If you're interested in castles, cathedrals and culture it's the place to stay. Trakai is known as the town of lakes. There is a huge Trakai castle that was built by the Grand Duke Vytauas Magnum. Inside of the castle is the Trakai History museum. It's very impressive to see the murals, glass stained windows and the invention of the heating system of the Middle Ages.



The Ausros Vartai or the Gate of Dawn is a renaissance building made up of three storeys. While there you can stay in one of the many luxury self catering apartments or holiday homes in the capital. City breaks are extremely popular and tourists rent a holiday villa or holiday apartment direct from the owner. The outside of the Vilnius Cathedral is similar to a pagan Greek temple. This Cathedral has a neoclassical exterior. In the past here the fire God Perkunas was worshipped by the Lithuanians. The Vilnius University was established in 1570. This is located to the North West of the Old Town. During the cultural tour of this city, you must visit St. Anne's Church. This is a very impressive structure.

Many tourists rent a holiday villa and visit the world heritage site of Curonian Spit. This is in the Baltic Sea where there is a long and thin sand peninsula. This found a place in the World Heritage List of UNESCO due to the history of the interaction between landscape and humans. The German architect, Franc Schwechten designed the former mansion of the Tiskevicius family. This was constructed in 1897. Here stands the Palanga Amber museum. The National Museum of Lithuania shows the ups and downs of the modern history of Lithuania. The prime exhibition is situated in the enticing New Arsenal of the 18th century.

Vilnius is renowned for its shopping. In Vilnius, there are huge department stores called the Europa and Akropolis. There is also a huge range of indoor malls, markets and shops. In the old town of Vilnius, there are shops that sell traditional souvenirs, holiday gifts and amber. The most famous souvenirs from this country are the amber jewellery from watches to bracelets. Most tourists choose to stay in self catering apartments or holidays villas and enjoy the shopping, local cafes and restaurants to the full.

Another must see while staying in a self catering apartment or holiday villa is The Europas Parkas, an open air museum. Every year, about sixty thousand tourists visit this place. The intention of this museum is to exhibit the best international and Lithuanian achievements of modern art and render an artistic importance to the official geographic centre of Europe. There are sculptures that are permanently placed among the grasslands, woodlands and beautiful rolling hills that have natural springs. The museum has the largest collection of television sets in the world. This was made by Gintaras Karosas, an artist from Lithuania. This record has been accepted into the official book of the Guinness World Records.

For the adventurous types staying in holiday homes in Vilnius there is a shooting range, where you can experience pump action shotguns, Kalashnikov's and automatic hand guns. Also available is clay pigeon shooting, outdoor paint balling, quad biking, go-karting (outdoor and indoor) and off road jeeps.