Chornohora, the Black Mountain, is the highest range of the Ukrainian Carpathians, a long ridge of rounded summits above the forests on the border between the Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. Its highest peak, Hoverla, rises to 2,061 metres, the highest point in Ukraine, and on summer weekends it can be busy with hikers. Along the ridge to the southeast stands Pip Ivan, crowned by the ruins of an astronomical and meteorological observatory built by Poland in the 1930s, when this was the border with Czechoslovakia. Locals call it the White Elephant, and seeing it loom out of the mist is unforgettable.
The mountains are home to the Hutsuls, a highland people with a distinctive culture of colourful embroidered costumes, wooden churches, carved crafts and long alpine horns called trembitas, once used to send signals across the valleys. Sheep grazing on the high pastures, the polonyny, has been part of life here for centuries, and in summer you may see shepherds with their flocks on the slopes.
The forests are vast, with beech on the lower slopes and spruce higher up, and much of the area is protected as part of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. Some of the old-growth beech forests in the region are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site that spans many European countries. Bears, wolves, lynx and deer live in the woods.
Near the village of Dilove, a monument marks one of the places claimed as the geographic centre of Europe. The roads follow the rivers, winding through narrow valleys with steep, forested slopes. Surfaces range from good to very poor, with potholes, gravel and broken asphalt, and side roads into the mountains are often dirt tracks suitable only for off-road bikes.
Rakhiv has fuel, shops and simple restaurants. Try banosh, a dish of cornmeal cooked with cream and topped with cheese and crackling, a Hutsul specialty. The weather in the mountains is changeable, with rain and storms common in summer, and snow from autumn to late spring. Ukraine has been at war since 2022, and travel conditions, border rules and safety advice must be checked carefully before any trip.