Location: 1.5 km south of Nida town centre

A mighty yet fragile Parnidis dune is a 52 metre mound of sea wind blown white sand, almost entirely made of quartz mineral. A surviving part of the constantly changing, travelling dunes, Neringa’s most iconic dune offers fantastic views of both sunrise to the east and sunset to the west, into the Baltic Sea. Part of a chain of a drifting (semi-permanent) sand dune on the Curonian Spit has multiple viewpoints of the surrounding waters and Grobšto national nature reserve. Scientists say that, ever-moulded by the sea wind, the adjoining dune complex moves around 0.5 to 10 metres to the east every year.

Tiny mineral particles succumb to natural aeolian processes by being blown over the dune crest and onto the slip face. The familiar ridges of dunes are formed in this everlasting pattern. The protected dune surface, free of human activity, has a signature corrugated look, inducing a feeling as if one is resting their eyes on an untouched sea floor.

Known as the white dunes of the Curonian Spit, such dunes get their exceptionally bright colour thanks to quartz, which forms from 85 to 99 per cent of the sand particles in Parnidis and surrounding landforms.

The sandy landscape is home to large grass family plants: the marram grass, the sand ryegrass and the wood small-reed. Due to their tough stems, they adapt well to the transient soil as well as slowing the wind and the journey of sand grains with their feathery stalks. The taller plants create a natural shelter for more delicate flora like the narrowleaf hawkweed, the sea pea and rare Baltic region plants like Tragopogon heterospermus and Linaria loeselii.

To protect the unique Parnidis dune landscape and its natural inhabitants, the visitors are asked to adhere to the signs of permitted walking routes and areas. There is strictly no access to the east side of Parnidis dune.