Sūduva Voyage Tips and guide

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Sūduva, Sudovia or Suvalkija is a region of southwest Lithuania. It's ill-defined but is here taken to mean the counties of Kaunas and of Marijampolė, which are no longer administrative units. It includes the country's second largest city, Kaunas, and if you are travelling overland from the west, you have to come this way to reach Vilnius, Latvia and Estonia.

54°45′0″N 23°25′48″E

Map of Sūduva

• 54.923.9333331 Kaunas the second largest city in Lithuania has a well-preserved Old Town quarter.
• 54.55666723.3544442 Marijampolė is the administrative centre of Sūduva.
• 54.6523.033 Vilkaviškis is near the border with Kaliningrad.
• 54.624.0333334 Birštonas is a spa town.

• 54.4522.731 Lake Vištytis is a resort area where since 2003 it's legal to paddle - until then, the territory of Russian Kaliningrad came right up to the shore. Even after re-alignment the border is never more than 500 m offshore so leisure craft must take care. This is a smuggling route so transgressing boats are swiftly pounced on.

Lithuania is divided into five "cultural regions", ten counties (apskritys) and 60 municipalities (savivaldybės). The five regions are ill-defined but are said to have distinct cultural characteristics, which for Sūduva means a slightly upland forested terrain now divided by the border with Poland. That division has left a minority Lithuanian population in the Suwalki region of Poland, and a Polish minority in Lithuanian Sūduva. But the border also marks a choke point in Europe, a 65 km corridor between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. NATO is as anxious to hold on to it as Russia is to somehow gain it, so tank barrels peek out from behind the trees, while rail and highway construction projects seek to strengthen the links between the Baltic nations and the west.

Kaunas Airport (KUN ^IATA) has budget flights by Ryanair and Wizz. Vilnius (VNO ^IATA) 100 km east has a much greater range of flights.

A daily train runs from Kraków via Warsaw and Białystok to Marijampolė, Kaunas and Vilnius. Trains between Kaunas and Vilnius are every hour or two and take 90 min.

The main highways are in good condition and are kept open in winter. Via Baltica E67 runs from Warsaw to Marijampolė, Kaunas, Riga and Tallinn.

Highway A1 / E85 runs west from Kaunas to Klaipėda on the coast, and east to Vilnius.

Highway A6 / E262 runs northeast from Kaunas to Jonava, Ukmerge, Utena and Daugavpils in Latvia.

Inter-city buses follow these highways.

Public transport radiates from Kaunas to all the main towns. You'll need your own wheels for anywhere off the major routes.

• Kaunus Old Town and castle were built from the 14th century but repeatedly smashed up by invasions, so there's a mix of styles into 18th century.
• Kaunus New Town was laid out in the 19th century along the 2 km spine of Laisvės alėja.
• Marijampolė has a couple of museums, and a modern chapel built in oak in traditional Baltic style.
• Birštonas Museum recounts the town's spa history.

• Lakes and rivers support various water activities, and here and there have beaches.
• Football: Kaunas and Marijampolė have soccer teams playing in A Lyga the top tier. The playing season is March-Nov.

• Kaunas has the widest selection, mostly along Laisvės aleja the spine of New Town. It's mostly trad hearty central European fare, with few outlets for other cuisines as you'd find in western cities.
• Hesburger is a Finnish burger chain with outlets all over the country, mostly open daily to 22:00.

• Alus means beer: lots available, and Kaunas has breweries you can visit.
• Birštonas spa water has all sorts of supposed benefits but it's effectively a 1:5 dilution of sea water, drawn from mineral deposits on the bed of a dried-up ancient sea.

There are no great natural hazards here so it's standard advice to beware traffic, safeguard valuables, and take care in water activities especially with children.

• Vilnius is a must-see for its extensive picturesque Old Town.
• Klaipėda is the nearest coastal resort. Its beaches are across a narrow channel on the Curonian Spit.
• Białystok in Poland is worth a stopover on the route west to Warsaw.