UK citizens do not need a visa for
Lithuania. Warsaw-Vilnius trains do not pass through any part of Belarus, a Belarus
visa is not required.
Page last
updated:
10 November 2009.
UK to Lithuania by train...
The
closest of the three historic Baltic capitals, Vilnius can
be reached overland from London via Berlin and
Warsaw. Pictured right: The cathedral and bell tower
in Vilnius.
Travel from London to
Warsaw by train as shown on the London to
Poland page. It takes just a night and a morning,
with comfortable sleepers and couchettes available.
Spend the night in Warsaw.
Travel from Warsaw to Vilnius by train. There
is a daily train service, leaving Warsaw Centralna at 07:25
and arriving Vilnius at 17:56 the same day, with a simple change
of trains at Sestokai,
see the section below. This service does
not pass through
any part of Belarus. You can double-check train times for
your date of travel at
http://bahn.hafas.de (English button upper right).
Check the destination boards on the side of the coach you
board, to make sure it's one of the through cars to
Sestokai - other coaches in this train terminate at
Suwalki, the stop before the frontier.
Map of Vilnius, showing railway station.
The only other option is a very long all-day or overnight
bus journey from Warsaw to Vilnius, see
www.eurolines.pl or
http://www.eurolines.lt. Not something that was
necessary in communist times, when a good train service
operated!
Train times
Vilnius ► London
There is a
daily daytime train service between Vilnius and Warsaw.
It leaves Vilnius at 11:40 & arrives Warsaw Centralna
at 20:30, with a change of trains at Sestokai,
see the section below. This service does
not
pass through any part of Belarus. You can double-check
train times for your date of travel at
http://bahn.hafas.de.
Warsaw to Vilnius, if bought at
the station in Warsaw, costs about 140 zlotys (35 euros or
£32) 2nd
class.
How to buy
tickets...
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office can book the journey from London
to Warsaw. Call Deutsche
Bahn on 08718 80 80 66 (lines
open 09:00-17:00 Monday-Friday). For more details, see
the London
to Poland page.
You can buy the Warsaw-Vilnius ticket at Warsaw Centralna
station when you get there (language is unlikely to be a
problem - just write down what you want and show it to the
booking clerk).
There used to be a direct overnight sleeper train from
Warsaw to Vilnius called the 'Balti', running 3 times a
week, but Polish Railways sadly withdrew this train
in 2005. Polish Railways (PKP) now operate an overnight bus, but this is hardly civilised and the
same goes for the overnight Eurolines bus. Instead,
there remains a comfortable daily daytime train linking
Warsaw with Kaunas & Vilnius, with a simple change of trains at
Sestokai on the Polish/Lithuanian frontier, as follows:
Warsaw ► Kaunas, Vilnius
Vilnius, Kaunas ► Warsaw
Daily
Daily
Warsaw (Centralna) depart:
07:25
Vilnius depart:
11:40
Sestokai arrive
(change trains):
14:48
Kaunas* depart:
|
Sestokai depart:
15:03
Sestokai arrive (change trains):
14:43
Kaunas* arrive:
|
Sestokai depart:
15:08
Vilnius arrive:
17:56
Warsaw (Centralna) arrive:
20:30
The
connecting train will wait if the first train runs late,
as they are designed to connect with each other.
The Warsaw-Sestokai Polish train has 1st & 2nd class
seats, but the Sestokai-Vilnius Lithuanian train is
2nd
class only, there is no 1st class. There is
no buffet or restaurant car, so bring
your own food, wine or beer and enjoy the ride!
The connection at Sestokai
is a simple same-platform interchange, as you can see
from the photo on the right. This shows the Polish train just
arrived from Warsaw on the right, and the Lithuanian
train onwards to Vilnius on the left.
This service does not
pass through any part of Belarus, it passes directly
from Poland into Lithuania.
Please check train times for your date of travel at
http://bahn.hafas.de (the English language button is
at upper right).
Are you in
the right coach?
Check the destination boards on the side of the coach
you board in Warsaw, to make sure it's one of the through cars to
Sestokai at the back of the train - coaches at the front
of the train terminate at Suwalki, the stop before the frontier.
Above: Taking the train from Warsaw to
Vilnius is the civilised alternative to a very long bus
journey or an avoidable flight. Photo courtesy of
Paul Markham.
* Going to Kaunas?
Due to engineering work, the Sestokai-Vilnius train may not
be
calling at Kaunas as it would normally do. So from
Warsaw to Kaunas, take the 07:25 train shown above, change
at Sestokai as shown, then change additionally at
Marijampole (arrive 15:41, depart 16:00) arriving Kaunas
17:10. From Kaunas to Warsaw, leave Kaunas 12:35,
change at Marijampole (arrive 13:45, depart 14:02), onto the
same trains to Sestokai & Warsaw as shown above.
Fares
Warsaw to Vilnius
About 140 zlotys (£32 or $48) one-way. Return
tickets are available, costing less than the price of
two one-way tickets.
It's easy to buy a ticket at Warsaw or Vilnius
stations, advance reservation is not necessary.
Trains are a
good way to travel between Vilnius, Kaunas & Klaipeda:
Vilnius to Kaunas (104 km) takes 2 hours, up to 15 trains
daily, fare 13 Litas (£3 or $5).
Vilnius to Klaipeda (376 km) takes 5 hours,
departures from Vilnius at 06:45 & 17:00, fare about 42
Litas (£9 or $17). Departures
from Klaipeda at 06:45 & 17:00. Check times at www.litrail.lt.
By bus:
There is a regular
Eurolines bus service from Vilnius to Riga, with a number of departures daily,
fare about 60 Litas (£15 or $24), journey time 4-5 hours. See
www.eurolines.lv.
By train: If you prefer to travel by train,
although there are now no direct Riga-Vilnius trains at
all (at least the Communists knew how to run a
railway!), you can use daily local trains Vilnius-Daugavpils-Riga
with an
overnight hotel
stop & change of train in
Daugavpils. In the evening, take the once-daily
international local train from Vilnius (depart 18:12) to
Daugavpils in Latvia (arriving 20:27), fare about 21 Litas
(£5 or 6 euro). Spend the night in Daugavpils (hotels from
around £25), then take a
morning local train from Daugavpils (depart 06:12) to Riga
(arriving 09:00), fare 3.60 Lats (£4 or 5 euro).
There's also a 07:18 from Daugavpils arriving Riga 10:58,
and two afternoon trains too. You can confirm
Lithuanian train times Vilnius-Daugavpils at
www.litrail.lt (click 'EN' for English, then 'Passenger
transportation'), the site to confirm Latvian train times
Daugavpils-Riga is
www.ldz.lv
(Click 'English' then 'passenger traffic').
Vilnius ► Moscow
There are several daily sleeper trains from Vilnius to
Moscow with 2-berth sleepers & 4-berth sleepers. These trains do pass through Belarus,
so a Belarus transit visa is required. The fare is
around 50 euros in a 4-bed sleeper if you buy at the ticket
office. To check train times and book online in either
direction, use the Real
Russia booking system here. Real Russia charge a
15-23% mark-up over ticket office prices, included in the
prices they show. For journeys starting in Vilnius
you'll need to have tickets sent to you (at a small extra
charge) as the e-ticket option doesn't work for departure
from Vilnius, only for departure from Moscow.
Vilnius ► St Petersburg
There is an overnight sleeper train every second day from
Vilnius to St Petersburg with 4-berth sleepers. This train does not go through
Belarus. The fare is around 50 euros in a 4-bed
sleeper if you buy tickets at the station. To check
train times and book online in either direction,
use the Real Russia
booking system here. Real Russia charge a 15-23%
mark-up over ticket office prices, included in the prices
they show.
Make
sure you take a good guidebook. For the independent traveller, this
means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. Both books provide a similarly excellent level of
cultural and historical background and practical information. You won't
regret buying one of these guides..!
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
2009 edition (June to December 2009)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
Find
a hotel
in Vilnius or anywhere in Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia...
It's
easy to book hotels in Vilnius to go with your train and ferry tickets, but
there are almost too many hotel booking websites to choose
from. The answer is to use
www.hotelscombined.com, just use the search form below.
This is not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool
which searches all the main hotel booking sites for you
(Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere and many
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide.
Never go abroad without travel insurance from a
reliable insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
I've used
Direct Line myself and on one occasion, successfully
claimed back the cost of non-refundable Eurostar & trainhotel
tickets to Spain when we cancelled the trip because my mother
fell ill.
Feedback from
using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome!
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, but if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85%. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
The
closest of the three historic Baltic capitals, Vilnius can
be reached overland from London via Berlin and
Warsaw. Pictured right: The cathedral and bell tower
in Vilnius.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see
