Weekend in Lviv? What can be better? A city of romance and adventure, tranquility and crazy rhythm, creativity, and business. In the daytime, you can visit the old city museums and churches, in the evening go to the Opera House, and at night get into a cool party. The city has retained its royal architecture and atmosphere, but at the same time is rapidly evolving to adapt to current trends. Just walk through the medieval narrow cobbled streets, where you can breathe the coffee aroma and hear a tram noise that will do a nostalgic-romantic mood for everyone without exception.
About 100 cultural, music, religious, gastronomic festivals are held in Lviv every year. It's always fun, interesting and delicious here.
Our tips where to go in Lviv if you have only 2 days.
Attractions
1. Lychakiv Cemetery is an open-air museum. Currently, the cemetery is 42 hectares, with more than 400,000 people buried. Many of the tombs that adorn the sculptural compositions are real works of art. In addition to architectural finality, such compositions have their unique stories and the execution of the sculpture hides a symbolic implication. It is more interesting to visit the museum with a local guide because only he knows all the most secret, sometimes horrifying stories of the Lychakiv Cemetery.
2. The Folk Architecture and Life Museum in Lviv is one of the largest open-air museums in Europe. More than 100 monuments of folk architecture are recreated here. Walking around the museum, a visitor gets into a kind of small villages with estates, economic and production objects (oilseed, apiary, cloth, etc.), sacral structures (churches, chapels). A highlight of recent years is that the ethnographic complex works on the concept of a "living museum": there are presentations of ancient crafts and masterclasses at each object. There are a small zoo and a lake in the museum. Every year there are many festivals, performances, Christmas and Easter celebrations. It is a perfect place for family holidays.
3. A High Castle is the highest point of Lviv, which offers a magnificent view of the whole city. The park is centrally located - a 15-minute walk from Rynok Square. Once here a real castle was built, fragments of which you can see walking in the park. In addition to the wall fragment, the observation deck, the lion, which was moved here from the City Hall more than 100 years ago, there is also a TV tower, 192 m high, illuminated at night in different colours and recognizable from anywhere in the city. At the top of the High Castle is a viewing platform where you can relax on the benches and enjoy the panorama of the city. Locals often meet the sun at the High Castle - it's such an urban tradition.
4. Potocki Palace is a striking example of the architecture of mature historicism, one of Lviv's most fascinating architectural landmarks. Located in the heart of the city. The palace was designed for ceremonial receptions and meetings, it provided everything for it: numerous living rooms, a wide courtyard for the carriages. The main facade of Kopernyka Street is separated by massive wrought iron gates and on either side of which are outbuildings for the guard. On the side of the rear facade, the palace has a terrace surrounding the balustrade stairs, leading directly in the park. In the second half of the twentieth century the Palace 38 times became a platform for the shooting of distinguished films and videos, which include "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers" (twice), "Bishop Andrei", "Attache", "The Secret Diary of Simon Petliura" and others . If you are a connoisseur of art, next to the Potocki Palace is the Lviv Art Gallery, where interesting exhibitions of famous authors are always held.
Everyone knows that Lviv is famous for delicious food, craft beer, sweet coffee, and bitter dark or sweet milk chocolate. The phenomenon of Galician cuisine is a mixture of peoples and cultures that have been creating our common heritage on this earth for a long time. Only in Lviv can you taste the most delicious dumplings (varenyky), pancakes or borshch. To get a taste of the city, we have put together a selection of local colourful establishments.
Delicious food
A hearty lunch or dinner can be served in Trapezna of Ideas - a resting place, pleasure, and warmth. A special place of authentic Galician cuisine is in underground of the Ideas Museum.
Delicious home-cooked food is in famous `Seven Pigs` restaurant. As authentic as a possible restaurant with genuine Ukrainian interior and homey comfort, this place will fascinate you and leave you with a pleasant experience.
The most delicious ribs in Lviv in `Ribs under the Arsenal`. A cheerful friendly place with pork ribs that are cooked in special grills (one of a kind) over an open fire. The restaurant is democratic, so there are no appliances here. There is not allowed to come in with a tie or it will be cut off.
Beer has been brewed in Lviv for 600 years in a row - during this time the hopped drink has become a real business card of the city. Songs about Lviv beer, are drunk liters in the companies of the best colleagues and friends.
Lviv`s beer
The creators of "Lvivarnia" pursued one important goal - to bring beer consumption to a high, qualitatively new level. To do this, they created a trusting and friendly atmosphere, devoted visitors to the intricacies of the brewing process, told interesting facts about the history of beer, destroyed the myths related to the origin of the drink. Here you can combine the pleasant with the useful: explore the history of brewing and enjoy a drink.
Restaurant "Kumpel" - is located in three locations in the city center, which is on its farm. Kumpel Brewery is alive, unfiltered, a non-pasteurized beer that is brewed at two of its mini-breweries for copyrighted recipes. The interior of the beer restaurant has its distinctive bachelor character combined with a loft-style. The restaurant offers delicious Galician and European cuisine.
The Royal Brewery restaurant offers its guests to preserve varieties of live beer brewed for German technology at their small brewery. The peculiarity is that the hopped drink varies on open technique, in front of visitors.
Many people associate Lviv with coffee. Whether because of advertising, or because of its aromas on the cozy streets in the city, or thanks to Yuriy-Franz Kulchytskyy, who brought coffee to Lviv. Coffee can be offered at every cafe and restaurant, but only in a genuine coffee shop can you taste delicious, freshly ground, Lviv coffee and the best desserts.
Coffee and sweets
The Viennese Cafe is the oldest coffee house in the city, here coffee was being tasted in the late 19th century. The cafe's regular visitors were the brightest figures of Lviv at that time. It was Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, General Tarnavskyi, Stanislav Ludkevych, and even Ivan Franko, who disliked "pubs and restaurants", was often coming over for a daily "serving of newspapers" over a cup of coffee at the Viennese. This is not just a coffee shop, but a place with a history that you will feel when you visit this place. There is a large selection of coffee and exquisite light desserts.
Lviv's largest and most famous coffee shop is Lviv Coffee Mine. The mine demonstrates the legend of the origin of Lviv coffee, according to which coffee is nothing but minerals produced in the same way as coal or peat. For this purpose, mine elevators were constructed in the dungeon, and conveyors were laid on which special trolleys lifted coffee. You can go down to the mine and try to get some coffee. By the way, only in the dungeon, you can drink a unique "Burned coffee", which will make in front of you.
Created with European standards, Veronika Coffee Shop impresses with its assortment. In the hall under the glass of the window is everything that can be made of flour and sugar: various kinds of breads, cheese and berry cakes, cookies and cakes. Everything is delicate and amazing in taste.
