How to Find X in Vilnius

So you moved to Vilnius from out of the country only to realize there’s four grocery stores and they all sell basically the same stuff. Small business is a tiny speck on the backs of giant company’s that sell everything, but that what you’re looking for… I’ll try my best to help you find that vintage record player but you’ll probably become a master accordion player before you find such rarities here. Assuming X is something somewhat common in you’re country, I’ll do my best to show you how to find X in Vilnius.

First off, a lot of sites groups are in Lithuanian, and some sites aren’t translated in English. Never fear, there’s google translate! You can use translation tools like this one to fix that, and the younger generation here speaks English so in most cases you’ll get by just find.

Here is how to Find X in Vilnius

I’ll be adding to this blog post as I find new things so please leave a comment with whatever this list is missing and I’ll add it.

Communities

Having moved to Vilnius from New York City almost 2 years ago, I was shocked to go from a city with thousands upon thousands of Meetup.com groups to one with less than 10… It’s more than quadrupled since then but needless to say the majority of people are still elsewhere… Facebook groups.

Whether you’re looking for other expats, to rent an apartment, or where to buy/sell e-cigarettes Facebook is one place you can start.

And this is the site if you’re looking for events going on in Vilnius (thanks to aivsev for sharing).

Apartments, Bikes, Carriages etc…

If you want to know how to find X in Vilnius if it’s not in a Facebook group, try skelbiu.lt which is the Craig’s List of Lithuania.

Housing – Rent & Buy

DomoPlius and Aruodas are two sites if you’re more serious about finding a place to live and luckily unlike skelbiu, they are in English also.

Food, Spices, Flowers, Trees

Try the Kalvariju market (Kalvarijų Turgus) which is located not far from the old town city center. You’ll notice a lot of Russian there.

Here’s an incomplete list of the things you can procure there:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Grains
• Flowers, herbs, tree saplings
• Butcher’s goods
• Fish market
• Random electronics like adapters
• Furniture & carpets
• Shoes & clothing
• Pet food
• Books
• Steampunk parts

Halės Market

Another smaller market located in old town is Halės Turgus located close to the Vilnius Train Station. Here you’ll find roughly the same stuff but on a smaller scale. It’s one of those places that is slowly changing with hipster places opening up shops in there.

Tymo Market

This is the market to go to if you want to get asparagus specifically. Happening on Thursdays from 10am until 4pm and starting from May 24th Tuesdays from 4pm to 8pm.

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Festivals

manofestivalis.lt – All of the festivals going on all around Lithuania

Cars, Motorbikes, etc…

Like DomoPlius there’s AutoPlius for everything vehicles. The site’s in English too!

Where to Eat/Drink

iVilnius Places to Eat is the closest thing I can find to Yelp.com in Vilnius (also thanks to aivsev)

Friendly Vilnius – A cool non-profit site trying to map all of the cool restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and everything in between. Looks pretty new so I hope to see more places added as time goes by.

How to Get to X from Y

If your X in How to Find X in Vilnius is a location and you use public transportation then Trafi is a godsend. I’ve relied on the Android application and I wish that cities like NYC had a program that was as good as this. You can even get updates on at what stops the Controllers are checking (though it’s not that expensive so just pay the ticket…)

Conclusion

As I stay here longer I’m sure I’ll find out more avenues to find what I need but as far as I know that’s how to find X in Vilnius.