This unlikely Lithuanian city is Europe’s ‘Christmas Capital’

Grand Duke Gediminas founded Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in the 14th century. Today, the nearly century-old city is as contemporary as it is classic, a dichotomy that defines so much of life in Vilnius. 

After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Lithuania, like most of the former Soviet Bloc, spent a decade in turmoil. During the “Wild Nineties,” the region was searching for a steady footing while grappling with its newfound independence, experiencing rampant unemployment, and living under the thumb of widespread organized crime. Once things began to stabilize around the turn of the century, the city, like the region at large, began to thrive again. 

The city's buildings, squares, and cobbled streets blends centuries-old architecture such as Baroque, Renaissance, Classical, Neo-Classical, with more modern Brutalist styles. It's more evident in the UNESCO World Heritage-designated Old Town area—alongside modern glass skyscrapers. Historic landmarks remain throughout the city, including Gediminas Castle, which overlooks Vilnius.

The city’s old-versus-new paradigm is evident as visitors cross the Neris River via the four bridges that connect Old Town to the more contemporary side of the city, home to modern architecture and new tech businesses. While there is plenty to enjoy in those areas, such as the Šnipiškės business district, much of Vilnius’s soul and spirit is present in Old Town, which has much to see and do in its 1.4 square miles.

Enjoy the Christmas spirit at holiday markets

With a sprawling Christmas market spread across Cathedral Square—one of Old Town’s central squares—that boasts dozens of small huts full of confections and delicious chocolate, hot wine, holiday decorations, and the official Christmas tree. The city's holiday fun run that seems to attract holiday revelers, all decked out in their best Santa, Grinch, or reindeer costumes, or the decorations that line the businesses up and down the bustling Pilies Street, it’s clear that Vilnius takes Christmastime very seriously. 

In fact, the European Christmas Cities Network recognized Vilnius's dedication to the holiday spirit by naming it the Christmas Capital of Europe. The organization recognizes a different city each year “for their outstanding holiday traditions, commitment to community spirit, and creative festive experiences.”

Visit a historic prison transformed into a hip artist complex 

Lukiškės Prison—a Baroque prison complex located near the border of Vilnius’s Old Town and its more modern business district—is an example of how the city’s historic landmark transformed into a popular destination with a new purpose. 

What was once a notorious prison that housed murderers, gangsters, and political prisoners, is now a sprawling campus that houses dozens of artists’ studios, a recording studio, a beer garden in the summertime, and a Christmas market during the holidays. Visitors can take a tour of the prison, which has served as the backdrop for popular TV series and movies, and a stage for massive concerts featuring artists such as M83, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and Denzel Curry. 

“Isn’t it amazing that this place, which was so dark, is now full of art and music and light?” says Gintautas Ulmis, one of the prison’s tour guides.  

Of course, visitors can see more of the city’s art scene beyond the former jail. Wandering Old Town’s labyrinth of cobblestone streets, visitors will notice small galleries and public art installations, especially in the tiny bohemian enclave of Užupis.

The MO Museum, in the Old Town-adjacent Naujamiestis neighborhood, is home to a compact collection of nearly 5,000 works of modern and contemporary art created exclusively by Lithuanian artists. Plan to spend at least an hour or two to fully absorb and enjoy the exhibitions, including the museum’s current features, “Forever Temporary,” which is a look at how identity is defined from the Middle Ages to the present day, and “Eyes and Fields,” a two-person show featuring the multimedia work of artists Kazimiera Zimblytė-Kazė and Rose Lowder.

A world-class dining destination 

In just the last few years, Vilnius has built its reputation as a thriving food city and home to Michelin-starred and listed restaurants, such as the must-visit Pas Mus, which focuses on a variety of preservation techniques, including fermentation, pickling, blackening, and drying. Chef and owner Vita Bartininkaite and her staff have created a 10-course tasting menu that includes a single oyster sitting on top of a plump bed of lichen, a small slice of beetroot—a Lithuanian staple—topped with a rose petal, and a scallop “pizza,” with paper-thin layers of the mollusk sitting on a triangular cut of celery root.

The more austere farm-to-table 14Horses sources most of its ingredients from its own farm, which is just 43 miles from Vilnius. The restaurant offers a flavorful four-course prix fixe menu featuring choices such as a bone marrow taco, lightly deep-fried shitake mushrooms, and a delicious root vegetable pot pie. And, less than a 10-minute walk from the MO Museum, Demo serves traditional Lithuanian cuisine with a twist through its seven- or 10-course tasters, which tell a story in three acts, featuring dishes such as red Mediterranean prawn, algae brioche, and beetroot with dill and sunflower. 

Relax in a sauna and take a dip in the river 

The owners of Ivanas Muša Gonga have half a dozen saunas located around Vilnius. If you’re only in the city for a few days, it’s hard to visit any other location than their tiny cedar shake hut floating on the Neris River.

Guests can either sit and enjoy a traditional sauna session or hire a specially trained sauna master for a complete spa treatment where the on-site specialists turn up the sauna’s temperature, using tree branches freshly dunked in the river’s fast-rushing waters to waft the ever-hotter air inside the sauna.

And, if guests dare, they can take a page from the Nordic countries and top their sauna session off with a dip in the frigid Neris River. 

Explore Vilnius's self-proclaimed republic

During the “Wild Nineties,” the then-blighted Užupis neighborhood—located across the Vilna River from Vilnius’s Old Town—became a home for artists and bohemians in search of cheap rent and freedom to create art. In 1997, its residents declared Užupis an independent nation, replete with its own constitution, president, anthem, and currency. Užupis is not officially recognized as a nation, and the idea of sovereignty has always been a bit tongue-in-cheek. Its self-proclaimed independence is indicative of the free-spirited nature of the bohemians who created Užupis in their image.

Today, rising real estate prices in Užupis have driven out most of its free-spirited founders, but it remains an arts haven, with its alleyways dotted with sculptures and murals. Beyond taking a stroll through the neighborhood’s twisting alleyways and posing for a photo beneath the Angel of Užupis, visitors should visit the Užupis Arts Incubator, an artists’ complex on the shores of the Vilna River, which regularly hosts exhibitions, fashion shows, and public performances from a collection of local artists.

“Lithuanians—especially here in Vilnius—are a very independent-minded people,” says Lina Dusevičienė, a local tour guide who’s spent her entire life in the city. “And Užupis perfectly encapsulates that.”