The opening week of KAUNAS PHOTO festival 2013 will be between April 11 and 14, but other events of the festival will happen until the end of  the year. For details, visit “Calendar”.

Kaunas is the second largest town in Lithuania, located in the heart of Lithuania. With its museums, culture institutions, numerous universities, and art festivals it has always kept a profile of a vibrant cultural environment.

Reaching Kaunas…

…by airplane to Kaunas

Kaunas International airport (KUN) is served by the following airlines:

Rynair and AirBaltic.

Flying Ryanair, you can directly reach Kaunas from a number of destinations, mainly in the British isles and South of Europe.

Flying AirBaltic to Kaunas will lead you always via Riga. Even though the prices are usually higher than those of Ryanair, AirBaltic offers a wide network of cities you can travel from.

Once you reach Kaunas airport, the city is very close. The distance from the Kaunas Karmėlava airport to the city centre 20-25 minutes by bus No. 29 (2 LTL or 0.58 EUR). If you arrive to Kaunas on a late night flight, City bus No. 29E is for your convenience. Every day the bus leaves the Airport for the city centre only after the last flight has arrived. By taxi, the journey takes 15-25 minutes (up to 50 LTL or 15 EUR). At night taxi prices might get higher.

Kaunas airport web site: http://www.kaunas-airport.lt/

…by airplane to Vilnius+ bus / train to Kaunas

Also, consider flying Ryanair to Vilnius international airport (VNO), from Bremen (BRE), Brussels Charleroi (CLR), Barcelona El Prat, Milan (Bergamo) (BGY), Paris Beauvais (BVA), Karlsruhe (FKB), Rome Ciampino (CIA), Rome Fiumicino, Dublin (DUB), London Stansted (STN) and other destinations.

Vilnius airport is served also by AirBaltic, Estonian, Wizzair, Lufthansa, Austrian, LOT, Brussels Airlines, Norwegian, Finnair and other carriers. “Traditionally” flying into Lithuania will take you to Vilnius airport and the connection from Vilnius to Kaunas is fast and easy, if you land in Vilnius in the late afternoon.

Prior to arriving in the evening hours, you would consider studying time-tables of buses, trains, staying in Vilnius for the night or rent a car .

At Vilnius airport, there is special train (ticket costs ~2.5 LTL) between the Airport and the Railway Station, across the street from which is located the Vilnius Bus station. The needs of disabled passengers and passengers with reduced mobility have also been considered.

There are more options to reach the train station / bus station from Vilnius airport: city bus No.1 and 2 (2 LTL its 0.6 EUR or 2.5 LTL when buying in a bus) or minibus (3 LTL or 0.9 EUR), also you can take a taxi (27 LTL or 8 EUR).

Bus station is in front of train station. Trip by bus to Kaunas takes approx. 90-120 minutes and costs approx 20 LTL or 6 EUR (the distance between Vilnius and Kaunas is 104 km).

You can also take a train from Vilnius train station to Kaunas. Trip takes approx. 75-105 minutes and cost from 19 LTL or 5.5 EUR (depends on train).
Lithuanian Railways – http://www.litrail.lt/

Trains stop circulating in the late evening. If you arrive later than 7 o’clock, it is still probable that you can catch a bus to Kaunas.
Please check for availability of buses while planning your trip.
Bus tickets online – http://www.autobusubilietai.lt/

… by train

Also you can reach Lithuania using train lines. It is most useful and cost-effective if traveling from South or East.

Available routes from Russia and Poland are:
Moscow-Vilnius-Kaliningrad, St.Petersburg-Vilnius-Kaliningrad, Kijev-Vilnius
Kaliningrad-Vilnius, Kaliningrad-Vilnius-Kijev, Kaliningrad-Vilnius-Sevastopol,
Kaliningrad-Vilnius-Brest, Kaliningrad-Vilnius-Murmansk, Charkov-Vilnius-Kaliningrad, Simferopol-Vilnius-Kaliningrad, Cheliabinsk-Vilnius-Kaliningrad, Warsaw-Bialystok-Kaunas-Vilnius
Usually international trains are coming to Vilnius train station, where during most of the day every half an hour you can take a train going to Kaunas.

… by car

Reaching Kaunas by car is very simple. Kaunas it is located in the heart of Lithuania, where most of the important transit roads cross, including the central Baltic road, Via Baltica, which goes from Warsaw to Helsinki.

Most hotels have free parking lots. In the central part of Kaunas, parking in the city costs 1-4 LTL (0,3 – 1.15 EUR per hour) and is free Saturdays, Sundays and on holidays.

Parking to be paid using LTL coins or pre-paid cards that exhist in nominals of 30 or 60 LTL.

Currency

Lithuanian national currency is the Litas (LTL) and all cash transactions are done in LTL, therefore it is useful to have cash for small purchases. In some commerces they not always accept card payments. ATM machines serving Visa, Master and other common cards are widely distributed in the central part of town and commercial areas.

1 EUR = 3.4528 LTL (fixed exchange rate to EURO)
1 USD = 2.67 LTL (approximate, not fixed)
1 GBP = 4.04 LTL (approximate, not fixed)

Weather

Spring is expected to come late in 2013… Please check the weather forcast. Spring in Lithuania usually offers pleasant weather, but occasional rain should be no surprise. Kaunas Photo exhibitions are located in the central part of town, reachable on foot.

Recommended hotel

http://www.metropolishotel.lt/

If you happen to take a bus from Kaunas airport to Kaunas centre, it can take you almost to the door of “Metropolis” hotel, which offers friendly pricing for KAUNAS PHOTO guests. Book via sales office of the hotel (viktoras(at)metropolishotel.lt) and mention that you are coming to KAUNAS PHOTO festival. If the rooms are available, you will be offered special rates. No “KAUNAS PHOTO” discounts via booking engines.

Useful information

Kaunas Regional Tourism Centre – http://visit.kaunas.lt/W3/titulinis?lang=en
ap of Kaunas – http://www.travel-lithuania.com/map/Kaunas/All
Kaunas Travel info http://www.kaunovartai.lt/
Kaunas Municipality – www.Kaunas.lt