In a beautiful valley formed by the rivers Bolshaya Penya and Malaya Penya, surrounded by mountains nestles a small village Polyana. This village is almost a thousand years old, here were important events that played a role in the history of the Hungarian people, and today it has become one of the most famous resorts in Transcarpathia.
The village of Polyana is located 10 kilometers north of Mukachevo on the way to the Verecky Pass, considered a sacred place for the Hungarian people. It was this pass that the Hungarians crossed in the 9th century before finding a new home here. Mount Krehaya rises above the village on the southwest side, Mount Bald on the northwest side, and Mount Kicera on the east side.
The glade is about 300 meters above sea level, the village is surrounded by spruce, beech and mixed forests — the air here is full of fragrant aromas of mountain herbs and trees.
Polyana was first mentioned in historical documents in the XII century as a small settlement of shepherds. At that time it belonged to the vassal of the Hungarian king Beilo II Boleslav Vatsovsky. During the Tatar-Mongol invasion the village was burned down, and it was restored only by 1548, when it is mentioned in documents again. A century later, the Oprishkov movement intensified in Polyana, and it was one of its centers in Transcarpathia, which is why, when the village passed into the possession of the Habsburgs in 1691, it was devastated by Austrian soldiers. It was here, not far from Polyana, that the leader of the Hungarian people’s liberation movement Ferenc II Rakoczy met with peasants in 1703. After his defeat in 1711, what was left of the small village together with the rest of the surrounding land was taken over by the Schönborn family. From then on, life in Polana began to improve.
It was under the Shenborns that curative mineral springs were discovered in the vicinity of Polyana, thanks to which the village became known as the brightest attraction of Transcarpathia. After the baths were built on the bank of the Malaya Penya in 1868, Polyana became one of the most famous European resorts, where you could be treated all year round. In 1907, the wooden baths were destroyed by fire, and new ones were built in their place, which were replaced in 1946 by the Polyana Sanatorium, which is still in operation and popular among tourists today.
Today Polyana is a modern resort, hidden in the bosom of pristine nature. Here you can relax both quietly and measuredly, and actively — there are ski slopes near the village.
Stunning natural pictures, healing mineral waters, clean air fragrant with mountain aromas, unity with nature, real meditation — all this is vacation in Polyana, one of the most interesting villages of Transcarpathia, a unique attraction of Ukraine, known far beyond the country.