Drahobrat is a meadow located high in the Carpathian Mountains, situated at ~1,400 meters above sea level. The slopes of the Svydovets Range begin here, 300 meters further up. Around it stretch dark coniferous forests. In summer, the area is a destination for hiking, and in winter Drahobrat transforms into the highest ski resort in Ukraine.

Yet this place is not only a location for camping and winter sport. It’s famous for its air — fresh and cool, even in the heat. It has a sublime feeling of vastness, where the horizon stretches endlessly, and the silence is all-encompassing.

The Kaskady Tract is a rare area of Ukraine’s flatlands, as it features natural waterfalls. The boulder over which the water flows is 2 billion years old. Yes, billions: here, rocks of the Ukrainian Shield, one of the Earth’s oldest geological structures, reach the surface.

The village of Bakota was officially removed from records in 1981: the Dniester Reservoir, created after the construction of HES-1 (a hydroelectric power station), submerged it underwater. Today, it’s hard to believe that beneath the waves lies ancient history: homes, gardens, entire farms — everything that was once the heart of Podillia. People were relocated, but the name has remained in memory. Now, this spot offers one of the most stunning panoramas in Ukraine.

Syvash, also called the Rotten Sea, is one of the most beautiful places in Ukraine, despite the name. Here, pink lagoons, white salt flats, and air that smells of salt and sun await. You stand and can’t quite tell if you’re by the sea, in a desert, or on another planet. Near the villages of Hryhorivka and Novovolodymyrivka lies one of Syvash’s natural gems — Lemurian Lake. Its water is so salty that your body floats effortlessly on the surface — just like in the Dead Sea. Its pink hue appears in summer, thanks to tiny algae that thrive in heat and salt.

“Is this really in Ukraine?” — that’s the typical reaction of someone seeing photos of the Stanislavskyi Cliffs (also known as the Kherson Hills) for the first time. These deep ravines, thick with steppe vegetation, stretch along the banks of the Dnipro–Bug estuary near the village of Stanislav.

Their summits — 40 meters above the water — offer breathtaking views: the estuary on one side, the steppe on the other. These lands were described as far back as Herodotus, who called Stanislav Cape the Cape of Hippolaus. Much later, Kuzma Skryabin called the Kherson Hills one of the “places of happy people” — in 2011, he filmed a music video here for his song of the same name.