The cheapest flights from Kaunas in 2026, ranked by real fares
Kaunas is Lithuania's discount airport, and the fares prove it. Twelve destinations ordered by the lowest one-way we have actually measured on each route, with the date we saw every figure.
Kaunas airport is small, quick and built around one airline: Ryanair based aircraft here early, and the route map still reflects it. The airport sits at Karmelava, about fourteen kilometres from the city with a half-hour bus into the centre, and roughly an hour and a half from Vilnius by coach, which is why plenty of people from the capital fly from here too when the fare is right.
The list below is twelve destinations we price from Kaunas on a schedule, ordered by the lowest one-way we have actually measured on each route. The figure beside each entry is that floor with the date we saw it: the bottom of what the route can do, not a quote for your dates. Whether the drive to Kaunas is worth it depends on the gap to the same route from Vilnius, and we compared the two airports route by route.
The twelve cheapest, ranked
Ordered by the lowest one-way we have measured, cheapest first. The fares and the order come from our measurements; the reasons to go are ours.
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01Copenhagen DK from 15 € · seen 17 Aug 2026Copenhagen with the easiest arrival in Scandinavia: the metro runs from the terminal into the centre in about a quarter of an hour. The city is expensive once you land, so treat the cheap flight as the part of the budget you control and plan the rest.
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02Kraków PL from 15 € · seen 11 Aug 2026The strongest all-round city break within reach: an intact medieval centre, Kazimierz in the evening, and Wieliczka or Auschwitz as sobering day trips. The full Krakow guide covers how long to stay and when to go.
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03Milan Malpensa IT from 15 € · seen 11 Aug 2026This is Malpensa, the big airport northwest of Milan, with an express train into town in under an hour. From Lithuania it is often the cheapest way into Italy, and our Bergamo or Malpensa comparison explains why the famous budget airport is not always the budget choice.
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04Stockholm Arlanda SE from 15 € · seen 17 Aug 2026Stockholm's main airport rather than a distant substitute, which matters at midnight. Gamla Stan, the museums and the archipelago make an easy long weekend, and winter visits trade daylight for empty queues.
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05Cologne DE from 18 € · seen 17 Aug 2026Cologne is an underrated German weekend: the cathedral is worth the trip alone, the brauhaus culture and its small Kolsch glasses fill an evening, and the S-Bahn runs from the airport to the station beside the cathedral in about a quarter of an hour.
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06Gdańsk PL from 18 € · seen 11 Aug 2026The closest foreign city on the list and one of the best. A rebuilt Hanseatic waterfront, the Solidarity shipyards, and Sopot's beach a commuter train away. The full Gdansk guide covers the Tricity properly.
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07London Luton GB from 19 € · seen 18 Aug 2026Luton is the airport, London is an onward train ride: a shuttle to the station, then about half an hour to St Pancras, paid both ways. After that the best of London is free. The London guide is built around the cheap version of the city.
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08Brussels Charleroi BE from 21 € · seen 17 Aug 2026An hour's shuttle south of Brussels, which makes it the cheap door to Belgium rather than a Brussels break. Consider skipping the capital: Bruges and Ghent are short train rides from it and both are better company.
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09Budapest HU from 25 € · seen 11 Aug 2026The grandest city on this list once you land, and one of the cheapest to be in. Baths, ruin bars, and a night-time riverfront that earns the postcard. The Budapest guide says which bath suits which traveller.
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10Barcelona ES from 30 € · seen 11 Aug 2026The longest flight here and the only one that is both a major city and a beach. Gaudi, the old town, and food worth planning around, badly over-touristed in high summer, so aim for the shoulder months and book the big sights ahead.
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11Edinburgh GB from 30 € · seen 17 Aug 2026Edinburgh is compact enough for a weekend: the Old Town, a hill climb for the view, and whisky by the fire when the weather turns, which it will. Avoid August unless you are coming for the festivals on purpose, because the city doubles in price and crowds.
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12Tirana AL from 30 € · seen 10 Aug 2026The wildcard. Tirana is loud, half-built and startlingly cheap on the ground, and it is the way in to Albania's mountains and the Riviera. Go for the novelty and the prices, not for polish. The full Tirana guide is honest about both.
Two patterns worth noticing. First, the cheapest entries are the short northern and central-European hops, not the sun routes, which is the standard shape of a low-cost route map. Second, several of these land at an airport named after a city it is not in, so read the label and price the coach before you compare fares. A floor that looks unbeatable can lose its lead at the transfer desk.
How to read this list
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01A floor is not a quoteThe figure is the cheapest fare we saw on the dates we priced. Treat it as the bottom of the route's range and use it to judge live prices, not as a promise of what you will pay.
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02Check the date beside each fareThe order changes as fares move, and every entry shows when we last measured it precisely so you can weigh how fresh the benchmark is.
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03Book ahead, flex the dayThese floors belong to travellers who book weeks out and can move a day either side. On a Ryanair-dominated map that rule has few exceptions.
If you are near Vilnius and wondering whether the drive west is worth it, the answer is route by route, not airport by airport: our Vilnius or Kaunas comparison shows where each airport wins, and the cheapest flights from Vilnius rank the same kind of list from the capital's side.