Short run
A first look
Route Svencelė → Juodkrantė → Svencelė
Out of Svencelė, along the Juodkrantė shore from the water, and back. Short — but enough to understand why people come back to this lagoon.
Trips
Choose how long
Every trip is skippered, and the price is for the whole boat. Going ashore is optional — you can just as easily drift by the dunes, swim, and be in no hurry at all.
Classic
The one most people book
Route Svencelė → Juodkrantė → Nida → Svencelė
A stop in Juodkrantė, then south to Nida — the Dead Dunes from the water on the way. Time ashore in both.
Full day
The whole spit in a day
Route Svencelė → Juodkrantė → The Dead Dunes → Nida → Svencelė
Juodkrantė, the Dead Dunes from the water, and Nida — unhurried, with proper stops and lunch ashore. The kind of day you don't schedule anything after.
Sunset
An evening on the water
Route Svencelė → Juodkrantė → Svencelė
We leave two hours before sunset, cut the engines and simply drift. Flat water, and the dunes opposite slowly changing colour. Back while it is still light.
Delta
The route nobody else runs
Route Svencelė → Ventės Ragas → Mingė → Svencelė
South to Ventės Ragas and the lighthouse, then up the Minija into Mingė — the village whose main street is water. The other side of the lagoon, with nobody on it.
City
Lunch in Klaipėda
Route Svencelė → Klaipėda → Svencelė
North through the strait and straight onto the Danė quays. Lunch in the old town, home by water — no car, no ferry queue.
Included Skipper · fuel · lifejackets
Neringa municipality entry fee and food ashore are extra. TODO: confirm.
Routes
Where we can take you
The lagoon is 93 kilometres long and shallow — four metres on average. Which means you can get almost anywhere, and almost nowhere gets properly rough. Pick a direction.
The shortest crossing
Juodkrantė
A quarter of an hour and you're on the other side. The Hill of Witches, the old fishermen's cottages, and above the pines a heron and cormorant colony you hear before you see.
- Distance
- 1.8 NM 3.4 km
- Run time
- 15 min
- Bearing
- 254°
Best lightOn a clear evening you can see Juodkrantė's lights from the Svencelė shore. That's the whole distance.
Nagliai reserve
The Dead Dunes
Grey dunes with four villages buried underneath them. We run slowly along them, close in — the sand stopped moving long ago, though it doesn't look it.
- Distance
- 7.5 NM 13.8 km
- Run time
- 30 min
- Bearing
- 212°
Best lightEarly morning. Before the wind gets up the lagoon goes flat and the dunes come back at you off the water.
The long one
Nida
The Parnidis dune and its sundial, Thomas Mann's summer cottage, the carved weathervanes along the quay. Halfway across, the lagoon is at its widest and both shores drop out of sight.
- Distance
- 15.8 NM 29.2 km
- Run time
- 55 min
- Bearing
- 205°
Best lightLeave after lunch, come back at sunset. The whole way home the sun goes down behind the dunes on your right.
North, through the strait
Klaipėda
The one route where we share water with sea-going ships. Past Kiaulės Nugara and into the Danė quays — lunch in the old town, then home the way you came.
- Distance
- 9.8 NM 18.2 km
- Run time
- 35 min
- Bearing
- 348°
Best lightAny time. The port never really stops, and there's always something moving in the strait.
Where the lagoon becomes delta
Ventės Ragas
South to one of Europe's oldest bird-ringing stations and the lighthouse on the cape. In autumn the flyways run straight overhead — millions of birds a season, and you can hear it.
- Distance
- 12.5 NM 23.2 km
- Run time
- 45 min
- Bearing
- 182°
Best lightSeptember and October. Peak migration, an empty lagoon, and low yellow light.
Up the Minija
Mingė
We leave the lagoon for the river and idle into a village whose main street is water. Houses on both banks, boats tied at the gardens. They call it Lithuania's Venice, and for once that holds up.
- Distance
- 11.7 NM 21.8 km
- Run time
- 45 min
- Bearing
- 158°
Best lightMidsummer, early evening. No chop on the river — just reflections.
Distances follow the water, not a straight line. Times are approximate — the wind decides the rest.
Choose a tripThe boat
Beneteau Gran Turismo 32
A ten-metre cabin cruiser with an enclosed, heated saloon and a proper heads. The lagoon is shallow — she draws 80 centimetres, so we get in where bigger boats have to turn back.
- Length overall
- 9.95 m
- Beam
- 3.32 m
- Draft
- 0.80 m
- Displacement
- 6,148 kg
- Fuel
- 2 × 360 l
- Top speed
- up to 35 kn
- Guests
- up to 10
Specification
On board
What you get
A local skipper
Someone who knows this lagoon and where its shallows are. You don't need a licence — just turn up.
A heated saloon
If it blows or rains we close the doors. The saloon is heated, which is why the season here doesn't end in August.
A proper heads
A separate compartment on board. Nobody has to hurry back to shore, or plan the day around it.
Two fridges
Drinks and food stay cold for the whole trip. Bring whatever you like.
Swimming
Bathing platform and ladder off the stern. The lagoon is warm from June.
Prices
Standard rates
Beneteau Gran Turismo 32 · up to 10 guests · always skippered
2 hours
900€
450 €/hr
4 hours
1400€
350 €/hr · best rate
6 hours
1800€
300 €/hr
Additional hour
+200€
Add to any trip, decided on the day
The sunset trip is 1000 €. It leaves two hours before sunset, which is why it costs 100 € more than a standard two-hour run.
Something else in mind
A longer trip, several days, a celebration, or a route of your own? Write to us and we'll put an offer together.
Booking
Make an enquiry
Tell us roughly when you'd like to go out and how many of you there are. We reply the same day.