or motorcylce there are busses in the summertime that run daily from the ferry port at Smiltyne from 0715 to 2330 Less frequent service during the rest of the year.

Nida is the southernmost town on the island, just 4km from the Kaliningrad Russian border.

It is possible to continue onward to Kalinningrad, Russia from this road, but you will need to have secured a proper Russian visa and have all necessary travel documents ready at the border.

But after a few days in Nida you won't want to leave !

Summer is the ideal time to visit. With warm, mild sunny days and cool evenings. Late spring and early autumn can also be interesting times to visit, especially after a rain storm, when amber washes up on the shores! Winters can be very cold and desolate here.

You will find many German tourists here, as this once was a part of Germany prior to the first world war.

You will find a few small museums including the former summer residence of Thomas Mann.

Also keep an eye out for the colourful weathervanes that ornament the cute wooden houses. There is even a small museum dedicated to these weathervanes.

Nida is a place to just relax, do nothing, rest, ride a bike, lay on the beach or maybe do some fishing.

Be sure to try some smoked fish with a cold beer ! Svyturys is my favourite...