Find places in Ukraine

Must-Haves

• Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Pechersk)
  The great cave monastery above the Dnipro, with golden domes, bell tower views and candlelit underground passages.
• St Sophia's Cathedral (Old Kyiv)
  An eleventh century cathedral with original mosaics and frescoes, and a bell tower with views over the old city.
• St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery (Old Kyiv)
  The bright blue monastery with gold domes, facing St Sophia across a square where memorials to fallen defenders stand.
• Motherland Monument and War History Museum (Pechersk)
  The huge steel statue above the river and the national museum of Ukraine in the Second World War beneath it.

Fun for Everyone

• Pyrohiv Museum of Folk Architecture (Pyrohiv)
  Wooden churches, windmills and farmhouses from every region of Ukraine, spread over open hills at the city edge.

Must-Haves

• Andriivskyi Descent (Podil)
  A steep cobbled street of galleries, souvenir stalls and old houses winding down from St Andrew's Church to Podil.
• Golden Gate (Old Kyiv)
  A reconstruction of the medieval city gate, surrounded by some of the centre's best cafés.

Fun for Everyone

• Kyiv Funicular (Podil)
  A short, cheap ride linking the upper city by St Michael's with the riverside district of Podil.

Off the Beaten Path

• Peizazhna Alley (Old Kyiv)
  A walkway of playful mosaics, sculptures and city views just behind the history museum.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Bessarabsky Market (Khreshchatyk)
  A covered market of pickles, cured meats, honey and fresh produce at the top of the main avenue.

Fun for Everyone

• Volodymyrska Hill Park (Old Kyiv)
  Leafy terraces above the Dnipro with a statue of Prince Volodymyr and the best sunset views in the centre.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Trukhaniv Island (Dnipro River)
  A green river island reached by a footbridge, with sandy beaches, cycling paths and summer picnics.

Great for Date Night

• Hryshko National Botanical Garden (Pechersk)
  Lilac and magnolia gardens in spring, with views of the Vydubychi Monastery domes below.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Puzata Hata (Citywide)
  A canteen chain where you point at borscht, varenyky and salads, ideal for a first taste of everyday Ukrainian food.

Great for Date Night

• Kanapa (Andriivskyi Descent)
  Modern Ukrainian cooking with forgotten regional recipes, served in a wooden house on the descent.

Must-Haves

• Ostannia Barykada (Maidan Nezalezhnosti)
  A hidden restaurant beneath Independence Square that tells the story of Ukraine's protests through its menu and decor.

Fun for Everyone

• Kyiv Food Market (Lukianivka)
  A food hall in a former factory with dozens of stalls, good for groups who cannot agree on dinner.

Must-Haves

• One Love Espresso Bar (Old Kyiv)
  Serious specialty coffee in a tiny bar, a favourite of Kyiv's coffee crowd.

Must-Haves

• Hyatt Regency Kyiv (Old Kyiv)
  A central international hotel overlooking St Sophia, with shelter arrangements guests are briefed on.

Great for Date Night

• 11 Mirrors Design Hotel (Khreshchatyk)
  A design hotel on a quiet central street, close to the opera and Bessarabsky Market.

Fun for Everyone

• Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv (Podil)
  A large riverside hotel in Podil, handy for the funicular and the riverfront.

Must-Haves

• Kyiv Independence Day commemorations (Citywide)
  On 24 August the city marks independence with flags and memorial gatherings rather than the old parades.

Must-Haves

• Rynok Square (Old Town)
  The heart of the UNESCO old town, ringed with painted merchant houses and the town hall.

Fun for Everyone

• Lviv City Hall Tower (Rynok Square)
  Climb the steps of the town hall tower for rooftop views over domes and red tiles.

Must-Haves

• Lviv National Opera (Svobody Avenue)
  A gilded opera house at the head of the main boulevard, with ballet and opera at gentle prices.
• Lychakiv Cemetery (Lychakiv)
  A forested cemetery of sculpted tombs and the sobering Field of Mars for those killed in the current war.
• Armenian Cathedral of Lviv (Old Town)
  A small fourteenth century cathedral with a courtyard and remarkable twentieth century murals.

Great for Date Night

• Dominican Church (Old Town)
  A baroque church with a great oval dome just off Rynok Square.

Off the Beaten Path

• Pharmacy Museum (Old Town)
  A working pharmacy from the eighteenth century with a museum of old remedies in its back rooms.

Must-Haves

• High Castle Park (Old Town)
  A hill park with a viewing mound above the old town, best at sunset.

Fun for Everyone

• Stryiskyi Park (Center)
  Lviv's prettiest park, with ponds, old trees and a summer cascade.

Fun for Everyone

• Lviv Handmade Chocolate (Old Town)
  A multi floor chocolate shop and café where children watch sweets being made.
• Kryivka (Rynok Square)
  A themed restaurant styled as a partisan hideout, with hearty food and a password at the door.

Great for Date Night

• Baczewski Restaurant (Old Town)
  A grand Galician restaurant with a glass roofed garden, famed for breakfast and old family recipes.

Off the Beaten Path

• Gas Lamp Restaurant (Old Town)
  A quirky restaurant on several levels themed around the invention of the kerosene lamp, with a roof terrace.

Must-Haves

• Lviv Coffee Manufacture (Rynok Square)
  Roasting coffee in a vaulted cellar and serving it upstairs, a classic of Lviv café culture.
• Svit Kavy (Rynok Square)
  A long standing café on the square for coffee and people watching.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lvivski Plyatsky (Old Town)
  A cake shop serving traditional Galician slices with coffee.

Fun for Everyone

• Pravda Beer Theatre (Rynok Square)
  A brewpub on several floors with house beers and a lively band.

Great for Date Night

• House of Legends (Old Town)
  A whimsical bar with a car on the roof and themed rooms full of city legends.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Vernissage Market (Teatralna Street)
  Open air stalls of embroidery, wood carving, ceramics and art near the opera.

Must-Haves

• Grand Hotel Lviv (Svobody Avenue)
  A classic hotel on the main boulevard, steps from the opera and old town.

Great for Date Night

• Hotel Leopolis (Old Town)
  A boutique hotel on a quiet old town lane with spacious rooms.

Must-Haves

• Potemkin Stairs (Primorsky Boulevard)
  The famous giant staircase from the film Battleship Potemkin, linking the boulevard to the port.

Fun for Everyone

• Deribasivska Street (Center)
  The pedestrian main street of cafés and terraces, leading to the City Garden.

Great for Date Night

• Primorsky Boulevard (Center)
  A tree lined promenade above the port with the Duc de Richelieu statue and sea views.

Off the Beaten Path

• Mother-in-law Bridge (Center)
  A small footbridge with love padlocks and harbour views.

Must-Haves

• Odesa Opera and Ballet Theatre (Center)
  One of Europe's most beautiful opera houses, its gilded interior still hosting performances.
• Odesa Fine Arts Museum (Center)
  Ukrainian and Russian empire era painting in a palace with a grotto beneath it.

Off the Beaten Path

• Odesa Catacombs (Museum of Partisan Glory) (Nerubaiske)
  A guided walk through a small section of the vast limestone tunnels beneath the region.
• Odesa Archaeological Museum (Center)
  Greek and Scythian finds from the Black Sea coast in a classical building.

Great for Date Night

• Vorontsov Palace and Colonnade (Primorsky Boulevard)
  A classical palace and colonnade with views over the harbour.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Privoz Market (Privoz)
  The city's noisy, beloved market of fish, fruit, cheese and Odesa banter.

Off the Beaten Path

• Passage Odesa (Deribasivska Street)
  A grand nineteenth century shopping arcade with sculpted facades.

Fun for Everyone

• Shevchenko Park (Center)
  A big seaside park with paths down to the shore.
• Arcadia Beach (Arcadia)
  The city's summer party beach; check local notices, as swimming rules and closures have changed during the war.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lanzheron Beach (Center)
  The beach closest to the centre, below Shevchenko Park.

Off the Beaten Path

• Odesa City Garden (Deribasivska Street)
  The oldest park in the city, with a musical fountain and street painters.

Must-Haves

• Kompot (Deribasivska Street)
  A cosy local chain serving Odesa home cooking with breakfast all day.

Great for Date Night

• Bernardazzi (Philharmonic)
  Elegant dining inside the philharmonic building, with live piano most evenings.

Fun for Everyone

• Dacha (Frantsuzkyi Boulevard)
  Odesa home cooking in an old summer villa with a leafy garden.

Great for Date Night

• Gogol Mogol (Center)
  A whimsical café of mismatched furniture and inventive desserts.

Fun for Everyone

• Fanconi 1872 (Katerynynska Street)
  A historic café restaurant with a busy terrace on one of the old main streets.

Must-Haves

• Bristol Hotel Odesa (Center)
  A restored grand hotel around the corner from the opera.

Great for Date Night

• Hotel Londonskaya (Primorsky Boulevard)
  A historic hotel on the boulevard with a fine staircase.

Must-Haves

• Probiy Waterfall (Yaremche)
  A roaring waterfall on the Prut River in the middle of town, with a footbridge over the gorge.
• Carpathian National Nature Park (Yaremche)
  Ukraine's oldest national park, with marked trails through beech and fir forest.
• Mount Hoverla (Vorokhta)
  Ukraine's highest peak, a long but popular summer day hike from the Zaroslyak trailhead.

Fun for Everyone

• Dovbush Rocks Trail (Yaremche)
  A short forest trail among huge boulders linked to the legend of the outlaw Oleksa Dovbush.

Off the Beaten Path

• Manyava Waterfall (Manyava)
  A tall waterfall reached by a forest walk near the old Manyava Skete monastery.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Yaremche Souvenir Market (Yaremche)
  Stalls of Hutsul woollens, wood carving, mushrooms and cheese by the waterfall.

Off the Beaten Path

• Kosiv Market (Kosiv)
  A weekly craft market of Hutsul carpets, ceramics and embroidery, once listed by UNESCO for its craft tradition.

Off the Beaten Path

• Vorokhta Railway Viaduct (Vorokhta)
  An old stone Austro Hungarian railway viaduct in a quiet mountain village.
• Dragobrat (Yasinia)
  A high road to Ukraine's highest ski village, with summer ridge walks.

Fun for Everyone

• Bukovel Resort (Bukovel)
  Ukraine's biggest ski resort, with summer hiking, biking and lakes.

Off the Beaten Path

• Manyava Skete (Manyava)
  A seventeenth century mountain monastery in deep forest.

Fun for Everyone

• Kolomyia Pysanka Museum (Kolomyia)
  A museum shaped like a giant painted Easter egg, full of decorated eggs from across Ukraine.

Must-Haves

• Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle (Old Town)
  A fairy tale fortress on a rock bridge over the Smotrych canyon.
• Kamianets Town Hall (Old Town)
  One of Ukraine's oldest town halls with a museum of local justice.
• Khotyn Fortress (Khotyn)
  A dramatic medieval fortress on the Dniester, a short ride away.

Off the Beaten Path

• Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul (Old Town)
  A Catholic cathedral with a minaret left from Ottoman times, topped by a statue of Mary.

Fun for Everyone

• Polish and Ruthenian Gates (Old Town)
  Old defensive gates and water works on the river below the town.

Must-Haves

• Kamianets-Podilskyi Old Town (Old Town)
  An island of churches, towers and lanes looped by the river canyon.

Off the Beaten Path

• Turkish Bridge (Old Town)
  The stone bridge linking the old town to the castle.

Great for Date Night

• Sunset at the castle viewpoint (Old Town)
  The road above the castle gives the best evening view of the fortress.

Must-Haves

• Smotrych Canyon (Old Town)
  A deep canyon walk beneath the old town, beautiful in autumn.

Off the Beaten Path

• Bakota (Dniester Canyon)
  A flooded valley of the Dniester with a cave monastery and wide views.

Must-Haves

• Chernivtsi National University (Center)
  The former residence of the Bukovinian Metropolitans, a UNESCO listed brick fantasy of courtyards and painted halls.

Great for Date Night

• Chernivtsi Drama Theatre (Theatre Square)
  An ornate Viennese theatre at the centre of the old town.

Off the Beaten Path

• Chernivtsi Jewish Cemetery (Zelena Street)
  One of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the region, a quiet reminder of the city's past.

Fun for Everyone

• Bukovinian Village Museum (Chernivtsi)
  An open air museum of wooden farmhouses and churches.

Must-Haves

• Olha Kobylianska Street (Center)
  A pedestrian street of Austro Hungarian houses and cafés.

Fun for Everyone

• Central Square of Chernivtsi (Center)
  The town hall square, a gathering place lined with old buildings.

Must-Haves

• Hotel Bukovyna (Center)
  A central hotel within walking distance of the university and old town.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Kalynivskyi Market (Chernivtsi)
  A sprawling market famous across the region for clothes and goods.