Why You Should Visit Ukraine One Day

As tempting as it would be, this is not a piece about Lviv, Ukraine and its UNESCO World Heritage-listed town center full of pretty buildings brushed with Eastern European, German and Italian influence.

It's not an account of Lviv's lovely coffee houses, hidden courtyards or how the city's historic role as a cultural crossroads of Eastern Europe can still be felt today, either.

It isn't a write-up about the elegant seaside town of Odesa and its regal opera house, stately Potemkin Steps or sandy beaches. Or, how if you're there during a normal summer, this seaside city's sizzling "daybed and day drinks" scene might just convince you that you're actually on the Med.

Nope, it's most definitely not one of those types of posts.

Nor is this a collection of musings on all the fun things you can do in Ukraine's majestic section of the Carpathian Mountains, how romantic the Instagram Hall of Fame-worthy Tunnel of Love is or how magical the medieval vibes of the fortress-crowned town of Kamianets-Podilskyi are.

And last but not least, just to make sure we're all on the same page, this is not a commentary about the cosmopolitan capital of Kyiv and its wealth of cultural riches. Nope, its gilded houses of worship, world-class museums, nightlife and one-of-a-kind Motherland Monument are not the subjects of this story.

So what kind of piece is this?

It’s the type trying its best to remind you that there’s so much more to Ukraine than the recent headlines about war, strife and struggle, while at the same time urging you to think of all of those things I just listed first when you think about the country.

While none of us know when, we do know that this terrible situation will eventually pass and when it does, we must do our best to not let what is happening to Ukraine right now define Ukraine in our minds forever.

Oh yeah, it’s also the type of piece reminding you that Ukraine would make a fine stop on any swing through the amazing-yet-underrated region that is Eastern Europe one day and that we need to remember that after things settle, the country will need travelers to come back.

Now, just to be clear, I'm not recommending anyone to travel to Ukraine right this minute, and yes, I do realize that traveling is not the single-most-important prism through which to look at world affairs.

But this is a travel publication and we are travel advisors and travel lovers and there's no doubt that tourism will play a significant role in Ukraine's eventual financial recovery and return to normalcy.

After all, when you think about it, if we wrote off destinations because there had been a war fought there at some point in the past, the list of places we could visit around the world would be pretty short.

Germany & France? Forget it. Croatia and Bosnia? Nope. Italy, Vietnam, or Spain? Absolutely not. Sure, most of these conflicts took place a long time ago, but the point remains that sometimes bad things happen, but that doesn't make a place unvisitable forever.

While many of us have shown solidarity with Ukraine during this crisis through donations to charity or efforts to raise awareness of the situation, I'd like to think that considering the country in your long-term travel plans and maybe getting to know it better in that process is also a sign of support, too.