RUSSIA (KALININGRAD) | Litebitetravel

RUSSIA

(KALININGRAD)

/Travelled 2019 August/

Kaliningrad region is a strange piece of land. An exclave of Russian Federation squeezed between Poland and Lithuania on the coast of Baltic sea, famous for its amber, pine forests and sand dunes on the Curonian Spit. This province has a really complicated history and it is well illustrated by the fact most of the cities there have three other historical names apart from the current Russian one, that is: Lithuanian, Polish and German. In any case, now it’s a part of Russia and up until the beginning of 2019 a standard Russian visa was required to get there. But things changed and the new (free of charge!) e-visa just for Kaliningrad region was introduced. Apparently, to attract foreign tourists.

You can apply for e-visa at https://electronic-visa.kdmid.ru/klgd_home_en.html and get it done in four days. So, we received the visas, printed them and headed to Kaliningrad region by car for an extended weekend getaway. After crossing the border, which took a bit longer than anticipated we headed towards Kaliningrad city. You can read some tips on how to get across the Lithuanian-Russian boarder by car in a blog post here.

On the way to Kaliningrad, the region’s biggest city, we stopped at Chernyakhovsk to see the remains of a castle Insterburg (google map) and a get a first feeling of local life in a mid size town. Our plan was to spend one night in Kaliningrad, one night in some resort by the Baltic see and finish the trip by staying in a Curonian spit.

KALININGRAD

Once we arrived to Kaliningrad we were quite impressed with a size of a city. It has a long history as one of the most important cities (at that time called Königsberg) of Prussian empire, home to the famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who is by the way buried in the city’s cathedral.

WHAT TO DO?

Koningsberg cathedral (google map) is of course the most famous landmark of the city and is really worth visiting. There is also a nice park around it.

Take a walk in the city center, go to a local market (google map), have a dinner at the Rybnaya derevnia (google map). Rybnaya derevnia (which means Fishing village) is actually a newly built district only done in a traditional German style, to attract the visitors. The place has a lot of restaurants and cafés along the river and they are quite pricey.

TIP: If want to have a meal at a reasonable price and with a great view to the prior mentioned “German” houses just walk across Pregolya river on a pedestrian bridge and find a restaurant on the other side. Such as the one we ate at, called Bo-Bo (google map). It gets really beautiful at dusk.

SEASIDE

Our next destination was the Baltic sea.

Yantarny was our first and best impression of the seaside in the region, famous for its amber, mined in the industrial way. They say, Kaliningrad region holds 90% of the world’s amber reserve. Amber museum is one of the main tourist attractions here, but we were not much into that stuff, so we skipped it for the beach time.

The beach here was surprisingly nice! You can a get a sun bed, there are some nice places for lunch, and a view of alternative amber mining industry in action with some small ships cruising from shore to the sea with diver crews who make their living this way, competing with a state-run amber mining on the land.

Svetlogorsk is the biggest resort, attracting crowds of holidaymakers. There is a nice promenade on the embankment by the sea, an old-school gondola funicular from beach to town, a historical water tower, a few monuments and lots of restaurants and hotels. The shoreline is quite steep, so you get to climb a lot of steps, or use the funicular to get to the town center. All in all, it’s a typical Russian resort by the sea – with crowded beaches in the daytime and noisy restaurants in the evening, trying to play music louder than their neighbors.

Zelenogradsk is another gem by the sea of Kaliningrad region with a quite strange beach, separated by many wooden piers and squeezed between the see and the embankment wall. The town is quite nice though, with German style buildings in the old town.

TIP: the best beach is definitely in Yantarny.

Curonian spit is a unique site, included in the UNESCO World heritage list. It is a narrow peninsula covered with sand dunes and pine forests, separating the Baltic sea from the Curonian lagoon. Since it is a national park you have to pay an entrance fee (around 4 USD per vehicle and 2 USD per person).

The top three places to visit on the peninsula are definitely Muller’s Hight, Dancing Forest and Efa Dune.

- Muller’s Hight (google map) is a nice trail across the pine forest and the dunes that takes to you to a viewing platform with magnificent views of the dunes, the forest and the lagoon.

The hight is named after the forester who started conservation efforts of the dunes.

- Dancing forest (google map) is a pine forest with unusually twisted trees. There are several hypotheses on why such unusual shapes and patterns have formed but the exact cause is unknown.

- Efa dune (google map). It’s a dune! Actually, the whole area of amazing sand dunes.

We stayed overnight in Morskoe village (google map), which is really a village - with no tourist infrastructure. That is cool in a way. There are only a few houses and rooms for rent and hostel Ecolodge Zen. It is located by the lagoon where people don’t swim, but the Baltic sea and its wide and empty beach is walking distance away. The peninsula is less than 2 km wide at this spot. There is also a café on the way to the beach, and it really is the only place to eat in Morskoe.

Here is our recommended route in Kaliningrad region for an extended weekend:

Total driving distance from one border crossing to another is around 350 km, though the road is quite slow and it can take up to 6 hours.

Day 1: The recommendation is to spend a day (or the rest of it left from driving) in Kaliningard and stay there for a night.

Day 2: Go to Yantarny and enjoy a day on the beach. You can stay there for a night or go to Svetlogorsk. There are more hotels and restaurants in Svetlogorsk, but the beach is definitely nicer in Yantarny. So, if you still want to stay by the sea in the morning, don’t bother going anywhere else.

Day 3: Take a walk in Svetlogorsk, drive up and have coffee in Zelenograd, finally take your time and drive all the way up the Curonian spit while stopping to look around in the forest, see the dunes and walk on the wild beaches by the sea (not the lagoon). If you don’t feel like staying in Morskoe village with no tourist infrastructure, you can cross the border and make it to nice and comfortable Nida resort in Lithuania by night.

The Morskoe - Nida border crossing is not so complicated, just make sure you read how much alcohol and cigarettes (only 2 pack per person!) is allowed to carry across the border when travelling by car. And yes, there are ecological tolls on both Russian and Lithuanian side while entering the UNESCO protected Curonian spit area. In Russia they will charge you just a few EUR and in Lithuania in will already cost you 20 EUR in summer time.

WHY GO THERE?

For some people it may be the curiosity to experience what remains of Soviet times or search for historical sites of the Kingdom of Prussia. Others may be attracted by the unique nature of the Curonian spit. Both history and nature lovers will find what they look for, just take it easy and travel with open mind. The fact that this place does not see many foreign tourists has its challenges and its charm.

GETTING TO KALININGRAD BY CAR FROM LITHUANIA