3 Places Near Lviv to Unwind and Recharge

Near Lviv, visitors can relax by lakes, visit a bear sanctuary, and walk among rare trees in peaceful nature spots ideal for short trips and weekend escapes.

There are many places near Lviv that offer different moods, while not requiring a whole day or a large budget. And that, as you’ll agree, is perfect for a day off or even an evening trip after work.

For example, here are three such locations within 30 minutes of the city – Lake Navariya, the bear sanctuary in Domazhyr, and the arboretum in Stradch. 24 Kanal will tell you more about them in detail.

Where near Lviv can you relax by a lake, see bears, and walk among rare trees?

Lake Navariya stretches over more than a hundred hectares near the village of the same name and the town of Pustomyty, just 10 kilometers from Lviv. Formally, this is the Shchyrets Reservoir, created in the 1950s as a technical water body on the Shchyrka River, as reported by zaxid.net. The average depth is 3.6 meters, with a maximum of 7.8 meters.

Today, it is a popular place for all kinds of recreation, both active and relaxed – rowing, fishing, picnics, and walking along the shore. Swimming in the lake is currently not recommended due to pollution from wastewater, but the process of granting the area the status of a regional landscape park is ongoing – to stop construction along the shores and protect the ecosystem.

The “Domazhyr” bear sanctuary is located 15 kilometers from Lviv, near the village of Zhornyska in the Yavoriv region. It has been operating since 2017 as a rehabilitation center for brown bears, created with the support of the Austrian international organization FOUR PAWS, as noted by lviv.travel. Bears arrive here from circuses, mobile zoos, and other places where animals were kept in inhumane conditions.

The total area of the sanctuary is about 20 hectares. There are three large forest enclosures, each over a hectare, and four rehabilitation enclosures. Each resident has a name and, unfortunately, a separate sad story. Visitors can observe the animals from safe viewing platforms — without bars or cages. The sanctuary is designed to house up to 30 bears.

The arboretum in Stradch is another location for those who seek peace and beauty. It is located 25 kilometers from Lviv, near Yavoriv, and was founded in 1962 as a dendrological park of the Lviv Forestry Institute. Today, the arboretum is a structural subdivision of the Botanical Garden of the National University of Forestry of Ukraine, as can be seen on botsad.nltu.edu.ua.

The park covers an area of about 6 hectares, but within this relatively small space, as many as 350 species of tree flora and many herbaceous plants have been collected. Located on the hilly plateau of Roztochia, this park impresses with geometric alleys of thuja and Douglas firs — coniferous trees up to 20 meters tall, planted in a precise pattern. New species are regularly added here, and guided tours are held.

What other interesting tourist attractions in the Lviv region are worth visiting in 2026?

Skhidnytsia is a Carpathian settlement in the Drohobych district, bordering the Skole Beskids National Nature Park. Old spruces up to 150 years grow there, there is the beautiful “Four Hooves” waterfall, and reportedly one of the largest numbers of mineral water springs in Ukraine.

The “Carpathian Sea” between the villages of Sopit and Dovhe is an unfinished Soviet-era reservoir with an area of about 4 square kilometers and a depth of several tens of meters. Today, it is a picturesque body of water among the mountains, striking with its tranquility and still largely unknown to the wider public.

EMPR