The Tunnel of Love

Near Klevan, an industrial spur line of about 6.4 kilometres running to a fibreboard factory at Orzhiv achieved accidental art: trees trimmed by the passage of trains - three a day - grew into a continuous green vault over the rails - a leaf tunnel running for three to five kilometres, dense enough that walking it feels like moving through the inside of summer. The Tunnel of Love's name and legend (wishes granted to couples who walk it faithfully) arrived with the photographs that made it globally famous, and the ritual is simple: walk the rails' green throat, mind the occasional working train that still shapes the topiary, and let the light through leaves do what it does.

Highlights

• The green vault - kilometres of arched leaf tunnel.
• The light shafts - sun through the canopy's throat.
• The seasonal turns - lush summer, amber autumn, bare-lace winter.
• Klevan's castle ruins - the village's older romance nearby.

When to go

May to September gives the full green vault; October trades it for amber. Early morning wins both light and solitude.

Practical notes

At the tunnel: it remains a working line - listen, step aside, and treat the rails as the infrastructure they are; peak-season middays bring photo queues to the famous bends.

Nearby

Klevan village, Rivne and the Volyn countryside.