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  "path": "/2026/06/06/28-european-countries-nowhere-compares-this-little-known-coast-28644997/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-06T06:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Lifestyle",
    "Travel",
    "Beach Destinations",
    "Europe Travel",
    "Lithuania",
    "Travel Inspiration",
    "Travel Reviews",
    "European",
    "Metro Deals",
    "Get deal now",
    "summer",
    "coffee",
    "Europe",
    "Venice",
    "@laumeieva",
    "ExplorePalanga",
    "traveltok",
    "laumeieva",
    "♬ Dimensions sedyy edit – SedyyFilms",
    "I spent 48 hours in Europe’s most affordable city — ‘nobody knows where it is’",
    "A guide to Bulgaria’s underrated destination — the ‘Bordeaux of Eastern Europe’",
    "I’ve been to 9 Italian cities, but there’s only one I keep going back to",
    "This ‘tiny’ European country fits into the UK 1,521 times and there’s no airport",
    "I explored Europe’s ‘least-visited’ country – with unrecognised states and underground wine cities",
    "London Stansted",
    "Ryanair",
    "VisitNeringa.com",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Many travellers don’t even realise that Lithuania has a coastline (Picture: Visit Neringa)\n\nI have travelled to 28 European countries, and I’m not sure I have been rewarded with such inviting beaches, beautiful nature and consistently good food as on my recent visit to the Baltic coast of Lithuania.\n\nA most wonderfully underrated place.\n\nThis discovery started in the UK, where I found regular flights to Palanga, from £88 return. Yet many don’t even realise that Lithuania has a coastline.\n\nGranted, it’s small (just over 90km in total). But once there, I could see that the town’s sweeping stretch of immaculate white sand just sells itself.\n\nThere are several charming sea view bars, a public toilet and access is via paths with wooden planks, so shoes do not get full of sand.\n\nOf course, it doesn’t get the heat of the Mediterranean.\n\n##  Best of Best of Metro Deals\n\nGet exclusive discounts with Metro Deals – save on getaways and spa days. Powered by Wowcher\n\n**Bannatyne Spa** : Spa day for two with treatments, lunch & prosecco — save up to 57% off.\n\n Get deal now\n\n**Mystery Escape** : Hotel stay with return flights from as low as £92pp — save on worldwide holiday packages.\n\nGet deal now\n\n**Beach Retreat (Lanzarote)** : 4* Lanzarote beach holiday with flights — save up to 58%.\n\nGet deal now\n\nBut summer temperatures of a pleasant 23°C attracts local crowds, though even at the height of the season I am told it is easy to find quiet spots on the sand.\n\nLucy Daltroff found breathtaking beauty and some of the best-value in Europe on the shores of Palanga (Picture: Andrius Pelakauskas)\n\nThe main pedestrian drag, Jonas Basanavičius Street, is alive with cafes and bars, especially in the summer from late May to September.\n\nPalanga itself has the feel of a classic seaside resort with a distinctly Baltic twist.\n\nElegant wooden villas are ensconced among trees, flower-filled streets lead towards the sea and a long pier draws revellers at sunset.\n\nUnderstandably, Palanga was a favourite holiday destination for 19th century aristocrats, whose legacy is still found in some of the architectural highlights.\n\nOne of these, Tiškevičiai Palace, a grand Neo-Renaissance style building, is now an Amber Museum and is surrounded by Birute Park’s botanical gardens which is free to visit.\n\nElegant Tiškevičiai Palace (Picture: Visit Neringa)\n\nInside, the magnificent displays include pieces that are over 50 million years old, some with insects trapped inside.\n\nHuge prehistoric forests, ancient river systems and a unique geological quirk, means that even today in the colder months, pieces of amber can float right into the hands of beachcombers.\n\nLocals tell me that after storms, amber hunters head to the beaches at first light hoping to find newly deposited treasures among the seaweed and driftwood.\n\nStill, what really caught my attention about this stretch of the Baltic coast was the cost.\n\nThe Nagliai Nature Reserve is home to**** spectacular dunes that offer commanding views of the wild landscape (Picture: Andrius Kundrotas)\n\nAt a time when many European destinations seem determined to empty your wallet before you’ve even unpacked, Lithuania feels wonderfully affordable.\n\nA cup of coffee: £3.50, and it is quite possible to get a hearty restaurant meal under £10.\n\nThe speciality here is a cold pink soup known as Šaltibarščiai made with kefir, shredded beetroot, cucumbers, fresh dill, and hard-boiled eggs, usually served with a side of warm, buttered boiled potatoes, all for about £5.\n\nUnsurprisingly, fresh fish is eaten everywhere.\n\nI tasted a delicious fillet of sturgeon for the first time in restaurant Melynasis Karpis, surrounded by its own fishponds.\n\nŠaltibarščiai, Lithuania’s famous pink soup (Picture: Lucy Daltroff)\n\nLithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990, becoming the first Soviet republic to break away.\n\nToday, it seems to be flourishing as a spirited country.\n\nIt has a lot of pride in itself for many things, including fast internet connections which can be a real boon for tourists.\n\nThe largest city in this area, Klaipėda has one of the few ice-free ports in northern Europe.\n\nBecause of this, it has been fought over many times and has a complicated history, becoming first part of Prussia, but more recently forging its Lithuanian identity.\n\nKnown for its German-influenced architecture, its ancient castle and tower built as early as 1252 had been totally destroyed, but it’s just been restored.\n\nI was lucky enough to visit before it officially opened.\n\nKlaipėda Castle, built by Teutonic Knights in the 13th Century (Picture: Lucy Daltroff)\n\nIt is beautifully constructed with modern materials but maintaining the dimensions of the original. The plan is for it to be used for cultural events.\n\nNext door and an excellent museum explain the city’s dramatic and fascinating past.\n\nMy favourite part of our whirlwind tour was the Curonian Spit, a 60-mile finger of land separating the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Lagoon.\n\nThis UNESCO-protected strip forms a narrow ribbon of dunes, forests and traditional fishing villages.\n\nIt’s just a 10-minute car ferry ride from Klaipeda but seems like another world.\n\nIt is mostly a National Park and the whole district goes by the name ‘Neringa’.\n\nThe writer Thomas Mann, author of ‘Death in Venice’ was so captivated by its beauty that he and his wife built a house overlooking the sea.\n\n> @laumeieva\n>\n> the prettiest and emptiest place to enjoy the sunset 🌅 #ExplorePalanga #traveltok #laumeieva #lithuania\n>\n> ♬ Dimensions sedyy edit – SedyyFilms\n\nAs he explained, ‘this fantastic world of shifting dunes, the birch and pine tree groves with grazing elk between the lagoon and the Baltic, the wild magnificence of the beach’ struck such a chord that they decided to build a permanent residence.\n\nThe house is now the Thomas Mann Museum.\n\nI joined a National Park ranger for a walk across some of the largest shifting sand dunes found on this continent at the Nagliai Nature Strict Reserve.\n\nClimbing up a viewpoint, we were rewarded with extraordinary views: vast waves of sand rolling towards the horizon with the Baltic shimmering in the distance.\n\nIt felt more like a desert than a part of northern Europe.Over hundreds of years, 14 villages have been totally lost by shifting sands.\n\n##  More lesser-known Europe inspiration\n\n  * I spent 48 hours in Europe’s most affordable city — ‘nobody knows where it is’\n  * A guide to Bulgaria’s underrated destination — the ‘Bordeaux of Eastern Europe’\n  * I’ve been to 9 Italian cities, but there’s only one I keep going back to\n  * This ‘tiny’ European country fits into the UK 1,521 times and there’s no airport\n  * I explored Europe’s ‘least-visited’ country – with unrecognised states and underground wine cities\n\n\n\n## Bird-watching paradise\n\nIf recent statistics about Gen Z’s interest in bird-watching are to be believed, the Curonian Spit could see an influx of young travellers in the next few years.\n\nMillions of migratory birds pass through this narrow corridor every year, making it one of Europe’s most important routes.\n\nOur captain, Egidijus, took some of us in a small boat on a bird-watching trip across to the Nemunas Delta, where we were able to spot bearded tits, terns and eventually, white tailed eagles, among an immense wetland landscape of rivers, reed beds and flooded meadows.\n\nIt was a special experience.\n\nAfterwards, at the Ventė Cape Ornithological Station, I met one of the most memorable characters of the trip, Vytautas Jusys, a cheerful, ornithologist who bore an uncanny resemblance to the comedian Bob Mortimer.\n\nVytautas Jusys is one of the world’s most prolific bird ringers (Picture: Lucy Daltroff)\n\nJusys is recognised as one of the most prolific bird ringers in the world, having worked with over a million during his remarkable career and his work has significantly contributed to the development of ornithology in Lithuania and beyond.\n\nWatching him gently examine tiny migrants before releasing them back into the sky was really fascinating.\n\nEven for someone who wouldn’t normally describe themselves as a dedicated birdwatcher, it was impossible not to be captivated by his enthusiasm.\n\nBy the end of my trip, I was left wondering why Lithuania’s coast remains such a secret.\n\nFor British travellers searching for somewhere different this summer, it may just be Europe’s best-value, varied and most enjoyable, beach escape.\n\n##  Getting to Palanga\n\nFly direct to Palanga from London Stansted with Ryanair from around £88 return.\n\nFor more information, go to VisitNeringa.com.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "I’ve been to 28 European countries, but nowhere compares to this little-known coast"
}