VAP Shayany Mineral Waters, Vyshkovo

Shayan water from Vyshkovo

VAP Shayany is a mineral water plant in the old town of Vyshkovo on the Tysa, a few kilometres from the well-known Shayan spa. It extracts and bottles natural mineral water from deep local wells: the medicinal table water Shayanska, the drinking water Syla Karpat (“Strength of the Carpathians”) and the iodised Yodis Karpat. Mineral water was first bottled in Vyshkovo in 1979, production restarted in 1986, and the present company has run it since 1998. The plant has been modernised several times since: in 2011 a new PET bottling line was added, bringing lightly sparkling and still waters and an iodine-enriched water. The company has its own laboratory and sells most of its output within Ukraine.

How to buy and taste

There are no plant tours, so VAP Shayany is above all a producer whose water you look for on the shelves. You can buy it in several ways:

• in shops — according to the producer, its water is sold in many stores across Ukraine and is especially common in Zakarpattia;
• through its online shop on Prom.ua (shayanska.prom.ua), with delivery throughout Ukraine;
• wholesale, directly — arrange by phone or e-mail.

Note that Shayanska is bottled by more than one company, so to get the Vyshkovo one, check the producer's name and bottling place on the label. To taste Shayan water straight from the source, visit the pump room of the neighbouring Shayan spa.

What to try

Shayanska is a cold, carbonated, low-mineralised sodium-bicarbonate water rich in silica. It is drawn from well No. 242 of the Shayan deposit at a depth of 250 metres. The deposit lies on the south-eastern edge of the volcanic Vyhorlat–Hutyn ridge, where carbonated waters rise to the surface through faults in sandy-clay sediments. Its hallmark is metasilicic acid, along with calcium, magnesium, iron and lithium; the producer compares it with waters such as Armenia's Dilijan or Serbia's Knjaz Miloš. Shayanska comes strongly sparkling, lightly sparkling and still, in 0.5 and 1.5-litre PET bottles and in classic 0.33 and 0.5-litre glass. As a medicinal table water it is taken in courses, on a doctor's advice.

Syla Karpat is a soft everyday drinking water with a moderate mineral content, also good for cooking; it comes still or lightly sparkling, from 0.5 to 5 litres. Yodis Karpat is a table water from an artesian well in the Tysa basin with naturally occurring iodine, in 1.5-litre PET and 0.5-litre glass. In Zakarpattia mineral springs are as much a part of tradition as wine or bryndza cheese: locals have long fetched water from “sour” wells, and the spas of the Khust and Svaliava areas grew up around healing springs.

Practical information

• Address: 1 Shayanska St, Vyshkovo, Khust district, Zakarpattia region, 90454.
• Phone: +38 (031) 425-75-30; e-mail: [email protected].
• Website and social media: shayanwaters.com, Facebook — vapshayany, Instagram — vapshayanu.
• Hours (per the website): Mon–Fri 8:00–20:00, Sat 8:00–14:00, closed Sun. Check by phone in advance about buying on site.
• Getting there: Vyshkovo lies on the right bank of the Tysa about 20 km south-east of Khust, on the Khust–Shayan–Vyshkovo–Bushtyno road. Minibuses run from Khust to Shayan and Vyshkovo; Khust can be reached by train or bus from Mukachevo and Uzhhorod.

Please confirm by phone before your trip.

Website and social media: shayanwaters.com · facebook.com · instagram.com · shayanska.prom.ua

Photos: zaktour.gov.ua; shayanwaters.com.