We have made some important changes since russia invaded our country in the early hours of February 24th, 2022. All our guides have defended Ukraine as soldiers. They are either from Lviv or lived in Lviv prior to the war.
Our tours now include a Ukrainian to English translator if required, as of course not every AFU veteran speaks fluent English (but many do).
Our city has become a humanitarian hub and our population has swelled by 200,000. Despite this, russians have still bombed Lviv using missiles and drones. Many civilians have been traumatized, some killed.
To have veterans at the heart of In Lviv Tours means everything. While not trained tour guides, their personalities, strength of character, and love of Lviv is more than enough to make our tours and activities immensely valuable and unique.
Through our veterans, we express the high values of Ukrainian culture and expound the absolutes of fighting for democracy.
Our priority is to support the men and women who put themselves at great risk to fight russian aggression. It means rehabilitation back into society, and stable employment is the most important part of that.
We don't do run-of-the-mill as Lviv is anything but ordinary. Our ethos is and shall always be one of crossing lines and challenging norms.
We guarantee a mix of education, inspiration and unusual moments in a UNESCO World Heritage city that is still relatively undiscovered by British, European and American travellers.
Our native language is English as we are English-owned, so everything will be clear from enquiry to your activity on the day.
In Lviv Tours is first and foremost a tour operator. We have evolved to become a foundation structure that rebuilds lives.
War against russia
Our war began in early 2014 and escalated on February 24th, 2022, when russia invaded swathes of Ukraine and has since occupied our eastern and southern regions.
Trying to understand what putin will do next is pointless, we are dealing with a sick fantasist who threatens nuclear war whenever he's challenged.
Current geopolitical projections indicate he will attempt to occupy the cities of Kharkiv, Odessa, Kherson (again), Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. Not Lviv or Lviv region.
russian tactics are to terrify population centres here in Ukraine with guided bombs, kamikaze drones, and cruise missiles.
In this way, Ukrainian towns and cities are eventually abandoned and russian invaders move in, bulldoze what they destroyed, bury those they killed in mass graves, then rebuild.
After a period of time, russian "civilians" move from their country to our country. They occupy homes owned by dead, deported, or evacuated Ukrainians. Homes they do not own nor will ever own in a legal sense.
Mariupol is the destroyed Ukrainian city where this has already happened. Over 30,000 Ukrainian civilians were killed and ten times that number fled or were evacuated.
This is "russification": missiles, artillery, murder. Ethnic cleansing. Then they send in TV crews to broadcast about the "liberation" of another Ukrainian city from "Nazis", then the property developers move in. Sick.
Wartime 101
Safety in Lviv is straightforward. Always follow updates on the Telegram App (we'll tell you which channels to join), never ignore air alarms (stay away from windows, obey the two walls rule, or go to a basement shelter), follow our curfew laws (stay indoors) that start at 11pm and end at 5am.
Carry photo ID or a digital copy thereof on your device at all times. Many Ukrainians know English so always be polite and respectful in the presence of locals, that includes students and russian-speaking refugees in Lviv because of war.
Tourism in war
Guided tours in Lviv (and everywhere) ended in 2020 due to the pandemic. Recovery began in late summer 2021 and then we were invaded by russia.
Inbound tourism has inevitably suffered, while domestic tourism has surged. This is a strong indication of how important Lviv is as a major tourist destination under normal conditions.
We have many foreigners in Lviv now and our UNESCO World Heritage old town has never been busier. Most of them are journalists, volunteers, and NGO staff. They are helping us, and perhaps curious about Lviv in wartime.
On first impressions, the "Little Paris of East Europe" hasn't really changed at all, apart from sandbags covering the street level windows of our administrative buildings and the influx of newcomers (refugees, students etc.).
The reality is that our cemeteries are full, last exit for thousands of men from Lviv city and region who died defending their country. In that number are some of our friends.
Travel to Lviv
Getting to Lviv is easy. Fly to Poland and then move by train or bus to Ukraine. Lviv is close to Poland, we're just 45 miles from the border. You can also enter Ukraine from Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.
Public transport in Lviv is running as usual. Tram tickets can be purchased on board for 20 hryvnia and it's the same or even less on buses. In Lviv, we use either BOLT or UKLON taxi apps. BOLT costs more but their app is in English, UKLON is not.
Trust & Ethics
We have several "war tour operators" here in Ukraine, mainly Kyiv-based. They profiteer from pain and loss.
Their "excursions" to Bucha, Irpin, so on and so forth go for between €150 and €250 per person. They claim that some of what they are paid goes straight to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As €250 (10,600 hryvnia) is more than half the average salary of a working adult in Ukraine, we hope so.
"Donation tours" are another grave cause for concern. One established website about visiting Ukraine invites foreign volunteers to Lviv. From here they travel to Mykolaiv by train via Kyiv. Ukrainian rail tickets are very cheap.
The minimum donation is €1,462 (62,000 hryvnia!!!, three average monthly salaries in Ukraine). That princely sum covers two days voluntary work, two nights in a probably cheap hotel (volunteers usually stay in a dormitory or similar digs anyway), souvenirs (?), photoshoots (??), and the icing on the cake... a "Been there, done that" t-shirt (???).
If you really want to push the boat out and be criminally scammed, you can pay them €3,292 for one week of volunteering.
To set the record straight, $50 of your booking total goes straight to the veteran with whom you toured, the rest goes towards costs during the tour (food, drinks, taxi connections), and if anything is left, that goes to us and we'll use it to develop In Lviv Tours beyond the scope of this website.
Donate & Support
If you're not here in Ukraine and have no plans to visit, but you understand the value of our work, you can support what we do by making a small donation.
What you send will help us expand outreach and engagement. The more people who know about In Lviv Tours, the more veterans we can support. You can donate by Paypal to info@inlvivtours.com (choose "For friends and family").
How you can help
You can post about In Lviv Tours on every social media platform you use. The more posts that link to our website, the more visitors will come.
We need to connect what we do with everyone, from individuals to organizations, news channels and social media influencers.
Contact us
✍ by admin on April 12th, 2024.