Must-see attractions in Ukraine

  • Saint-Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine

    St Sophia's Cathedral

    Kyiv

    The interior is the most astounding aspect of Kyiv's oldest standing church. Many of the mosaics and frescoes are original, dating back to 1017–31, when…

  • Kyevo-Pecherska Lavra

    Kyiv

    Tourists and Orthodox pilgrims alike flock to the Lavra, set on 28 hectares of grassy hills above the Dnipro River in Pechersk. It's easy to see why…

  • Dramatic view on the castle in Kamianets-Podilskyi in spring. Ukraine
129498389
unusual, cross, medieval, warm, historical, town, travel, view, dramatic, fortified, yellow, awesome, magic, castle, may, orange, old, turrets, evening, traditional, fantasy, multicolored, fortress, interesting, colors, ages, city, ukrainian, towers, ukraine, buildings, sky, places, beautiful, bridge, stunning, landscape, history icon, kamianets, podilskyi, kamjanets, kamenets, podilsky, kamianets-podilskyi, podolsky, kamyanets, kamyanets-podilsky

    Kamyanets-Podilsky Fortress

    Central Ukraine

    Built of wood in the 10th to 13th centuries, then redesigned and rebuilt in stone by Italian military engineers in the 16th century, K-P's fortress is a…

  • Prymorsky Boulevard, Odesa's elegant tree-lined promenade

    Prymorsky Boulevard

    Odesa

    Odesa's elegant facade, this tree-lined, clifftop promenade was designed to enchant the passengers of arriving boats with the neoclassical opulence of its…

  • Wehrwolf - Ruins of Hitler's underground headquarters, near Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

    Wehrwolf

    Central Ukraine

    Between May 1942 and July 1943, Adolf Hitler paid several visits (accounts vary) to his regional military headquarters in a vast bunker 8km north…

  • Chernivtsi National University facade.

    Chernivtsi University

    The Carpathians

    University buildings are often called 'dreaming spires', but Chernivtsi's is more like an acid trip. This fantastic, Unesco-listed red-brick ensemble,…

  • Artifical flowers decorating small winged angel statue on grave at Lychakivske Cemetery.

    Lychakivsky Cemetery

    Lviv

    Don't leave town until you've seen this amazing 42-hectare cemetery, only a short ride on tram 7 from the centre. This is the Père Lachaise of Eastern…

  • Aerial spring view of Palanok Castle in Mukachevo town, Ukraine.

    Palanok Castle

    The Carpathians

    Built atop a 68m-tall volcano, Mukacheve's highlight is this dramatic castle that pops up from the surrounding plain west of town, like something in a…

  • Khreshchatyk-Stalinist buildings on Maydan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square).

    Maidan Nezalezhnosti

    Kyiv

    Be it celebration or revolution, whenever Ukrainians want to get together – and they often do – 'Maidan' is the nation's meeting point. The square saw pro…

  • Three men walking down Potemkin Steps.

    Potemkin Steps

    Odesa

    Fresh from a controversial renovation, which changed its original outlook, the Potemkin Steps lead down from bul Prymorsky to the sea port. Pause at the…

  • St. Michael's Monastery.

    St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery

    Kyiv

    Looking from St Sophia's past the Bohdan Khmelnytsky statue, it's impossible to ignore the gold-domed blue church at the other end of proyizd Volodymyrsky…

  • Skvorechnik

    Kyiv

    It's hard to characterise this beachfront hippie haven on Trukhaniv Island. It derives its name from the smattering of raised wooden chill-out huts that…

  • A cell in the Museum of Political Prisoners in Ternopil.

    Museum of Political Prisoners

    Western Ukraine

    A block back from bul Shevchenka, this former KGB prison is where several prominent members of UPA and OUN were held, tortured and shot in the years of…

  • Ploshcha Rynok (Market Square) with historic buildings Black Mansion and Dominican Cathedral in background.

    Ploshcha Rynok

    Lviv

    Lviv was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1998, and this old market square lies at its heart. The square was progressively rebuilt after a major…

  • The PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine.

    PinchukArtCentre

    Kyiv

    The rotating exhibits at this world-class gallery feature elite names in the world of European contemporary art and design, all financed by billionaire…

  • Lvivarnya

    Lviv

    Revamped in 2017, the museum belonging to Lviv's brewery is an impressive, modern experience, a world away for the rickety post-Soviet repositories of the…

  • Kharkiv Art Museum

    Kharkiv

    Kharkiv's most famous museum owns one of many versions of Ilya Repin's Zaporizhsky Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan, which is found in a…

  • Odesa's main commercial street, pedestrian vul Derybasivska

    Vul Derybasivska

    Odesa

    Odesa's main commercial street, pedestrian vul Derybasivska is jam-packed with restaurants, bars and, in the summer high season, tourists. At its quieter…

  • High Castle Hill

    Lviv

    Around a 2km walk from pl Rynok, visiting the High Castle (Vysoky Zamok) on Castle Hill (Zamkova Hora) is a quintessential Lviv experience. There’s little…

  • Lviv History Museum – Rynok 24

    Lviv

    This branch of the Lviv History Museum expounds on the city's very early days starting with early cultures that inhabited Galicia and ending with the…

  • Ratusha

    Lviv

    The city fathers have occupied this location since the 14th century, but the present-day Italianate look dates to 1835. In a sign of openness and…

  • Apteka Museum

    Lviv

    This fascinating pharmacy museum is located inside a still-functioning chemist's shop dating from 1735. Buy a ticket from the pharmacist and head down…

  • The Museum of Odesa Modern Art, the main base of Odesa biennale

    Museum of Odesa Modern Art

    Odesa

    The war in the east and regular political strife give Ukrainian artists a lot of here-and-now material to reflect on, and the result is often brilliant,…

  • The Odesa Opera & Ballet Theatre building, designed in the 1880s

    Odesa Opera & Ballet Theatre

    Odesa

    The jewel in Odesa's architectural crown was designed in the 1880s by the architects who also designed the famous Vienna State Opera, namely Ferdinand…

  • Uzhhorod Castle

    The Carpathians

    On the hill overlooking the town stands the 15th-century castle with massive walls and beefy bastions built to withstand Turkish assaults. The main palace…

  • Ploshcha Svobody

    Kharkiv

    Locals claim that this enormous expanse of cobbles is the second largest in the world after Beijing's Tiananmen Sq. At 750m long it's indisputably huge…

  • Menorah Center

    Eastern Ukraine

    Vaguely reminiscent of MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall, this giant structure looming over the remains of the Old Town is the slick new heart of the city's…

  • Museum of Hutsul Folk Art

    The Carpathians

    This well-curated exhibition of Hutsul artefacts is probably the best of its kind in Ukraine. Decorated stove tiles and other ceramics, musical…

  • Pysanky Museum

    The Carpathians

    Kolomyya's most eye-catching attraction is a monster concrete Easter egg, which sits rather self-consciously on the town's main square. Inside in an…

  • Avtomotovelofototeleradio Museum

    Central Ukraine

    Big name for a small museum but worthwhile for anyone with a wistful soft spot for the days of Soviet mass production. This octagonal building near the…

  • Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection

    The Carpathians

    The city's punctiliously renovated Greek Catholic cathedral is a fine example of baroque symmetry crafted in the mid-18th century. Huge bronzes of St…

  • Former Armenian Church

    The Carpathians

    A few steps off pl Rynok stands this eye-pleasingly symmetrical baroque church built by the Armenian community in 1762. Beyond the golden doors the…

  • Eastern palace

    Khans' Palace

    Crimea

    When she was busy ordering the mass destruction of Bakhchysaray's mosques in the 18th and early 19th centuries, Catherine the Great spared the Khans'…

  • Chufut-Kale

    Crimea

    Rising 200m, this long and bluff plateau houses a honeycomb of caves and structures where people took refuge for centuries. It's wonderful to explore,…

  • Ukraine, Odessa. Primorsky Boulevard, statue of Duke de Richelieu.

    Primorsky Boulevard

    Sevastopol

    The city's bay-facing showcase greets seafarers with an array of whitewashed colonnaded buildings. Fresh from a Russian-funded spruce-up, the boulevard is…

  • Mikhaylovskaya Battery

    Sevastopol

    A massive piece of fortification seen across the bay from central Sevastopol, the battery served as a hospital when the Russians withdrew to the northern…

  • Taurida Central Museum

    Crimea

    Crimea's largest museum consists of three main sections. The first is a collection of golden artefacts, produced by Hellenized Alano-Goths in the…

  • Lenin's Embankment

    Crimea

    Everyone's favourite pastime in Yalta is walking up and down the seafront nab Lenina and the pedestrian zone along the Uchan-su River, where you'll find a…

  • Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra, a monastery in Pochayiv, Ukraine.

    Pochayiv Monastery

    Western Ukraine

    Its ornate golden domes rising up from the surrounding plain, Pochayiv Monastery is a beacon of Ukrainian Orthodoxy (Moscow Patriarchate) on the edge of a…

More destinations you need to see