Kaunas Sports & Outdoors

The SELL student games are held since 1998 (Tartu, Estonia) every year and are organized by the baltic states estonia, lithuania and latvia as well as finland (tampere 2004). there are always several disciplines of sports in which you can participate, like swimming, athletics, basketball, floorball, volleyball, tennis, orienteering, judo, soccer...
this event is very useful for the international contact and exchange of studying sportsmen.

Basketball is the most popular sport in Lithuania. Interesting enough is the fact that Lithuania is ranked 5th in the FIBA world ranking. Among the biggest successes are 3 European Championships and 3 bronze medals in Summer Olympics.

On Laisves aleja (Freedom Square) we saw a sort of basketball basket which was obviously officially in use as a sort of bin for empty plastic bottles.

You will find a beach near the Pazaislis Cloister. During the summer season you can rent boats or water-bikes there. Going further till the Yacht Club, you'll find lots of yahts at the shores. Some of them will take you for a journey to the Kaunas Sea. Try it;-)

A good idea to have an active sport - go for skating! Lot's of fun and good music for your pleasure. But on weekends it's full of people...

Equipment: You can rent ice skating shoes there.

Look at the kid climbing a tank, on my picture. Was it a sport activity? I was not sure...

Just in case you visit Kaunas with your kids, the tank was located in fromt of the Vytautas the Great War Museum (called Military Museum as well). There were more attractions to climb for your your kids there including a few cannons and two black lions.


From my VT friend OlafS from Belgium:
That's not a tank, it's a ASU-57 selfpropelled gun of the Soviet airborne troops.

Thank you and excuse me my military ignoration, Olaf :-)


Equipment: Young bones were recommended :-). Add comfortable climbing trainers.

Walking around Kaunas - its Old and New Town - from one place of tourist interest to next one was the best way to get closer to city and its unique atmosphere - peaceful and quiet in the Old Town and lively in the New Town.

Do you want more relax? There were parks around of which I visited two:
- Santakos Parkas in the old town where Neris and Nemunas rivers meet themselves,
- Ramybes Parkas in the New Town; do not skip tiny mosque and Museum of Exiles and Political Prisoners located there.

Equipment: Good legs :-) + comfortable walking shoes preferrably water-resistant: like good trainers or better special walking shoes (one example: Danish Ecco are very comfortable and... expensive but worth the cost).

Kaunas surely was not, say Amsterdam, with more bicycles than cars or even... people. But I saw some locals cycling for recreation in Kaunas. There was main bicycle route crossing Kaunas from Town Hall Square on the west to Independence Square on the east. There were few bicycle racks, always empty and... I knew nothing about risk of theft of your bicycle there.

Equipment: Bicycles used by young natives for recreation were suprisingly new and modern, much better than those black and old ones in Amsterdam :-). Excuse, a receptionist in my Minotel hotel didn't know where to find rent a bicycle agency... I am not sure whether there were any in Kaunas. My comprehensive leaflet "Kaunas/Klaipeda in your pocket" didn't give any information on that matter.

The old town of Kaunas located between Nemunas and Neris river was generally flat area although... look at Urszula on my picture taken by the Kaunas castle. Well, it was wild, small pathway across former castle moat (dry now).

The areas around the old town, like Aleksotas district south of Nemunas river, were more hilly.

Equipment: Comfortable walking shoes preferrably water-resistant: like good trainers or better special walking shoes (one example: Danish Ecco are very comfortable and... expensive but worth the cost).