Ukraine: Seven Attractions and Natural Wonders

A deep cultural history, and a country at war

Ukraine holds one of Eastern Europe's richest architectural and cultural legacies — an 11th-century cathedral covered in Byzantine mosaics, one of the most celebrated opera houses in the world, and a historic old town built by generations of merchants along Central European trade routes. This history now sits alongside Russia's full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022 and remains ongoing, having caused enormous loss of life and displacement and left the country's security situation highly serious and unpredictable.

The five sights below are described for reference and cultural context, not as a current travel recommendation — read the note at the end before treating any of this as a travel plan.

1. Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv

Saint Sophia Cathedral, built in the 11th century under Yaroslav the Wise, holds one of the most extensive and best-preserved collections of original Byzantine mosaics and frescoes anywhere in the world, largely untouched by later renovation. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it stands as one of the oldest and most significant surviving monuments of Kyivan Rus, the medieval state considered a shared ancestor of both Ukrainian and Russian history and identity.

2. Lviv's old town

Lviv, in western Ukraine, preserves one of the best-maintained historic Central European city centres anywhere in the region, its architecture reflecting centuries under Polish, Austro-Hungarian, and later Soviet rule. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, its relative distance from the most intense fighting has, at various points during the war, made it a comparatively calmer part of the country, though it has not been immune from missile and drone strikes.

3. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, established after the catastrophic 1986 nuclear disaster, has been abandoned by permanent human habitation for nearly four decades, during which time wildlife — including wolves, lynx, and reintroduced Przewalski's horses — has notably reclaimed the area in the near-total absence of human presence. Limited guided tours operated before the current war; the zone itself was briefly occupied by Russian forces in 2022 during the early stages of the invasion.

4. The Carpathian Mountains

Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains, in the country's far west, hold some of Europe's most significant remaining primeval beech forest, part of a transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with several neighbouring countries. The region's traditional Hutsul culture, distinct wooden church architecture, and hiking and skiing terrain have long made it one of the country's most popular domestic tourism destinations.

5. The Odesa Opera House

The Odesa Opera House, rebuilt in ornate Viennese Baroque style after an 1873 fire destroyed the original building, is regularly ranked among the most beautiful opera houses in the world. Odesa, a historic Black Sea port city, has faced repeated missile and drone attacks during the current war given its strategic coastal significance, and its historic centre was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023 partly in recognition of the danger it faces.

6. Kamianets-Podilskyi

Kamianets-Podilskyi, in western Ukraine, is built almost entirely inside a loop of the Smotrych River canyon, with its Old Castle standing guard on a narrow neck of rock connecting the old town to the surrounding plateau. One of the most complete medieval fortress complexes in Eastern Europe, it has passed between Polish, Ottoman, and Ukrainian control over the centuries.

The canyon itself, with sheer limestone walls up to 40 metres deep, rings almost the entire old town and can be walked along paths cut into its rim.

7. The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra

The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra ("Monastery of the Caves"), founded in 1051, is one of the oldest and most significant monasteries in Eastern Orthodox Christianity — a hilltop complex of gold-domed churches above the Dnieper River, honeycombed beneath by catacombs where the mummified remains of monks have been venerated for nearly a thousand years.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it remains an active monastery and a place of pilgrimage alongside its role as a major historical monument.

Before you go: a serious note

This article describes sites of deep historical and cultural significance for reference — it is not a travel recommendation. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the war has caused massive loss of life, displacement, and destruction, and remains ongoing. Most Western governments continue to advise against all travel to Ukraine, citing the risk of missile and drone strikes across the entire country (including areas far from the front line), active combat zones, and landmines and unexploded ordnance in previously occupied or contested territory. Anyone considering travel to Ukraine should rely on current, detailed government advice rather than on the description above, and should recognise that the situation on the ground continues to change, sometimes rapidly and without warning.