Ivano-Frankivsk

Ivano-Frankovskaya region

Ivano-Frankovskaya region is situated in the west of Ukraine in the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians take more than half of the region territory. Forest and plantation cover up to 50% of the region. The main rivers are the Dniester, the Prut, and the Cheremosh. The main deposits of Carpathians natural gas and oil are located in Ivano-Frankovskaya region. Therefore, chemical and petrochemical industries are well developed. In agricultural sector the cattle raising dominates. The historic capital of one of the principalities of Kievan Rus' (​​9th – 13th century) which is called Galicia-Volyn principality (12th - 14th century), the city of Galich, is located not far from the regional center (the city of Ivano-Frankivsk). After the invasion of the Golden Horde the territory of Galicia was under control of Poland up to the year of 1740, then it belonged to Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918, the region also belonged to the Ukrainian Socialist Republic in 1919, then to Poland in the years of 1920-1939, and again to the Ukrainian Socialist Republic in 1939 and finally it has been within Ukraine since 1991. Warm summers and mild winters, the presence of mineral waters ("Golden Eagle", "Verkhovyna", "Roksolana", etc.), therapeutic muds, ancient architecture, churches, and museums promoted the development of health tourism and educational tourism. In the region there are more than 300 reserves, three arboretum parks, the natural reserve called "Gorgan" (eco-tourism), dozens of resorts and health resorts, the best known are located in Yaremche, Colomiya, Kosovo, Dolina. The region has highly developed hiking, mountain and ski tourism, there are more than 10 ski resorts, including the most famous one "Bukovel".  The rural and green tourism are developed all over the region.