Curonian Spit, Lithuania: attractions, hotels, weather, rest

One of the natural treasures of UNESCO is the Curonian Spit (Lithuania) - an amazing work of nature, located between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon. The reserve of the same name is included in most of the tours around Kaliningrad and the region. But there are many independent travelers who want to not only touch the nature, not spoiled by civilization, but also to enjoy the silence, cleanliness and European quality of service.

Description of the famous spit

The Curonian Spit from Lithuania is famous for its spa town Neringa, which includes 4 former fishing villages that preserved the color of the 19th century - Nida, Juodkrante, Pervalki and Preili. Lithuanians have lovingly preserved the houses, covered with straw and from a distance like gingerbread.

The villages themselves, drowning in verdure and surrounded by forest, promise an unforgettable vacation in one of these houses, some of which have been converted into hotels, and others - to bars, museums and restaurants. Local institutions are distinguished by folk decoration of interiors, which gives them a charming charm.

The pride of these places (Curonian Spit) is the dunes, some of which reach a height of 70 meters. Also, holidaymakers celebrate the amazing beauty of embankments and beaches, equipped with the latest technology - there are also telephones, comfortable descents for the disabled, and toilets. For their purity they were awarded the famous Blue Flag, this certificate of quality and environmental friendliness, which is awarded only to really worthy beaches of the world.

In summer, you can watch sailing regattas from the embankment, and August is really rich in festivals. Jazz lovers The Curonian Spit (Lithuania) is waiting at the beginning of August, and in the middle of the month there is a festival of reconstruction of life and life of medieval Lithuanians. On it you can not only observe the work of artisans, but also learn from them or buy their work. At the end of August, the hotels of the Curonian Spit are filled with admirers of cinema, artists and directors who came to the international festival "The Baltic Wave".

Those who do not like unnecessary fuss and noise, are waiting for rest on secluded villas or mini-hotels with equipped beaches, delicious local cuisine, clean sea and European service.

The way to get

Travelers who are interested in the Curonian Spit, how to get there, should not worry, you just need to choose the mode of transportation:

• By plane to Kaliningrad, Vilnius or Kaunas, from where you can take a bus in the direction of Nida. The price of the flight from St. Petersburg or Moscow will be 3000 rubles on average, but numerous actions from airlines may well reduce this amount.
• By train to Kaliningrad, you can drive from all over Russia, for example, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Chelyabinsk and Adler. Residents of other places will have to go with transplants. It is important to remember that the train crosses the border of Lithuania, therefore it is necessary to have a passport with you, and a transit visa is issued right on the way.
• A trip by car is one of the most favorite types of travel, but you need to take care in advance not only about the passport, but also the Schengen visa and international transport insurance. The only highway in this direction is Zelenogradsk-Klaipeda, which, when entering the park, is equipped with a post with pay machines. The cost of entering the Curonian Spit (Lithuania) depends on the size of the car and on average is 5 €. It is important to know that machines accept only bills, which also need to be taken care of in advance.

• People are actively offered a bike ride , so when you come to Zelenogradsk or Klaipeda, you can rent it. This is all the more convenient because the Curonian Spit (Lithuania) is part of the European cycling track R1.
• Public transport is another way of traveling, and the cheapest way. Buses run from Kaliningrad, Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk to Klaipeda up to 5 times a day. The downside of this method is that they stop in just a couple of places, which may not even be close to the sights.
• Buying an excursion is another type of travel that frees you from such hassle as finding a transport, organizing sightseeing, checking into a hotel and searching for a cafe or restaurant.

Whichever method was chosen to visit the reserve "Kurshu Neria" (Curonian Spit, Lithuania), it is necessary to plan in advance the route and places of accommodation.

Kursiu Nerija Park

This famous park is in the northern part of the spit. It covers an area of 26,500 hectares, the most unique part of which are the dunes. For dozens of kilometers, wherever you look, stretch the sandy hills, which environmentalists and enthusiasts try to keep from destruction.

The landscape of the spit is truly unique, it is not for nothing that millions of birds migrating north and back have chosen it for recreation. Over the season ornithologists number up to 20 million birds, among which rare species are found.

Observing them is another kind of ecotourism. Hundreds of people climb the dunes or specially equipped observation towers to monitor the behavior of birds.

The most popular dune is Parnidgio, which is rightly called the ornithological observatory. Observing migratory birds follows from March to May, but the greatest impression is made by their return from August to November, when they are joined by their grown-up chicks.

The wild boar living here is no less delighted by the travelers. The Curonian Spit (Lithuania-Russia) is not only their homeland, where they are not threatened, but also the opportunity to communicate with people who have these half-savage animals begging for food. Well, where else can you meet a boar standing on the road in the hope that the car will stop and get something delicious?

Another reason to come to these regions is the opportunity to observe the oldest colony of cormorants and herons that settled here during the Middle Ages. Over this time hundreds of generations of birds have changed, and they continue to live where they are under protection.

Learn about the local landscape and its changes over a thousand years, the plants and animals that have been and have disappeared here, and those that grow today can be found in the museum "Kurshu Neria" (Curonian Spit). The border with Lithuania divides the reserve into two parts, but does not make it less unique.

The historical museum of Neringa

Once upon a time the Curonians lived on a spit. They had their own legend about the appearance of these places. One lord had a daughter, Neringa, who was a giant. Its purpose was to help fishermen during the storm, for which it had to go into the sea and pull the ships ashore for anchor chains. They knew her kindness and the travelers, lost in the woods, whom she led to the nearest villages.

Once, people managed to provoke the god of winds, which sent such a hurricane power that Neringa could not go through huge waves to the ships. Then she took sand in her apron and began to throw it into the sea until there was formed a land on which the people had sheltered. In honor of their salvation, they named the sandy shore of Neringa, where the eponymous city later appeared.

The historical museum of Neringa tells in great detail about the events from the first settlement here of people to our days. More than three hundred years ago, the local population, without thinking about the consequences, began to cut down forests to build ships, and when their homes were drowned one after another by the dunes, a decision was made on the greening of the terrain, which continues to this day. For this, grass and plants with a strongly intertwining root system were planted. The grid from the roots stopped the sand, and later on the trees free from the dunes trees were re-planted, which are now under protection and are cut down only when there is a threat of a fall from old age.

For the preservation of a thin layer of land and the dunes themselves, there are decking in the reserve, from which it is not recommended to go. The weather on the Curonian Spit allows you to walk here at any time of the year, although in winter fishermen meet more often than tourists.

Nida

This city, once a settlement of Curonians, today is the capital of this region. It's amazing how people managed to preserve the color, life and home of the people who once lived here. For many tourists, the Curonian Spit (Lithuania), whose sights differ even from what can be seen on the mainland, is an islet of a completely different life.

Here, each house is original, and the local architectural style is not found anywhere else - not in Lithuania, nor in Germany, nor in Finland, nor in Latvia, countries, the natives of which have become the future people of the Curonians with their language and culture.

Each Nida building has its own carved decoration and trim. The Curonians were not only fishermen, but also wood carvers, and crows catchers. You can learn about their life in a small museum of the "Fishing Life". In Nida, even cemeteries are a landmark.

The Curonians had their own custom of burying the dead. Instead of a cross in the head of the grave, they put in their feet crikshty - carved wooden posts with different forms of tops. They were buried at the depth of the grave, because this people had a belief that during the Last Judgment the resurrected will be able to get out of them, grabbing the shaft.

Admirers of Thomas Mann can visit his house-museum, and lovers of amber are waiting for the whole gallery of this beautiful sun stone.

Amber Museum

Every year thousands of people attract the Curonian Spit. Rest, the cost of which will cost from 2500 rubles per night per room, is considered inexpensive, given that these places are rich in sights, beautiful scenery, that there is a clean sea and European service.

The pearl of Nida is a museum of amber, in which guides with love will tell the most romantic legends about the origin of this stone and all its deposits in Lithuania. Amber of various shapes and sizes is represented here, especially unprocessed stones impress with their primordial nature.

In addition to the expositions, the museum has a department dedicated to the work of jewelers, where their works from the already processed sun stone of different colors are exhibited. In the gallery you can buy both amber and articles with it. From the variety of shapes, colors and sizes, just the eyes run out, but the prices for this stone are quite high.

Those who are lucky enough to get to the amber exhibition will be more fortunate. There, prices are more democratic, and the choice is much wider, since it attracts "amber" masters from all over Lithuania.

Juodkrante

This village is interesting to everyone who is attracted to the other world and witchcraft. The witch mountain, near which he sheltered, for many centuries was a gathering place for pagans, who sent their rites here until the 19th century.

Particularly numerous was the pilgrimage of the pagans to this land in the time of the Inquisition, when on the slightest accusation people were burned at the stake. People from all over Europe came here, and the Curonian Spit was their natural protection.

The mountain in fact is a dune, overgrown with pine forest. Today, there is a stunning museum of wood where the carver masters embodied in this material all the beliefs and fears of the Curonians who once lived here. For example, there are many witches and dragons here, there is a water and the gods of pagan Lithuania.

In the image of a wooden old man the legend of a storyteller who knew thousands of stories about evil spirit was embodied and told them to everyone who wanted to listen. God Pirkunas demanded that he entertained him with them all night, for which he promised a bag of gold. The storyteller replied that he could not tell by compulsion, for and that he was sent to Witch Mountain as punishment.

In Juodkrante no less interesting is the gallery of weathervanes, which built more Curonians. They are of different shapes and colors, each of which symbolizes a plot from the life of this people.

The Maritime Museum

If the weather on the Curonian Spit has deteriorated, then the day can be spent in an interesting Maritime Museum - aquarium. It is located in the bastion fortress of the 19th century, built by the Germans in the Smiltyne area. Among the exhibits presented there are stands dedicated to marine life, history of navigation and shipbuilding, and anchorages have taken the place of gun platforms, which were brought here from all over the country.

In the redoubts are aquariums, in which 40 species of marine life feel great. On the site of the former fishermen's village, near the bastion, there was an ethno village, where houses, utensils and household items of Pomor fishermen who lived here were even reproduced, even their ships and boats on which they went to the Baltic to fish.

The inhabitants of the aquariums are representatives of Lithuanian rivers, lakes and seas, as well as visitors from the tropics - catfish, chub, grayling, eel, eel and exotic starfish, a huge freshwater moray eel, sea urchins and a collection of corals.

Equipped outdoor pools are inhabited by penguins, seals and sea lions. In summer, near the bastion, there is a dolphinarium with the participation of the Black Sea dolphins.

Where to stay

Even at the height of the summer season, the Curonian Spit is available for newcomers. Rest, the cost of which ranges from 10 euros per night in the campsite and up to 4,500 rubles. In the hotel, is considered one of the best and in European cheap.

As noted by holidaymakers, the only drawback of the spit is some congestion of this place by car enthusiasts, although most of them come only for a night or two.

The most popular hotels are the Curonian Spit, some of which are converted fishing houses, fully adapted for comfortable rest. For example, Nidos Banga 3 is the guest house of Herman Blode, who founded in the late 19th century a creative colony for artists. Today it is 3 villas, which are equipped with cozy rooms and a restaurant with a national cuisine.

The Villa Elvira, located in the middle of a pine forest, is very popular with the guests of the Curonian Spit. In this hotel there are only 9 rooms, but each of them has a bathroom and satellite TV. At the guests' disposal is a common recreation room with a fireplace and leather furniture, located in the basement of the house. On site, there is a garden where pavilions with barbecue facilities are equipped.

For travelers who like to not only take a look at the sights, but also spend a good time, the Nidos Seklycia hotel is suitable. There is a spa, where you can spend time in an infrared sauna, a large Jacuzzi or in the bath. For business people there is a conference hall for 35 people.

Each room of the hotel has a bathroom with warm floors, satellite TV, mini-bar, bathrobes and slippers and necessary bathroom accessories.

Campings and guest houses

The Curonian Spit also offers guest houses equipped with the latest technology. For example, in Vasara (Nida) guests are offered rooms that have a DVD player, independent heating and satellite TV. They feature relaxation areas with upholstered furniture, a table and a tea / coffee set and a bedroom with modern beds and hypoallergenic bed linen. In the common kitchen, guests can prepare or warm up food, although the nearest café is only 50 meters away.

But not only in Nida offers to relax the Curonian Spit. Guest houses Neringa and Juodkrante can also boast of their landscaping. For example, "Oro Pervalka" is a perfect example of a combination of price and quality. This guest house offers its guests superior rooms with all amenities. It is chosen by those who are accustomed to actively spend their holidays. If you rent a bicycle here, you can take a walk in the neighborhood and do not depend on finding a parking lot for a car when sightseeing.

People on private transport are waiting for camping on the Curonian Spit (Lithuania). Its location is simply unique. Situated between the Dune of Parnidgio and the sea, it is only one hundred meters from the white sandy beach and the ancient campsite of the Stone Age people.

Guests are invited to cozy rooms in winter and a place where you can put the car and stretch the tent in the summer. At the disposal of holidaymakers - clean toilets and showers, a common kitchen, which is equipped with several plates for cooking. Even at the height of the season, one can find shelter here, and there are never queues to public places.

Beautiful scenery and friendly staff attract travelers here from year to year. The Curonian Spit is not only the largest spit in the world, but also the most comfortable for rest and for life.