Guide to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with kids

On a wall on Paupio Street in Vilnius's Užupis district hangs the constitution of this arty little republic. One of its articles says that a dog has the right to be a dog. One plaque with the text is in Polish, and our daughter and one of our dogs were reflected in it.

Our two golden retrievers, Lamia and Fiona, came with us all the way through Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They rode in our canoes down the Gauja, trotted along the narrow boardwalks across Viru Bog and took the funicular with us up Aleksotas Hill in Kaunas.

We have been to the Baltic states once, in summer 2026, from 1 to 15 August. There were six of us in our campervan Beza: the two of us and our four daughters, plus the two dogs. Most nights we slept at campsites, and once at an RMK forest campground right by the Baltic. The whole route, day by day, is in our post Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia by campervan with kids.

It was a trip full of nature: campsites by lakes, a day on the river, a bog and short trails by the sea. We explored Vilnius, Riga and Kaunas on foot, each in an afternoon or a day. Below you will find practical tips and links to our posts.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with kids at a glance

  • Our trip lasted 15 days, from 1 to 15 August 2026. We spent 5 nights in Lithuania, 3 in Latvia and 4 in Estonia, plus one night in Poland on the way there and one on the way back.
  • We drove from Poland via Suwałki. On the first day we covered 575 km, and the next day another 238 km to Vilnius. We split the drive home from Kaunas into two days, with a night near Warsaw.
  • We slept in Beza at campsites, including Obuolių sala, an island full of apple trees, and a lakeside site near Kaunas. One night we stayed at the RMK forest campground in Lemme on the Baltic coast.
  • Our four daughters came along. On the Gauja the girls took turns with the paddles, and on Viru Bog our youngest daughter rode in a baby carrier.
  • The dogs came with us to the aviation museum, in the canoes, on the trails and on city buses. The only places they weren't allowed were the Treetop Walking Path in Anykščiai, the central beach in Pärnu and the Hill of Crosses.
  • An afternoon each was enough for Vilnius and Riga, and we gave Kaunas a full day. The Gauja canoe trip, with the coach back, took half a day, and Lahemaa with Viru Bog took us a day and a half.

Practical info

Checked in November 2026.

Driving from Poland and border checks

On the first day we drove 575 km and spent the night at Camping 133 in Suwałki, which left us 238 km to Vilnius the next morning. On the way back from Riga to Kaunas we stopped off the Via Baltica at the Hill of Crosses, and from Kaunas it was only 120 km to Suwałki.

All three countries are in the Schengen Area, but you may still be stopped at the border:

  • Poland has had temporary checks on its border with Lithuania since 7 July 2025, currently extended until 30 March 2027.
  • At the Latvian border there was a patrol, but they waved us through.
  • At the Estonian border the police let the cars through and pulled our Iveco aside. The officer asked who we were carrying, where we were going and whether it was our first visit to Estonia.
  • Keep a passport or ID card handy for everyone on board.

Currency and payments

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all use the euro. We paid for the Gauja canoes by card on the spot, and on the buses in Vilnius and Kaunas you buy a ticket by tapping a card or phone on the reader. Cash came in handy at the RMK campground in Lemme, where the entry fee is cash only.

Road tolls

In Lithuania only vehicles in categories M2, M3 and N1-N3 pay the road charge, so M1 passenger vehicles need no vignette. In Latvia the charge applies to goods vehicles from 3 tonnes, and in Estonia to trucks over 3.5 tonnes. Check the vehicle category in your registration document before you go, especially if you are travelling in a campervan or a large van.

Dogs

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia follow the standard EU rules for pets. Your dog needs an EU pet passport, a microchip and a valid rabies vaccination, and after the first vaccination you have to wait at least 21 days before travelling. On our route there were three places where dogs weren't allowed:

  • Dogs are not allowed on the walkway or the tower of the Treetop Walking Path in Anykščiai. You can walk your dog on a lead on the forest paths nearby.
  • Dogs are banned from the central beach in Pärnu from 1 June to 31 August. You can take them to Raeküla beach, Mai beach, Vana-Pärnu beach and the left bank of the river by the breakwater.
  • The rules of the Hill of Crosses ban dogs and other animals, except guide dogs, and there are signs saying so at the entrance.

Public transport has its own rules. In Vilnius a dog rides the bus for free, but a large dog must wear a muzzle and be on a lead no longer than 0.5 m, and you need to carry its vaccination record. In Kaunas, since 2026, dogs can travel on public transport outside rush hour, muzzled, on a lead of up to 0.5 m and with a vaccination certificate. We couldn't get a clear answer on dogs on Riga's buses, because the operator's own information is contradictory.

Public transport tickets

We used city buses in Vilnius, Riga and Kaunas. For a family, one rule matters most: one card or one phone buys one ticket.

  • In Vilnius you just tap a contactless card or phone on the reader on board. That buys a 60-minute ticket for €1.25. A 30-minute ticket for €1 is available in the JUDU app, and drivers don't sell tickets.
  • In Kaunas the cheapest option is a ticket in the Žiogas app. It costs €0.70 and includes one free transfer within 30 minutes, but the app sells only one ticket at a time. A ticket from the driver costs €1.50 and doesn't allow transfers.
  • In Riga a 90-minute ticket costs €1.50 and allows transfers, but you have to register it again in every vehicle you board.

To buy tickets for six people in Kaunas, we had to juggle several phones, apps, Google Wallet and physical cards. It worked, but it's worth sorting out before the bus pulls up.

Campsites on our route

  • Vilnius City Camping is by the Litexpo exhibition centre, about 6 km from the Old Town, and is open from 1 June to 15 September. The bus ride into the centre took us 18 minutes.
  • Obuolių sala is on an island in Lake Grabuostas, about 12 km from Molėtai. You drive onto the island over a wooden bridge, and there is a swimming area with a beach.
  • Žagarkalns near Cēsis is really a canoe base with a campsite. You pick up your boat right at the jetty, and the campsite is open from 15 May to 15 September.
  • At Lepispea campsite in Lahemaa, staff are only on site for two hours a day. The rest of the time you just drive in and park wherever you like.
  • Vanamõisa Caravan Park near Tallinn has new facilities and a railway station next door, which makes it a good base for the capital.
  • Riverside Camping in Riga is on Ķīpsala island and is open from 1 May to 31 October. It's cramped and the toilets and showers are in containers, but they are fine.
  • Kaunas Lake Camping sits right on Lake Lampėdžiai among pine trees. There are outdoor gyms next door, and we took a city bus into Kaunas.

RMK trails and campgrounds in Estonia

RMK is Estonia's State Forest Management Centre. Besides looking after the forests, it runs hiking trails, nature trails and campgrounds. When we were there in 2026, we paid nothing for the trails at Käsmu, Altja and Oandu, and the RMK description of the Viru Bog trail doesn't mention any fees.

At the RMK campground in Lemme you pay €5 per vehicle, cash only, and pitching a tent is free. The toilets and showers cost extra, so in the end it comes to about the same as a campsite. In return, you park a few steps from the Baltic.

When to go

We went in the first half of August. Many places are seasonal: the Vilnius campsite is open from 1 June to 15 September, and in 2026 the Estonian Aviation Museum was open from 25 April to 25 October. In August we had a hot day at the lake in Dubingiai, but rain and strong wind on the Estonian coast. In Riga a thunderstorm cut our Old Town walk short.

The best places for kids

Lithuania

Vilnius: the Gate of Dawn and Užupis

We left Beza at the campsite and took the bus into the centre, dogs included. We explored the Old Town on foot, and the walk took us about four hours including lunch:

  • We started at the Gate of Dawn, the only one of the nine gates in the old city walls that still stands.
  • In Užupis a constitution hangs on the wall, and it says that a dog has the right to be a dog.
  • We had cepelinai for lunch while the dogs lay under the table.
  • By St Anne's Church we stopped for a photo at the Mickiewicz monument and then walked on to Cathedral Square.
  • Our last stop was the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Antakalnis, where around two thousand white stucco figures cover the walls and ceilings.

More in our post Vilnius with kids and dogs.

Dubingiai and Obuolių sala campsite

In Dubingiai a wooden bridge from 1934 crosses Lake Asveja, the longest lake in Lithuania. We took the dogs on the loop around the Radziwiłł castle hill. A swing hangs from one of the birch trees there, and all four of our daughters managed to squeeze onto it.

A dozen or so kilometres away lies Obuolių sala, a campsite on an island full of apple trees. We didn't leave it for the whole of the next day: we swam, lazed on the beach and played badminton on the grass. More in our post Dubingiai with kids.

The Treetop Walking Path in Anykščiai

The 300 m metal walkway climbs gradually between the tree trunks to a 36 m lookout tower. From the top you can see the bends of the Šventoji River, and the girls used the binoculars on the deck to take a closer look. Dogs aren't allowed here, so dad stayed below with them while mum and the girls walked it on their own.

When they came back, the girls joked that they couldn't see a thing because the trees were in the way. Fair enough: it is a path in the treetops, not above them. Children up to and including 7 go in free. More in Anykščiai Treetop Walking Path with kids.

The Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai

We stopped here on the way from Riga to Kaunas to stretch our legs. Wooden steps and narrow paths lead up the hill, with crosses on every side: big and small, wooden, metal and colourful. Entry is free at any time of day or night, but dogs are not allowed. The car park is paid, although you can make a short stop by the access road. More in Hill of Crosses with kids.

Kaunas: the castle and the Aleksotas funicular

We took a bus from the campsite into the centre and walked 8 km around the city that day:

  • We started at the castle where the Neris flows into the Nemunas, the only castle in Lithuania with two rings of defensive walls.
  • Then we walked through the Old Town square. Kaunas has free drinking water points every few steps, and our dogs were happy to use them.
  • We crossed the Nemunas on the Vytautas the Great Bridge.
  • The whole family, dogs included, rode the funicular, which has been running since 1935, up to the viewpoint on Aleksotas Hill.

Fiona was so tired that she refused to wake up at the bus stop, which set off a burst of laughter on the bus. More in Kaunas with kids.

Latvia

Canoeing the Gauja from Cēsis to Līgatne

From Žagarkalns campsite near Cēsis we paddled two canoes about 17 km through Gauja National Park, with one dog in each boat. What stayed with us most were the colourful sandstone cliffs in the steep riverbanks. At one point we got over a little waterfall in our canoe, most likely the Ķūķu rapids.

The rental company's coach took us back to the start, and in the evening we watched the sunset from the lookout tower by the ski slope. In 2026 we paid €90 for two boats. More in Canoeing the Gauja with kids and dogs.

Riga: the Old Town in one afternoon

We fled the Estonian rain to Riga a day earlier than planned. We took the bus towards the centre, but the traffic onto the Vanšu Bridge was at a standstill, so we crossed the Daugava on foot. The bridge was in a very sorry state: holes along the sides of the pavement were covered with OSB boards, and there was rust everywhere.

In the Old Town we had to shelter from the rain a few times, but we still saw Cathedral Square, the House of the Blackheads, the Town Musicians of Bremen, the Swedish Gate and the Freedom Monument. At a stone table in one of the side streets, the girls held an arm-wrestling contest. More in Riga with kids and dogs.

Estonia

The Estonian Aviation Museum near Tartu

In Lange near Tartu the planes and helicopters stand in hangar tents and on the grass around them. You can climb into some of them, so the girls went up the ladders into the cockpits. One of the hangars holds a Polish Wilga, and the dogs explored the museum with us. There is parking for only a few short cars by the museum, so we left the campervan on the roadside. More in Estonian Aviation Museum with kids.

Lahemaa: Käsmu, Altja and Oandu

In Lahemaa National Park on the Gulf of Finland we walked three short RMK trails in one day, all of them with the dogs:

  • In Käsmu, the captains' village, the trail leads through a forest full of glacial boulders down to the sea. Huge boulders lie in the shallow water there, and the girls had no trouble climbing onto the ones near the shore.
  • In Altja the highlight was the giant wooden swing at the start of the trail. Village swings like this one inspired kiiking, an Estonian sport.
  • On the beaver trail at Oandu we saw neither beavers nor a dam, and the dogs didn't sniff out anything either.

In the evening we swam in the Gulf of Finland by Lepispea campsite, where the cabins look like something out of the Moomins. More in Lahemaa with kids.

Viru Bog

Narrow boardwalks cross the bog, and in places they are just two planks laid over a real bog. The dogs bravely walked the planks with us, and our youngest daughter rode in a baby carrier. From the wooden lookout tower you can see the whole bog with dozens of dark pools, and there is a marked swimming spot in one of them by the boardwalk.

The first 1.3 km, up to the tower, are suitable for a pushchair. We walked about 7 km in two hours. More in Viru Bog boardwalk with kids.

Pärnu, Lemme and Kabli

Dogs weren't allowed on the central beach in Pärnu, so we only stopped there briefly. We spent the night at the RMK forest campground in Lemme, a few steps from the Baltic shore. The weather turned, and at night the wind rocked our van.

The next morning we walked the wooden boardwalks of the Kabli nature trail, and our youngest daughter ran from one nest box to the next. The trail ends at the RMK nature centre, which has a museum about the forest and the work of foresters, and entry was free when we visited. The biggest surprise was the ladies' toilet, which had jars of forest animal droppings on display. More in Pärnu, Lemme and Kabli with kids.

All posts from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia

Last updated: November 2026