Where to stay, what to eat, where to go

Sumy is a frontline city: venues may change hours or close temporarily after strikes. Information is as of October 2026; check that a place is open before visiting and follow air-raid alerts.

The Grand Hotel and merchants' rooms

The largest hotel of pre-revolutionary Sumy was the Grand Hotel at today's 8 Voskresenska Street. It opened in 1878 with a restaurant on the ground floor. Its owner, Luminarsky, later opened one of the city's first cinemas, the Orion. The building survives along with its Art Nouveau staircase; it now houses the city architecture department and carries a memorial plaque. It is a listed local monument.

On Soborna Street the Hotel Kyiv operated in the Hulevych house; its owner E. Krause advertised "refurbished rooms, a buffet and a skilled chef" in a Kharkiv almanac. At 44 Soborna stands another hotel building of 1903–1907, also a listed monument. The building at 15 Independence Square belonged to the Resurrection Church and was let out to support it; in 1907 it was a coaching inn with rooms.

Soviet hotels

In 1955 the Khimik hotel was built in Khimmistechko for Sumykhimprom workers, next to the 1956 Palace of Culture; both buildings are now listed monuments. In 1961 the Hotel Ukraina opened right in the centre at 1 Voskresenska Street and became the main hotel of Soviet Sumy. In the 1970s the Teatralnyi restaurant complex, with its Green, Red and Crystal halls, a stage and a cabaret, appeared on the corner of Pokrovska Square and Petropavlivska Street. The de Konnor mansion was demolished to make way for it, and today the Labyrinth shopping centre stands on the site.

On 10 December 1972 the Krystal restaurant opened on Shevchenka Avenue in a modernist building with a bar and two banquet halls. It became the best-known restaurant of late-Soviet Sumy and in 1997 turned into a private joint-stock company. Later the restaurant closed, the building was sold, and an ATB supermarket now occupies it.

The Sumy Chestnuts cake. The city's sweet symbol since the 1960s, first made by the local confectionery factory: layers of meringue with peanuts, a cream of boiled condensed milk and butter, and a chocolate glaze with crushed nuts. Several makers bake it today, and cafés serve it.

Sugar heritage. Sumy was called the sugar capital because of the Kharytonenko mills. Only ruins remain of the Pavlivka refinery, and the sugar-cube monument on Pokrovska Square recalls that era. The Horobyna distillery traces its history to 1897, and the 1896 state wine warehouse No. 7 still works as a workshop.

Coffee no matter what. On 13 April 2025, right after the missile strike, a café on Kondratieva Street became an aid point where baristas handed out tourniquets and bandages to the wounded and medics. In winter 2025, when power was off for many hours, cafés ran on batteries and generators and restaurants cooked on charcoal grills and in wood-fired pizza ovens. On 18 April 2025 Shahed drones destroyed the Easter-bread workshop of the region's leading confectioner, killing one person.

Cinemas from the Orion to IMAX

As early as 1917 Sumy had the Ampir and Lux cinemas and the Orion electro-theatre. The Ampir stood on Pokrovska Square and was later demolished, while the 1910s cinema building at 48 Soborna is a listed monument. Today the Druzhba cinema palace at 20 Shevchenka Avenue, an old single-screen hall, is still open. Planeta Kino, with IMAX and 4DX in the Manufaktura mall, has been closed since the September 2026 strikes.

Theatre in a mine shaft

In June 2025 the Shchepkin Theatre had to end its main-stage season early. In spring 2026 it opened a safe stage, Shtolnia ("the Shaft"), in its machine room, with Mrożek's Emigrants as the first premiere. The evacuated Luhansk theatre performs in Sumy in a 50-seat shelter.

Shopping centres under attack

Large shopping centres have become frequent targets. On 3 April 2026 a drone hit a mall in the city centre. On the evening of 20 July jet-powered drones burned down the 23,000 m² Epicentr hypermarket, opened in 2014; firefighters could not start work for a long time because of repeat strikes. On 9 September a drone hit the Manufaktura mall, killing two 21-year-olds and injuring 23; after a second strike the next day the centre closed. On 16 October 2026 the Kyiv mall was damaged, and only the supermarket inside is open.

• Yuvileinyi Stadium in Kozhedub Park is Ukraine's seventh-largest arena, with 25,830 seats. It was built on the site of the 1949 Spartak Stadium: work began on 2 September 1999 and it opened on 20 September 2001. The record is about 29,300 for Spartak v Naftovyk in 2003. It hosted the 2009 Ukrainian Super Cup and the Ukrainian Cup final on 25 May 2011, Dynamo v Shakhtar, before 27,800 people. Today it is Viktoriya's home ground. In December 2020 it was sold at auction for UAH 8.12 million to cover Sumy NPO's wage debts; prosecutors valued it at UAH 395 million, it has been under court arrest since 2021, and the pitch needs about 2 million dollars of repairs.
• Avanhard Stadium served as a public ice rink in winter 2026.
• Swimming pools are at Sumy State University (2 Sumtsova St.) and the former Banking Academy (38/2 Svobody Ave.).
• Billiards: the Piramida club at 5 Pokrovska Square.
• Swimming outdoors: the usual spots are the Psel under the Baranivka bridge, Lake Chekha, the Kosivshchyna reservoir and the Blue Lakes. Check health advisories and the security situation first.

• City Day: the first Saturday of September (since 2012).
• Chekhov-Fest: a national theatre festival held since 2013.
• Kharytonenko-Fest: living statues and marionettes on Pokrovska Square around the patron's birthday.
• Museum Night: on 18 May 2024 museums stayed open late, with shelters on standby.
• Winter food fair by the Sadko fountain, 27–28 December 2025.