Truskavets

Truskavets has been a spa since the early nineteenth century and its reputation rests on one water: Naftusia, a weakly mineralised water with a distinct petroleum note, drunk from the pump room in measured doses on a schedule set by a doctor rather than bathed in. It loses its properties within hours of leaving the ground, which is why the treatment has to happen here. The town is a mix of Austrian-era villas, Soviet sanatoria and a long central park.

What you actually see

• The pump room - the bathhouse where Naftusia is drunk to prescription.
• The central park - the long promenade the whole town is arranged along.
• The wooden villas - Austrian-era spa architecture surviving among later blocks.
• The sanatoria - the treatment infrastructure the town runs on.

When to go

May to October is the pleasant season, though the sanatoria work year round. Courses run to two or three weeks, which is how the town is designed to be used. Summer is busiest.

Honest expectations

This is a working medical spa, not a leisure resort, and a day visit gets little from it. Soviet-era sanatorium architecture dominates. The water tastes strongly of petroleum and takes getting used to.

Nearby

Drohobych is northeast, and Skhidnytsia is south in the foothills.