Vilnius has one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. Over 40 churches in styles from Gothic to Baroque to Neoclassical fill the skyline with spires. The range is extraordinary: the delicate Gothic tracery of St. Anne's Church, the overwhelming Baroque stucco of SS. Peter and Paul, the neoclassical grandeur of Vilnius Cathedral.
Beyond the churches, Gediminas Castle on its hilltop offers the best panorama of the city. Vilnius University has 13 interconnected courtyards open to walk through. The Palace of the Grand Dukes tells the story of the Grand Duchy that once stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
The Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights in the former KGB headquarters — with its preserved prison cells and execution chamber — is one of the most honest accounts of Soviet terror anywhere in the former Soviet sphere. The Jewish Quarter tells the story of a community that once made Vilnius one of the great centres of Jewish intellectual life, before the Holocaust almost entirely destroyed it.
Across the river, the bohemian Užupis district — self-declared independent republic since 1997 — rewards an afternoon of wandering. The Hill of Three Crosses gives another elevated perspective and carries its own powerful story of cultural survival.