Where Do Exchange Students Live in Vilnius? A Practical Housing Guide

Eglė Garnienė

Group General Manager

August 24, 2026

Every autumn a few thousand exchange and full-degree international students land in Vilnius with the same question: where does everyone actually live? The honest answer is that they split into three camps – university dorms, shared flats, and the growing coliving segment – and which camp you end up in usually comes down to budget, timing, and how much administration you want to handle in Lithuanian.

Option one: university dormitories

Vilnius University and MRU both run their own dorms, with prices that are hard to argue with – roughly 50–150 euro a month. Rooms are basic (search “VU barakai” for unfiltered photos), usually shared, and quality varies a lot between buildings. What dorms deliver, beyond price, is instant community: most exchange students who live in them remember the people, not the interiors. Places are limited though, and Erasmus students are not always guaranteed one, so treat the dorm as a possibility rather than a plan.

Option two: a room in a shared flat

The middle route is renting a room through aruodas.lt or Facebook groups like “Erasmus Vilnius” or “foreigners in Vilnius”, at around 250–400 euro a month plus bills. It gives you a real Vilnius neighbourhood life and often more space. The catch is doing it from abroad: landlords rarely hold rooms for someone landing in three weeks, contracts are in Lithuanian, and every August the scam listings multiply. The firm rule: never transfer a deposit for a flat nobody has viewed for you in person.

Option three: coliving and private student housing

The newest camp, and the one growing fastest among internationals, is coliving. Shed Coliving in Vilnius is the largest example: furnished private rooms and studios with one monthly payment that covers rent, utilities and internet, shared kitchens, laundry, gym and coworking spaces, and contracts by semester or academic year that you sign online before arriving. Prices sit around 350–500 euro a month, so above a shared-flat room but below a private studio, with none of the landlord logistics. For a first semester in a country you have never lived in, that trade is exactly why exchange students pick it.

What should you check before committing?

• Commute: Vilnius is compact, but check the actual bus route to your faculty – some campuses (MRU especially) sit outside the centre.
• What the price includes: heating bills in a Lithuanian winter are not a rounding error. All-inclusive pricing makes budgeting predictable.
• Contract length and exit terms: exchange semesters do not always match 12-month leases. Semester contracts exist – ask for them.
• Timing: decent options at every price level are gone by early September. Sort your housing in June or July and your first week in Vilnius will be about people, not paperwork.