Trakai

This old Lithuanian capital is now a small, quiet town in an attractive country area of lakes and islands. Most of the town stands on a peninsula dotted with old wooden cottages, many of them built by the Karaites - a Judaist sect originating in Baghdad that adheres to the Law of Moses.

The Karaites were brought to Trakai by Vytautas the Great around 1400AD to serve as bodyguards, and about 150 of them still live here. Their numbers are dwindling rapidly though, giving legitimacy to fears that Lithuania’s smallest ethnic minority could die out. There’s a small Karaites museum here and an early-19th-century Karaites prayer house, both of which were renovated in 1997. Trakai is just 28km (17mi) west of Vilnius, connected to the capital by both train and bus.

Druskininkai

This resort’s status stems from its mineral springs, which have been in demand for their curative powers since the 19th century. Druskininkai is also known as the birthplace of modern sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and the home town of romantic painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis.

In recent times, a new ‘attraction’ has hit the outskirts of town. Stalin World (officially the Soviet Sculpture Garden at Grutas Park) is described by the canned mushroom mogul behind its construction as combining ‘the charms of a Disneyland with the worst of the Soviet gulag prison camp’. Druskininkai is in southern Lithuania, on the Nemunas river, not far from the border with Belarus.

Vilnius

Lithuania’s capital city has an international flavour due to the influence of the big Lithuanian diaspora and because it has always been exposed to influences from central Europe and beyond. In the 16th century, Vilnius was one of the biggest cities in eastern Europe.

Vilnius played a part in Poland’s 17th-century ‘golden age’ and became an important Jewish city in the 19th century. Germany, Poland and Russia have all played pass-the-parcel with Vilnius last century. Post-WWII, Vilnius developed into the chief focus of Lithuania’s push for independence.

Hill of Crosses

Lithuania’s most incredible, awe-inspiring sight is the legendary Hill of Crosses. The two-humped hillock is covered in a forest of thousands upon thousands of crosses - large and tiny, expensive and cheap, wooden and metal. Some are devotional, to accompany prayers, others are memorial.

It’s thought that the tradition of planting crosses here may have begun in the 14th century. In the Soviet era the crosses were bulldozed at least three times, only to spring up again. It’s an eerie place, especially when the wind blows and the silence is broken by the rattling of crosses and rosaries. The Hill of Crosses is 10km (6mi) north of Siauliai, which in turn, is 140km (87mi) north of Kaunas and has good rail and bus connections with both Kaunas and Vilnius.

Centre of Europe

In 1989 the French National Geographical Institute named a spot on the road to Moletai, 25km (15mi) north of Vilnius, as the centre of Europe. It’s marked by a small, granite sculpture that has been vandalised, but a new sculpture - a pyramid with all the European capitals and their distances from the centre marked on it - is planned for the site. To get there, turn right off the Vilnius-Moletai road at the ‘Europas Centras’ sign.

Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant

Should you harbour an inexplicable urge to be the progenitor of generations of mutants, then a visit to the world’s largest RMBK Chernobyl-style reactor plant may leave you with a warm inner (and outer) glow.

The Visaginas town centre, 2km (1mi) west of the plant, features a Geiger counter that records daily radiation levels. The plant boasts two RMBK reactors, which are graphite cooled and have no containment system; if an accident occurs, radiation is immediately released into the open air. Visaginas is 120km (74mi) north-east of Vilnius. If you don’t have private transport, trains connect Vilnius with the town of Ignalina, 50km (31mi) south of the plant, from where you can catch a local bus or taxi to Visaginas.

Trakai

This old Lithuanian capital is now a small, quiet town in an attractive country area of lakes and islands. Most of the town stands on a peninsula dotted with old wooden cottages, many of them built by the Karaites - a Judaist sect originating in Baghdad that adheres to the Law of Moses.

The Karaites were brought to Trakai by Vytautas the Great around 1400AD to serve as bodyguards, and about 150 of them still live here. Their numbers are dwindling rapidly though, giving legitimacy to fears that Lithuania’s smallest ethnic minority could die out. There’s a small Karaites museum here and an early-19th-century Karaites prayer house, both of which were renovated in 1997. Trakai is just 28km (17mi) west of Vilnius, connected to the capital by both train and bus.