Lviv

If you’ve spent time in other Ukrainian regions, Lviv will come as a shock. Mysterious and architecturally lovely, this Unesco-listed city is the country’s least Soviet and exudes the same authentic Central European charm as pretourism Prague or Kraków once did. Its quaint cobbles, bean-perfumed coffeehouses and rattling trams are a continent away from the Soviet brutalism of the east. It’s also a place where the candle of Ukrainian national identity burns brightest and where Russian is definitely a minority language.