Route description
Your tour includes Nida, Juodkrante and Klaipeda. It comes to a total of 60 kilometers or 38 miles.
Cycle on an asphalt bike path of the Seaside Cycle Route which takes you along the Curonian Spit to Klaipeda. Once you've reached Smiltyne, you can take a ferry to old town Klaipeda.
Where to eat
Most towns along the tour boast great restaurants and cafes. Your starting point is Nida, that has gourmet restaurants like the Nidos Seklycia with a menu full of local specialties and view of the water. The huge outdoor terrace of the restauarant Kavine Laume in Nida is great for sun-filled summer days.
Prieila and Pervalka are also towns to stop if you need a rest and a quick snack. Juodkrante has outstanding fish restaurants like restaurant Zuvele. Pamario Takios is a small hotel with an outstanding restaurant inside.
Restaurant Pakrante in Smiltynė, is an insider tip and will leave you tempted for a stop.
Klaipėda has so many restaurants that will even please the most critical foodies and will guaranteed cater to everyone's palate.
Highlights of the tour
Start your tour in the harbour city of South Nida and ride along the coast to discover the National Park of the Curonian Spit. Explore its picturesque pine forests, secluded bays and magnificent sand dunes. This will make you believe you are standing right in the Sahara instead of Northern Europe! To quote a German writer and Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann who spent the summers of 1930-1932 in Nida: 'visiting the Curonian Spit is a must, it's equally important as visiting Italy or Spain.“.
Heading up north to Klaipėda city that originates in the German-founded brick castle of Memelburg in the 13th century you will have plenty of things to do. Travel to the sights on the Curonian Spit: 50 kilometers of sandy beaches, the Klaipėda Sea Museum and Dolphinarium in Smiltyne, the Hill of Witches and a colony of grey herons and cormorants in Juodkrante, the Dead Dunes near Pervalka, fishermen’s houses in the old town of Nida, the Great Dune of Parnidis, the Thomas Mann House and Museum, Mizgiris Amber Gallery and Museum, the Lutheran church in Nida, and the ancient Curonian cemetery are all in this area and definetly worth a visit at your leisure.
Variations
You can choose between two options on how you want to ride the tour: You can either start in Klaipeda, make your way along Smiltynė, Juodkrantė, Pervalka, Prieila and your destination will be Nida. The other possibility is to start in Nida and make the tour the other way around.
Getting here
If you are coming by plane either book your flight to Palanga /Klaipeda (PLQ) international airport or to Kaunas (KNU) international airport or Vilnius (VNO) international airport.