Many visitors to Druskininkai make an excursion to Dzūkija National Park to the east of the town. It is one of the largest wilderness areas in the Baltic region and, although the national park is restricted to Lithuanian territory, similar landscapes extend over the border into neighbouring Belarus.

At one level, it is a traditional rural region, with attractive wooden houses and churches — such as the one in Marcinkonys shown on this page. But casual visitors to Marcinkonys may not realise that this was once an active centre of Jewish life. For rail travellers, Marcinkonys is the end of the line from Vilnius. Yet this was once an important rail route with trains running right through to Warsaw.