Kaunas is Lithuania's second city and its interwar capital, best seen on foot. Spend day one on Laisvės alėja, the modernist New Town and the Resurrection Basilica roof, then drop into the Old Town for Town Hall Square and the castle. Day two is for the Čiurlionis museum, the Ninth Fort and Sugihara House, with Pažaislis Monastery on the lagoon to finish.
Lithuania's second city was its capital between the wars, and it built like one: a modernist New Town of banks, ministries and cinemas, now on the UNESCO list. A Gothic Old Town sits at the point where the Nemunas meets the Neris, and the whole thing is an hour from Vilnius by train.
About 1.7 km of linden-lined pedestrian boulevard, the spine of the interwar capital and still the city's living room. Walk it east to west and finish at the Old Town; the tourist office at No. 36 has maps.
Karolis Reisonas's white modernist basilica took from 1934 to 2005 to finish, Soviet years as a radio factory included. The rooftop terrace looks straight down Laisvės alėja; take the lift up and the stairs down.
A car that has climbed Aleksotas hill since 1935, still run by the city bus company. The terrace at the top gives the best panorama of the Old Town, the cathedral and the river.
Kaunas Town Hall, begun in 1542, carries a 53 m tower and the nickname White Swan. The square around it is the Old Town's centre, with the cathedral on one corner; the Town Hall now houses part of the city museum.
The mid-14th-century castle is the city's oldest landmark, one round tower and a stretch of wall over the river. Beyond it, Santaka Park runs to the point where the Nemunas and the Neris meet.
The painter and composer M. K. Čiurlionis is Lithuania's national artist, and this is the main collection of his symbolist paintings. Give it a slow two hours; nothing else in the country explains him.
A tsarist fort built from 1902 where Nazis and local collaborators murdered tens of thousands of Jews, most from the Kovno Ghetto. The memorial and museum are heavy and essential; allow the afternoon.
In 1940 consul Chiune Sugihara issued transit visas here that let thousands of Jewish refugees leave Lithuania. The small museum tells the story in his own office; the documentary is worth the extra euros.
Vytautas the Great War Museum moved into this 1936 palace by Dubeneckis and Reisonas, and its carillon tower, 101 steps up, opens on summer weekends. The garden outside holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
A baroque Camaldolese monastery founded in 1662, its church famous for frescoed domes. It sits on the shore of the Kaunas Lagoon, and in summer the Pažaislis Music Festival plays in its courtyard.
Feliksas Vizbaras's 1932 post office, folk motifs inside. Under restoration until 2027.
Mykolas Songaila's 1929 bank, the temporary capital's first grand public building.
Stasys Kudokas's 1937 club in the national style, patriotic symbols and all.
The 1918 Act of Independence was signed in Vilnius; museums open free.
The St Casimir's crafts fair on Laisvės alėja and Town Hall Square.
The city's long-running jazz festival, two weeks of concerts in April.
Three days of street concerts and events across the centre.
Summer classical concerts, with the monastery courtyard as the home stage.
King Mindaugas's coronation day, a public holiday with free museums.
The contemporary art biennial, in odd years; the next edition is 2027.
Kaunas lights the country's first Christmas tree on Town Hall Square.
14 km northeast of the centre, with low-cost flights across Europe. City buses run into town; a taxi is the quick option.
LTG Link runs roughly hourly to Vilnius in about an hour and a quarter, from the station on M. K. Čiurlionio g.
Kaunas Bus Station on Vytauto pr. 24 handles coaches to Vilnius, Klaipėda and across the Baltics.
A single e-ticket in the Žiogas app costs €0.70 with a free transfer inside 30 minutes. Contactless bank cards work on board.
Grated potato dumplings around minced pork, under sour cream and bacon.
Cold pink beetroot and kefir soup, with a hot potato alongside.
Rye bread fried in strips and rubbed with garlic, the beer snack.
Karaim pastries filled with mutton and onion, best around Trakai.
Pork intestine stuffed with grated potato and roasted crisp.
Cold-smoked meat in a natural casing, sliced thin, EU protected.
The spit-baked tree cake, all branches, for weddings and holidays.
A hundred-leaf pastry layered with poppy seed or honey.
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