Discover Ukraine

TOUR ITINERARY

Day 1 – Kiev

Group meets in airport. Transfer to hotel and check-in.14.00 – Lunch.

15.00 – “Kiev through the Ages” walking tour. As you explore Kiev through the ages, you will see some of the most wonderful monuments and sites in the capital of Ukraine. Here is Kiev close-up: The Zoloti Vorota or Golden Gates, St. Sofia Cathedral, the old citadel “whence the land of Rus began,” Andriyivskiy Uzviz with its beautiful Andriyivska Church. You will see for yourself why Kyiv is called both ancient and eternally young!18.30 – Dinner.

19.30 – Evening outing (possible visit to the Pinchuk Art Center).

Day 2 – Kiev 08.00 – Breakfast.

09.30 – “Kiev, the City of Legends” sightseeing tour. See this powerful and glorious city in all its beauty: Podil, Pechersk, Lypky, the picturesque banks of the Dnipro River, and the Maidan, where the Revolution of Dignity took place. There’s nothing like Kiev’s panorama, with its modern skyscrapers and its golden-domed churches. Next, we descend to Khreshchatyk with its chestnuts and fountains, the heart of Kiev and probably of all of Ukraine.12.00 – Lunch.

13.00 – Kievo-Pecherska Lavra tour. This monastery has been the center of spirituality for orthodox Christians through the centuries, the repository of wisdom and the chronicles, the holy site where pilgrims came in order to touch the holiest of objects. Founded in 1051, the monastery is visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world every year.

15.00 – The Lavra also boasts a Museum of Historic Treasures of Ukraine, where the works of artists embody the country’s history from ancient Scythian and Sarmatian tribes to modern times.

16.30 – Visit to the World War II Museum. Located under that titanic Mother of the Homeland, this museum is located next to an exhibition of soviet military equipment.18.30 – Dinner.

19.30 – Evening outing (possible visit to the Art Arsenal).

Day 3 – Trypillia – Kaniv 08.00 – Breakfast

09.00 – Travel to the village of Trypillia, where archeologist Vikentiy Khvoyka (Cenek Chvojka) first discovered the hitherto unknown world of this Neolithic civilization. Near the Divych Hill, diggings revealed an altar to the virgin goddess of the Zarubynets culture and the remains of two ancient Rus settlements.

12.00 – Outside Rzhyshchiv is a very unique concentration of archeological sites from different cultural ages! Here, you will see a breathtaking vista of the Dnipro River, Ukraine’s largest and the third largest in Europe, from a hilltop in Vytachiv.13.00 – Lunch.

Visit to a monument at the site of an ancient Rus fortification and breaching of the Dnipro during WWII.

16.00 – Leave for Kaniv, famed primarily for Taras or Chernecha Hill. This is one of the main spiritual centers of Ukraine, a memorial and a shrine for the Ukrainian people: here lie the remains of the great Ukrainian poet-laureate and artist Taras Shevchenko. Visit the Shevchenko Museum.18.00 – Check into hotel.19.00 – Dinner.

Day 3 – Chernobyl

Alternatively, you can travel to the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Day 4 – Uman –Vinnytsia 07.00 – Breakfast.

07.30 – Leave for Uman.

10.30 – Uman is home to the pearl of landscape gardening, the Sofiyivka Park and Arboretum. Sofiyivka was built by Count Potocki over 1796-1831 in honor of his beloved wife, the beautiful Sofia. The park’s fountains and marble statues are scattered harmoniously among artificial grottoes, hillocks, stone labyrinths, underground streams and waterfalls—all done for the sake of love! Rocks and water, an astounding variety of plants, and human labor went into creating this glorious park. To visit to Sofiyivka Park is to be enveloped by its warmth and tenderness, and its tranquil soul. 13.00 – Lunch.

15.00 – Depart for Vinnytsia, a picturesque Podillian city that lies along the banks of the Southern Buh River. 18.00 – Check into hotel.19.00 – Dinner.

20.00 – Evening walking tour of the city. Visit to the water and music show at the Vinnytsia Fountain: enjoy the classical music accompanied by a multi-media series of images.

Day 5 – Kamianets-Podilskiy – Khotyn – Chernivtsi 07.30 – Breakfast.

08.00 – Depart for Kamianets-Podilskiy.

11.30 – The main site of this town is the Kamianets-Podilskiy fortress, an immense fortification built over the 15 th and 16 th centuries. This impressive site has given the town the nickname, “Flower on Stone.” Over the course of its centuries-old history, this museum town with a natural canyon formed by the Smotrych River saw many ruinations and reconstructions, but it has maintained its architectural originality.13.00 – Lunch.

15.00 – Depart for Khotyn.

The Khotyn Fortress towers majestically on the hilly banks of the Dnister River. At Khotyn, the site of many battles, you can touch history surrounded by unforgettable natural beauty!

17.00 – Depart for Chernivtsi.18.15 – Check into hotel.

19.30 – Dinner.

Day 6 – Chernivtsi – Kosiv 08.00 – Breakfast.

09.00 – Sightseeing tour of colorful Chernivtsi, filled with elegant mansions built when the city was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is a real paradise for photographers! The most striking and original complex is the one-time Metropolitan residence. Today, it houses the University of Chernivtsi and has been added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.13.00 – Lunch.

14.00 – Depart for Kosiv, the center of Hutsul folk arts. Here you will meet master artisans who will show you some of the aspects of uniquely Hutsul crafts. Check into local Hutsul home.18.00 – Dinner with Hutsul cuisine and socializing.

Day 7 – Kosiv – Kolomyia – Kosiv 09.00 – Breakfast.

10.00 – Walking tour of Kosiv, the heart of Hutsul country. Here you can see where nature seems to blend with Hutsul life, filling artisans with its beauty and inspiring them to create bright and joyous hand-crafted works. In the Kosiv private Museum of Folk Arts you will see one of the best collections of wood, ceramic, leather and metal crafts, traditional Hutsul costumes, and embroidery.

12.00 – Master class in pottery: here you will see how original Kosiv ceramics are made and have a chance to sit at the potter’s wheel yourself!13.00 – Lunch.

14.00 – Depart for Kolomyia.

15.00 – Kolomyia is famed for its museums, whose genuine richness lies in its vast collections of artisanry and art. The Museum of Folk Arts of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia contains some of the most beautiful examples of wood carving and encrustation, masterpieces of embroidery and ethnic costumes, musical instruments and weapons, ceramics and weavings, icons and sculptures.

The only Museum of the Pysanka in the world is in Kolomyia. Here you can see the remarkable, delicate art of decorating an Easter egg and see the amazing variety of ornamentation from all regions of Ukraine.

19.00 – Dinner at a Kolyba or Hutsul inn with local folk musicians.

21.00 – Return to Kosiv.

Day 8 – Kosiv – Kryvorivnia – Verkhovyna – Yaremche – Ivano-Frankivsk

08.00 – Breakfast.

09.00 – Depart for Kryvorivnia. Nestled in a deep valley, this tiny village 7 km from Verkhovyna saw the lives of many famous Ukrainians cross paths, drawn to its picturesque location and extraordinary energy.

Here you will see

10.00 – The Hutsul Grazhda or Homestead, the small mountain fortress in which the mountain people once lived.

11.00 – Kryvorivnia is also home to the wooden Church, build according to the local architectural traditions and one of the oldest in Ukraine.

12.00 – Transfer and introduction to Verkhovyna.

The impenetrability of the mountains kept civilization and urban culture at bay for many centuries. Here you will catch a glimpse of many fascinating customs, traditions, rituals, folklore and legends that disappeared long ago from other parts of Ukraine. Even in other corners of the Carpathians, they have not always been well preserved.13.00 – Lunch.

14.30 – Visit the Roman Kumlyk Museum of Folk Musical Instruments.

15.30 – Visit the Museum of Sergei Paradzhanov’s famed film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.”

17.00 – Leave for Ivano-Frankivsk. Along the way, we visit the Carpathian souvenir bazaar in Yaremche and take a walk to the Prut rapids.

21.00 – Check into hotel. Dinner and walk around town.

Day 9 – Ivano-Frankivsk – Lviv 08.00 – Breakfast.

09.00 – Depart for Lviv.

12.00 – Sightseeing tour by bus around Lviv, the cultural center of Western Ukraine and the modern-day capital of Halychyna. Sometimes called “Little Paris,” Lviv welcomes guests with its Medieval beauty, preserved in buildings from the 14 th and 15 th centuries, Gothic churches and narrow cobbled streets. Among the sites worth visiting are the Church of Sviatoho Yura or St. George’s Church, the Lviv Polytechnical Institute, the Organ Hall, and the buildings of the one-time Halych Sejm or legislature, prospekt Svobody and Adam Mickiewycz Square. You will tour the Ratusha or City Hall and enjoy a bird’s eye panorama of this beautiful city.

13.00 – Lunch and excursion.

16.00 – The walking tour of Old Lviv encompasses Ploshcha Rynok or the market square that is a kind of small open-air museum: all the buildings around this square are architectural monuments of the 16 th through 19 th centuries. In fact, the entire center of Lviv is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.18.00 – Dinner.

Optional visit to the jewel-like Lviv Opera House.

Day 10 – Lviv – Kiev 06.30 – Breakfast.

07.30 – Depart for Kiev.

On the way to Kiev, there is the option of visiting three castles that are part of the “Golden Horseshoe” around Lviv: Olesko, Pidhirtsi and Dubno castles.

09.00 – The birthplace of Polish kings and one of their historic residences, the Olesko castle was later the seat of several renowned Polish families. Today, the castle contains a collection of old wooden sculptures, furniture and tapestries.

10.30 – Majestic Pidhirtsi is famed not only for its 17 th century palace, built for “pleasure and recreation after military exploits,” but also for its once-gorgeous park with its sweeping panorama of the broad valley below and chapel built in the style of St. Peter’s.

12.30 – The Dubno castle belonged to the Ostroh princes, one of the most influential families in Ukrainian history. Its dramatic architecture will take you back to the 15 th century. 14.00 – Lunch.

20.00 – Arrive in Kiev.