Neringa Municipality
Neringa
Curonian Lagoon lighthouse on an artificial islet
55.42000, 21.11500
20-45 minutes from shore; longer by boat
a calm evening by the lagoon or a boat trip in good weather
Žirgai Cape Lighthouse
Pervalka Lighthouse: a light not on shore but in the lagoon
Pervalka Lighthouse stands out because it is in the Curonian Lagoon, not on land. Curonian Spit National Park sources emphasize that, among the lighthouses they describe, it is the only one standing not on shore but in the lagoon, by Pervalka and Žirgai Cape.
Because of this position, visitors usually see it as an accent in the lagoon landscape: small, bright, separated by water, dependent on light, weather, and viewpoint.
Artificial island by Žirgai Cape
VLE states that Žirgai Cape, also Arkliai Cape, is a headland on the eastern shore of the Curonian Spit between Nagliai and Pervalka bays, about 1 km north of Pervalka, and belongs to the Karvaičiai Landscape Reserve of Curonian Spit National Park. Opposite the cape, on an artificial island in the lagoon, stands the lighthouse, which is why it is also called by the Žirgai Cape name.
National park information adds that the lighthouse stands on a small artificial islet about 260 m from shore. This detail matters for planning: you cannot simply walk to it by path as to most land objects. From the Pervalka shore it is best read as a lagoon navigation mark, and it can be seen closer only by legal and safe boat travel.
1900 lighthouse, reconstructions, and structure
Curonian Spit National Park links Pervalka settlement beginnings with the mid-nineteenth century, while the lighthouse was built in 1900. It belongs not to the earliest fishing-village layer but to later lagoon navigation infrastructure. VLE states that the lighthouse was reconstructed in 1948 and 1960, so its present appearance combines turn-of-the-twentieth-century and postwar repair layers.
Sources give slightly different heights: VLE gives 13 m, while official national park lighthouse information gives 14 m. The lighthouse is automatic, with signals visible up to 13 km. Its foundations are stone masonry, its walls are riveted metal sheets, and the roof is bell-shaped metal.
From kerosene lamp to automation
The first light of the lighthouse was a kerosene lamp. This reminds us that lighthouses were not decorative towers but very practical navigation devices that had to be maintained, supplied, and adapted to lagoon conditions.
The automatic lighthouse looks simpler today, but in the landscape it keeps the same function: marking place, warning, orienting, and allowing the lagoon to be read not only with a holidaymaker's eyes but from the perspective of navigation.
How to see Pervalka Lighthouse
The easiest way to observe the lighthouse is from the Pervalka lagoon shore or the direction of Žirgai Cape. Choose a clearer day or evening when the light defines the lighthouse well on the water.
No public opening hours or tickets were found in official sources; national park information stresses that the object is reachable only by boat. Plan any boat trip with legal local providers and according to weather, because the Curonian Lagoon can change quickly.
