Lithuania · Baltic Coast
Klaipeda
A former Prussian port with a five-minute ferry to the Curonian Spit.
Klaipeda is Lithuania's only seaport, a working harbour town that spent most of its life as the Prussian city of Memel. Its small old town of timber-framed warehouses and cobbled lanes sits on the river Dane, a moored sailing ship marks the centre, and a ferry ride of a few minutes crosses the lagoon mouth to the Curonian Spit, the long ribbon of dunes and pine forest that is the reason most visitors come this way.
Suggested stay
2–4 days
Language
Lithuanian
Currency
EUR
Timezone
UTC+3
Why you'll love Klaipeda
The spit next door the ferry from the old town lands you on the Curonian Spit's beaches and forest in minutes
Memel's past timber-framed warehouses, a German street grid and a theatre square that carry the Prussian centuries
Sea life a maritime museum and aquarium inside an old fortress at the harbour mouth
Easy beaches wide Baltic sand at Melnrage and Giruliai, a short bus ride north of the centre
Best time to visit
May-Sep
17-23° days
55.713° N, 21.135° E
UTC+3 · Europe/Vilnius
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Weather & when to go to Klaipeda
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best May-Sep
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Klaipeda
Winter is cold, grey and windy off the Baltic, with short days, and from November to March the beaches and much of the spit's seasonal life simply shut down. High summer is the opposite problem: the ferries and the road to Nida fill with Lithuanians on holiday.
Top things to do in Klaipeda
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Theatre Square and Annchen of Tharau
history 👍 PopularThe old town's main square, with a fountain topped by the girl from a famous German folk poem, and the theatre balcony from which Hitler addressed the city after its annexation in 1939.
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Lithuanian Sea Museum - aquarium in a fortress
nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedSeals, penguins and Baltic fish housed in the brick ramparts of a 19th-century fort at the northern tip of the spit, with a dolphinarium alongside. Reached by the short ferry from the old town.
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Meridianas - the ship on the Dane
history 👍 PopularA three-masted sailing ship moored by the bridge in the middle of town, the city's emblem and the obvious photograph.
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Old town warehouses and lanes
culture artsA compact grid of cobbled streets and timber-framed German warehouses between the river and the castle site, many now holding studios, galleries and places to eat.
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Klaipeda Castle Museum and the Black Ghost
historyExhibitions in the excavated casemates of the medieval castle, beside a harbour basin where a bronze hooded figure rises out of the water.
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Mazvydas Sculpture Park
culture artsA former German cemetery turned into a leafy park scattered with over a hundred modern stone and metal sculptures.
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Clock Museum
culture artsA collection tracing timekeeping from sundials and water clocks to ornate mantel pieces, in a townhouse with a sundial garden.
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Central Post Office carillon
culture artsA brick neo-Gothic post office whose tower holds a carillon of dozens of bells, played in short concerts at the weekend.
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Smiltyne beach and the spit forest
nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedCross on the ferry and walk through the pines to a long, empty Baltic beach on the spit's seaward side.
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Coastal cycle path to Palanga
scenic 👍 PopularA flat, signposted bike path running north from the city through the dunes and pine woods past Giruliai and Karkle to Palanga.
Best areas to stay in Klaipeda
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Old Town
First-time visitors $$Cobbled lanes, warehouses and the ferry
Explore hotels in Old Town →
City centre north of the Dane
Convenience $$Newer town, shops and hotels
Explore hotels in City centre north of the Dane →
Melnrage and Giruliai
Beach & families $Seaside suburbs with pine-backed beaches
Explore hotels in Melnrage and Giruliai →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Klaipeda
Getting to & around Klaipeda
Getting there
Fly into Palanga up the coast, or come by train or bus from Vilnius
Flight
Palanga International (PLQ)
About thirty km north, near Palanga. Buses and taxis run down the coast road to Klaipeda in under an hour; many visitors instead fly into Vilnius or Riga and continue overland.
Train
Klaipeda station
Direct trains from Vilnius take around four hours across the country via Siauliai
Coach
Klaipeda bus station
Frequent coaches from Vilnius and Kaunas along the motorway, plus international routes up the coast to Riga
Ferry
Klaipeda ferry port
Overnight car ferries cross the Baltic from Kiel in Germany and Karlshamn in Sweden
Cruise
Old town cruise terminal
A regular Baltic cruise call, with ships berthing on the strait right beside the old town
Getting around
Walking
The old town, the river and the passenger ferry are all within a short walk of each other
Free
Ferry
The old passenger ferry crosses to Smiltyne in a few minutes; cars use the newer ferry south of the centre
TBC
Bus
City buses cover the long, thin city and run out to the beaches at Melnrage and Giruliai
TBC
Bicycle
Flat streets and a coastal path make cycling easy, including on the spit itself
TBC
Day trips from Klaipeda
Nida and the Curonian Spit
Full dayDunes & fishing village
A thin sand spit between lagoon and sea, with towering dunes above Nida, painted fishermen's cottages and the summer house of Thomas Mann.
Getting there
ferry | bus | car | tour
1 hr by ferry then car or bus south
Hill of Witches, Juodkrante
Half dayCarved wood trail
A forest path on the spit lined with dozens of oak carvings of devils, witches and folk-tale figures.
Getting there
ferry | bus | car
30 min by ferry then car or bus
Palanga
Half dayBeach resort
Lithuania's summer resort town, with a long pier, a busy beach and an amber museum in a palace set in a botanical park.
Getting there
bus | car
40 min by bus north
Zemaitija National Park
Full dayLakes & Cold War site
Forested lake country around Plateliai, holding a former Soviet nuclear missile base whose underground silo is now a museum.
Getting there
car | tour
1 hr 30 min by car east
Nemunas Delta and Vente Cape
Full dayWetlands & birds
Flat river-delta country of polders and reed beds, with a lighthouse and a bird-ringing station on the migration route at Vente Cape.
Getting there
car
1 hr 30 min by car south
A little history of Klaipeda
Klaipeda began in 1252 as Memelburg, a castle the Livonian Order built where the Dane meets the lagoon, and for nearly seven centuries it was Memel, the northernmost town of Prussia. Its high point came in 1807, when the Prussian royal family sheltered here from Napoleon and the edict ending serfdom in Prussia was signed in the town. A fire in 1854 destroyed much of the old centre.
After the First World War the Memel Territory was detached from Germany, and in 1923 Lithuania took control of it. Germany annexed it back in 1939, and the Soviet army took the city in 1945, by which point its German population had largely fled. It was rebuilt as a Soviet port and shipbuilding town, and it remains Lithuania's gateway to the sea.
The Livonian Order builds Memelburg castle at the mouth of the Dane
The Prussian court shelters in Memel from Napoleon and the edict ending serfdom is signed here
A great fire destroys much of the old town
The Memel Territory is detached from Germany under the Treaty of Versailles
Lithuania takes control of the city and the territory
Germany annexes the region and Hitler speaks from the theatre balcony
The Soviet army takes the city, which is resettled and rebuilt as a port
Lithuania declares its independence restored
Know before you go
Payment
Cards everywhere
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / F
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+370
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Klaipeda
▸ When is the best time to visit Klaipeda?
May to September, when the weather is mildest, the beaches are usable and the spit's villages are fully open. July and August are warmest and busiest. Winter is cold and dark, and most seaside life closes down.
▸ How do I get to the Curonian Spit from Klaipeda?
Walk to the old passenger ferry by the castle and cross to Smiltyne in a few minutes. From there buses run down the spit to Juodkrante and Nida. Drivers use the separate car ferry south of the centre.
▸ Should I stay in Klaipeda or on the spit?
Klaipeda is the easier base, with more places to stay and transport links in every direction. Staying in Nida is quieter and puts you among the dunes, but it books up early in summer.
▸ How many days do you need?
A day covers the old town and the Sea Museum. Two to four lets you add Nida, a beach day and Palanga.
▸ Can you swim in the Baltic here?
Yes, in the warmest weeks of summer, from the beaches at Smiltyne, Melnrage and Giruliai. The water is cool and the season is short, and the lagoon side of the spit is shallower and warmer.
More in Lithuania
Curonian Spit (Nida)
Some of the highest drifting sand dunes in Europe, on a strip of land narrow enough to cross on foot.
✓ best Apr-SepKaunas
The interwar stand-in capital whose modernist streets earned a UNESCO listing.
✓ best May-SepPalanga
Lithuania's summer capital: sand, pines and a sunset pier, with a palace full of Baltic amber at the quiet end of town.
✓ best May-Sep