Steep mountain peaks serve as a lovely backdrop for Yalta, the jewel of the Crimean peninsula and our favorite Ukrainian city. We're not surprised that the writer Anton Chekhov chose to live in this seaside resort — it seems to be a combination of Carmel, California, the French Riviera, and Greece. Yalta (pop. 80,000) has exemplary resorts, museums, and beaches.
Be sure to see Livadia, the former Romanov vacation home (palace, really) used for the World War II conference of Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt. Chekhov's former residence has been turned into a museum; inside you'll find the writer's medical bag (from his days as a doctor) and the piano Rachmaninov played when he visited. Allow at least two (but preferably three) nights for relaxation.
Just outside of Yalta, set on a hilltop beside the ocean, are the Nikitsky Botanical Gardens, which boast 1,600 varieties of roses and a very good restaurant. Don't miss the Swallow's Nest, a fantastical castle perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea (designed for a German businessman by a U.S. architect).
We enjoy the refreshing ferry or hydrofoil ride between the resort towns along the coast. Alupka, from which you can take a cable car to Mt. Ai-Petri for fabulous views, and Miskhor, with a beautiful beach, are our favorite resorts. Special trips can be arranged to Sevastopol and Balaklava, important sites in the Crimean War immortalized in Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade." Another excursion goes to Bakhchisarai, a city of minarets and mosques that was once the capital of the Crimean Khanate. While there, see the magnificent palace of Khan Mengli-Girel and the Fountain of Tears, which inspired Pushkin's poem The Fountain of Bakhchisarai.
There's no airport in Yalta; you fly to the regional capital of Simferopol, set among beautiful vineyards and orchards, then take a car into the city (about an hour's drive). Yalta lies 210 mi (340 km) southeast of Odessa.