This post describes our three-day hike in Lithuanias Dzukija national park. Helle and Peter travelled in early June 2025. We rented a car in Kaunas, and drove south to Merkinë, where we parked the car and started the hike.
On the last day we explored the spa town Druskininkai and the nearby Grutos Park before we drove to the former capital Trakai for the historic town and castle.
Day 1
We had arrived late in Kaunas the night before. After a good nights sleep we saw Kaunas Castle and the nearby Kauno Šv. Jurgio Kankinio Church.
We bought a canister of gas at Husky, before driving south to Merkiné.
In Merkiné, where we parked the car and started our three-day hike in Dzukija National Park.
On the first miles we followed the Merkys river and got to cross it on a wooden suspension bridge. The landscape was beautiful in bright green colors of the forest, rivers and lakes.
Parts of the trail we walked followed a historic trail commemorating the Lithuanian partisan that fought the Soviet army in the years of 1944-1946.
We had beautiful hiking weather with sun and drifting clouds and temperatures around 20 degrees. We hiked 16 km and set up camp at Puvočiai, one of the designated camp sites in the park.
Day 2
We set off from from Puvočiai campsite in the morning. The trail took us through forests, along the rivers and to beautiful forest lakes.
There are no public sources of drinking water by the trail, so we asked for water in the villages we passed. The houses due not have water in-house, instead every house has a well outside. It is also common to have a pit-toilet in the garden.
At Kastinio ežeras Lake we saw large carved pagan goddesses from old Baltic mythology, and enjoyed a swim in the lake.
It was difficult to communicate because our Lithuanian as well as Russian is very poor, but we managed with universal sign language and German and English words.
We had hiked 30 km, and ended the day at a very beautiful campsite near Mančiagirės. It was sunny and warm, and we enjoyed a campfire with chirping birds around us.
Day 3
The day started on a single track from Manciagires next to Merkys River – a beautiful stretch of the hike.
At the village of Mardasavas we were supposed to cross the Merkys River, but the bridge wasn’t passable anymore.
It gave us a detour of 6 km on gravel roads, so we ended up walking 29 km in total.
We arrived in Merkiné by the car around 17:00 and drove 30 min south to the spa town of Druskininkai – only 10 km from the border to Belarus. Here we checked in at The House hotel and had a well deserved shower and meal at the restaurant. It is a typical holiday resort town with lots of restaurants and people around – what a contrast to the national park!
We took an evening walk around the city and saw the wooden Russian Orthodox Church.
Day 4
We visited Grutos Parkas near Druskininkai. It is an open air Soviet occupation museum. The museum hosts statues of prominent Russian and Lithuanian communists, who have been removed from their original locations. It also had a deportation train wagon. Around 350.000 Lithuanias were deported during the Soviet occupation. A scary reminder of history, which becomes more present with today’s war in Ukraine.
We also made a stop in Trakai to see the castle neatly situated on a small island in the lake. A small national park area with lots of tourists and holiday vibes.
We returned to Kaunas and dropped off the car before flying home.
Find more posts about our hikes here.