Kekse & Koffer: Pink Soup, Baroque Towers and Unicorns – a Weekend in Vilnius

German travel blog Kekse & Koffer, run by travel journalist Elke Homburg, has published a detailed weekend guide to Vilnius that began with a happy coincidence: her visit fell on the Pink Soup Fest weekend. What started as a festival stopover grew into a portrait of a city that is still an insider tip for German city-breakers, yet offers a UNESCO-listed Old Town, creative neighbourhoods and a start-up campus within walking distance of one another.

The post has a charming personal thread. When the author invited her daughters to join her in Vilnius for a weekend, their first question was where exactly that was. Two days later they had their answer, and the Lithuanian capital had won them over. The author herself extended her stay to five and a half days and still left with sights unseen.

What filled those days is a fair snapshot of the city's range: baroque churches (including a couple of pink ones that suited the festival mood), a former prison now hosting concerts, a start-up district home to Lithuania's first two unicorns, and a street-art quarter with a mural dedicated to the soup itself.

Some of the best moments are small ones. On Town Hall Square, a live-video portal links Vilnius with cities such as Dublin and Philadelphia, and passers-by stop to wave at strangers on the other side of the world. At Lukiškės Prison, the guided tour ends with a souvenir mugshot, a nod to the building's turn as a Stranger Things filming location.

Her practical advice is simple: come between May and September, explore on foot, and add a day each for Trakai and Kaunas. The next Pink Soup Fest takes place on 28–30 May 2027.