Rumsiskes is a small town on the northern shore of the Kaunas Reservoir, about 20 kilometres east of Kaunas. It would be easy to drive past — but that would be a mistake. The town is home to the Lithuanian Open-Air Museum, one of the finest ethnographic museums in the Baltic states and a reason in itself to make the trip from Kaunas or Vilnius.
The Lithuanian Open-Air Museum spreads across more than 170 hectares of rolling countryside, with farmsteads, villages, and manor complexes transplanted from across Lithuania's four ethnographic regions: Aukstaitija, Suvalkija, Zemaitija, and Lithuania Minor. Walking through it feels like stepping into the nineteenth century — the buildings are genuine, the interiors are furnished with period tools and textiles, and in summer, craftspeople demonstrate traditional skills like pottery, amber-working, and weaving. It is the kind of place that rewards an unhurried half-day.
The Kaunas Reservoir laps at the town's southern shore — Lithuania's largest artificial lake, created in 1959 by damming the Nemunas River. In summer the beaches fill with swimmers from Kaunas; on quieter days the wide open water and the paths along its banks are pleasant for cycling or a walk.