Trakai Historical National Park

One of a total of five national parks in Lithuania, at just 8,200 hectares Trakai Historical National Park is the smallest but by no means the least interesting. Set amidst gently rolling hills formed during the last Ice Age about 14,000 years ago, the park contains a total of 32 lakes, some truly spectacular scenery, one or two ethnographic sights of particular interest and the town of Trakai itself. A population of 14,000 rosy-faced locals, of whom many remain tied to the land, sprinkle the park with humanity, giving it an agreeable lived-in feel lacking in many other rural areas in the country. The proud recipient of national park status in 1992, Trakai Historical National Park is currently awaiting news of its application to become a Unesco World Heritage site. Things in its favour include its aforementioned comeliness and the town inside it that gives it its name, woodlands brimming with wildlife, traditional farmsteads and villages, manor houses, heaps of fresh air and a sense of having gone back in time. Things against, of which there are few, include a continuing lack of infrastructure and a patchwork of narrow, hairpin-strewn roads occupied by drivers who’ve seemingly lost the will to live and wish only to take you with them. For more information about the park, visit the Trakai Historical National Park Information Bureau in Trakai or browse the park’s website online at www.seniejitrakai.lt.