Žemaitija
Samogitia's lake-and-hill heartland around clear Plateliai — pilgrim shrines above the water and a nuclear missile base under the forest.
Žemaitija National Park, established in 1991, holds the high ground of Samogitia — Žemaitija proper — the stubborn western region that was last in Europe to accept Christianity and still keeps its own dialect. At the park's heart lies Lake Plateliai, the region's largest and one of Lithuania's clearest, its seven islands and yacht-club shore backed by hummocky moraine hills, ash groves, and small raised bogs.
The park's two set pieces could hardly sit further apart in spirit. Žemaičių Kalvarija, on the northern edge, is one of the Baltics' great pilgrimage sites — twenty chapels strung over the hills, walked and sung through by crowds each July. And under the forest west of Plateliai waits Plokštinė: a Soviet underground base that aimed medium-range nuclear missiles at Western Europe from 1962 to 1978, its silos and tunnels now the surprisingly excellent Cold War Museum.
What's worth knowing before you go
Plateliai village has the visitor centre, boat rental, and the yacht harbour; swimming is best off the eastern beaches, and a marked cycle loop rings the lake in an easy half day, passing the Šeirė nature trail and the missile base turn-off. The Cold War Museum runs timed entries — book in summer.
Plungė, with the Oginskis palace and its Čiurlionis connections, is the rail gateway. Come the first weekend of July for the Kalvarija festival's massed hymns, or February for ice yachts on Plateliai if the winter cooperates; September drops the park back into deep Samogitian quiet.