The Hill of Crosses is a small hill about 10 Km north of Šiauliai in Northern Lithuania with a collection of thousands of crosses erected on a small hill.
It’s a spectacular and strange sight at the same time and for others a sacred place of pilgrimage. The Hill of Crosses is easily accessible by train and bus from Vilnius.
How to get to Hill of Crosses from Vilnius
By train or Bus to Šiauliai:
Train from Vilnius to Šiauliai: There are 3-morning trains leaving Vilnius between 5am and 10am in direction to Šiauliai. The journey takes around 3 hours.
Bus from Vilnius to Šiauliai: The bus journey takes an extra hour compared with the train.
From Šiauliai to Hill of Crosses:
Bus from Šiauliai to Domantai: go to the bus station, buy the tickets from the information desk (you can also buy a ticket directly from the driver for the same price) and take the bus nº12 labelled Šiauliai – Joniškis.
On the bus ask the driver for the Domantai stop. From here follow the arrow down the road to where the Hill of Crosses is located. It is a 20 minutes walk.
From Šiauliai back to Vilnius:
To get back to Šiauliai, ask at the visitors’ centre for the return times to get back.
Walk back to the Domantai stop and wait for the bus. You catch the bus on the opposite side next to a large hut painted like a strawberry.
I heard that can be difficult sometimes to return to Šiauliai, but personally, I didn’t have any problems returning from the site but keep in mind that you may need to get a taxi.
If you have extra time in Šiaulai while waiting for the train the town doesn’t have much to offer but you can always visit the cathedral and a few museums.
This is really neat! ✝️
Good explanations. It was quite crowded the day we were there.