47 Best Sights in Ukraine

The World War II memorial called "Alley of Glory" was constructed here in 1961. This is where you'll find the graves of the fighters who liberated Odessa from the Nazis and a monument to the Unknown Sailor with its eternal flame, not to mention a monument to Taras Shevchenko, the poet after whom the park was named. The large park covers 225 acres overlooking the Black Sea. It dates to the 19th century and was once an artillery battery.

Constructed in 1905, the cathedral was virtually destroyed during World War II, along with most of the rest of Sevastopol. It was partially restored and until 1962 remained a church. After, it was turned into a gymnasium and city archive. In 1992, the northern part of the cathedral was returned to church control and was re-consecrated in the name of great martyr Pantelejmon. It remains a worthy example of Orthodox architecture and is worth seeing (even though it seems to be undergoing a never-ending renovation).

This open-air museum, a branch of the local history museum, contains more than 200 statues of Ukrainian, Russian, and Western fairy-tale characters. Crimean artists, wood carvers, and stonecutters created the pieces. You can stroll among the sculptures when visiting the nearby zoo.

Constructed as the main entry to the city center, the legendary staircase once led directly to the sea. The stairs were the site of a 1905 battle between mutinying sailors and forces loyal to the Czar; the actual events sparking the clash remain uncertain but have been overshadowed by the version presented in the famous Sergei Eisenstein silent film The Battleship Potemkin (the massacre depicted in that film never happened). An optical illusion prevents you from seeing the actual steps when you stand at the top—all you can see are a few landings; from below, all you can see are the steps, making the staircase seem much longer than it actually is. Designed by the French architect Boffo, who lived in Odessa and designed many buildings here, the steps took four years to build and were completed in 1841. In all there are 192 steps at a length of 142 meters. To get up to the main boulevard, you can use the staircase or a funicular.

At the top of the Potyomkin Steps this boulevard was used as a backdrop for numerous Soviet-era films. And why not? The wide cobblestone street is framed by tall trees in a tableau that rivals Paris. Because of the numerous magnificent buildings, this boulevard is one of the most picturesque areas in Odessa.

The impressive Spaso- Preobrazhenskiy Cathedral is the crown on this street, the square where it is located a pleasant spot to take in the scenery on one of the benches. People-watching is popular here, and many come to shop in the Passage shopping mall. With its elegant architecture and sculpted decorations, the Passage between Deribasovskaya and Preobrazhenskaya is one of the most striking sights in Odessa.

Dating back to the 1780s, the sandstone cathedral is one of the oldest churches in Southern Ukraine. It was used as a museum of atheism during the Soviet Era, before being transformed into a storehouse in the 1960s. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the cathedral was reclaimed by the Russian Orthodox Church and once again serves as a house of worship. A Tuscan portico leads into the church, which houses the tomb of famed statesman Prince Grigory Potemkin.

Among Kiev's most easily recognized sights, St. Sophia's is a stunning amalgamation of Byzantine and Ukrainian baroque architecture. The foundations date back to the 11th century, and though much of it was rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries, some of the original frescoes have been preserved. The interiors of this UNESCO World Heritage building are filled with intricate iconographic mosaics and paintings depicting numerous saints—including, of course, Sophia herself—along with images of the family of Yaroslav the wise, the cathedral's founder, whose tomb sits within the complex.

Built between 1854–1888, Neo-Byzantine St. Vladimir's Cathedral commemorates the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of 1850s. The Cathedral is the burial place of several renowned Russian admirals, including Lasarev, Kornilov, Istomin, and Nakhimov, and has become the church most associated with the Russian navy.

The Neo-Byzantine, or Byzantine Revival style, Russian Orthodox cathedral overlooks the Chersonesos area. It is named after St. Vladimir of Kiev, who – as the legend has it – was baptized in this very spot in the year 988. Badly destroyed during World War II, it was reconstructed in 1990s. Today the interior dazes the visitor with polished white marble, stained glass and mozaics.

The statue of Duc de Richelieu, who was a relative of the famous 17th-century French Cardinal, is the first thing you see on the top of the Potyomkin Steps. After fleeing to Russia in 1803, Richelieu was named mayor of Odessa by Czar Alexander III. He ruled for 11 years, turning the small Black Sea village into a modern city, before returning to France. After cleaning up a corrupt administration, Richelieu transformed the Black Sea village of Odessa into a modern city.

These extensive ruins are all that remain of the ancient Greek colony that was built around 422 BC, when the area was known as Taurica by the Greeks. The city was surrounded by a long defensive wall and a series of towers, the remains of which can still be seen. A characteristic feature was a grid of streets. The first excavations were begun here in 1827. In addition to the ruins themselves, you can visit the museum. The famous "Foggy Bell" that was erected here in 1776 was cast from a melted German cannon to warn ships of dangerous conditions during bouts of bad visibility. The French took the bell (along with all the other bells of Sevastopol) after Russia's defeat in the Crimean War, and it ended up in the belfry of Notre-Dame de Paris, where it hung until 1913, when Russian diplomats secured its return to Chersonesos.

Dnepropetrovsk's most iconic structure is arguably the city's most beautiful structure too. Although the foundation stone was laid by Catherine II way back in 1787, the cathedral itself wasn’t built until the 1830s. The ochre-hued house of worship features a tall gold-topped spire above a Greek Revival-style columned frontage and gorgeous interiors filled with intricate golden molding surrounding vivid frescoes of saints. At the rear of the church, a tall dome surrounded by windows brings light into the space.

The tallest of all the Crimean waterfalls at 98 meters, Uchan-Su is spectacular to look at. An observation platform on the upper part of the waterfall called the "Eagle's Nest" gives you almost a bird's-eye view. The ancient Greeks called the waterfall Kremastro-Nero (hanging water), but it was the Turks who called it Uchan-Su (flying water); now it is often called simply the Yalta waterfall.

Both sobering and fascinating, this is an interactive museum that was created to educate the public about the extent and continuing human and ecological impacts of the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster. Features include documentation and artifacts, photographs, audiovisual presentations, and art installations pertaining to the accident and its devastating consequences.

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.

This privately owned zoo has about 500 animal residents, many of which have been rescued from circuses that failed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is possible to feed most of the animals here; you can buy food at the entrance. An aquarium, with a separate entrance fee, is closed for renovation at the time of this writing.