Free walking tours in Vilnius

Joining a free walk at Cathedral Square in Vilnius

A free walking tour in Vilnius is a guided walk with a local whose price is up to you. GuruWalk takes the booking for free, with no credit card, and the guide gets whatever you think the walk was worth at the end.

Many start on Cathedral Square, by the Gediminas monument or the cathedral bell tower, and head through the Old Town past the Presidential Palace, Vilnius University and St. Anne's Church, with Užupis and the Gate of Dawn on some routes. A typical route is about three kilometres long. Behind the walks are 5 local guides. A tour lasts two and a quarter hours on average, and in more than 2,630 reviews the average rating is 4.8 out of 5.

Old Town classics and a riverside detour in Vilnius

Essential Vilnius, from the Presidential Palace to Užupis

The Presidential Palace, Vilnius University, St. Anne's Church and Užupis are the usual ground of the essential tours in Vilnius, a group rated 4.8 out of 5 in 2,341 reviews. Some carry on past the Town Hall and the Philharmonic to the Gate of Dawn. One swaps the Old Town for the riverside, with Šnipiškės, Europos aikštė and the Museum of Energy and Technology.

Vilnius centre, from Gediminas Castle Tower to the Gate of Dawn

Among the centre tours of Vilnius is a walk that starts from the cathedral and the Gediminas Castle Tower and works its way along Pilies gatvė to the Presidential Palace, the university and St. Anne's Church. It crosses to the Užupis Art Incubator, stops at the Amber Museum and the Vilnius Ghetto Memorial, and ends among the churches near the Gate of Dawn: St. Casimir, the Holy Trinity and Basilian Gate, the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit and St. Theresa.

Vilnius Cathedral to the Gate of Dawn: the Old Town route

A free walking tour in Vilnius covers a typical route of about three kilometres in two to two and a half hours. Guides shuffle the order, yet these eight places come up again and again, roughly like this:

1. Vilnius Cathedral is where some tours meet, in front of the bell tower.
2. The Presidential Palace of Lithuania comes early, on most routes.
3. Vilnius University usually follows the palace.
4. Vilnius Town Hall appears on some routes.
5. St. Anne's Church is on most routes.
6. Užupis comes later in several routes.
7. The Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society comes late in the walks that reach it.
8. The Gate of Dawn is where some tours end.

Guides also weave in the Gediminas Castle Tower, Pilies gatvė, Stiklių gatvė, Literatų gatvė, Žydų gatvė, the Bastion of the Vilnius Defensive Wall, the Amber Museum, the Vilnius Ghetto Memorial, the Church of St. Casimir, the Holy Trinity Church and Basilian Gate, the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit or the Church of St. Theresa.

Tipping, timing and the Gediminas monument meeting point in Vilnius