Vilnius TV Tower Reopens Iconic Rotating Restaurant with New Culinary Experience
Vilnius TV Tower restaurant welcomes diners back with panoramic views and a renewed culinary concept
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Visitors to Lithuania’s capital can once again dine high above the city skyline as the Milky Way rotating restaurant officially reopened today inside the Vilnius TV Tower, unveiling a refreshed dining experience that combines panoramic views with contemporary Lithuanian cuisine.
Located 165 metres above ground, the restaurant occupies one of Europe’s tallest television towers, offering diners a continuously changing 360-degree view of Vilnius while the restaurant completes a full rotation every 55 minutes.
The reopening marks a new chapter for one of the city’s best-known attractions, which welcomes more than 130,000 visitors annually.
A New Take on Lithuanian Cuisine
Leading the restaurant’s culinary direction is Chef Aleksandras Buiko, whose menu emphasizes seasonal Lithuanian ingredients presented through a modern approach.
Fresh local produce—including cucumbers, mushrooms, herbs and berries sourced from regional farms—features prominently throughout the menu.
Signature dishes include trout paired with sea buckthorn, black bread crumble and dill, as well as fish served alongside traditional švilpikai potato dumplings, reimagining familiar Lithuanian flavours for contemporary diners.
Chef Buiko said the food and wine programs were developed together to create complementary flavour profiles throughout the dining experience.
Wine Selection Inspired by Altitude
One of the restaurant’s most distinctive features is its concept-driven wine program.
Rather than organizing wines by region or grape variety alone, the list has been curated using elevation as its guiding principle, highlighting wines produced from vineyards situated at approximately the same altitude above sea level as the restaurant itself.
Lithuanian producers are featured through a separate “northern elevation” concept that recognizes the influence of cool climates, extended summer daylight and shorter growing seasons on wine characteristics.
According to the restaurant’s management, the approach reflects a broader design philosophy built around contrasts between nature, engineering and geography.
Dining Above the Lithuanian Capital
Situated inside the 326.4-metre Vilnius TV Tower, the restaurant provides uninterrupted views extending up to 50 kilometres on clear days.
The structure remains Lithuania’s tallest building and ranks as the eighth-tallest television tower in Europe. At only three metres shorter than Paris’s Eiffel Tower, it remains one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
The restaurant’s gradual rotation allows guests to experience every angle of the capital during a single meal without leaving their table.
A Landmark Shaped by History
Completed in 1980 as a telecommunications tower, the Vilnius TV Tower holds an important place in Lithuania’s modern history.
It became internationally recognized during the events of January 13, 1991, when civilians defended the tower during a Soviet military assault in the country’s struggle for independence.
Today, visitors can explore that history through the Fight for Freedom exhibition housed inside the tower.
Expanding the Visitor Experience
Beyond the restaurant, the Vilnius TV Tower has evolved into one of Lithuania’s leading visitor attractions.
The tower now features panoramic hotel accommodations located 175 metres above ground, an outdoor Edge Walk experience that allows visitors to traverse an exterior observation platform at 170 metres, and a newly installed fresco by contemporary Lithuanian artist Jurgis Tarabilda, depicting the legendary founding of Vilnius.
The reopening of Milky Way further expands the tower’s role as both a historical landmark and a modern tourism destination.
Similar elevated dining experiences can be found in landmarks such as Berlin’s TV Tower, Amsterdam’s A’DAM Tower and the revolving restaurant atop Switzerland’s Mittelallalin mountain peak, but Vilnius’ renewed restaurant distinguishes itself through its uniquely Lithuanian culinary identity and innovative wine program.
The Milky Way restaurant reopened to the public on July 3, welcoming both local residents and international visitors seeking one of the city’s most distinctive dining experiences.
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