Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Verkhovyna boasts a private
museum
of Hutsul folk instruments. However, you'll al-
most certainly have to contact a local guide to get the museum to open for you, espe-
cially if you don't speak the lingo. As always, to arrange guides in the immediate area,
try asking at the hotels in Kolomyya.
Stus 4A/8)
is good at showing people the region, and also has a handful of humble rooms
on offer in his apartment. Otherwise
www.karpaty.info
has plenty of other options.
Bus and minibus services run regularly to Verkhovyna from neighbouring towns and
villages such as Kolomyya, Kosiv and Vorokhta.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Rakhiv
03132 / POP 15,240
An international band of brightly clad hikers slurping
borshch
with weather-beaten Hut-
suls; mountain bikers competing with horse-drawn carts and clapped-out Ladas for
pothole space; wooded mountainsides hoisting a beautiful backdrop as the fast-flowing
Tysa River gurgles beneath precariously hung footbridges - this is Rakhiv, chaotically
post-Soviet and crudely rural, but the best base from which to explore the southern
Carpathians.
While Rakhiv's derelict state in places is shocking even by Ukrainian standards, the
place has a raw energy that draws foreigners in their thousands. Some have even settled
here to farm and carry on the traditional ways of the Hutsuls. Peace Corps volunteers
posted here love the place.
Rakhiv is good for a couple of days to organise supplies, have a chuckle visiting a
'geographical centre of Europe' that's not really and to enjoy a little hiking. A Swiss-
ing the marking of trails into the Carpathian National Nature Park.
Sights & Activities
Rakhiv's main attractions lie outside town.
Carpathian
Biosphere Reserve
NATURE RESERVE
