Vilnius aiming to entice a new breed of tourist

With some of the world’s major tourism drawcards suffering from overcrowding and sky-high prices, many travellers are looking for small, chic destinations as an alternative to the likes of Venice, Barcelona, and London.

That means Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, matches all the travel trends for 2026.

The European Travel Commission reported recently that tourists in Europe are prioritising lower stress travel to off-the-beaten-track locations.

At a time when surveys show 55% of travellers seeking niche destinations and 93% wanting to make more sustainable choices, Vilnius is aiming to lift its visitation numbers.

it is a less-crowded European city with strong sustainability credentials, and a compact walkable centre that offers easy access to nature.

"Overcrowding, noise, pollution, and heat are making many destinations in Europe less enjoyable for tourists,” Eglė Girdzijauskaitė, head of communication at Go Vilnius.

“Vilnius offers an off-the-beaten-track alternative with fewer crowds but plenty of authenticity.

“It also represents a genuinely sustainable travel option for tourists, whether that means reaching the city by the rapidly expanding network of sustainable rail connections, making the most of its walkability and cyclability, or getting out to the forests and lakes that surround the city.”

For lovers of rail travel, Vilnius boasts improving train connections to Poland, with an affordable daily service from Warsaw. Once in the city, travelling sustainably is easy. Vilnius has over 140km of cycle paths, and public transport use in the first half of 2025 was up by 10%.

Vilnius' compact UNESCO-listed Old Town is also ideal for exploring on foot and the city boasts four Michelin-starred restaurants.

* Vilnius has around 1.2 million annual visitors as compared to the over 20 million for major European cities like Paris and London. It is accessible by direct flight from Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and other major cities across Europe, and serves as a perfect base for exploring the region. It has convenient transport links to Riga, Tallinn, and to Poland.

See Go Vilnius, the website of the official tourism and business development agency.