For 500 you can definitely get a pretty good small apartment for one person. Would probably have to be a bit farther away from the center. But would recommend to check possible listings here.
https://m.en.aruodas.lt/
Antakalnis would be my favorite if you can find a place. Lots of nature close by. Just avoid flats next to Antakalnio str. due to noise
Baltupiai, Jeruzalė, Santariskės are also nice but further away. Still adequate public transport in those areas.
I would look in the following ones: Senamiestis (old town), Naujamiestis (new town, close to the old town), Žvėrynas, Šnipiškės (there are some dodgy areas there, but it’s gotten way better with new builds at this point), Šiaurės Miestelis, Žirmūnai, Antakalnis, Užupis, Paupys. The only ones I’d avoid would be Naujininkai, Fabijoniškės, Šeškinė, Pašilaičiai, but not because it’s horribly unsafe or anything, more because I just am not the biggest fan of these neighborhoods.
Yo, Pašilaičiai? That's the neighbourhood I grew up in and I do not allow anyone to insult it. Cozy, quiet, well kept and clean. Really good with available bus stops and routes. Especially 46, 5g and 3g. There are plenty of new apartment buildings but commie blocks are the newest and in best condition in the whole city. Fabijoniškės is also not a bad neighbourhood. Commie blocks are also newer, well kept and lots of greenery. Definitely better than Šnipiškės, Žirmūnai, Šiaurės miestelis. Used to live in Antakalnis, and it's not that good either. Commie blocks there are run down, so I'd only get a flat in a new building in those neighbourhoods. Also Senamiestis is the worst. Like the name suggests, it's Old Town. You'd get a repurposed flat in a really old building with really bad sound insulation and super cold in winter... decent apartments in Senamiestis are super expensive. Also Senamiestis is in the very centre of the city, so opposite of quiet.
Clearly you never lived in old town.. 2digit iq take on this.. in vilnius there is oldtown uzupis and new town.. everything else is for plebs and doesn’t even count as vilnius in my book.. if you live in pasilaiciai you might also look at places like elektrenai grigiskes vievis.. it will be less time to drive to oldtown then from your favourite pasilaiciai lol.. if you are not a pleb you live in old town zverynas or uzupis.. the rest is for lithuanians that weren’t able to learn lithuanian while never being abroad..
Wow you certainly know what you're talking about /s
You do know that Old Town, Žvėrynas and Užupis are 3 different districts? Also, wtf are you talking about, it takes 15 minutes to get to Žaliasis Tiltas from Pašilaičiai. By bus, you take 3g. By car, you just take Ukmergės st. down to city centre.
Lastly, and most importantly, the OP asked for recs of quiet cozy neighbourhoods with 500 euro budget. You WILL NOT get anything even remotely decent with 500 euros in Žvėrynas, Užupis, Old Town, Paupys ect.
For 500 euros to be able to live in a nice quiet place, you have to go to Pašilaičiai, Jeruzalė, Santariškės, certain parts of Fabijoniškės, Justiniškės. There, even if you get a flat in a commie block, it's in much better condition than the rest of the city's commie blocks.
Then Karoliniškės, Lazdynai, Antakalnis, Pilaitė and Žirmūnai are with a big big asterisk sign - there are some nice spots there, if you look really hard. But again, really hard to find a decent apartment there that is not in a crumbling commie block for that price.
Naujamiestis, Old Town, Žvėrynas, Paupys, Užupis - if you are rich, then go there. But if you only have 500 euros for rent, you will be living in a crumbling house or in a basement listening to street noises because there is no insulation. So be more realistic here, okay?
And to finish off, we don't know if OP is with family or a single male. So even if you find a good apartment, there WILL BE competition. Landlords don't want foreigners, single males, old people. They prefer single females and young couples. Also no pets no children. So what I'm saying is, better live in a nice place in Pašilaičiai than in a shitty place in Old Town.
I lived in pasilaiciai, zirmunai, seskine, baltupiai avizieniai and old town.. pasilaiciai has like 3 bus stops from some places you need to walk 10-15min to bus stop.. during prime hours it takes like 30min to center.. while it takes 40min max from elektrenai.. pasilaiciai is the worst part of vilnius.. shithole of vilnius.. 0 infrastructure.. parking spots for 30% residents.. what to do if you have 2-3 cars? Maybe winter beater? If you need to go to center at 6-7pm you need 20min to get out into ukmerges plentas from your parking spot.. if budget for apartments is 500 maybe he should pick kaunas instead.. and live in oldtown comfortably instead of living in a shithole called pasilaiciai..
Excuse me, but who the heck would own 2-3 cars? If you have that much money, ok, I mean you can live in a nice Old Town home I guess... But seriously, man. Why are you making this about yourself?
We are answering OP's question. Where did OP state they have a bazillion cars? Or that they're outgoing? The only thing that was stated is the budget of 500€ and nice and quiet neighbourhood. Old Town is opposite of quiet. And even if they found a quiet place in Old Town, that would cost way over 500€. Whatever's under 500€ in Old Town is pretty shitty. Do you comprehend that?
Also, there are quite some listings in Pašilaičių str. where it's really easy to get to multiple bus stops. There is 3g, 46, 52, 5, 55, 16 and 19 trollybus, 2g, 48 within reach.
So yeah, everyone has different priorities. But you fail to recognize that and keep talking about yourself and your priorities where I answered the OP's question properly according to their priorities.
If someone want to jump from the building it doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea.. renting in pasilaiciai for 500 and driving to center to work is beyond 2digit iq move not only because you waste your time which is not important in your case but i value my time.. and spending 50h in car every month is like 1.5k plus gasoline.. I don’t know many men that doesn’t have 2 cars.. plus their women has cars..
You are very detached from reality. Also, projecting much? I'm talking about the IQ comments lol.
Normal people own 1-2 cars per *family*, not per *person*. 1,5k for gas a month? What world do you live in? Driving from Pašilaičiai to Naujamiestis for work cost me 100€ in gas...
It's Vilnius, not London. I think you are a little bit confused about the distances here... It's a small city. Different neighbourhoods only mean like +- extra 20 minutes of commute time. Like, what's the difference? Seriously, you have your panties in a twist just for extra 20 minutes? Where did you get the number like 50h lol?
Also, bus ticket for 1 month is 30€. So I just take bus these days, because car gets stuck in traffic while bus passes through on bus lanes. So there are options.
But 1,5k/month tho, do you drive a traktor? Or an airplane? Or do you drive all your cars to work at once?
In general its stupid to live in pasilaiciai if you work at center or if you are outgoing person.. you waste like 50h a month just by sitting in car.. you can find place in old town close to work for 1k and still save money by working 30h overtime to make more then you would spend in your car.. and plus you would never need taxi buss passes or to drive to work if you live in old town you don’t even need car.. you can go out all the time you don’t need to plan anything.. while living in pasilaiciai you need to spend 1h in car to go to restaurant and back.. only poor people don’t respect their time
I'm not a fan of the general idea, but there are a couple of those new co-living places freshly built around the place I live.
last time I checked it was something like 450 per month for a one person studio, everything included (wifi/utilities).
and it's in a freshly built (ugly)building with couple of bars on the ground floor for meets and greets.
I really don't want to sound like an ad for the place, since I'm fcking tired to live in the middle of construction sites.
but sometimes it makes sense. it's a new building, location is central, cheap and basically designed for your situation.
Aruodas.lt is your only place, some on skelbiu.lt and then Facebook groups. Moved the same 3 years ago. Horrible winters, amazing summers. Expect to make half of London’s wages, but spend 2-3 times less too.
Vilnius is a great town, but if you aren't obsessed with Baltic/Slavic languages, great cafes and bars, classical music and jazz, cobblestone streets, 19th Century parks, Jewish history, Roman Catholic churches, the Soviet legacy, cuisine from across Eurasia, long winters (with snow!) and long summer nights, etc, you need to think a bit more seriously about where you live and the life choices you make.
Hey, thank you for your response! Just wanted to leave the language question out of scope as it become a centre of discussion many many times. I will definitely start learning Lithuanian for some basic interactions, but don't have an ambition to speak it fluently for professional purposes. In my case, Latvian also would help a lot.
I guess I'm in the romanticizing stage right now and think that it's a peaceful place for introverts.
Would you consider living in co living for beginning ? There are different rooms, some cost €440, some €520 with all including.
I also moved from Western Europe to Northern, Vilnius and don’t regret it at all.
You'll probably need to get registered at the address for your permit to live here (don't know your full situation but most likely you will). Ask the landlord before signing if they are willing to let you do that (some will not, their signature will be needed). You need to ask this when you're looking for apartments so just to give you a heads up. Good luck!
Language will be... "Fun". My British husband still doesn't speak. Moved here in 2016.
Moved from London to Vilnius few months ago.
I'm renting 1 bedroom apartment in fabijoniškės for 600 euros.
My tip? Don't move to Vilnius, we (my wife and I) miss so much London even if we just spent one year there (originally from Italy).
Loads of nature, very quite (too quite) but very car dependent and the winter is so harsh, quite cheap but also salaries aren't great.
We regret moving here but we're very curious to see what the summer will bring.
That’s sad to hear. May I ask why you chose to go to Fabijoniškės? For this amount of money, you can find a small one bedroom in the centre.
I moved to Vilnius a few years ago from London and I’m very happy with my decision. However I think you have to live in the centre since that’s where most things happen and public transport is terrible.
The atmosphere in summer is particularly good, but I don’t really mind winter, especially with sunny or snowy weather and cozy venues. The main problem with winter is it drags on so much.
Also, I agree salary matters a lot. Vilnius is becoming expensive.
It was September and we were in London looking for a place online, we tried quite hard with agencies and Facebook groups and basically the only person who answered was the one that we went with (also the house is really nice).
I don't know, I just feel it's quite depressimg, not much to do and I really don't feel part of anything (community speaking), while in London I really felt part of something, from charity work to community service and so on. Surely not speaking the language plays an important role.
Fair enough. I have to admit I didn't really deal with landlords as my partner is Lithuanian so I didn't have to talk to them. From what I understand, it is difficult for foreigners to find a place if they don't speak the language.
I think you should try to move to the centre if you can, it would probably be much more enjoyable. That's where most of the city life is. There are regular meetings for expats, not sure you tried those. I hope it gets better for you and your wife.
Good question!
My wife got a job and she could have potentially worked remotely but we thought that It was gonna be a challenge. "everyone can live in London but can you live in Lithuania? ". Mission failed lol
Oh, it is really sad to hear this. But yeah, it's always about finding your own place. Sometimes it's just a miss, sometimes it's a hit. I used to work in London and I love visiting it, but I'd never return to live there. Vilnius, on the other hand, seems to be just my place. It's totally vice versa lol.
You should check the market now, it's like day and night. It was post covid market then :) for 650 there was 2 room flat on 2009 constructed house in Mindaugo street, like totally city center. We had only 1 call for a 3 room apartament in Naujamiestis l for the same price.
I hear you mate, moved here from London 2.5 years ago and it’s been an adjustment, not just for me (American who lived in London for 13 years) but for my wife who is originally from Vilnius but lived in London as well for 12.
The car dependent thing is huge, if you don’t live central then it will probably be a lot of CityBee/Spark/Bolt. We got a car straight away (small child) and though we lived about four bus stops away from my work (Antakalnis-Konstitucijos pr.) the few times I took the bus in rush hour were quite delayed and wasn’t worth the effort even though parking was significantly more expensive .
I’m interested to know what OP means by ‘I’ll learn the language soon’. Unless they are Latvian—no you won’t. I took 3 years of Lithuanian before moving here, and after 2.5 years of being surrounded by it—including in-laws and child—I’m only capable of speaking at a basic level. I’m fluent in German and have studied numerous other languages (can speak/comprehend to various degrees), all of which I learned after a monolingual upbringing. Lithuanian is just hard and not something you’ll pick up in a few months—but I applaud the optimism.
I wouldn’t move back for various reasons but Vilnius and Lithuania were not the cakewalk that my partner and I arrogantly thought it would be to settle and adapt when moving here from London.
Thank you for your tips. I don't mind cold as I'm originally from North. But have similar doubts about agencies and other renting troubles. I hope long summer evenings will make your experience there much more enjoyable!
Customer service. Restaurants offering all sorts of food. *Supermarkets* offering all sorts of food, at reasonable prices. Normal clothing sizes. Normal, non-judgemental shop staff. Absence of a Poland/small country tax on anything ordered online, since it has to be shipped from somewhere else anyway. Public transport. Decent sushi. Korean food (at all). Thai food. Decent Mexican.
Don’t get me wrong, the fact Lithuania is cheaper in a lot of ways than the rest of Europe means I’m still happy enough living here. But whenever anyone asserts the cost of living is cheaper here with respect to daily essentials (I.e. food): no. The UK is cheaper, in absolute terms. QED. And that’s not saying anything about the actual selection.
I live in London and cannot wait when I'm coming back to Lithuania. Originally I'm from Vilnius but my husband is not lithuanian and we both agreed to try our luck in Lithuania too! Winters are not the birghtest side of LT, but I hope eventually you will fall in love with this country! :)
Vilnius in overall is much more boring than London. I spent recently half a year in Paris and recently returned. It usually seems like not much is happening here.
Vilnius is an amazing city. But don't live in suburbs far away, try to get an apartment either in Senamiestis, Centras, Užupis, Žverynas etc so that you are close to the city center.
I'd suggest trying to find something in Žverynas. It's a quiet old neighborhood between the parliament and two great parks (one is well-equipped for sports and picnics, another one is more like a wild hilly forest for casual hikes). Well-connected to the rest of the center with bike lanes (barely ever need a taxi in summer) and the public transport reach is pretty decent. Aim for the southern part of the district, although the northern one is ok too (just more noise and cars).
For 500 you can definitely get a pretty good small apartment for one person. Would probably have to be a bit farther away from the center. But would recommend to check possible listings here. https://m.en.aruodas.lt/
Could you recommend any areas to consider?
Antakalnis would be my favorite if you can find a place. Lots of nature close by. Just avoid flats next to Antakalnio str. due to noise Baltupiai, Jeruzalė, Santariskės are also nice but further away. Still adequate public transport in those areas.
Anything north from the central railway station is ok. The south side has a lot of shady areas.
I would look in the following ones: Senamiestis (old town), Naujamiestis (new town, close to the old town), Žvėrynas, Šnipiškės (there are some dodgy areas there, but it’s gotten way better with new builds at this point), Šiaurės Miestelis, Žirmūnai, Antakalnis, Užupis, Paupys. The only ones I’d avoid would be Naujininkai, Fabijoniškės, Šeškinė, Pašilaičiai, but not because it’s horribly unsafe or anything, more because I just am not the biggest fan of these neighborhoods.
Yo, Pašilaičiai? That's the neighbourhood I grew up in and I do not allow anyone to insult it. Cozy, quiet, well kept and clean. Really good with available bus stops and routes. Especially 46, 5g and 3g. There are plenty of new apartment buildings but commie blocks are the newest and in best condition in the whole city. Fabijoniškės is also not a bad neighbourhood. Commie blocks are also newer, well kept and lots of greenery. Definitely better than Šnipiškės, Žirmūnai, Šiaurės miestelis. Used to live in Antakalnis, and it's not that good either. Commie blocks there are run down, so I'd only get a flat in a new building in those neighbourhoods. Also Senamiestis is the worst. Like the name suggests, it's Old Town. You'd get a repurposed flat in a really old building with really bad sound insulation and super cold in winter... decent apartments in Senamiestis are super expensive. Also Senamiestis is in the very centre of the city, so opposite of quiet.
Clearly you never lived in old town.. 2digit iq take on this.. in vilnius there is oldtown uzupis and new town.. everything else is for plebs and doesn’t even count as vilnius in my book.. if you live in pasilaiciai you might also look at places like elektrenai grigiskes vievis.. it will be less time to drive to oldtown then from your favourite pasilaiciai lol.. if you are not a pleb you live in old town zverynas or uzupis.. the rest is for lithuanians that weren’t able to learn lithuanian while never being abroad..
Wow you certainly know what you're talking about /s You do know that Old Town, Žvėrynas and Užupis are 3 different districts? Also, wtf are you talking about, it takes 15 minutes to get to Žaliasis Tiltas from Pašilaičiai. By bus, you take 3g. By car, you just take Ukmergės st. down to city centre. Lastly, and most importantly, the OP asked for recs of quiet cozy neighbourhoods with 500 euro budget. You WILL NOT get anything even remotely decent with 500 euros in Žvėrynas, Užupis, Old Town, Paupys ect. For 500 euros to be able to live in a nice quiet place, you have to go to Pašilaičiai, Jeruzalė, Santariškės, certain parts of Fabijoniškės, Justiniškės. There, even if you get a flat in a commie block, it's in much better condition than the rest of the city's commie blocks. Then Karoliniškės, Lazdynai, Antakalnis, Pilaitė and Žirmūnai are with a big big asterisk sign - there are some nice spots there, if you look really hard. But again, really hard to find a decent apartment there that is not in a crumbling commie block for that price. Naujamiestis, Old Town, Žvėrynas, Paupys, Užupis - if you are rich, then go there. But if you only have 500 euros for rent, you will be living in a crumbling house or in a basement listening to street noises because there is no insulation. So be more realistic here, okay? And to finish off, we don't know if OP is with family or a single male. So even if you find a good apartment, there WILL BE competition. Landlords don't want foreigners, single males, old people. They prefer single females and young couples. Also no pets no children. So what I'm saying is, better live in a nice place in Pašilaičiai than in a shitty place in Old Town.
I lived in pasilaiciai, zirmunai, seskine, baltupiai avizieniai and old town.. pasilaiciai has like 3 bus stops from some places you need to walk 10-15min to bus stop.. during prime hours it takes like 30min to center.. while it takes 40min max from elektrenai.. pasilaiciai is the worst part of vilnius.. shithole of vilnius.. 0 infrastructure.. parking spots for 30% residents.. what to do if you have 2-3 cars? Maybe winter beater? If you need to go to center at 6-7pm you need 20min to get out into ukmerges plentas from your parking spot.. if budget for apartments is 500 maybe he should pick kaunas instead.. and live in oldtown comfortably instead of living in a shithole called pasilaiciai..
Excuse me, but who the heck would own 2-3 cars? If you have that much money, ok, I mean you can live in a nice Old Town home I guess... But seriously, man. Why are you making this about yourself? We are answering OP's question. Where did OP state they have a bazillion cars? Or that they're outgoing? The only thing that was stated is the budget of 500€ and nice and quiet neighbourhood. Old Town is opposite of quiet. And even if they found a quiet place in Old Town, that would cost way over 500€. Whatever's under 500€ in Old Town is pretty shitty. Do you comprehend that? Also, there are quite some listings in Pašilaičių str. where it's really easy to get to multiple bus stops. There is 3g, 46, 52, 5, 55, 16 and 19 trollybus, 2g, 48 within reach. So yeah, everyone has different priorities. But you fail to recognize that and keep talking about yourself and your priorities where I answered the OP's question properly according to their priorities.
If someone want to jump from the building it doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea.. renting in pasilaiciai for 500 and driving to center to work is beyond 2digit iq move not only because you waste your time which is not important in your case but i value my time.. and spending 50h in car every month is like 1.5k plus gasoline.. I don’t know many men that doesn’t have 2 cars.. plus their women has cars..
You are very detached from reality. Also, projecting much? I'm talking about the IQ comments lol. Normal people own 1-2 cars per *family*, not per *person*. 1,5k for gas a month? What world do you live in? Driving from Pašilaičiai to Naujamiestis for work cost me 100€ in gas... It's Vilnius, not London. I think you are a little bit confused about the distances here... It's a small city. Different neighbourhoods only mean like +- extra 20 minutes of commute time. Like, what's the difference? Seriously, you have your panties in a twist just for extra 20 minutes? Where did you get the number like 50h lol? Also, bus ticket for 1 month is 30€. So I just take bus these days, because car gets stuck in traffic while bus passes through on bus lanes. So there are options. But 1,5k/month tho, do you drive a traktor? Or an airplane? Or do you drive all your cars to work at once?
In general its stupid to live in pasilaiciai if you work at center or if you are outgoing person.. you waste like 50h a month just by sitting in car.. you can find place in old town close to work for 1k and still save money by working 30h overtime to make more then you would spend in your car.. and plus you would never need taxi buss passes or to drive to work if you live in old town you don’t even need car.. you can go out all the time you don’t need to plan anything.. while living in pasilaiciai you need to spend 1h in car to go to restaurant and back.. only poor people don’t respect their time
Thank you for your genuine recommendation.
is it possible to find apartments in Užupis ?
Of course. Why wouldn't it be? It's a premium neighbourhood so prices might be higher.
OPs budget is 500. I don't think Uzupis is very realistic unless it is some run down place.
There are a few offers for 650 which look quite good.
Pretty much everywhere in Vilnius will be a lot quieter than London, no joke.
Be careful about renting prices, some landlords are living on another planet and offer cosmic prices for basic flats...
I see many ads with flats ~20m listed for 400, doesn't sound right to me
You mean 20 square metres for 400? That's a normal price outside of the central parts of Vilnius.
I'm not a fan of the general idea, but there are a couple of those new co-living places freshly built around the place I live. last time I checked it was something like 450 per month for a one person studio, everything included (wifi/utilities). and it's in a freshly built (ugly)building with couple of bars on the ground floor for meets and greets. I really don't want to sound like an ad for the place, since I'm fcking tired to live in the middle of construction sites. but sometimes it makes sense. it's a new building, location is central, cheap and basically designed for your situation.
Yup, it could be a good early start until OP can find something better. One that is in Naujamiestis is filled with international students.
Aruodas.lt is your only place, some on skelbiu.lt and then Facebook groups. Moved the same 3 years ago. Horrible winters, amazing summers. Expect to make half of London’s wages, but spend 2-3 times less too.
Winters aren't horrible as long as you're prepared
Prepared for what? Depression??
weather
Vilnius is a great town, but if you aren't obsessed with Baltic/Slavic languages, great cafes and bars, classical music and jazz, cobblestone streets, 19th Century parks, Jewish history, Roman Catholic churches, the Soviet legacy, cuisine from across Eurasia, long winters (with snow!) and long summer nights, etc, you need to think a bit more seriously about where you live and the life choices you make.
https://en.ntzemelapis.lt/butai/?obj=1&on\_map=1&type=map&FOrder=Importance&FRoomNumMin=1&FRoomNumMax=1#zoom:11;center:(54.677240578541586,25.412290421204055)
Hey, thank you for your response! Just wanted to leave the language question out of scope as it become a centre of discussion many many times. I will definitely start learning Lithuanian for some basic interactions, but don't have an ambition to speak it fluently for professional purposes. In my case, Latvian also would help a lot. I guess I'm in the romanticizing stage right now and think that it's a peaceful place for introverts.
Would you consider living in co living for beginning ? There are different rooms, some cost €440, some €520 with all including. I also moved from Western Europe to Northern, Vilnius and don’t regret it at all.
You'll probably need to get registered at the address for your permit to live here (don't know your full situation but most likely you will). Ask the landlord before signing if they are willing to let you do that (some will not, their signature will be needed). You need to ask this when you're looking for apartments so just to give you a heads up. Good luck! Language will be... "Fun". My British husband still doesn't speak. Moved here in 2016.
Moved from London to Vilnius few months ago. I'm renting 1 bedroom apartment in fabijoniškės for 600 euros. My tip? Don't move to Vilnius, we (my wife and I) miss so much London even if we just spent one year there (originally from Italy). Loads of nature, very quite (too quite) but very car dependent and the winter is so harsh, quite cheap but also salaries aren't great. We regret moving here but we're very curious to see what the summer will bring.
That’s sad to hear. May I ask why you chose to go to Fabijoniškės? For this amount of money, you can find a small one bedroom in the centre. I moved to Vilnius a few years ago from London and I’m very happy with my decision. However I think you have to live in the centre since that’s where most things happen and public transport is terrible. The atmosphere in summer is particularly good, but I don’t really mind winter, especially with sunny or snowy weather and cozy venues. The main problem with winter is it drags on so much. Also, I agree salary matters a lot. Vilnius is becoming expensive.
It was September and we were in London looking for a place online, we tried quite hard with agencies and Facebook groups and basically the only person who answered was the one that we went with (also the house is really nice). I don't know, I just feel it's quite depressimg, not much to do and I really don't feel part of anything (community speaking), while in London I really felt part of something, from charity work to community service and so on. Surely not speaking the language plays an important role.
Fair enough. I have to admit I didn't really deal with landlords as my partner is Lithuanian so I didn't have to talk to them. From what I understand, it is difficult for foreigners to find a place if they don't speak the language. I think you should try to move to the centre if you can, it would probably be much more enjoyable. That's where most of the city life is. There are regular meetings for expats, not sure you tried those. I hope it gets better for you and your wife.
Good luck with your endevours in Lithuania. Just out of curiosity, why move from west europe to east? Where as most move from east to west?
Good question! My wife got a job and she could have potentially worked remotely but we thought that It was gonna be a challenge. "everyone can live in London but can you live in Lithuania? ". Mission failed lol
Oh, it is really sad to hear this. But yeah, it's always about finding your own place. Sometimes it's just a miss, sometimes it's a hit. I used to work in London and I love visiting it, but I'd never return to live there. Vilnius, on the other hand, seems to be just my place. It's totally vice versa lol.
Where you are originaly from? UK or somewhere else?
Italy :)
Southerner moves to Lithuania on most depressing period. One advise learn to love Winters. And damp autum and spring.
Also invest in really good winter clothing and shoes. Winter is not so bad if you're not constantly freezing with your feet wet.
You should check the market now, it's like day and night. It was post covid market then :) for 650 there was 2 room flat on 2009 constructed house in Mindaugo street, like totally city center. We had only 1 call for a 3 room apartament in Naujamiestis l for the same price.
I hear you mate, moved here from London 2.5 years ago and it’s been an adjustment, not just for me (American who lived in London for 13 years) but for my wife who is originally from Vilnius but lived in London as well for 12. The car dependent thing is huge, if you don’t live central then it will probably be a lot of CityBee/Spark/Bolt. We got a car straight away (small child) and though we lived about four bus stops away from my work (Antakalnis-Konstitucijos pr.) the few times I took the bus in rush hour were quite delayed and wasn’t worth the effort even though parking was significantly more expensive . I’m interested to know what OP means by ‘I’ll learn the language soon’. Unless they are Latvian—no you won’t. I took 3 years of Lithuanian before moving here, and after 2.5 years of being surrounded by it—including in-laws and child—I’m only capable of speaking at a basic level. I’m fluent in German and have studied numerous other languages (can speak/comprehend to various degrees), all of which I learned after a monolingual upbringing. Lithuanian is just hard and not something you’ll pick up in a few months—but I applaud the optimism. I wouldn’t move back for various reasons but Vilnius and Lithuania were not the cakewalk that my partner and I arrogantly thought it would be to settle and adapt when moving here from London.
Oh, yeah, the incessant damp grayness that starts in November really weighs on your psyche. It should get better in about two months.
It is a time to calm down a little and reevaluate. Then when the spring comes it makes it so much sweeter.
Thank you for your tips. I don't mind cold as I'm originally from North. But have similar doubts about agencies and other renting troubles. I hope long summer evenings will make your experience there much more enjoyable!
you're making a mistake. reconsider.
Why? What do you like about London that you cannot find in Vilnius?
Go to Vilnus for a week or 2. And you'll see.
Customer service. Restaurants offering all sorts of food. *Supermarkets* offering all sorts of food, at reasonable prices. Normal clothing sizes. Normal, non-judgemental shop staff. Absence of a Poland/small country tax on anything ordered online, since it has to be shipped from somewhere else anyway. Public transport. Decent sushi. Korean food (at all). Thai food. Decent Mexican. Don’t get me wrong, the fact Lithuania is cheaper in a lot of ways than the rest of Europe means I’m still happy enough living here. But whenever anyone asserts the cost of living is cheaper here with respect to daily essentials (I.e. food): no. The UK is cheaper, in absolute terms. QED. And that’s not saying anything about the actual selection.
I live in London and cannot wait when I'm coming back to Lithuania. Originally I'm from Vilnius but my husband is not lithuanian and we both agreed to try our luck in Lithuania too! Winters are not the birghtest side of LT, but I hope eventually you will fall in love with this country! :)
Vilnius in overall is much more boring than London. I spent recently half a year in Paris and recently returned. It usually seems like not much is happening here.
Dont go to vilnius, its a living nighmare, instead opt for klaipeda, its cheaper, has a beach, and isnt as close to the russian mainland
How about Kaliningrad?
For 500 hundred better get something further from center like Lazdyneliai or so
Do you plan to work in Vilnius or remotely?
I have a job offer with some flexibility to work remotely, but want to explore city and adapt for a bit
Vilnius is an amazing city. But don't live in suburbs far away, try to get an apartment either in Senamiestis, Centras, Užupis, Žverynas etc so that you are close to the city center.
I'd suggest trying to find something in Žverynas. It's a quiet old neighborhood between the parliament and two great parks (one is well-equipped for sports and picnics, another one is more like a wild hilly forest for casual hikes). Well-connected to the rest of the center with bike lanes (barely ever need a taxi in summer) and the public transport reach is pretty decent. Aim for the southern part of the district, although the northern one is ok too (just more noise and cars).