Ukmergė is a historic city in central Lithuania, with around 22,000 people. First mentioned in written sources in 1333, it is one of the country’s oldest settlements and developed around a fortified hill overlooking the Šventoji and Vilkmergėlė rivers. The remains of this medieval past are still visible at Ukmergė Hillfort in the centre, where a wooden castle once stood before being destroyed in 1391. Ukmergė is one of only a handful of Lithuanian cities with a preserved historic old town, shaped in part by its position on important routes between Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys and the old Warsaw–Saint Petersburg road. The compact centre includes churches, 19th-century buildings and traces of the city’s once substantial Jewish community, while the surrounding district contains several notable historic sites, including Siesikai Castle and the former estate of Lithuania’s first president, Antanas Smetona. Vilnius and Kaunas are both roughly an hour’s drive away, making Ukmergė relatively easy to reach despite having no railway station of its own.

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