It is very easy and cheap to go to Lithuania by car. The relatively short distance and the opportunity to visit more than Vilnius, for example, makes travelling by car compete with the plane. Unlike our other Polish eastern neighbours, travelling by car to Lithuania does not involve additional formalities. However, there is some important information that will make the trip easier.
What should you know before travelling to Lithuania?
Agenda
Traffic regulations
Lithuania belongs to the European Union and the Schengen Area, so travelling by car does not require additional documents than in Poland. No driving authorization is required for a borrowed or business car. You won’t have to wait at the border either, which is a huge plus. Road regulations, on the other hand, though quite similar to Polish ones, differ a bit. Considering these small differences can, however, secure you against a potential mandate 🙂
Important information is that speed limits on highways and expressways depend on the time of year. From the beginning of November to the end of March, highways maximum speed is 110 km/h and express roads 100 km/h. In summer, the speed limit on the highway increases to 130 km/h, and on the expressway to 110 km/h. In built-up areas, however, the speed limit is 50 km/h.
To our joy, vignettes and highway tolls do not apply.
Currency
The currency in Lithuania is Euro. Prices are similar but slightly higher than in Poland.
Parkings in Vilnius
You will likely go to Vilnius. How is it with parking in the capital of Lithuania?
There are 4 parking zones in Vilnius: blue, red, yellow and green. They differ in parking hours and price.
The blue zone is the most expensive, the parking costs EUR 1.80/hour, and you have to pay for parking from Monday to Sunday between 8 am and midnight. It is the smallest zone, it covers the area of the Town Hall (Vokėčių, Didžioji, Stiklų streets), Šventaragio street at Cathedral Square and a piece of Giedymino Avenue and Jakšto Street.
The red zone covers most of the Old Town, the cost is EUR 0.9/hour, and parking must be paid from Monday to Saturday from 8 am till 10 pm.
The yellow zone is around the red zone, the cost is EUR 0.6/hour, and parking must be paid from Monday to Saturday from 8 am till 8 pm.
The green zone is the cheapest of all paid parking zones in Vilnius. It costs only EUR 0.3/hour. Parking must be paid from Monday to Saturday from 8 am till 8 pm.
If you decide to park in one zone and make a payment, you can freely change the parking space during the validity of the ticket in the zone where we bought it and in cheaper ones. Therefore:
- having a ticket from the blue zone you can park in all zones,
- having a ticket from the red zone, you can also park in the yellow and green zones,
- having a ticket from the yellow zone you can also park in the green zone,
- having a ticket from the green zone allows you to park only in this zone.
Parking meters are located near all paid parking lots. In parking meters, you can pay only with coins or via SMS.
Buying alcohol
We can admit that we were slightly shocked when on Sunday apart from the takeaway pizza we tried to buy wine in a grocery store. The lady behind the counter didn’t want to sell the wine. She tried to explain something to us, and then showed a piece of paper in English, with information about the ban on selling alcohol on Sunday.
It turns out that the Lithuanian authorities have tightened the rules for its sale. Under the new rules, alcohol can only be purchased from 10 am to 8 pm from Monday to Saturday, and on Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm. Outside of these hours, alcohol is only sold on-site in bars and restaurants.
If you plan to bring alcohol with you as a souvenir or gift for
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