Trakai Island Castle, on the shores of Lake Galvė

Park in the car park by Lake Galvė, along Trakų Street at the entrance to Trakai’s old town.

(S/E) From the car park, turn your back on the lake and head towards Karaimų Street via a paved footpath.

(1) Continue left along Karaimų Street, walking past the wooden houses of the Karaite community until you reach the Trakai Tourist Information Centre.

(2) Turn right towards the lake and the castle. Take the wooden footbridges across Lake Galvė to the island, and reach Trakai Island Castle.

(3) Pass through the castle’s fortified gate to view the courtyard and, if you wish, visit the ducal palace (admission fee applies). Exit, turn right and walk around the outside of the island, between the ramparts and the lake, then cross the footbridges again. Just after the last footbridge, turn right and walk alongside the small jetties on the lake.

(4) Make your way to the viewing platform overlooking the castle. Leave the panoramic view behind you, walk towards the opposite bank, then turn left onto Rue Trakų and follow it for about 500 metres.

(S/E) Turn left at the car parks at the start of the route, onto the same paved path as at the beginning of the route.

(1) First turn left then right, crossing Karaimų Street at the pedestrian crossing, then continue along the small wooden path to the riverbank.

(5) Start walking along the shore of Lake Galvė on your left. Follow the lakeside path and, when you reach the swing benches, turn right and head back up through the park towards Karaimų Street. Not far from the white tower – a chapel dedicated to Saint John of Nepomuk – turn slightly right onto Karaimų Street and finally left at the pedestrian crossing to head down towards the lakeshore and return to the car park (S/E).

(S/E) A large paid car park by the lake, at the entrance to the old town (blue zone of the uniPark network). Rates: €2.50 per hour from 8.00 am to 10.00 pm, free from 10.00 pm to 8.00 am. Payment via parking meter, the uniPark app or text message.

Trakai is about 30 kilometres from Vilnius and can be reached by car, train (around 30 minutes, with several daily services) or bus (very frequent departures from Vilnius coach station, 30 to 45 minutes’ journey).

(3) The castle on the island houses the Trakai History Museum. Access to the island and the castle grounds is free; there is an admission charge to visit the ducal palace: €14 (concessions €7) from April to September, €12 (concessions €6) from October to March; free entry to exhibitions on the last Sunday of the month. Open daily from 10.00 to 19.00 from April to September. The rest of the year, it is closed on Mondays (and on Tuesdays from December to February) and open from 10.00 to 18.00 (2026). In summer, it gets very busy: it’s best to visit early in the morning or book tickets online.

The town of Trakai has numerous cafés and restaurants where you can sample kibinai, traditional Karaite-style filled pastries.

(1) Karaimų Street runs through the historic quarter of the Karaites, a Turkish-speaking community who arrived from Crimea in the late 14th century under Vytautas the Great. Their wooden houses are recognisable by their three windows facing the street. The Kenesa, a Karaite house of prayer, stands on the same street, and you can sample kibinai, their traditional filled pastries, in the neighbourhood.

(3) Trakai Island Castle, a red-brick Gothic fortress built in the late 14th and early 15th centuries by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, lay in ruins for a long time before being rebuilt in the 20th century. It now houses the Trakai History Museum.

(4) Lake Galvė, dotted with around twenty islands including the one on which the castle stands, is a major rowing destination.

Between (5) and the car park, the fourteen-metre-high St John of Nepomuk oratory column marks the site of the former market square. A column topped by a statue of the saint, patron of towns surrounded by water, is known to have stood here as early as the mid-17th century. Demolished under the Tsarist authorities, rebuilt in 1935, and thrown into the lake during the Soviet era, the statue was recovered and returned to its original position in 1990.