3 Best Sights in Ukraine

The summer residence of Russia's Czar Nicolas II was built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are 60 buildings in the complex, the centerpiece of which is the aristocratic Great Palace, built in Italian Renaissance style with Byzantine, Gothic, and Arabic architecture elements. The famous Yalta Conference of 1945 took place here, during which Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin completed plans for Germany's defeat. The palace has a shop, a café, and a church.

One of the most striking architectural constructions in the Crimea, this palace was completed by Czar Alexander III in 1889 and later became Stalin's summer dacha. The Massandra wine collection contains about million bottles of famous wines from all over the world, while the estate's winery produces its own vintages. You can view the palace's paintings and antique furniture collection, stroll through the surrounding park land, and taste some marvelous wines from the Massandra cellars.

Sometimes called the Alupinsky Palace, from its location in Alupka, west of Yalta, this gigantic complex was designed in the Classical style for the Count Mikhail Vorontsov by the English architect Edward Blore to be used as a summer residence. Construction, which took 18 years, stretched from 1830 to 1848. The grounds are extensive and include plant species from several continents. The palace played a historical role during the Yalta Conference of 1945, when it hosted the British delegation, including Winston Churchill.