Week in Kyiv and Lviv Tour

After eating a great breakfast you will be taken on your guided tour of Kyiv. First to Bessarabska Square, the soul of Old Kyiv. Then there will be a visit to the city’s two most prominent cathedrals: St. Sophia Cathedral and St. Andrew Cathedral.

Also on the program is Independence Square, to some more familiar as Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the place where political protest that has drastically influenced the county’s history takes place. Also, to be visited are Friendship Arch; Ukrainian House, Ukraine’s largest exhibition and convention center; Kyiv University, Independence and European Squares, Brodsky Synagogue, Michael’s Golden Dome Monastery, and many more.

After a scrumptious meal for breakfast, you will be going on a tour of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery, Ukraine’s most sacred place, with a subsequent visit to the Church of the Elevation of Cross, and Great Lavra bell tower. Then you will be heading to explore the Motherland Monument, built to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in WW2. After a lunch break, you will enjoy a walk through Independence Square, a place of iconic significance to all revolution- buffs, Kreschatik, the city’s main transport artery, and Podol, a district with a truly artistic feel to it.

After a filling breakfast, you will be going to the train station to take a train to Lviv, and you will definitely be in for a scenic ride. You will be going from grand, majestic capital Kyiv, the mother of all Russian cities to Lviv. Lviv is a totally different locale. In this Renaissance and baroque rich city, intertwines the Jewish, Armenian, Polish, Austrian and Ukrainian heritages to form a unique cultural and architectural blend.

Upon arrival at your hotel, you will be able to have a look around the city and take in the somewhat mysterious charm and glamour of Central Europe.

Lviv is often seen as the last pristine spot of Central Europe, with Prague and Krakow getting more and more touristy. On your tour, you will see High Castle, Apteka, Old Town with a visit to St. Nicholas’s Church, Dominican Church, Church of Onufriy, housing the museum of Ivan Fedorov, the city’s first book-printer. On the program are many Lion-themed decorations and facade ornaments, for the city was named after Lev, the city’s founder’s son and is generally considered to have a strong relation to the giant and lordly cat.

After lunch-break, you will have a walking tour to see Market Square lined with the city’s most famous landmarks, such as opulent palaces, restaurants, fountains and hip shops, restaurants and cafes. Also on the menu are remnants of the city’s fortifications, Dominican Church, and Jewish and Armenian quarters.

The day will start with a visit to one of Europe’s oldest cemeteries dating back to 1587, where are inhumed Volodymyr Ivasjuk, Solomija Kruschelnyzka, Ivan Franko, Gabriela Zapolska, Stefan Banach, Maria Kanopnicka, and many more famous Ukrainian and Polish luminaries.

On your last full day in Lviv and Ukraine, you will see some of the best examples of West Ukrainian woodcraft and architecture during a visit to an open-air museum the Scansen. Set in a scenic forest, Shevchenkivksiy Hai, it houses 10000 pieces of Ukrainian woodcraft and architecture brought from all over Western Ukraine. They include one-of-their-kind wooden churches from the Carpathian region and provide a unique opportunity for a stroll, to feel in a centuries-old cozy Ukrainian village.

After the visit to the open-air museum cluster, you will get a taste of local produce and pay a visit to the brewery museum; further on is planned a pleasant coffee-break at a coffee shop where you will see what Ukrainians have always been famed for, their entrepreneurial flair, great food and drink and passionate dedication to work and the achievement of perfection.