Does Lviv have a river?
Imagine you are holding a ticket to Lviv in your hand. Imagine, that you know what the train will look like and what people you will meet there. Imagine your map, all covered with signs of the places you will visit and what sounds you will hear on the streets.
Now look at your map again. Before you tour Lviv and get one of the most exciting experiences of your life you have to know a secret: there is a beautiful river in Lviv. But there are no blue lines meaning any water in the city on your map, right? This is the thing that will make you even more excited about traveling to Lviv: river named Poltva is the biggest underground river in Ukraine! Since the very beginning of the history of Lviv this river had a city-forming meaning as far as it has protected Lviv from the northern side.
Historically known that during the Second World War tunnels became a hiding place for a handful of Jews who had escaped the Nazis during the war. Dark tunnels of the invisible river turned to be a bright and safe place for people who tried to survive as hard as they could. There is another legend about the Poltva. It is said, that the river can be heard flowing from the orchestra pit of the Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
Now tourists from all over the world come to see the river and to get inspired by the history of the city. When in Lviv, you may also meet young diggers loving dangerous adventures in the tunnels of Poltva; have no doubts that these guys will tell you the craziest stories about our legendary river.
Our founder writes in 2025 that our Lviv Underground tour, entitled "Lviv Underground Tour", naturally, will become bookable rather soon.
Every Lviv tour must include... Chocolate Lions? Read on!
History is the thing you can't skip while being in Lviv. But don't be scared, it's not that boring as you may imagine; it's not about memorizing years and places, ways of war or names of kings. In fact, there is only one king (he's also the only Ukrainian king) whose name you should remember - king Daniel of Galicia.
Mongol invasion of Rus' in XIII century brought a lot of truth to our country; it made it clear who's fighting for the country and who's fighting for money. Lots of cities were destroyed while a sequence of war; some didn't even try to protect themselves. Almost the entire territory of Ukraine of those days was burnt to the ground, and Mongol army seemed to keep doing that until the very west borders.
Meanwhile by the west borders nobody "never valued the poor seat of Lviv" and all that people who pretended to be the warriors to protect the city were worried only about their money in fact. This is the moment when Daniel (who was not king yet) "rose with so full of glory, that he dazzled all the eyes" of Mongol army. Let us skip the niceties of the war and be content with the fact that he confirmed the piece on the west lands and died.
Daniel's son, Leo moved his father's capital from Halych to newly founded Lviv, what was named after him by the king Daniel. This is how the history of Lviv begun.
Nowadays you can find about 4 thousand lions all over the Lviv in honorable memory of Leo I of Galicia. The variety of these animals is stunning: next to the Sykhiv cemetery there is lion height of 4 meters; there is a house on which you can find 99 lions on Svobody Prospect!
On to the sweet stuff! Have no doubts, that if Willy Wonka came to Lviv he would become the most jealous person in the world. There is Serbska Street in the very centre of Lviv, which is a home for street musicians, singers and the best chocolate in the whole world. It is impossible not to notice this smell and this building - such a colorful place all covered with the tubes meant to transport chocolate. Of course, it is just a part of the design, but it is to wake your imagination up and as soon as you walk Serbska Street it will.
Lviv Handmade Chocolate has long and beautiful history. It has been exporting to European countries since the XIX century until today. Imigine, how proud the workers must feel when they see a picture of a man holding a chocolate heart in his hand while proposing a woman to be his wife. You may find anything you want in the shop on Serbska Street: any kinds of chocolate, candies, cookies, hot chocolate and so on.
But it's not about only Handmade chocolate on Serbska St. Let us not forget about Svitoch, which is traditionally Lviv production of chocolate during 130 years! Workers say, that recipes haven't changed since the very beginning, but they get improved every moment of making another chocolate bar.
One more fact: since 2008 there is a celebration of Chocolate festival, which took place on Rynok Square earlier, but now is moved to the Palace of Arts. Ukrainian best chocolate masters welcome visitors to taste different kinds of truffles and candies, they also sell the things you will need later for sure: keys, screwdrivers and even mobile phones made of chocolate!
There are almost four centuries of history of Lviv chocolate. During all these years is gives people a lesson: eating is not about not being hungry, but about feeling the pleasure of the taste and finding inspiration in it.
Our founder writes in 2025 that the de facto Lviv Chocolate tour, inventively or more rather pre-emptively entitled "Lviv Chocolatour", will be bookable soon!
When stone is an art form
It's not a big deal to notice Lviv Town Hall on Rynok Square when you try to discover city architecture. No doubts, it's a masterpiece of European art, but once you have a walk in the centre of Lviv the tendency is to be as attentive as you can. Have you noticed that there are no numbers on the buildings? Every house on Rynok Square had to have name of owner or elements of décor indication on it; some buildings are named "with a lion" or "with any tree", because these elements were painted on the owner family emblem or it was a family mascot. There is another interesting fact about Rynok Square architecture: clergy and noblemen had permission to build houses higher that 3 floor with 3 windows or more. This has had the unique imprint on the way Rynok Square looks nowadays, so keep your eyes opened and be inspired. We present you three building in the centre of Lviv that you must see.
Black House is situated on the east side of the Square. It was ordered to be built by Tomaso Albertti, who was a famous Bologna merchant and a philanthropist. Now it looks very mystique because of the black color of the façade. There are hypothesis, that many years of heating the house with coal made snow-white sandstone black. Here, in this masterpiece of Renaissance architecture on the ground floor was placed first pharmacy in Lviv, but now it belongs to Lviv Historical Museum and a lot of exhibitions take place right here.
Stone house "with a deer" or House №45 is another "must-see" place. It was built in XV century and it is a perfect example of Gothic and Empire style. The only candle and wax products factory in the entire Galicia had been taking place here since 1789; in 1851 it was bound to provide Lviv with candles to light the streets. In Soviet Union time there was a restaurant for poets and artist.
Lubomirski Palace is one of the most important places in Ukrainian history, because the country's independence has been started in this great Baroque house. In 1941 it was proclaimed by Yaroslav Stetsko. Jan De Witte was an architect of this building, also famous for Dominican church in Lviv and Carmelite church in Berdichiv. As far as this place has its long unique history (including being residence of Austrian governors and belonging to Prosvita) now it is owned by Ethnography and Native Arts Museum. You can also recognize it by the smell of coffee, because famous Lviv Coffee Manufacture is placed in the Palace now. Perhaps a perfect place to drink a toast to Ukraine while on a tour of Lviv with In Lviv Tours.