Klaipeda is Lithuania's only seaport and the country's third-largest city. Until 1919 it was the German city of Memel, part of Prussia, and German influence is visible in the half-timbered buildings of the old town and in the history museums. The city sits at the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon, where it narrows to a strait that separates mainland Lithuania from the Curonian Spit.
The old town is compact and pleasant, centred on Theatre Square — named for the neoclassical Drama Theatre — with the fountain of Simon Dach, the 17th-century German poet born here, in front of it. The History Museum of Lithuania Minor chronicles the pre-war German-Lithuanian history of the region, and the Klaipėda Castle ruins by the river give a tangible sense of the city's medieval origins as a Teutonic Knights outpost.
A short ferry crossing takes you to Smiltynė and the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage site: a 98km strip of sand dunes, pine forests, and fishing villages shared between Lithuania and Russia. The Lithuanian Sea Museum at Smiltynė, on the Spit's Lithuanian end, is one of the best museums in the country. Nida, the main village on the Lithuanian section of the Spit, is a day trip worth taking.