Ukraine

The biggest country in Europe besides neighboring Russia, Ukraine claims a history dating back tens of thousands of years, but has existed in its current sovereign form only since 1991. Snowy mountains to sunny sand spits, big cities to tiny villages—Ukraine comes in many a flavor. Keep in mind that, as of late 2015, the U.S. and U.K. governments advise against travel to the Crimean Peninsula as well as Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast; the Russian annexation of Crimea and related clashes in eastern Ukraine, which began in the spring of 2014, make the region a dicey one.

Ukrainian cities and towns wear the stamp of a long, complicated, and multiethnic history. Kiev’s monuments, museums, cafes, and nightclubs make this ancient capital among the more stimulating hubs in Eastern Europe. Lviv’s famous for its medieval architecture (which earns it UNESCO World Heritage Site status) and its performance halls, while balmy Odessa’s the country’s great Black Sea trade and resort center. Rural communities in the Dnieper Lowland, Volyn Hills, and other vast pastoral reaches, meanwhile, offer windows into the past. The tastes of Ukraine reflect proud traditions, whether you’re ladling borsch, slicing into Chicken Kiev, or submitting to yet another cheerful vodka toast (Bud’mo!).

At present, Ukraine’s an unsettled place, still sorting out its identity and the nature of its relationship with its European and Russian neighbors. Yet its people have proved stout-hearted and resilient across many contentious eras, and its everyday pleasures—the warmth of a Black Sea beach, the friendly clamor of a Kiev eatery, the serenity of a Carpathian village—haven’t lost their appeal.