Why should I go? Because the city has a quirky personality that’s hard to put your finger on, but is instantly likeable. It’s been built up, knocked down, hammered and tinkered with by Russians, Poles, Germans and Jews; and today, the atmosphere is coloured by forces as diverse as institutional corruption and basketball.

Happily, none of the above has made the people bitter and twisted. The city is pretty strange, pretty cheap and just very pretty.

Vilnius attracts its share of British stag parties, who go for the cheap beer and the slinky women, but there are also plenty of “I’m a traveller, not a tourist” types, who content themselves with soaking up the culture. Both seem extremely happy here.

Where do I stay? The Atrium Hotel (Pilies 10; 00 370 5-210 7777, www.atrium.lt) has bachelor-pad-style suites, with leather sofas, big tellies and absolutely no girlie flowers, for £70. Traditionalists will prefer the Shakespeare Hotel (Bernardinu 8; 266 5885, www.shakespeare.lt; doubles from £80). Keen to keep costs down? Try Litinterp (Bernardinu 7; 212 3850, www.litinterp.com), which will find you something decent from £25.

Where do I eat? Underground — probably in a cellar where strange farm implements dangle. The charming vaults at Lokys (Stikliu 8; 262 9046, www.lokys.lt) are accessed by a narrow twisted stairway.

It serves an intriguing variety of meats (beef, venison, beaver), along with traditional Lithuanian grub such as “zeppelins” (potato dumplings that look like rugby balls) and pigs’ ears (dog treats to you and me, beer snacks to the locals). Gras’as (Vokieciu 2; 212 2031) is a more modern cave dwelling — tasty and trippy in equal measure.

What do I do? Burrow into the old town’s courtyards — they may look out of bounds at first, but they’re even more rewarding than the maze of cobbled streets that surrounds them. Explore the famously funky (but really just attractively decrepit) Uzupis area. Buy Soviet relics at the Saturday-morning market on Tauras Hill. Be moved to silence at the sobering KGB Museum (Auku 2a; admission 40p). And even if you’re not into churches, pop into St Peter and Paul’s (Antakalnio 1), where 2,000 little stucco sculptures drip from the ceilings and walls.

How do I get there? AirBaltic (0870 6072 7727, through SAS; www.airbaltic.com) and FlyLAL (formerly Lithuanian Airlines: 01293 579900, www.flylal.com) both have flights from Gatwick for about £85. British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) covers the same route; from £103. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies from Stansted to Kaunas, 60 miles from Vilnius; from £46. A bus transfer costs £3.

There are flights from Dublin to Vilnius with AirBaltic (01 844 5440) and FlyLAL (01 844 4168); from about €200.

Andrew Quested is editor of the In Your Pocket guides to Lithuania

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?