Cycling In Rural Ukraine

Arrive Lviv and drive to Sambir.

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Dinner

We drive by bus deep into the Carpathians mountains. We follow the creek valleys and cycle through the colourful villages to arrive at the upper Dniester River Valley in Staryj Sambir. Following the river brings us back to Sambir. Today we cycle 35 km.

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

This ride shows a rapid change of scenery. We ride through a flat plain, where the Dniester River once flowed through large swamps and then along old avenues lined by trees onto Drogobytsh, once the centre of the salt mining industry.  Though the second largest city in Lemberg province, this sleepy and provincial city is small but impressive with numerous historical monuments that can be admired on bicycle. Our lunch stop will be in Mala Bilina and we will try some local food in a farmhouse . Today we cycle 70 km.

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Our first destination today is the well developed Truskawets health resort with over a dozen mineral springs. After a relaxing soak we then cycle through dense oak forests to the remote village of Dovgoluka. We will be staying at Shepilska, a modern tourist center, located "in the middle of nowhere". Today we cycle 35 km

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner Swimming available

We spend the day in Podolia and get to see a particularly spectacular natural formation of this large region, the “Yar”. The word literally means “gorge”, and is a brook or river canyon cutting deeply into the red sandstone. After following the course of the Dshuryn River (with a large waterfall) for a while, we cycle past the ruins of Cherwonograd, a former Polish fortification, to reach the Dniester River, which flows through a particularly deep “Yar” here. There was a settlement of Saxons in the large Dniester-Loop once known as “Hinterwalden” (Backforests). They had been naturalized by an erstwhile Polish king. The name of the settlement was translated and later on known as “Zalishchyki”. Today we cycle 50 km.

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Up until now we were in the former Kingdom of Galicia. Now we find ourselves in an old border area where the Polish Aristocratic Republic, the Russian Empire and Osmanian Empire once met. The land south of the Dniester, where we will be cycling today, belonged to Romania until 1939. In earlier days it belonged to the historical region of Bukowina, integrated into Austria by Empress Maria Theresa. The capital city of Chernivtsi is an attraction without par. Its stone monuments go back to the “Golden Age” of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy when Chernivtsi (named Czernowitz) was the pulsing capital of the area belonging to the Crown with the eastern-most university of the West. Today we cycle 70 km.

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch

We return to the Dniester Valley via wine villages and fruit plantations. In Chotyn we can see a castle up on the cliffs that watched over the former Polish-Turkish border for centuries, high above the dammed river. Our final destination is Kamianets Podilskyj. It is one of the oldest cities of Ukraine and is remarkably located. Smotrych River meanders through a 60 m deep gorge in the limestone of the Podolian Upland. One of its serpentine curves is around a large mountain on top of which the historic town was constructed with heavy fortification walls. Entry to this strategically favourably situated city was made even more secure by a fortress. Today we cycle 25km.

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner

We take the bus to Lviv, one of the most important cities of Western Ukraine as well as a former capital of Galicia. It is a town dotted with cultural monuments. After a short ride through the green areas on the outskirts there will be a guided tour through the historic center of town. Today we cycle 20 km.

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast

Overnight Standard Hotel Included meals: Breakfast