Kyiv, especially, and Lviv, again.

I can't help with guides but want to warn you that I never found a tourist office in Kyiv, so (unless you find internet info to the contrary) you shouldn't count on T.O. help in that city. L'viv had a helpful tourist office as of last year, but my experiemce was that if they find you a guide, the guide will want to give you a standard tour which may be interesting but not what you are looking for. Therefore, I'd bash away at the internet to see whether sites like toursbylocals produce anything. If you're booking hotels, you could also see what they might suggest.

Ukraine has a cafeteria-style chain, Puzata Hata, that's a great opportunity to try a lot of local foods amazingly cheaply. Some of the servers speak enough English to tell you what's chicken vs. pork, etc. There's a branch in Kyiv a couple of blocks from what I'd call the back side of the main railway station (beyond a flock of US chains), but I think the location in L'viv, just a few blocks from the Old Town, is acknowledged to be the best. I am not a fan of cafeterias in general, but the turnover at Puzata Hata is rapid so the food is fresh, and the quality is quite good. Everyone from students to families seems to eat there. The line moves fast, too. It's not always easy to find healthy vegetables in eastern Europe, but there are both salads and cooked vegetables readily available at Puzata Hata.

I second @acraven's recommendation of Puzata Khata (Potbellied House) as a place to eat, we went twice to the one in Kyiv on the Kreschatyk. We spent more time in Lviv than Kyiv last year, and our activities in Kyiv revolved around Independence Day celebrations, but I have a few suggestions for Lviv.

The TI in Lviv is located in the City Hall (Ratusha) on the Market Square (Ploscha Rynok). I picked up a brochure there for Walkative tours, most are free, there is a tour called Legendary Bars and Cafes which has a fee. I didn't take any of their tours, so can't vouch for the quality. https://freewalkingtour.com/lviv/

And as @acraven has mentioned, try Google, I found some when I Googled "Lviv food tours". I'm sure a search for Kyiv will also produce some results.

You can also take a look at justlviv.it, they seem to have some food based tours and a culinary workshop - again, haven't used them, can't vouch for quality of their offerings.

A guide that I know of in Lviv who does group and private tours, is Sofiia Dembitska, again I haven't used her services myself, but have heard good things about her. She works in English and Ukrainian. [email protected]
(Yes, that is 2 "i"s in her name🙂)

You mentioned in your previous post that you were interested in architecture. Are you on Instagram? If yes, check out @irynamylinska, she posts (in Eng. & Ukr.) about Lviv architecture - really interesting. I didn't discover her until after my trip last year, but now I have a list of places to check out this September. She also posts about museums in Lviv, esp. some of the less well known ones.

There are so many restaurants and cafes in Lviv now, esp. around the Ploscha Rynok, these are some we liked:

Restoratsia Bachevskykh (Ресторація Бачевських), Shevska st., 8 (needs a reservation)

Atlias (Атляс,) Ploscha Rynok, 45 - one of Lviv's oldest cafes

Veronika (Вероніка), Prospekt Shevchenka, 21 - coffee / cake shop on street level, restaurant in cellar

Rebernia pid Arsenalom (Реберня під Арсеналом), Pidvalna st., 5 - ribs

Puzata Khata (Пузата Хата), 2 locations - Sichovykh Striltsiv st., 12 ; Prospekt Shevchenka 10

Amadeus (Амадеус), pl. Katedralna, 7 - Ukrainian and European

Borsch (Борщ), Katedralna, 3 - go there if not to eat, then just to see the giant varenyk walking around in front, and people stopping to take selfies - very entertaining!

Rudyy Kit (Рудий Кіт), Drukarska, 4 - Ukrainian, European food, sweets, and of course coffee

Krym (Крим), Furmanska, 1A - Crimean

Cat Cafe, Stepana Bandery st., 47A - coffee and desserts out of this world, in the company of cats!

Tamada, vul. Virmenska, 18 - Georgian

Celentano - various locations, pizza & pasta, when you get tired of Ukrainian food

Thanks @acraven and @khrystia for the restaurant and cafeteria recommendations! And thanks, also, for the heads up about Iryna Mylinksa's Instagram page. I just checked it out and it looks like a beautiful and really helpful resource.

I'm still striking out on the small group food tours, so I may just play it by ear. It's certainly not the end of the world, especially with other leads on good food. I'll report back if I find anything.

I'm still playing around with dates and trying to find the best combination, but one option on the table is to take the overnight train from Krakow to Lviv, which gets in at about 6:10 am. This isn't ideal, but I'm considering it partly because a friend pointed out that--so early in the morning--the old and more photogenic parts of the city are largely empty of tourists. I do love to just wander with my camera, so that idea has some appeal. Would it be correct to assume that at least some coffee places or bakeries would be open by 8, at least on a weekday?

Thanks!
Caroline

There are a couple of coffe shop chains - Kredens Cafe and Lviv Croissants - that have locations on/near pr. Svobody and the Ploscha Rynok. They open at 8 am, and the Lviv Croissants at 18, Kniazia Romana st. which is very close to Ploscha Rynok is open 24 hours. You can Google them to get exact locations and hours. Worst case scenario, there is a McDonald's on pr. Svobody, it has coffee and pastries which will tide you over until you find something better.

In regards to the overnight train from Kraków to Lviv, do you have to change trains in Przemysl? If yes, be aware that the station in Przemysl is a royal pain - lots of stairs and tunnels to get from one platform to another, no escalators and the one elevator was never working.

cslh324, I have no experience with any guides there, but I did find this website private tourguides
which will give you lists of local guides in the cities or areas that you choose. I have looked at the Ukraine, Kiev and Lviv tour guides on this site and would feel comfortable using one since they have some affiliation with Viator. Their write-ups and websites give some interesting reading.

KRYSTA Thanks for info on coffee shops etc and more importantly the transfer at PRZEMYSLIT coming to LVIV from Krakow....any way to avoid it? maybe switch to a bus ?

I am also planning for my Lviv and Kiev trip in September and use Airbnb all the time. They have Airbnb experiences that have private tours. I have gone on them when I was in Colombia this winter and they were fantastic, and plan on using them again when in Ukraine