Free Walking Tour Trakai: Two Castles, One Karaim Street

Your Trakai Walking Tour Stop by Stop: Castles and Karaims

1. 1

   Trakai Peninsula Castle

   

   You start on the peninsula between southern Lake Galvė and Lake Luka, at the castle that came first. Kęstutis, Duke of Trakai, built it sometime between 1350 and 1377, and its job was blunt: shield Trakai and Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, against the Teutonic Knights. What you walk among today are the remaining walls and towers, protected by the Trakai Historical National Park.

   Picture it complete: seven towers joined by a wall 10 m high. The three largest, each 15 m by 15 m, stood on the southwestern flank, the side the builders considered most vulnerable, and a moat more than 12 m wide cut the fortress off from the town. Keep that in mind as you look at the surviving towers and you can read where the defenders expected trouble.

   These walls saw real fighting: attacks in 1382 and 1383 during the civil war of the early 1380s, and again in 1390. After the Treaty of Melno in 1422 the castle lost its military role, and grand dukes used it as a residence. On 20 March 1440 Sigismund Kęstutaitis was murdered here. In the 16th century it served as a prison, and in the Russo-Polish War of the mid 17th century it was destroyed and never rebuilt.

   The church and monastery belong to the ensemble too. In 1678 Marcjan Aleksander Ogiński, Voivode of Trakai, granted the land to the Dominicans, though the monks only built their monastery and church in the 1770s. The site charges entry; it's worth it if you enjoy reading a fortress from its footprint and want the backstory to the Island Castle at the end of the walk.

   From here it's 440 m, about 6 minutes, to Karaimų Street, and on the way you pass the Trakai History Museum.

   Local name

   Trakų pusiasalio pilis

   Hours

   Apr–Sep: Mon–Sun 10:00–18:00; Jan–Mar & Oct–Dec: Tue–Sat 10:00–18:00 (Sun–Mon closed)

   Price

   10 EUR adult, 6 EUR reduced (Apr-Sep); 8 EUR adult, 5 EUR reduced (Oct-Mar)

   Website

   aplankyk.eu ↗

   Location

   Trakai Peninsula Castle on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Karaim Ethnographic Museum

   

   Turning off the castle grounds puts you on Karaimų Street, and the town changes character. Three of the five stops on this walk sit on this one street, and this museum is the door that explains the other two.

   The Karaim Ethnographic Museum is an official branch of the Trakai History Museum. It exists because the community it documents settled in Trakai at the end of the 14th century and is still here, with its own faith, its own prayer house and its own streetscape, all within a few minutes' walk.

   Should you go in? The museum is a separate ticket from the castles, so decide by interest. If the street has already caught your curiosity and you want to understand what you're about to see, go in. If you're saving your time and budget for the castles, walk on without guilt: the street itself costs nothing.

   The Kenesa of Trakai is just 70 m further, about a minute on foot.

   Hours

   Wed–Sun 10:00–18:00, Mon–Tue closed (Jan–Dec)

   Price

   9 EUR adult, 5 EUR reduced (Apr-Sep); 7 EUR adult, 4 EUR reduced (Oct-Mar)

   Website

   trakai-visit.lt ↗

   Location

   Karaim Ethnographic Museum on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Kenesa of Trakai

   

   This is the kenesa, the prayer house of Trakai's Karaims, who follow the Karaite faith. A kenesa has stood here since the end of the 14th century, in the part of town where the Karaims lived, known as the Small Town. The building belongs to the Trakai Karaim community and is not open to visitors, so this is a stop for looking from outside, and it's free.

   Take in the shape: a square, single storey building of hewn logs, plastered inside and out, on stone foundations. The hipped roof rises in two tiers and carries a square lantern on top. The main facade is asymmetrical, with arched windows set high and framed by profiled surrounds.

   Its history is a chain of fires and rebuilds. It burned at the start of the 16th century and was rebuilt in 1533, was damaged in 1727 and 1773, and burned again in the fire of 1794, when Karaims from Slutsk and Crimea sent donations to rebuild it. In 1812 French soldiers marching through Trakai set it alight. After the last fire, in 1824, the community wanted a brick building but lacked the money, so it rose in wood once more.

   The form you see goes back to 1903 and 1904, a reconstruction to a design drawn up in 1898 and 1899, driven and funded by the Karaim clergyman Feliks Malecki with help from the engineer Mikhail Prozorov. A school once worked beside it. In 1997 it was restored for the first time since the war, following that same design. Inside, out of view, the hall is the men's part, the women's balcony rests on four wooden columns, and an eight-sided dome painted blue forms the ceiling.

   From here it's 200 m, about 3 minutes, along the street into the Karaim Quarter.

   Local name

   Trakų kenesa

   Hours

   Exterior viewable 24/7

   Price

   Free (exterior only; the building is not open to visitors)

   Website

   karaim.eu ↗

   Location

   Kenesa of Trakai on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Karaim Quarter

   

   Now the street itself. The Karaim Quarter is the stretch of Karaimų Street around the kenesa, a historic district you simply walk: no gate, no counter, nothing to book. After a castle ruin and a museum with tickets, that change of pace is exactly what the route needs.

   Walk it slowly and let what you heard at the museum and saw at the kenesa do the explaining. This is a living community's street, not a reconstruction, which is what makes it different from the two castles that frame it.

   It's also the free spine of the walk. If the day has to be trimmed to zero euros, the quarter and the kenesa frontage are what remain, and they're there for you at any hour.

   The finale is close now: 510 m, about 7 minutes, out to the water and Trakai Island Castle.

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Website

   trakai-visit.lt ↗

   Location

   Karaim Quarter on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Trakai Island Castle

   

   The finale stands on the largest of three islands in Lake Galvė. Kęstutis began the stone castle in the second half of the 14th century, linked to his strengthening of the Peninsula Castle where you started, and moved his main residence and his treasury out here. The Teutonic Knights devastated it in 1377.

   After Kęstutis was assassinated, his son Vytautas the Great and Jogaila fought for the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania, and both sides besieged the castle. Once they reconciled, the second and decisive building phase ran until about 1409. During a truce with the Teutonic Order the works were apparently supervised by the Order's own stonemason, Radike, only a few years before the Battle of Grunwald. Vytautas later died in this castle, in 1430.

   What to look for: the two wings added in that phase, and on the southern side the keep, six storeys and 35 m tall. Its movable gates separated the palace from the rest of the castle, and besides defence it held a chapel and living quarters. It connects to the multi storey Ducal Palace with its inner yard.

   Much of what you see was rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s, pushed through on Lithuanian initiative despite resistance from the Soviet authorities, and the Trakai History Museum was set up afterwards. The castle charges entry, and if you go inside anywhere on this walk, make it here: it's the main sight, and the keep and palace bring together every name you've met since the peninsula. Give it the longest share of your time.

   Local name

   Trakų salos pilis

   Hours

   Apr–Sep: Mon–Sun 10:00–19:00; Mar, Oct, Nov: Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00 (Mon closed); Dec–Feb: Wed–Sun 10:00–18:00 (Mon–Tue closed)

   Price

   14 EUR adult, 7 EUR reduced (Apr-Sep); 12 EUR adult, 6 EUR reduced (Oct-Mar)

   Website

   trakaimuziejus.lt ↗

   Location

   Trakai Island Castle on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Trakai

Not every visit has room for two castles and a museum. These versions keep the route's logic and cut where it makes sense.

Karaim Street only

Stops: 2, 3, 4

For anyone who mainly wants the Karaim story. From the museum to the kenesa and on through the quarter is 270 m, about 4 minutes on foot. Only the museum charges entry, and it's optional; the kenesa frontage and the quarter are free. Plan roughly an hour and a quarter with the museum.

Castles first, museum from outside

Stops: 1, 3, 4, 5

For castle lovers with a fixed budget. You walk the full 1.2 km, 16 minutes on foot, pass the museum without going in and spend your time inside the two castles, which are the only entries on this version. Allow a little over three hours.

How Long Does This Trakai Tour Take with Both Castles?

The pure walking time is 16 minutes, and the longest leg, from the Karaim Quarter to the Island Castle, is only 510 m. What fills the day is what you do inside.

With the Peninsula Castle grounds, the museum and a proper visit to the Island Castle, plan on about four hours: roughly 45 minutes on the peninsula, 40 in the museum, a short look at the kenesa, 20 minutes in the quarter and around an hour and a half at the Island Castle. The Karaim Street version fits into about an hour and a quarter, the castles version into a little over three hours.

Before You Set Off in Trakai

• Start and finish: The recommended start is the Trakai Peninsula Castle, and the walk ends at Trakai Island Castle. You can join at any stop; the order here is simply the one that makes the story flow.
• Time of day: Start early enough to give the Island Castle its long visit before it closes. Schedules for the castles and the museum change with the season, so check today's opening times before you set out.
• Entry: The Peninsula Castle, the Karaim Ethnographic Museum and the Island Castle charge entry. The Kenesa of Trakai is seen from outside only and the Karaim Quarter is free at any hour.

Common Questions about Trakai