First of all, visit the longest city in Europe!
Kryvyi Rih is transforming from an industrial city into a tourist destination that offers the opportunity to see unique places and truly experience what industrial tourism is.
Man-made mountain landscapes occupy 48% of the territory, and the picturesque scenery of the city resembles a Martian landscape. This color is given to them, as they oxidize, by iron ore and the mineral hematite. Impressive landscapes of multicolored mine dumps and breathtaking sinkholes, flooded quarry basins with crystal-clear spring water — all of this can be seen in the “city as long as a lifetime.” Kryvyi Rih is not only a powerful mining and metallurgical city of Ukraine, but also a cultural, scientific, and tourist center of the Dnipropetrovsk region — a city of sincere, hospitable, and hardworking people. Plan a weekend in INDUSTRIAL style!
1. Get acquainted with the legendary founder of the city — the Cossack Kryvyi Rih
Legend says that in his advanced years the brave Cossack Rih built a dwelling for himself exactly at the place where the Inhulets and Saksahan rivers meet. And since the Cossack had lost an eye in battles, people called him “Kryvyi” (“Crooked”). When the chumaks returned from Crimea, they would say: “Shall we not stop by Kryvyi Rih?” Years passed — the Cossack Rih was long gone, but the name remained — Kryvyi Rih. Cossack Rih was immortalized in bronze on a pedestal made from a block of iron ore.
2. Check the time with the Flower Clock
The largest flower clock in Europe. Its dial has a diameter of 22 meters, the hour hand is 8 meters long, and the minute hand is 12.5 meters long.
Beneath the clock is a modern 3D video gallery of the City History and Local Lore Museum, where films about Kryvyi Rih, its history, and its modern development are shown in 2D and 3D formats. Around the clock building there is an exhibition of notable objects from various districts of the city.
3. Ride the hybrid tram
Kryvyi Rih has an analogue of a metro — a high-speed tram. It is a hybrid of a surface tram running through underground tunnels, which makes it similar to a metro. Most of the line is built according to metro standards, but tram cars are used as rolling stock. The metrotam is the only place in Ukraine where left-hand traffic is officially allowed. The total length of the high-speed tram line is 4️3️ кm.
4. See one of the largest quarries in Europe
A unique and impressive sight created by miners — the giant quarry of the Joint Stock Company “Southern Mining and Processing Plant,” whose depth reaches 375 meters, length 3 km, and width 2.6 km. Its area is equal to three countries the size of Monaco. In the quarry, you have the opportunity to see with your own eyes and learn about the iron ore extraction processes. Since 1953, 1.6 billion tons of iron ore raw material have been extracted from the depths of the earth.
5. Find out where coke is born
At the metallurgical enterprise of the Public Joint Stock Company “ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih,” you can witness fascinating production processes.
At the coke-chemical production site (coke-chemical batteries No. 5 and No. 6), visitors are offered the opportunity to take part in the quenching of red-hot coke — a product of coal sintering in special ovens at a temperature of about 1100 degrees. After the coke leaves the “coke battery,” the red-hot product is quenched to approximately 150 degrees with purified water. After that, the coke is fed onto a conveyor, which automatically directs it for sorting by class for further use at enterprises.
6. Turn the wheel of a BelAZ and climb into an excavator bucket
In opposite parts of the city are two mining equipment museums of industrial enterprises, where exhibits previously used by miners in production are displayed. For industrial-tourism enthusiasts, this is a true paradise. Among the exhibits are a BelAZ quarry dump truck, a freight wagon (dumpcar) with a carrying capacity of 105 tons, an underground electric locomotive with a mine cart, a bulldozer, and much more.
7. Visit the place where a meteorite fell
Nature and the industrial beauty of the city are concentrated in the landscape reserve of national importance Balka Pivnichna Chervona. There is a theory that the gully was formed at the site of a crater created by a meteorite impact. Rocky outcrops can be found on the slopes of the gully, a stream flows along its bottom, and unique vegetation and diverse wildlife thrive on the slopes. Next to the natural wonders are small old quarries and waste heaps, a railway embankment, and the supports of a bridge built at the end of the 19th century. The supports of the railway bridge rise above the ground like majestic pyramids, and the stones from which they are built still bear the personal marks of the stonemasons. The 30-meter-high stone bridge supports have long been favored by extreme sports lovers for rock climbing and rope jumping.
Many tourist routes, including hiking and cycling trails, run through the Chervonyi Bridge. The views of the reserve that open from this place are simply incredible.
8. Go to a place where compasses do not work
The MODR Rocks are a geological natural monument of local significance, a unique open-air geology museum. This territory is a group of rocks on the slope of the Inhulets River valley and is a fragment of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield. Iron quartzites alternating with schists are folded and broken by numerous faults and fractures. The largest rocks — Orlyne Hnizdo (Eagle’s Nest) and Mala Orlynka (28 m and 12 m), a rock grotto, an underground water spring, and unique rare vegetation — attract visitors to return again and again.
9. Conquer the Kryvyi Rih mountains — the waste heaps
The “Kryvyi Rih mountains” cannot be found on any world map — these are waste rock dumps formed as a result of the accumulation of rock mass from quarries, mines, and mining and processing plants. The “Kryvyi Rih mountains” began their existence in 1881 and continue to this day. The attractions of the waste heaps include restored nature suitable for active and comfortable recreation, enjoyment of natural and man-made landscapes at any time of the year. The view from the heights of the waste heaps of the industrial city is especially breathtaking at night. The most spectacular waste heaps are the Burshchitskyi, Petrovskyi, and Pershotravnevyi.
10. See the Kryvyi Rih Grand Canyon
A unique technogenic formation created as a result of the deposition of waste heaps of the “Southern Mining and Processing Plant” Joint Stock Company, reaching up to 150 meters in height on both sides of the Inhulets River. Instead of a flat river, the river valley was artificially transformed into a true mountain canyon. There are no analogues of such a formation on the surface of the Earth in Europe. The canyon is 2.2 km long, 150 m deep, and 200 m wide at its bottom.
11. Visit the Kryvyi Rih Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which is among the top ten botanical gardens in Ukraine
The garden contains a collection of various plants from all over the world, many of which are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine and the world. The territory includes an arboretum, greenhouses, a continuous-blooming garden, a rose garden, a lilac and garden jasmine garden, and a national collection of Ukrainian feather grass species. Along the garden’s paths you can take a true hike or simply lie on the grass and relax. This place enchants in any season.
12. Feel like a pilot at the open-air aircraft park
Near the Kryvyi Rih College of the National Aviation University is a unique aviation park of Ukraine, which was created on the basis of the aviation-technical base where the old city airport was located until the late 1970s. In the aircraft park, you can explore numerous aircraft, including two unique exhibits: the jet passenger aircraft Tu-154, which took part in the filming of the first Soviet disaster film “Air Crew”; and the long-range airliner Tu-114.
13. Enjoy the nature of Vizyrka
A picturesque landscape reserve of local importance, representing an artificial mountain-lake landscape with three flooded quarries and waste heaps, unique rock outcrops, and self-restored nature with rare species of flora and fauna. A recreational area has been created on the shore of the northern quarry.
14. Forge your own iron souvenir at the “ARTINI” smithy
Reviving ancient traditions of blacksmithing, the master of hand forging puts his whole soul into his work, while not forgetting about new technologies that make his work easier — which is why forged products, magical and wonderful in their airy beauty, are so valued worldwide. The “ARTINI” company has been engaged in blacksmithing since 1997. During this time, it has gained extensive experience in its field and in conducting creative excursions during which visitors can forge their own iron gifts.
15. Dive into technogenic lakes
Places where blue water gently touches the granite walls of a quarry, where the elements of water and stone form a perfect composition of Kryvyi Rih’s industrial heritage, are called the flooded bowls of quarries. In summer, anyone can swim in the Karachuni and Oktyabr quarries. Their depth reaches up to 70 meters.
16. Go kayaking on the Inhulets River
Undoubtedly, kayaking requires a great deal of courage, strength, endurance, bravery, and even a bit of madness. After all, you must literally outrun the swift current for a moment, anticipate what will happen next, and act quickly. Thanks to tourists’ enthusiasm, kayaking has gained great popularity in Kryvyi Rih.
17. Peer into the center of the Earth
The sinkhole zones of Kryvbas, which are the result of the collapse of the ceilings of voids in the upper mine horizons, are breathtaking and impressive. The deepest of them reach depths of over 200 meters. Their features include steep slopes resembling mountains, a striking red color, and an exposed abyss of the iron depths of the Earth, where a tourist, while observing, can imagine the road to the center of the planet. There are no analogues of such sinkholes in Europe
Since 2022, Kryvyi Rih has been subjected to intense shelling by the Russian aggressor. Russian terrorist forces destroy civilian facilities, historical monuments, hospitals, schools, and kindergartens. But the city lives on…
