The city of Chernivtsi is located in the south-west of Ukraine, 40 km from the border with Romania, on the right bank of the Prut River. This is the administrative center of the Chernivtsi region and the historical center of Bukovina – it is considered the cultural center of Western Ukraine along with Lviv.
Throughout its history, the city was part of different states: the Moldavian principality, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, Austria-Hungary, and Romania. Chernivtsi was first mentioned in historical sources in 1408. According to one version, the name of the city comes from the fortress of the Galicia-Volyn state erected on the Prut River, which was called “Chern”.
According to cachedhealth, Chernivtsi owes its unique architecture to the Austrian masters who decorated the city in the 17th-18th centuries. The holistic architectural ensemble impresses with its beauty and originality, attracting the attention of an increasing number of tourists.
How to get there
For Russians, entry and movement through the territory of Ukraine from March 1, 2015 is possible only with a passport. Residents of Crimea and male citizens of Russia may not be allowed into the country.
- By train from Moscow, Kyiv or any major Ukrainian cities. You can get from Moscow with a transfer in Lviv or Kiev in a day and a half (tickets from 55 EUR).
- by plane to Kiev (travel time from 4 hours), and then by train to Chernivtsi (from 283 UAH, travel time 11.5 hours). Another option is to fly directly to Chernivtsi airport, but with two transfers (in Stockholm and Kiev, the total travel time is at least 26 hours).
- by bus: buses run directly from Moscow to Chernivtsi: travel time is from 26 to 32 hours, a ticket costs 2600 RUB.
Weather in Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi has a temperate continental climate with warm summers and mild winters. The average air temperature in summer is +19 °C, in winter it is about -5 °C. The months richest in precipitation are June and July, in winter the snow cover, although it forms, is insignificant, rarely lingering for any long time.
Hotels
Chernivtsi has a well-established system of hotels, as there is no shortage of tourists here. Many cozy hotels and mini-hotels are always happy to receive guests under their roofs. And the prices for accommodation are quite low.
Cuisine and restaurants
There are more than enough cafes and restaurants in Chernivtsi. Most of them offer dishes of Ukrainian and European cuisine, but there are also establishments with more unusual dishes. For example, the Bristol restaurant specializes, in addition to Ukrainian, in Georgian and Japanese cuisines, and the Vienna Coffee House specializes in Austrian.
Be sure to try the local specialty – banush in Hutsul style, this is pork belly in sour cream with feta cheese.
Entertainment and attractions of Chernivtsi
Any resident of the city will say: if you visited the capital of Bukovina, but did not visit Chernivtsi University, the former residence of the metropolitans, then you did not fully recognize Chernivtsi. During the construction of the university (since 1863), several quarries were dug in the suburbs and three factories were built for the production of bricks and ceramics. Each brick was checked for quality, the construction was approached very thoroughly, and it is thanks to this that the buildings have been so well preserved to this day. In this architectural masterpiece, one can feel the spirit of Bukovina, the influences of the cultures of many peoples who inhabited its territory. The architecture shows echoes of Romanesque and Byzantine traditions, the styles of medieval castles and Bukovinian traditions.
The combination of cultures benefited not only the appearance of the university, but the whole city. On its streets, a baroque theater, an Armenian church and an old synagogue harmoniously coexist – such a mixture creates the unique spirit of Chernivtsi.
Inspection of the historical part of the city should start from Sahaydachnogo Street, on which the St. Nicholas Church built in 1607 is located – the oldest building in the city. Nearby is the Church of the Holy Cross, the tower of which was used as a fire detection point. Nearby is the General’s House, built by the Austrian administration in 1780.
At the intersection of Glavnaya and Zankovetskaya streets there is a beautiful and unusual church of St. Paraskeva. And at the intersection of the same Main Street and Sholoma Aleichem Street, there is a building with an interesting decoration – a fountain in the form of a lion’s head, popularly called the “house-ship”.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries in Chernivtsi, a kind of construction boom took place – beautiful buildings in neo-Renaissance and neo-baroque styles began to appear in the city, for example, a railway station.
In the very heart of the city, on the Central Square, many old buildings have been preserved, the most interesting of which is the City Hall. Theater Square is one of the most beautiful in the city. It was built up over 40 years, and its main building was the Drama Theater, made in the style of Viennese Art Nouveau. Also, don’t forget to check out
Museum of Folk Architecture and Life.
