BIRD WATCHERS TOUR IN LITHUANIA

8days / 7 nights

Vilnius - Curonian Spit - Vilnius

Day 1: Arrival in Vilnius and transfer to your hotel.
An afternoon city tour of Vilnius includes some of the Old Town’s major attractions: the Cathedral, St. Anne’s Church, the Gate of Dawn with its miraculous icon of The Virgin Mary.

Day 2: Today we head for Baltoji Voke (White Voke) bird watching route, some 30 km outside Vilnius. The habitats here are rich and varied with over 200 species of birds recorded here. Among them over 60 species which are under protection in Europe, 48 species which are included in to the Red Date Book of Lithuania.
In the afternoon you return to Vilnius via Trakai where you will visit the 15^th century Island Castle.

Day 3: This morning you travel to the Curonian Spit on the Baltic seacoast a National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. This sandy stretch of land, 98 km long and varying in width from 400 m to just a few kilometres, between the waters of the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea, is an ecological treasure, and serves as an important resting spot for approximately 15 million birds during their annual migration. You will find resort areas there, and accommodation is available at the hotel in Nida or Juodkrante on the Curonian Spit for 3 nights.

Day 4: A morning tour to Nida, an old fishing village famous for its 60-meter-high sand dunes, unique old Cemetery, Thomas Mann’s summer house and the Amber Gallery. An afternoon visit is planned to the cormorant and grey heron colony near Juodkrante (500 nests). Watching white-tailed eagles, black kites, honey buzzards, kestrels, stock doves, tawny pipits, all these the birds are included into the Red Date Book of Lithuania.

Day 5: Enjoy a morning walk on the Hill of Witches alive with wooden statues related to different mythological figures and heroes of fairy tales and legends. Visit the Juodkrante Bird Banding Station. The Curonian Spit, especially in April and September-October is on the main migratory route of such birds as tits, swans gold crests, siskins, chaffinches, thrushes, hawks, buzzards, falcons, ducks, coots and grebes.

Day 6: A morning boat cruise to Vente Cape to visit the Ornithological Station founded in 1929 and on to the Nemunas River Delta, a paradise for birds and ornithologists, where you can see 170 different species of birds nesting: red-necked grebe, bittern, white-tailed eagle, montague’s harrier, eagle, corncrake, etc. Next a visit to a lighthouse than has been active for more than 100 year and the Polder Museum, a boat ride along the Minija River, the main street of Minija village is called by the locals “Lithuanian Venice.” Afterwards you drive to Palanga, the most popular sea resort in Lithuania for an overnight stay.

Day 7: A morning tour to the Amber Museum located in the former Palace of Count Tyszkiewicz. The museum has on display about 4,500 amber pieces showing the fascinating formation, application and structural variations of amber. The Museum is surrounded by a beautiful park created by the French arborist Andre. In the late afternoon you travel to Vilnius.

Day 8: The morning is free for independent activities and at mid-day transfer to the airport for a return flight home.