Guculs'ka Hata

We needed a couple of rooms together to accommodate a group. No problem! We had 2 adjoining rooms on the top floor. Each were a good size, although the bathrooms were a little cramped (but fairly average for Ukraine). The bedrooms were a good size and came equipped with a frig, electric kettle and TV. (For Western tourists, the choice of programs was, shall we say, fairly rustic! :) No cable TV here.) Bedrooms had good balconies with gorgeous views over the Prut River valley. At night, the gentle sound of the river rushing over its rocky base was a distant and very pleasant murmur, even though it was only about 100m from the bedroom windows. The rooms opened onto a shared kitchen - shared with another 2 rooms on the same floor. The kitchen was fairly well-equipped and certainly allowed us to eat in when we desired. There was no microwave, but there was a good electric oven and 4 plate cook-top. There was plenty of crockery and cooking utensils, although a little more cutlery would have been handy. Our hostess Ocsana spoke no English. Fortunately we had enough Russian to be able to communicate - much as people in this region dislike speaking Russian! Ocsana was always ready to help. We decided to cook shaslik one night, outdoors of course. The hotel has a couple of areas set up for this. Ocsana lay and lit the fire for us. When we returned from the Yaremche market with marinated chicken thighs with the bone in, and were wondering about threading these on the (supplied) metal shaslik skewers, Ocsana produced a metal grilling rack- a two-sided one that sandwiched the chicken. That worked a treat. We all agreed that the chicken we ate that night was as good as we had ever tasted. Guculs'ka Hata also has a wonderful banya. There is an extra cost, but it is so, so worth it. The banya is large, wooden (of course) and the steam room gets really hot. The plunge bath, about 3m x 3m and about 2m deep is indoors but the water was icy. After the first shock, we all enjoyed the banya enormously. The hotel is a long walk from the centre of Yaremche but taxis are very cheap. The fare to the centre is about 70 hryvnia (about AUD 3.50 on current exchange rates - Nov 2018). Guculs'ka Hata is a picture in itself. It is constructed from large wooden logs, like much of the local architecture. The building itself is worth putting on a postcard. Above all, Guculs'ka Hata was great value. Our tariff was amazingly inexpensive for the value and hospitality we received.