TRUSKAVETS, Ukraine – There are two things that matter about this little spa town in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains: water and accommodation.
The mineral water sprouting from natural springs in Truskavets is said to cure various illnesses, but mainly those related to gastral diseases. To secure its timely intake – before or after a meal, five or 10 times a day – it’s important to book the right hotel, which are plentiful but lacking in quality.
Pumps with “miracle” water – rich in magnesium, calcium and other minerals – are located in the bottom of a valley, in the fragrant cedar and pine trees’ park. Although looking like a badly tiled bathroom, Soviet pavilions with taps pumping the healing water from the mountains are crowded year-round.
Truskavets’ main pump room was officially opened in the 1830s when the Galicia region in western Ukraine was a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. (Courtesy)
Many Ukrainians, as well as Russians and Poles, regard Truskavets as a rival to Germany’s Baden-Baden or Czech Karlovy Vary’s medical escapes, among others. Young and old, but mainly old, flock to this town year round to drink Naftusya – the famous water said to work miracles in the fields of urology, gastroenterology and metabolic diseases.
The town itself – only a night-trip away from Kyiv by train or an hour by bus from Lviv – appeals not just with water. Founded during the Austro-Hungarian rule in western Ukraine, this watering hole boasts neat wooden villas, with many of them resembling alpine architecture from the early 1900s when the first railroad connected Truskavets with Berlin, Prague and Warsaw. Hackly Soviet-built hotels dominate the town’s skyline mindful of the region’s Soviet occupation since 1939. Apart from being a budget spa retreat, this historic mix swathed in luscious greenery is also good for businesses enjoying special tax breaks.
A young woman feeds pigeons in front the main pump-room in Truskavets. (Ukrinform)
Construction is booming in the area as this salty liquid smelling of crude oil – approved by non-governmental World Federation of Hydrotherapy and Climatotherapy, seems rather popular with medical tourists. Many Soviet clinics and private practices teem with doctors ready to inspect patients at bargain prices compared to those in Kyiv or abroad. For Hr 85, for instance, a gastroenterologist in the modern clinic Med Palace will examine you and prescribe the times and quantities of drinking the water. For Hr 150, you can do an ultrasonic scan using state-of-the-art equipment of your liver and stomach. In nearby Soviet-looking grey clinics examinations are three times cheaper but don’t expect much of the service or any modern equipment there.
Since drinking schedules may require a trip down to the pavilion as many as six times a day, it’s important where to stay. There are dozens of hotels and sanatoriums in Truskavets but most of them cater to a low-budget Ukrainian traveler who’s able to spend no more than $300 during the recommended two-week stay to feel the effects of the water. Pretty villas with wooden carvings on the windows and oak porches look very inviting on the outside but inside they often harbor squeaky floors, Soviet-looking furniture and gaudy bed covers. They are, however, a part of the charm.
A couple drinks water from Sophia mineral spring in Truskavets. The water has to be consumed on the spot because it is believed to lose its therapeutic qualities in the open air. (Ukrinform)
Prices range from Hr 200 for a standard double in Lisova Pisnya hotel – right next to the spring – to Hr 1,500 in Rixos-Prykarpattya, the most expensive hotel in the town some 20 minutes away from the water point. But since the town’s cultural program and nature walks can be explored in a matter of two days, it’s best to book a spa-hotel with a swimming pool to kill time between watering. Khizhina Spa is one of those rare places in Truskavets that makes one forget that you are in Ukraine. Built in the image of a natural Thai or Balinese resort with stone floors and woodwork everywhere, it offers simple rooms starting from Hr 400. The price includes unlimited use of saunas, salt and aroma caves and a swimming pool. There’s also a variety of treatments: from honey massages to pearl baths for the fraction of prices charged in Kyiv.
If recuperating from an illness is not on the agenda, this town is a nice little place to pamper your skin and air your brain. Life in Truskavets is slower than slow and making friends there is hardly an option if you travel alone. Baths with mountain wax, ozocerite, improve the immune system and fight inflammatory illnesses or problems with joints. As this type of wax is mined in the Carpathians, local people often sell chunks of it on the street as policemen try to hackle them away. Vendors also offer funny-looking mugs, which look like small hookahs that are good to take to the springs with you. The water is absolutely free, by the way, and there are no plastic cups near the taps so make sure to bring your own.
In terms of food, there are ethnic restaurants all over town but it’s the absence of good coffee that will make any coffee-lover frustrated. Only an hour away from Lviv, the city deemed one of the birthplaces of cafe culture, Truskavets is cursed with instant coffees and automatic machines. The only place, which brews decent drinks for Hr 9, is cafe Zalizny Kin not far from the springs.
Perhaps, the lack of coffee has been masterminded by doctors who would rather have their patients indulge in hydrocarbons and magnesium in Naftusya – the water, apparently unique in the world if you believe the signs in the pump rooms.
| Useful links: Private health clinic and spa center: Med Palace, Hotels: |
Kyiv Post lifestyle editor Yuliya Popova can be reached at [email protected].
