Trakai
Lithuania
Trakai's Island Castle, a 14th-century fortress built when this pocket-sized Lithuanian town served as the medieval capital of Lithuania, rises from Lake Galvė just west of Vilnius. The castle was completed under Grand Duke Vytautas and remains the town's centrepiece, alongside a Peninsula Castle from the same era. Trakai has historically been home to Karaim, Tatar, Lithuanian, Russian, Jewish, and Polish communities, and today supports a café and restaurant scene well above what its size would suggest.
- Population5,530
- Nearest water from center1.0 km
- Nearest mountain from center11.4 km
- UNESCO within 50 km4