The Best Place to Start
The Panemunių Regional Park Visitor Centre is in Šilinė village, Jurbarkas District, and is the most convenient place to begin exploring the park and the famous Nemunas castles route. Its interactive exhibition brings together the park's nature, history, and human life beside the river.
Panemunių Regional Park itself was established in 1992 to protect the striking landscape of the lower Nemunas valley. VLE states that the park covers more than 10,000 ha and that the Nemunas flows through it for about 37 km, cutting steep valley slopes.
Nemunas Valley and the Castle Line
One of the park's most important values is the largest surviving Lithuanian fragment of the thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Nemunas defensive line from the wars with the Teutonic Order. It is a chain of hillforts, castle sites, and later representative castles, including Panemunė and Raudonė, on both river banks.
The visitor-centre exhibition helps make sense of this line. It explains how the valley was defended and how castles and manors changed over time. Before starting the castles route, it is worth stopping here to build a clear picture of the region's history.
River Trades and Nature
The exhibition gives close attention to traditional Nemunas trades: timber rafting, fishing, navigation, and boat building. Interactive displays help visitors imagine how people lived beside a river that was both road and livelihood.
Another part of the exhibition focuses on valley nature: plants, animals, and bird sounds. This presents the Nemunas valley as a single system in which nature and human activity are closely intertwined.
How to Visit
The visitor centre is the gateway to the park and castles route, so it is practical to visit first and then continue to Panemunė and Raudonė castles. The exhibition usually takes 45-90 minutes; guided tours and educational activities can also be arranged.
Check the Dzūkija–Suvalkija Protected Areas Directorate page before travelling for centre hours, ticket prices and visiting conditions. The park also has nature trails and a Nemunas water-tourism route.
