%ft%s4%cr%bBy car%f*%s*%c*%b and other Vilnius, Lithuania Transportation Tips

FREEWAY/MOTORWAY TO VILNIUS ON

ROAD SIGN

'Mode': TO
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: I drove to Vilnius from direction Kaunas by my car which took me one and a half hour. There was a highway A-1 (E85) marked on road signs (look at my picture) and on my map as a motorway/freeway. Although I was surpriced to see... bus stops, few casual crossroads and many U-turns on this (?) motorway/freeway. There was speed limit 100 km/h on A-1. Never mind the above, it was comfortable highway till the suburbs of Vilnius where it ended.

ROAD DISTANCES

Lithuania:
Kaunas - 100 km
Panavezys - 140 km
Marijampole - 140 km
Kedainiai - 150 km
Siauliai - 220 km
Klaipeda - 320 km

Borders:
Poland border (direction Suwalki, Warsaw) - 170 km,
Latvia border (direction Riga) - 210 km,
Belarus border (direction Minsk) - 35 km,
Russia border (Kaliningrad district - enclave) - 190 km.

Europe:
Warsaw, Poland - 490 km,
Riga, Latvia - 260 km,
Tallin, Estonia - 570 km,
Kaliningrad, Russia - 340 km,
Minsk, Belarus - 190 km.

Leave a Comment

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Visiting Vilnius?

Read reviews about Vilnius Hotels

Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.

Driving a car: Entry to Vilnius

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on May 26, 2004

ENTRY TO VILNIUS - NO LANES

MARKED

'Mode': TO
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: The highway A-1 ended in the suburbs of Vilnius. The traffic started to be more heavy (but still moderate), a little bit chaotic (no lanes marked at some parts) with numerous traffic lights and I had to look for direction signs to the centre/downtown. Luckily I easy found my route to the downtown/centre.

Driving towards the centre/downtown I could see huge (and ungly), typical Soviet-style housing districts full of large apartment buildings, each with many small flats/apartments. And I could see newly built, modern business areas along the highway: supermarkets, car stores etc. It was strange mix of two quite different worlds.

Leave a Comment

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Driving a car: I wanted to park a car there

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on Jun 4, 2004

PARKING LOT BY THE CATHEDRAL

SQUARE

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: When I finally reached Vilnius center/downtown I wanted to park my car just by the Cathedral Square (on my picture) or close but there was no place there.

Parking was not allowed along some streets and there were exclusively paid but not always guarded parking lots there. Just in case... hmm... parking guards could speak neither English nor German but Russian and (one) Polish. At one place they wanted 10 Lt (3 � or $3.6) for umlimited parking as I remember well.

Leave a Comment

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Driving a car: My parking lot

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on May 28, 2004

MY PARKING LOT :-)

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: When I arrived to Vilnius by my car surely I wanted to park my car close to the centre/doentown, surely on a place with no time limits for parking and possibly free of charge at all.

I drove around the old town maybe 20 min. and all parking lots were either paid (or short time) or fully booked. Finally, I was lucky to find one free place on a small, free of charge parking lot located by the Museum of Applied Art (Taikomosios Dailes Muziejus, Arsenalo gatve = street 3A).

How to get there?
From say Cathedral Square (Artikatedros aikste = square) drive northwards T. Vrublevskio gatve (street), turn first street right (before the bridge over Neris River) to Arsenalo gatve. Parking lot was located on right, at about 200 m distance at the end of white loong building (the Old Arsenal).

Leave a Comment

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Taxis: Taxis and my... mistake

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on Jun 4, 2004

VILNIUS TAXI

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: I could see a lot of taxis waiting for consumers, esp. in front of the Cathedral Square. Hmm... I made a big mistake. I wanted to save some money on taxi (hmm... not that much) and I didn't take one to Vilnius TV tower... Instead, I tried unsuccesfully to get there by my car. Details: read in my the only Vilnius Tourist Traps tip.

Vilnius taxi was marked by yellow-black stickers on both sides and advertisement (lighted at night) of a taxi company with a phone number put on its roof. Each taxi had its own number as well. I didn't see any "unregistered" taxis although i was told (warned) about them before my trip (not true).

I could call for a taxi (hmm... better to know Polish or Russian, I suppose; tel. 1460, 400100 and others), to take it from a taxi stand or to stop an empty taxi on a street. I was told they were not very expensive, at least much cheaper than in any western European capital. I think I would spend around 20-30 Lt to get to TV tower AND back.

Leave a Comment

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Visiting Vilnius?

Read reviews about Vilnius Hotels

Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.

Buses: Public transportation

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on May 27, 2004

BLUE-YELLOW PUBLIC BUSES

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: Most points of tourist interest is located inside or very close to quite large Old Town of Vilnius. There was no better way to visit it than walking around esp. that many/most streets of the Old Town were narrow and surely closed for public transportation.

But outside, you can use extensive net of both buses and trolleybuses although the last ones can't go to farer suburbs. Some buses I saw, looked a little bit old, some were new. They were not crowded on business day when I was in Vilnius. The bus stops were put close one to the next one.

Ticket prices: check here
There were the same tickets for buses and trolleybuses: single tickets, one-day, 3-day and 10-day tickets. They costed 0.80 Lt in kiosks or 1.00 Lt (0.3 � or $0.36) when purchased by a driver. You must validate your ticket in a machine immediately after getting on a bus/trolleybus.

You can download and print out the map of public transportation: click here

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.vilniustransport.lt/e_index.htm

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Buses: Bus stops

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on Jun 4, 2004

BUS STOP IN VILNIUS

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: As I noticed the bus stops of public buses were located close one to the next one. There were well marked and the timetables in Lithuanian language were easy to understand. The public buses were not crowded on business day when I was in Vilnius.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.vilniustransport.lt/e_index.htm

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Walking: Nice walk down

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on May 31, 2004

DOWN FROM GEDIMINAS HILL

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: I got up to the top of the Gediminas (castle) Hill by funicular train and my ticket entitled me to go back the same way. But instead, I decided to walk down on foot. And it was very nice and relaxing, a few minute walk which ended down at the Cathedral Square. Simply my recommendation.

Leave a Comment

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Transportation: By a horse cab :-)

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on May 31, 2004

HORSE CAB AT THE CATHEDRAL

SQUARE

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: Excuse, I didn't take a horse cab in Vilnius. To be honest they were not any except that one on my picture. Or maybe I didn't see more of them on business day.

I found the only one horse cab on the Cathedral Square. The two Russian speaking and laughing loudly women took it and the cab started immediately towards the Gediminas Hill.

Leave a Comment

Add to Your Trip Planner | Post a Question | Write a Tip

Driving a car: Strange signs - am I wise?

Tip Rating:

Written by matcrazy1

on Jun 4, 2004

NO PARKING ANY TIME AND NO

ENTRY... WHEN?