Biržai Regional Park Visitor Centre: the starting point for understanding Biržai karst country

The exact centre in the former Biržai Town Hall

Biržai Regional Park Visitor Centre is at Rotušės g. 10 in Biržai, inside the town's last town hall, built in 1924. The permanent exhibition and visitor reception occupy the street-level ground floor. The official arrival point at 56.202487, 24.755255 leads to the building entrance from Rotušės Street, so it is not a centroid for the whole regional park or a rough marker for a broad area.

This page covers the specific visitor centre, not Biržai Regional Park as a whole, Biržai Castle, Cow Cave, the Kirkilai lakes, or Kirkilai Observation Tower. Those are separate destinations for which the centre provides interpretation and route-planning help.

On 2026-07-15, the exact Google Maps card with Place ID ChIJQ4ZsDvKM6EYRTJTiB8-rmlo was tied to Biržai Regional Park Visitor Centre and showed 4.8/5. The score is a changing visitor average, not confirmation of the day's opening hours or services.

The Land of the Sinking Earth exhibition

The permanent exhibition is titled Land of the Sinking Earth. In the first space, the relief of a glass reception volume evokes sinkhole slopes and geological layers exposed after collapse, while ceiling forms imitate sinkholes. The interior therefore works as an interpretation of Biržai karst country, not as an invented underground cave.

Interactive game displays on sinkhole development and the ecosystem of karst lakes explain how groundwater dissolving gypsum-bearing layers creates voids, collapses, and water-filled sinkholes. An hourglass-like exhibit simulates collapse, while other displays compare a place before and after the ground gives way.

Rocks, drill core, and the 2023 renewal

The second gallery displays minerals and rocks that connect the karst explanation with real geological material from the Biržai area. An interactive drill-core display conveys the scale of borehole depth and the changing geological strata, helping visitors understand what lies below the region's flat surface.

The centre's first indoor exhibition was installed in 2008 and renewed in 2023. The update added new viewing booths with protected sites in the Kirkilai, Karajimiškis, Padaičiai, and Drąseikiai areas, together with short films about sinkholes and the regional park's distinctiveness. These images introduce field sites but do not replace visiting them.

Maps, education, and route planning

The centre provides free maps and information about visitor sites, campsites, cycle routes, accommodation, and food. Visitors can also buy souvenirs and the voluntary regional-park visitor ticket. Its practical role is to help people choose a safe and meaningful route, not to place every park attraction under one roof.

Pre-booked education programmes and tours are separate services. Rock Stories takes place inside the centre with geological specimens, while the 2.5-hour Mystery of the Sinking Earth programme takes groups into the karst landscape. The Between the Agluona and Apaščia city programme lasts about two hours. Book by calling +370 659 31013 or using the email address published by the centre.

Opening hours, tickets, and accessibility

On 2026-07-15, the current header of the official centre website listed warm-season hours as Tuesday-Friday 09:00-18:00, with lunch 13:00-13:45, and Saturday 08:45-16:30. At the same time, the Saugoma.lt card showed a different seasonal Friday schedule, so confirm the day's hours by phone before travelling. The centre closes on public holidays and shortens the working day before them.

In the directorate's price list updated on 2026-04-24, a self-guided visitor-centre exhibition ticket cost EUR 2. A one-hour specialist presentation cost EUR 4 per person in Lithuanian or EUR 6 in a foreign language for a group of ten; a smaller group may pay the ten-person minimum. This is separate from the voluntary EUR 1 regional-park visitor ticket. Confirm prices and the requested foreign language when booking.

The centre lists a hard-surfaced car park and an accessible street bay, a paved approach, and an assistance bell by the entrance. Wheelchair users can move around the street-level ground floor, some interactive displays are reachable while seated, information can be provided in easy-to-read form, and visitors may come with a sign-language interpreter. The toilet is described as partly adapted and the stairs to the upper floor are not accessible, but visitor reception and the exhibition are on the ground floor.