Ivano-Frankivsk

Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukrainian: Івано-Франківськ, also transliterated Ivano-Frankovsk from Russian: Ивано-Франковск) (formerly in Polish: Stanisławów, German: Stanislau) is a city in the Ukrainian part of East Galicia.

Understand
It was built in the mid-17th century as a private fortress of the Potocki family. With the partition of Poland in 1772, Ivano-Frankivsk was passed to the Habsburg Empire, after which it became the property of the State authorities of the Austrian Empire. It was during that time that the fortress was transformed into one of the most prominent cities at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. After World War I, for a short stint it served as temporary capital of the West Ukrainian People's Republic, after the fall of which Stanisławów became part of the Second Polish Republic. At the dawn of World War II, the city was annexed by the Soviet Union, only to be occupied by Nazi Germany two years later. With the liberation of Ukraine in 1944, a Soviet regime was established in the city for the next 45 years. A city visitor may find elements of various cultures intertwined within Ivano-Frankivsk, the Polish Rathaus, the Austrian city's business center, the Soviet panel multi-storied residential apartment buildings at the city's urban-rural fringe, and others.

The city is in the Carpathian region northeast of the mountain range, sitting approximately 120 m above mean sea level.

Climate
The climate is moderate continental with warm summers (in Jul the record high 37.1°C), and fairly cold winters (in dec the record low−35.7°C). There are 60 snowy days per year.

Get around
The city centre is manageable by foot but there is an extensive network of public transport including buses, trolleybuses, and taxis.

All street names reflecting the city's Soviet or Russian past have been returned to their former names, or given new names of national historic importance, or other non-controversial names. For example, Gagarin Street (connecting the city with its suburbs) became Vovchynets Street, Suvorov Street is now Harbar Street, and Soviet Street is Nezalezhnist (Independence) Street. Around 100 other streets were renamed. The seven main city squares Viche Maidan, Market Square, Sheptytsky Square Pryvokzalna Square, Mickiewicz Square (Mickiewicz Park), Liberation Square, European Square.

By public transport
Ivano-Frankivsk has a convenient public transport system:

Single ride tickets in marshrutkas, buses and trolleybuses cost 10 грн.
 * 17 marshrutka routes
 * 20 bus routes
 * 8 trolleybus routes

Schedules are available on rozklad.in.ua (in Ukrainian).

You can also check information about public transport on DozoR (in Ukrainian), EasyWay and Google Maps.

By taxi
Taxi is the easiest way of getting around the city. Some popular taxi companies include:



By scooter
Kick scooter is a funny way to shorten your time while getting around the city.



By car
Those wishing to venture outside of the city by car may want to use a more robust vehicle such as a 4 by 4 as roads in the local area are extremely degraded and incomparable to western roads.

Buy

 * Bazaar – a huge area close to the Main Square that covers the old market and the new market with couple of supermarket stores locally known as the universal stores where you can buy everything.

Eat
Food in Ivano-Frankivsk, like the rest of the Ukraine is fairly good and will sit well in the stomach of most western travelers.

If visiting a supermarket, price on items will vary greatly. Western labeled products will be labeled with prices comparable to western prices. Similar goods with non-western labels will sell much cheaper.

Two glasses of beer and a bag of potato chips will cost about 200 грн at local bars.

Drink
As with other Ukrainian cities of its size a beer should cost under 40 грн and a large bag of crisps (potato chips) in a normal bar/pub should cost a maximum of 40 грн. If you are paying more than that you know you are being ripped off.
 * Kilimanjaro
 * eL Dorado
 * Kilimanjaro
 * eL Dorado
 * eL Dorado

Go next

 * Chernivtsi - One of the most multinational cities of Ukraine.
 * Lviv - the capital of the Western Ukraine Region, with lot of sights for days
 * Ternopil - An East Galician city with lot of religious buillding and good base for exploring the area
 * Uzhhorod - center of Zakarpatska Oblast. Famous for a millenium-old Uzhhorod Castle inside a big regional history museum.