New York to Vilnius, Lithuania from $374

🌍 About vilnius

Vilnius has one of the largest baroque old towns in Europe, but the quarter that sticks is Užupis: a scruffy riverside enclave of artists that declared itself a republic in 1997, with a constitution bolted to a wall (one article: "a dog has the right to be a dog"). Order cepelinai — fist-sized potato dumplings stuffed with meat, drowned in sour cream and bacon; heavy, cheap, and genuinely Lithuanian, not a tourist invention. It's one of the EU's most affordable capitals, so a budget fare stretches a long way once you land. Come May, June, or September — warm enough for terrace beers and long light evenings without August's prices. Skip deep winter unless freezing grey days and a quiet, frosted Old Town are the point.