by In Lviv Tours

The availability of language options when one is looking to book tours in Lviv is limited. Audioguided tours are of course multilingual but they are something we cannot recommend. That comes from experience in Italy, specifically the Vatican Museums, infamous for it's famously appalling app. Audioguides are generally underwhelming and not worth their low price point. You won't find audioguided tours on our website. We recently declined an offer from a developer who thought that an In Lviv Tours audioguide app would work. No.

Live person guides in European destinations give tours in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian. In Lviv, these language options are still somewhat thin on the ground. Using Kraków as an example, being the closest city to Lviv where tourism is well established, it's normal to be able to join tours in most European languages plus russian, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.

With the obvious exceptions of russian, Hindi, and Mandarin Chinese, tours in Lviv will embrace many languages as post-war visitor numbers increase. Our tours are led in English only, but this will change in future.

For now, tourists in Lviv are mostly Ukrainian, many of whom are refugees. Domestic tourism is booming in the most unlikely of circumstances. A smattering of British, European and American travellers are venturing across the border but numbers are not worthy of note. Most of these people are volunteers or experienced travellers undeterred by adverse geopolitical conditions.

We hope that sooner rather than later, Lviv City Council and hospitality venues in Lviv will react to inbound tourism and level up language options. This must encompass everything from apps and info points to menus and tour guides.

Things are improving, it's a process. About menus in English, it does seem that everyone has given up, even on the simple task of printing menus. Now it's "scan the QR code to order from our menu - only in Ukrainian". Just make sure you have an app that translates your screen.

About a decade ago, traders in Lviv old town were forbidden to display their trading name or spot promotions in a foreign language. It does seem as though the morons who passed that law are long gone. Perhaps the idea was to remove the russian language from Lviv, good idea, but russian is just one language of more than 7,000 in the world.

Back to tours and language, we intersperse delivery of our tours with an introduction to the Ukrainian language, so you will appreciate where you have been and what you have seen in a new way.

On Rynok Square, just like squares in European capitals, there are promoters asking passers-by if they would like to join a group tour. These tours are in Ukrainian and sometimes Polish (russian language tours are banned). They have a reputation for being rather fleeting, and we've heard that those who partake get an hour of lukewarm anecdotes at best.

We're still trying to work out why Ukrainians flock to join group tours and are in love with bus excursions. Private tours are really not their thing at all. Perhaps they're more gregarious than people of other nationalities. It's not about cost, as many Ukrainians are wealthy on the quiet.

Distractions aside, the sensible way to get a Lviv tour in English is by booking online in advance. If the tour operator contact you communicate with on WhatsApp or by e-mail is a native English speaker, then all the better.

We recently appraised the Ukrainian tour guides who lead our private Lviv tours in English and specifically, how they don't just deliver what they know in their second language. Our guides have been studying British culture as well as the language, so they are better than well prepared to host British travellers above and beyond the fine art of guiding. In our opinion, a personal connection between client and guide is as important as the tour. If you are reading this from the U.S. don't fret, we also have guides who studied American English in your country before returning home to work in tourism.

✍ October 11th, 2025.