Trakai Historical National Park

In October 2024 I was lucky that my planned balloon flight over Vilnius was changed at the last minute for a flight over Lake Trakai and the castle. I say lucky because you can get pretty good views over Vilnius from the many hills that surround it and being a bit further up wouldn't have made a huge difference.
The flight over Lake Trakai though, was spectacular, a truly memorable experience and the opportunity to see this region from the air.
The star of the flight was Trakai Castle and thanks to the skill of our Aeronaut we flew directly overhead for an amazing perspective.
I hope that the park makes the full UNESCO list because it's absolutely stunning.

August 2017 - leaving Vilnius we drove straight to Trakai. It was Weekend so we could Park for free in the streets, but it was also loaded with visitors from Vilnius. Trakai is a national Symbol and seems very important. The town is cute and had many , but nice, Souvenir shops. The Castle is located on an Island in the Trakai Nationalpark. We decided not to enter the Castle, but take a hike around it. We got to see, what we wanted and continued our journey already leaving Lithuania and visit the north east of Poland.

I visited this tentative site in August 2016. Having missed the group visit and after reading that most tours from Vilnius depart after 5pm, I decided to visit in the late afternoon. It turned out to be a wise choice as the sunlight for photography is great in the afternoon, parking was less of a hassle and it wasn't too crowded. The castle interior is nothing special and not worth visiting. What surprised me was that the castle fortifications or high walls are only round the entrance while on the rear part of the island there are no fortifications! This is clearly seen if you go on a 1 hour boat trip or if you hire a paddle boat or canoe yourself. At sunset, there are hot air balloon rides over the castle which added to the overall romantic ambience. I enjoyed the sunset view from my deckchair at the Bona Restaurant sipping cocktails and tasting some delicious kibinas, local Karaite pastries.

Trakai Island Castle is located about 1 hour drive from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. It is probably the most visited attraction in Lithuania. It was built in the 15th century. The moated castle stands on an island, between the Lake Galve and Lake Luka. In the fifties of the last century, the island castle was extensively renovated. Since the year 1962, the water castle houses a historical museum.

It is a shame that this site will probably not make it onto the list as it was perhaps my favourite site in Eastern Lithuania. The main point of interest is the heavily reconstructed castle. I guess the reconstruction may explain why ICOMOS were not keen on inscribing it as this type of whole sale rebuilding is not particularly favourable in Europe, though Warsaw has set a precedent for this kind of reconstruction. It sits on a small island in the middle of a lake so has a great setting.

A friend visited in summer and really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere so recommended it to me. I visited in February the lake surrounding the castle was completely frozen over, so I had my first experience of walking across frozen water. This may be normal for many people from colder climes but for me this was unique, and it was nice exchanging ecstatic glances with others not used to this kind of travel. There were also several people fishing in the ice, again a new experience for myself.

The castle itself was very interesting and had some fine exhibitions on the reconstruction and what it meant as a symbol of Lithuanian identity, especial as this was subsumed at the time in the USSR. Then I retired to the banks of the lake to have an excellent stew of game from the surrounding national park and just enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere. A small word of warning though the Train Station and main …