The 1-sq-km park includes a rose garden, 18km of footpaths and Birutė Hill (Birutēs kalnas), once a pagan shrine. According to legend, it was tended by vestal virgins, one of whom, Birutė, was kidnapped and married by Grand Duke Kęstutis. A 19th-century chapel tops the hill. The wonderful Amber Museum is inside the park.
Botanical Park
Lithuania
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
25.61 MILES
A coven of wooden sculptures is gathered on a forest-clad hill in Juodkrantė, carved by Lithuanian artists over the years since 1979. At this open-air…
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0.18 MILES
Housed in a neoclassical palace built by Count Feliksas Tiskevicius in 1897, this revamped museum showcases what is reputedly the world’s sixth-largest…
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23.76 MILES
The Orvydas Garden was the work of stonemason Kazys Orvydas (1905–89) and his oldest son turned Franciscan monk, Vilius (1952–92). The carvings were…
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26.78 MILES
One of Europe's largest colonies of cormorants and grey herons is amassed in the forest 1km south of Juodkrantė. Wooden steps lead from the road to a…
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14 MILES
The castle museum is spread across four exhibition spaces around Klaipėda's castle – two of these are located in atmospherically lit tunnels and deal with…
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13.53 MILES
This gallery is renowned for the bold works by the Prussian-born expressionist painter Pranas Domšaitis (1880–1965), who spent his last years in South…
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13.44 MILES
Grab your Speedos and take a footpath through pine forests across the spit’s 1km-wide tip to a bleached-white sandy beach. From the ferry landing, walk…
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13.63 MILES
If you want to know what makes things tick, look no further than this niche museum that explores human measurement of time, from the earliest sundials to…
Nearby Lithuania attractions
0.18 MILES
Housed in a neoclassical palace built by Count Feliksas Tiskevicius in 1897, this revamped museum showcases what is reputedly the world’s sixth-largest…
0.49 MILES
This is the last of the dozen or so original amber shops Palanga boasted in the late 19th century, when it was one of the largest amber-processing centres…
3. Dr Jono Šliūpas Memorial House
0.52 MILES
Fascinating black-and-white photos of old Palanga fill this house, the former home of the town’s first mayor. Closed on Sunday between September and May.
4. Antanas Mončys House Museum
0.66 MILES
This museum displays large wooden sculptures, collages and masks by Lithuanian émigré artist Antanas Mončys (1921–93). The sculptor was very tactile and…
0.92 MILES
A modest permanent exhibition detailing resistance to foreign (particularly Soviet) occupation in Lithuania's troubled 20th century with personal stories…
7.4 MILES
A crumbling winter garden attached to the Kretinga Museum houses a tropical mirage of 850 species of exotic plants. The museum itself is located in one of…
13.06 MILES
This poignant statue of a mother with a headscarf, a suitcase in one hand, and the hand of a small boy clutching a teddy bear in the other, stand outside…
13.08 MILES
This popular museum, set in a 19th-century fort, has some fascinating stuffed sea animals, as well as aquariums showcasing the marine life of the Curonian…