Lithuania Guide: How to Get from the Vilnius Airport to Vilnius City Center at Night?

When arriving at the Vilnius airport there are several standard ways of reaching the city center and your hotel, by bus, train or taxi however if you arrive at night your options are somewhat fewer.

The last bus to Vilnius city center leaves the Vilnius airport at 22:49. The last train from the Vilnius airport to Vilnius city centre leaves at 19:44. This leaves you with the option of taking a taxi.

Vilnius taxi prices from the Vilnius airport

A taxi from the Vilnius airport to the center of town cost me 13.90 Lt (approximately 4 Euro), when booking the taxi I was told anywhere from 15 to 20 Lt and this would be a reasonable price. If you are asked any more than 25 Lt you are being ripped off. When trying to book a taxi pick-up through my hotel I was quoted 17 Euros; Merseros Taxis asked 18 Euros and Shuttledirect asked 20 Euro! It is standard to tip taxi drivers about 10%.

In Vilnius, Lithuania any taxi you stop on the street will charge you more than if you phone the taxi company and order a taxi to come to you. I know this sounds absurd but that is the way it is, even if a taxi is parked right next to you it will be cheaper to call the taxi company.

How to order a taxi from the Vilnius airport

Having established that the cheapest way of getting from the Vilnius international airport to Vilnius city center in the middle of the night is by calling a taxi company you then have to decide which taxi company to call and how.

The most expensive Vilnius taxi company is Martono and some hotels (Mabre Hotel for example) work with them so don't think you are being clever by asking your hotel to arrange a taxi for you.

Here is a full list of Vilnius taxi companies and their websites and phone numbers, I can personally recommend Ekipazas.

The next question is how to call a taxi from the airport: using your own mobile phone can be very expensive in a foreign country, if you have a phone card then you could use that from one of the call boxes or you could ask a local to make the call for you.

There is another way of making sure that you have a taxi waiting for you at the Vilnius airport whether you arrive during the day or in the middle of the night. You can order a taxi online however the taxi order forms I tried all ask for a Lithuanian phone number on the form and don't progress with the booking unless a working Lithuanian phone number has been filled in on the form.

However if you can contact a taxi company online, order a taxi and most importantly get a fixed price quoted from them online then you will be organized. Not all taxi companies are going to offer you a cheap price if you ask for a quote online but you should not be asked more than 6-8 Euros at the most and 5 Euros would be fair.

The best way to get from Vilnius airport to your hotel at night

I have had success e-mailing EKIPAZAS at ekip@takas.lt and giving my flight number, time of arrival and name then I received a quote from the owner Andrej P. which I confirmed. There is a website but it is in Lithuanian so rather just use the email. The taxi was waiting for me as planned outside the Vilnius arrivals hall. The driver however did not get out of the car but simply sat there until we approached him and asked if he had been booked online. This is really the simplest and cheapest method of getting to Vilnius city center from the Vilnius airport when the buses and train are not running.