The Trakai Castle is the most famous and most photographed castle in Lithuania. The five storey, red brick fortifications were constructed by the Grand Duke Vytautas and have been undergoing reconstruction since 1952. In the 14th century, Vytautas invited Tatars from the Crimea region to be his bodyguards. They settled in houses around the castle. The smallest ethnic minority in Lithuania, they number some 200 people.
Buses leave several times a day from the main bus station.
Entrance fee - 5 Lt. The Trakai Castle Museum offers an exhibition on prehistoric findings and the splendor of Lithuania's Grand Duchy which extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. In the outer buildings you can see the magnificent furniture, ceramics and glassware from feudal houses of later centuries. Trakai National Park Info Bureau Kestucio St. 1, tel. Folk ensemble concerts and holiday festivals are held in the grounds of the Museum.