Readers of our BLS Car Rental blogs about the best weekend trips in Ukraine have noticed that we write mainly about cities and towns that you can fully enjoy in a few days. Today we will move away from this rule - we will talk about one of the pearls of Ukrainian nature - Lake Synevyr.
Since it is located in the Carpathians, it is not as easy to get to it as to the city. However, the roads there are already better than a few years ago - however, we all the same, away from sin, we recommend driving an SUV so as not to depend too much on the weather. By the way, you can rent an SUV at the Weekend rate from $ 130 in almost 3 days.
You can get to the lake from Kyiv on the highway Kyiv - Lviv - Chop (E-50 / M-06), in the village of Nizhnye Vorota turn to smt Volovets, about 14 km, then drive towards Mizhhiria for about 38 km, then to the village Kolochava 27 km and then - towards the Lake Synevyr. You will have to overcome about 780 km, so it’s worth preparing for a rather long trip.
Why go? Firstly, it is incredibly beautiful there at any time of the year. Secondly, this is an unusual place. Synevyr is the largest mountain lake in Ukraine, located in the headwaters of the Terebli River, at an altitude of 989 meters above sea level. The area of its water mirror is about 7 hectares, and the depth reaches 24 meters! In 1989, the Synevyr National Park was created in the territories surrounding the lake. Its area is 43 thousand hectares, so the day will not be enough here, it’s worth a whole weekend.
In addition to the lake and the national park, we recommend that you see the timber rafting museum on the ruined old timber rafting complex 10-15 kilometers from the lake.
The infrastructure around Synevyr is rapidly developing, so the choice of housing is quite diverse. You can even rent a room in a large hotel from a log house or even a whole cottage. We can recommend one of the closest hotels to Sinevir - “Berloga”, as well as kolyba hotels - “Arnika” or “At Tsіmbora”. Here you can eat because in the huts to serve wonderful local dishes that will not leave you indifferent. On Sinevir interesting excursions are conducted, during which you can listen to the history of this area, take a walk around the lake, and breathe in the fresh air.
How did this lake turn out so high? Geologists speak of a shift in the mountains that occurred 10 thousand years ago. Under the thickness of the water arriving in the hollow created in this way, trees also disappeared. And they have survived to the present day: their trunks at the bottom of Synevyr were discovered by divers in 2008.