Crimea: A picturesque tourist spot you won't be visiting anytime soon

Take a tour of the Black Sea paradise at the center of the Ukraine-Russian standoff

Black Sea coast
(Image credit: (FotoS.A./Corbis))

When you click on Lonely Planet's guide to Crimea, you get a warning advising against all travel to the area. Which shouldn't be surprising to anyone following the news lately. But before Crimea became the center for Vladimir Putin's volatile standoff with Ukraine, the peninsula was actually considered a hidden gem of a tourist spot.

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Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.