Curonian spit in lithuania attractions. Barely live magazine

I love it very much unusual places! Curonian Spit unambiguously falls under this definition. The narrow and long sandy strip of land separating the Curonian Lagoon from Baltic Sea... Braid length - 98 kilometers, width ranges from 400 meters to 3.8 kilometers.

Summer in Belarus and Lithuania was not very successful this year, there were more rains than sunny days. The last weekend of summer, according to forecasts, should have been sunny, and we or I :) decided to rush with my family to the Baltic.


On the one hand, it is not far from Minsk to Klaipeda, about 500-530 km, to Nida, 560-590 km. But taking into account the fact that on the way the border, which ate almost 3 hours for us, the road seems farther than from Minsk to Moscow. We also lost 30 minutes on the ferry crossing, which cost 11.4 Euro.
Leaving home at 5 am, we were in Nida at about 4 pm. (Nida is an extreme city on the Lithuanian part of the Curonian Spit)

Waiting for the ferry in Klaipeda.


There are a lot of hotels, guest houses on the Curonian Spit. Renting a house in 2-3 weeks does not seem to be a problem (decent Double Room for 30-35 Euro). Since it is interesting to rest on the spit only in good weather, Lithuanians plan to rest there only a week in advance, when the weather can be more or less predicted.
I booked a 4 bed room for 65 Euro for 5 days. Booking said at this time that 98% of the accommodation on the spit had already been booked.
We were met by the good-natured owner of the Laguna hotel and put us in a room. What I liked is that in the lobby of the hotel there is a stack of maps of the Curonian Spit with all the sights, and the owner meticulously told us for 20-30 minutes about where to go on the spit (he offered us bicycles, but we had our own), where to eat inexpensively, where are the best playgrounds, how to get to the beach, etc.

Map.


On the Map, the burgundy thin line is a cycle path!

Nida is located on the side of the bay, first of all we crossed the spit and went to the beach on the Baltic Sea!
Pine forest!

Beach.

First time I saw the Baltic Sea, calm! The beach is good, however, to go to the depth, you had to walk 100-150 meters. And the water was about 18 degrees.

Then we went to Nida to look at Parnid's dune

Climbed on observation deck next to the dune. View on Curonian Lagoon.

Interesting colors!

The sundial is a grandiose granite monument.

Sands.

About half a kilometer from us, it is called Djyoi ("Big"). This is one of the moving dunes. The wind, almost always blowing from the west - from the sea, constantly sprinkles its sand in such a way that it gradually shifts towards the bay all the time.
This photo shows the bay on the left and the Baltic Sea on the right, as well as Russian border directly.

View of Nida from the Parnida dune.

Well, and once again a view of the moving dune Didzhoi ("Big"). Which moves 5-6 meters a year.

Dune.

Then we drove along the Nida-Juodkrante cycling route, where you can see the highest duneVecekrugas, and after Pervalka, wander around the reserve Nagliai.

Climbing the Vecekrugas dune - the highest dune on the Curonian Spit.

Beautiful dunes.

Finishing part of the dune climb Vecekrugas.

Dune Vecekrugas - highest dune on the Curonian Spit 67.2 m. It opens from her beautiful view to the surroundings.
View of the Curonian Lagoon.

View of the Baltic Sea.

And some "desert" photos.

Then we went to look at the colony of gray herons and cormorants.

We spent the night and in the afternoon went to the Latvian Liepaja.
Ferry to Klaipeda.
By the way, tickets are not checked, so if you go from Kaliningrad, the ferry will be free.

The general conclusion is that the trip turned out to be too small, if driving 590 km from Minsk with the border is too difficult for a 1-2 day trip, and on the Curonian Spit itself, there is something to see. In my opinion, you need to travel for at least 3-4 days. By the way, the place is much more interesting than traditional Lithuanian resorts like Palanga or Latvian ones like Liepaja.

Thank you for the attention!

Curonian Spit is a 97-kilometer strip of land between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon. It was formed more than 5,000 years ago sea ​​waves and currents, sand and wind. Today it is unique natural monument... A bright strip of land, the uniqueness of the relief of which is formed by the sea and the wind, the highest in northern Europe sand dunes... Man is to a large extent involved in this uniqueness. In the XV-XVII centuries. forests were cut down, and sand dunes began to move, filling the villages. After the merciless destruction of forests on the Curonian Spit, the man himself began restoration work. Two hundred years ago, they began to form a protective dune embankment, to plant forests. Only deliberate human activity could protect against the elements. The recovery process was long and difficult, therefore real vegetation, rare and characteristic plants only for this region require special care, great and constant attention.

Flora national park The Curonian Spit has about 900 plant species (of which 31 are listed in the Red Book of Lithuania), there are about 40 species of mammals and about 300 species of birds. In 2000 national park The Curonian Spit was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as an object of cultural landscape in the system of values ​​of natural and cultural heritage. Currently, the Curonian Spit is equated with such national parks as Iguazu (Argentina), Kakadu (Australia), Kaziranga (India), Tongariro (New Zealand).

The northern and largest part of the Curonian Spit belongs to Republic of Lithuania... The rest belongs to the Kaliningrad region Russian Federation... In 1923, the northern part of the Curonian Spit (52 km long) was taken over by the Republic of Lithuania. In 1939-1945, all of Neringa belonged to Germany. The summer of 1944 was decisive for the Curonian Spit. As the front approaches, all locals were forced to retreat into the depths of Germany and many of them never returned. The centuries-old cultural tradition of the Curonian Spit, where German, Lithuanian, the language of the Curonian tribe and their customs were intertwined, was cut short. The natives of Neringa have disappeared, for several centuries they have created a kind of ethnic society of fishermen. Only dunes, forests and deserted villages of fishermen remained. In the post-war period, the territory was inhabited by newcomers from Greater Lithuania and other republics that belonged to the then Soviet Union.

After World War II, the northern part of the peninsula again passed to Lithuania. The part of Neringa that currently belongs to the Republic of Lithuania (0.8 thousand hectares) is administered by the Klaipeda City Municipality, and the rest (about 25.6 thousand hectares) is administered by the Neringa Municipality. The southern part of the spit belongs to the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation.

Basic facts about the Curonian Spit:

area - 180 km 2

length - about 98 km

beach width - from 10 to 50 meters

the widest point at Cape Bulvikis (4 km north-west of Nida) - 3.8 km

the narrowest point is near the Sharkuva village, in the Karaliauchus region - 380 m.

in Neringa only about 2 km 3 of sand

forests cover 6,852 hectares (70% of land)

arable land - 5 hectares, pastures, meadows - 17 hectares, internal waters - 1 hectares, roads - 232 hectares, sands - 2485 hectares, buildings - 152 hectares, swamps - 28 hectares, orchards - 2 hectares.

USEFUL INFORMATION about Neringa

• Lithuanian Maritime Museum

Interesting. Not everyone knows that Lithuanian dunes are the highest in Eastern Europe. Another local attraction is wild boars-beggars. They are so used to people that they go out of the forest onto the road and stop cars in the hope of getting food.

A sandy strip of land in the Baltic Sea with fantastic nature and endangered flora and fauna. Perfect place recreation for those who love nature. I think everyone knows about Scythe.

The border of Russia and Lithuania runs in the middle of the 100-kilometer spit.

I will not show you the sand dunes and dancing forests, let's better see how people live and rest on both sides of the border.

1 You will have to pay for the entry. The Curonian Spit is a national park, both on the Russian and Lithuanian sides. Here it costs 150 rubles per car and 150 more from each passenger. Lithuanians will take twenty euros, regardless of how many people are in the car.

2 All along the spit you will see the road. There is a forest on the left and on the right, the sea and the bay are further away, but you will not see them from the car. Pay attention to cyclists, we will return to them later.

3 People come here for nature. Beauty must be caught like Pokemon. For fifty kilometers of the road there are several points where you need to get there on foot. Sand dunes or famous dancing forest... I was neither there nor there, as time was running out.

4 On the Russian side, there are three villages on the spit: Lesnoye, Rybachye and Morskoye. For Kaliningraders, these protected areas have long become something like Rublevka: real estate on the spit is expensive.

5 Restaurants and the beach are what attracts tourists here.

6 Sometimes there are restaurants on the beach, but this is rather an exception.

7 The road is picturesque, but monotonous.

8 You will not find antiquity and antiquity here. In comparison with the rest of the Kaliningrad region, there are almost no significant monuments of East Prussia here.

9 Rybachiy is the largest settlement on the spit. 800 people live here. That's noticeable.

10 Nothing has changed since Soviet times.

11 Nice restaurant "Rybny Dvor", but since it is the only one in the village, there is darkness for the people there.

12 The streets are not very busy with the life of an ordinary Russian village.

13 But there is no devastation here. Even the poor houses of the “indigenous” inhabitants of the spit are neat, there are many flowers in the courtyards, everything is fragrant!

15 A playground with a stone firefighter who came from somewhere ...

16 And an indispensable monument of the Great Patriotic War. On the Curonian Spit, he is represented as a copy of the Bronze Soldier from Tallinn, who bowed his head and holds a helmet in his hand. But the sculptors miscalculated the size, and the soldier turned out to be a grotesque dwarf.

18 A fence is generally an invariable attribute of any home in Russia. I would be surprised if they weren't here.

19 Beware, evil master!

20 Behind another chain-link fence there is a yacht marina.

21 It is not difficult to get into the territory through a hole in the fence, but there is nothing to do there: you will not see any yachts, and if you are lucky, you can watch how an old motor boat is pulled out of the water by an SUV and taken away.

22 On the Russian side of the spit there is the only gas station between Rybachy and Morskoye. Keep in mind that cards are not accepted there. However, in Lithuania they will take any cards: only the price of fuel is twice as high!

23 Marine. The last settlement of the Curonian Spit from the Russian side. There is nothing to tell about him. Honestly, I had been planning to take this route for a long time, but in the end I got some disappointment: it is very difficult to write about the life of the three villages, since almost no one lives here all the time, these are rather summer cottages.

24 People don’t litter, and they don’t take out garbage.

25 There was nothing else to do on the Russian side of the spit, so we went to Lithuania.

26 Lucky there would be no queues at the border. Both the Russian and Lithuanian sides took about thirty minutes. No surprises, even boring.

27 From the Lithuanian side, the Curonian Spit is the same road through the forest. There are two villages here, Nida and Juodkrante. Further, the city of Klaipeda, to which you need to get by ferry, in one place the spit was washed out. So, the road is exactly the same. But on the Lithuanian side, bike paths suddenly appear in the middle of the forest. Now remember the beginning of the reportage!

28 Nida herself - resort village... 1200 people live here, a little more than in Rybachye.

29 Here is the same Curonian Lagoon as in Russian settlements.

30 But there is the most real marina with a bunch of yachts.

31 I ended up in Nida on a weekend, when a festival was being held near the port. open air... Stage, beer in plastic cups, title sponsors.

32 The village itself is almost as quiet as Rybachye or Morskoye. On main street electric tuk-tuks are on duty.

33 Only a few kilometers from the border, what difference does it make. Neat wooden houses, red tiles, completely pedestrianized streets ...

34 Girls in the bazaar catch Pokemon.

35 While their mom is peeling potatoes.

36 And here you realize that something is wrong on this side of the braid. Again bike paths. This Europe will not lead to any good!

37 Not only are there public toilets, they are also marked. And there are paths for pedestrians, and roads for cars, and no one bothers anyone.

38 There is even a fishing pier in Nida, and the restaurants serve fresh Baltic fish.

39 It is dangerous to let the Russians out here. The border is close, easy to get there. But they might like it all!

40 Before I myself found myself on the spit, I imagined everything like that. Why can't it be so with us?

41 It's simple: in Russia, the scythe is a nature reserve, where you can't even sneeze for no reason. Tourists are allowed in almost out of pity, if only they do not harm. For example, you can't even walk on sand dunes - nature is too fragile. For Lithuanians, the spit is a resort. A place where people come to hang out, take a walk, eat at a restaurant on the shore.

43 On the way back I got out to the sea. I left my car in a parking lot by the road and walked along the boardwalks. They took me out to the nude beach and I got ready to undress.

44 It was not required, it was not hot outside, and everyone around was dressed. We met the Baltic Sea for five minutes: we managed to capture the last bright colors of the sunset.

I wonder in Soviet years was it the same?

This was our first trip abroad with my car. Everything was new and a little scary. How is it by car across the border, how is it further along unfamiliar roads ... What if the police ... After crossing the border between Belarus and Lithuania, to the surprise of the locals, we literally crept along narrow and unfamiliar roads, observing all the rules and leaving a “reserve” of speed. Over time, we learned to break a little where it is safe and navigate the traffic on the stream and on the locals.

Palanga. About city beaches and weather

Palanga is our destination, vacation destination. Looking ahead, I will say that as such beach holiday it didn't work out even out of 15 days, we were at sea only 2 times. However, it is still worth telling a little about this city, but first - the road. Vilnius and the Planga - Klaipeda junction are connected by the A6 expressway. Local regulations allow driving up to 130 km / h, which seems unheard of generosity compared to other roads.

Hotels in Palanga

There are plenty of places for comfortable accommodation here, although in the summer months, especially during the "bathing period", and here it is very short, hotels, mini-hotels and private apartments are almost completely filled with tourists. We arrived in Palanga just in the high season - July-August, however, booking a very comfortable apartment through booking was no problem. One has only to take care of booking at least three months in advance. And so the number in guest house cost quite reasonable money with enough high level comfort.

Beaches

The beach in Palanga is very decent - clean fine sand, a lot of free WCs, which you rarely find in our resorts. Surprised by the lack of sun loungers even for a fee. Of the minuses, an almost continuous wind can be noted, so many prefer special folding mini-tents to traditional umbrellas, where you can hide your head so that your face does not fall asleep with sand.

There are things that are a curiosity in Russian resorts. Bicycle rental services are offered on almost every corner - for children, teenagers, adults, with a "female frame" - for every taste. If you are traveling with small children, they offer a child seat or a special trailer. This attention to cycling is not at all casual. There are bicycle paths throughout the city, as well as the A10 cycle path, along which you can easily get to Klaipeda, and then by ferry cross to the Curonian Spit. The cycle route runs through picturesque places: the coast of the Baltic Sea, pine groves, a park.
The town has Botanical Garden and a huge park. True, we did not manage to appreciate these attractions at their true worth because of the torrential rains that began in the second half of the vacation. On clear and cloudy evenings, Palanga offers a theatrical show created by nature itself - sunset.

The sun seems to be bathing in the Baltic Sea and in the bright, saturated, full of colors sky.
It seems that all tourist people are going to watch this show. Already an hour before the show, one cannot break through to the pier, and it is difficult to place photographic equipment near the water so that only the main characters: the sun and the sky get into the frame. Yet this whole crowd and local establishments do not create any eerie noise. There are no noisy discos in the city, mainly cafes and restaurants. The cuisine is very varied, but you can't eat really tasty everywhere.

What to see in Palanga

There is quite modern park attractions: from carousels for toddlers to extreme entertainment for adults. As for the sea, I personally did not have a chance to swim in it. Still, 19-20 degrees is quite cool for me. As they say - not for everybody. In general, if we talk about Lithuania as a place for a beach holiday, then you need to be prepared for the whims and peculiarities of the local weather: cool water, frequent storms, cool winds, and very heavy rains. In short, if you are not afraid of the scorching sun with +40 in the shade, +28 in water, then it is better to go to Turkey. If you prefer the healing air and 22-24 degrees in the middle of summer, feel free to go to the Baltic.

You can go to Palanga and Klaipeda on a two-day excursion.

Curonian Spit. Lithuanian side

Kurshskaya spit (lit. Kuršių nerija) is a sand spit located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. The name of the spit comes from the name of the ancient tribes of the Curonians who lived here before the colonization of Prussia by the Germans.

The length is 98 kilometers, the width ranges from 400 meters (in the area of ​​the Lesnoy village) to 3.8 kilometers (in the area of ​​Cape Bulvikyo, just north of Nida). Here, at a very short distance from each other, very different landscapes coexist: sandy-desert, coniferous forests, birch forests of the west of Russia. Spit resembles a museum natural areas... The spit stretches from the city of Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad region to the Lithuanian Klaipeda (Smiltyne). But this is just a dry encyclopedic extract. In fact, this place is a unique natural monument. As mentioned above, part of the Curonian Spit is located on the Russian territory, and part on the territory of Lithuania.

To get from Klaipeda to the Curonian Spit, you need to use the ferry services.

This year I had to visit “both sides” (a story about the Kaliningrad region). Unfortunately, in terms of the arrangement and cleanliness, “our unit” is significantly inferior to the Lithuanian one. Cycle paths, flower beds, neatly trimmed shrubs and lawns - all this on our side, alas, is not present or very little. Lithuanians treated their piece of fertile land much more carefully.

In addition to wonderful landscapes and cycling along the sea, the tourist is offered yachts for every taste - from high-speed modern to sailing ships. The prices are quite affordable.

Small villages located on Kos are designed in the same style. Well-groomed lawns and a sea of ​​flowers.

Sand dunes of the Curonian Spit

As I said above, the Curonian Spit is, first of all, a natural monument. Majestic sand dunes stretch along the coast of the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon. In the most scenic spots parking lots are organized, and special paths are laid for tourists.

It is believed that the dunes of the Curonian Spit are the largest wandering dunes in Europe. However, this natural monument could have already disappeared if not for the efforts to strengthen the dunes. Back in the 19th century, the government of Prussia began work on strengthening the dunes by planting greenery on the spit.

The dunes are not only beautiful but also very dangerous. Tourists are strictly forbidden to walk outside the designated paths, since the sand is very tricky, drowning, that is, being buried alive, is more than real here. Before the beginning of the strengthening of the dunes, it was not just people who drowned in the sands - entire villages.

Maritime Museum in Lithuania

One of the most popular places on the Curonian Spit - the Maritime Museum with a dolphinarium. However, at the time of our trip, the dolphinarium was closed for reconstruction. Still for children visiting Maritime Museum will be quite interesting.

The fish can be hand-fed, the food will be provided to you. Probably the Lithuanian Maritime Museum is not the most impressive in the world, but it is great for diluting the vacation routine in the form of beaches, entertaining children and admiring the marine life for yourself.

Now, by the way, the exposition of the museum has been significantly expanded and in addition to the dolphinarium and the aquarium, which is discussed in this article, you can also learn about the history of navigation, study the marine nature, inspect the sea fort of the Curonian Spit, learn how fishermen lived and how they caught fish. In general, when going to the Lithuanian Maritime Museum, expect that this trip will take a whole day.

All the information necessary for the trip - about prices, opening hours, etc., is posted on the website of the Lithuanian Sea Museum.

Hotels on the Curonian Spit

On the Lithuanian part of the Curonian Spit, there is the resort town of Neringa, which consists of four villages: Nida, Juodkrante, Preila and Pervalka. There are a lot of hotels, hostels, apartments here, but the prices ... prices, especially in the high season, may not please you at all, although if you take care of booking in advance, you can find interesting options at quite an adequate price.

Visit all the most interesting places in Lithuania, you can arrange a tour with a local guide. Fortunately, finding a Russian-speaking guide is not a problem. For example, Gintaras will show you all the most interesting and unusual places in Lithuania. Contact him.

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Along the coast of the Baltic Sea, partly in Russia, and partly in Lithuania, there is a 98-kilometer strip of saber-shaped land: the Curonian Spit.

Its name, like the name of the bay separated by it from the sea, is associated with the ancient tribes "Curonians" who lived here before the colonization of Prussia by the Germans. For its amazing relief and biodiversity, the Curonian Spit was included in the list in 2000 World heritage UNESCO as an outstanding cultural landscape.

The width of this sandy strip ranges from 400 to 3800 meters. The Russian-Lithuanian border is located at the 49th kilometer, if you count from the city of Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad region. Both from the side of Russia and from the side of Lithuania, the Curonian Spit is officially a protected area with the status of a national park. 72% of the territory is occupied by forests, in which more than 600 species of trees, bushes and plants grow.

Elk, roe deer, wild boar, fox and other animals live here: a total of 296 species. But there are even more birds on the Curonian Spit: the ancient migration route of 160 species of birds from the northern regions of Europe to the south of the continent and to North Africa passes along it.

On migration days, up to a million birds fly over the spit daily, and 102 more species nest constantly. This gave the Curonian Spit the unofficial name "bird's bridge", and these representatives of the fauna are being studied by scientists working at the oldest bird station in Europe, the foundation of which was laid by the German ornithologist I. Tiinemann back in 1901.

Along the entire length of the spit there is sandy beaches allowing you to swim in both the freshwater bay and the salty Baltic Sea. By itself holiday season- short, but you can enjoy the natural sights of the Curonian Spit from May to November. There are many interesting tourist routes that can be seen in our panoramas.

Unfortunately, the Curonian Spit is a very vulnerable natural area. By the beginning of the 17th century, deforestation had put this land area on the brink of ecological disaster: roads, trees and buildings were gradually overlapped by wandering dunes.

Only after the wandering sands caused shallowing of the coastal part of the gulf and began to threaten the existence of shipping, the local authorities (at that time they were the rulers of East Prussia) began to take decisive measures to combat desertification and erosion. And in order to cut off the direct flow of sand from sea ​​beaches, was built a protective dune rampart - avandune, stretching along the entire hundred-kilometer sea coast.

Efforts to preserve this natural monument continue today, but the elements are constantly one step ahead.

Frequently raging Baltic storms, accompanied by strong winds, erode sandy beaches and slide dunes into the water. Our panoramas allow you to save picturesque landscapes The Curonian Spit, at least in a virtual format.