Lithuania map

Lithuania is situated on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea and borders Latvia on the north, Belarus on the east and south, and Poland and the Kaliningrad region of Russia on the southwest.

It has around 99 kilometres of sandy coastline, of which only about 38 kilometres face the open Baltic Sea and which is the shortest among the Baltic Sea countries; the rest of the coast is sheltered by the Curonian sand peninsula.

Lithuania's major warm-water port, Klaipeda, lies at the narrow mouth of the Curonian Lagoon, shallow lagoon extending south to Kaliningrad.

The main river, the Neman River, and some of its tributaries carry international shipping vessels. Its main tributaries are the Merkys, Neris, Nevezis, Dubysa, Jura, Minija, and Sesupe.

A distinctive feature of the Lithuanian landscape is the presence of about 3,000 lakes, mostly in the east and southeast. The boggy regions produce large quantities of peat that, dried by air, is used in both industry and agriculture.