Duration: >10 hours.
Group size: up to 4 people.
Guide: Mikhail.
Car: Škoda Roomster.
Phone: 8(906)217-39-69.
Sovetsk
In legendary Tilsit, where at the beginning of the 19th century Napoleon and Alexander I held negotiations that were fateful for Europe, we will look into Jakobsruhe Park, where the monument to the Prussian Queen Louise stands, visit the embankment and from there view the famous bridge named after that same Louise.
Napoleon, the Prussian royal couple and the Russian Tsar Alexander I in Tilsit.
Not so long ago we could easily have crossed it into Lithuania.
A Lithuanian Raketa hydrofoil passes under the Queen Louise Bridge.
We will take note of the many architectural monuments. We will have our photo taken with the avatar of Sovetsk-Tilsit, the huge elk Gustav. We will stroll along Pobedy Street, the longest and widest pedestrian street in the region, which, sadly, does not have a single decent café. But the neighbouring street does, and that is where we will have our coffee.
Neman
The town was once called Ragnit, after the castle that stands right in its centre. The castle has been under active restoration for several years; we will explore this fortress inside and out and go down into the cool medieval cellars with their vaulted ceilings. Besides the castle, Neman is home to one of the best cheese dairies in the region.
A photo with Gustav by the Sovetsk administration building is part of the compulsory programme.
Here they have revived the production of the famous local Tilsiter cheese.
Ragnit Castle in Neman.
The cheese dairy has a small restaurant. But we will go for lunch to a more interesting and picturesque place.
The Old Beekeeper's Farmstead
Lunch will be waiting for us a little further up the Neman, in the village of Bolshoye Selo. Here the founder of the "Tilsit-Ragnit Cheese Dairy" has created the charming "Old Beekeeper's Farmstead". After eating, we can stroll through a superb pine forest, climb the high river bank to see what is left of one of the two partially surviving Bismarck Towers in the region, and even swim in the Neman if we feel like it and the weather is kind.
Photos by Mikhail Ogorodnikov.
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
