I have not been to Lviv (probably the Russian transliteration of Lvov in train schedules), but from what I’ve heard it’s worth a day or so. Kiev is beautiful and interesting. I spent nearly a month working in Ukraine, mostly in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, in 2004. The tourism infrastructure wasn’t that great, but you should be able to navigate Lviv and Kiev. Odessa might be a little trickier. Is there a reason you’ve picked Odessa?

If you don’t speak Russian, spend some time learning the Cyrillic alphabet and get phrase book. It’s unlikely that you’ll run into anyone who speaks English on the train so print out the schedule (with all intermediate stops) from Bahn.de and transliterate it so you can recognize the station names. Russian and Ukrainian are similar. In 2004, everybody at least understood Russian, but the fact that only Ukrainian is used in the schools means that Russian is less prevelent each year.

Check the various classes of train service — you should be able to read about them in any good guide book. If there are 4 classes, then 2nd class will be OK (although 1st class will be a relatively cheap and possibly worth the splurge). If there are 2 or 3 classes, go 1st class.

I picked Odessa mostly because of the beaches and to take a break from what will have been at this point, mostly a cultural trip. From what I read, it seems like a great city to party and enjoy the beach for a few days. Otherwise, I have no special interest in going there. If you have other suggestions, I’m opened to hear them!

Thanks for the information about the trains too, I’ll look into that.

I think Yalta would be a better choice for beaches and cultural stuff, but it will be harder to get there and harder to get back to Kiev. BTW, in case you’re used to the Western Pronounciation, it’s pronounced Keeve, not Key-ev. You’ll probably get Ukrainian trains (blue) instead of Russian ones (green — look just like the ones in Dr. Zhivago) in this part of Ukraine. The rail guage is like Russia so the cars are wider and taller, which makes a 4 berth compartment very comfortable. We were on one of the new high speed trains between Kharkiv and Kiev. It wasn’t as fast as trains in western Europe, but it was posher and fancier than with the fanciest name trains I’ve ever been on. I would not count on being able to get anything to eat on the train. If there is a diner, snack car, or food cart everything will be terribly over priced. You should be able to get hot water and/or tea from the car attendent on any overnight train.

You should definitely spend at least two days in Lvov/Lviv/Lwow. It’s a lot like Krakow but with almost no backpackers.

I don’t why Odessa would be tricky to travel in but beaches are probably not the best reason to go there. They are usually pretty overcrowded and some are not that clean. For beaches parts of Crimea should probably be your destination.

Chernobyl tours are pretty expensive and apparently there are only certain times that they let people in, so you would usually need to organize it beforehand.

I also suggest a one day stop in Kamenets Podolsk, a fortress city It’s a bit of a pain to get there but worth it.

In Kiev watch out for the dropped wallet scam.

I don’t think it will be particularly difficult (other than the very long train ride) to get to or around Odessa. While I think Crimea would be a better visit, Odessa’s probably a better choice for logistics. Getting to Crimea from L’viv would take 10 hours longer, getting around Crimea would be more difficult, and getting back to Kiev would take longer, too.

i spent some time in Ukraine last summer so maybe i can help you.

First, i’d say definetely stop in Lviv. It’s a very nice city worth a day or two. There’s not so many tourists in Ukraine and the tourism infrastructure is not the best, but i found Lviv to be more tourist-friendly than other places i’ve been. And the train rides are sooo long in Ukraine, you might find this stop a pretty good idea after all.

I haven’t been to Odessa so i can’t really say, but the Crimea is very nice. Everyone talks about Yalta, but i really liked Sevastopol, i felt it was more authentic (Yalta has lots of Russian tousits). No so much beaches there though, but a nice seafront, and some greek ruins. But i agree with oldlady that Odessa might be better for transportation logistics. I don’t know about your budget, but you could check out Aerosvit Airlines. You could fly from Lviv to Crimea for about 200 $US (that’s what i did, but the other way around).

If you decide to go to Odessa, you could take a bus that’s faster than train. Check this site : http://www.autolux.u…

As for Kiev, it’s a large city with lots of things to see and do. Liked it very much. I did not go to Chernobyl, as i couldn’t decide if it was as safe as they say, and because it’s pretty expensive as i recall. You could also play it safe and visit the Chernobyl museum, a short walk from downtown.

Enjoy your trip !

Thanks for all the info!

I guess I’ll have to come back another time to enjoy the south and Crimea since I’ll be too short on time and I already booked my flight earlier this week (too good of a deal). As for Odessa, the more I read about it, the less I think I’ll enjoy it.

I’ll definetely stop in Lviv though.

Unless there’s been a significant improvement in the roads since 2004, I’d never take a long bus ride in Ukraine if I could avoid it. The roads around Kiev may be decent and a few in Crimea were OK, but in most of the rest of the country, roads were bone-jarringly awful.

Hey guys I don’t mean to but into the conversation here, but I was just curious since I’m going to be in Europe for a long time and am exploring lots of different options… how difficult is it to actually get into Ukraine? I know there are visa issues with gaining entry into the former USSR, and have heard that officials can be corrupt and stuff. I hear the countries are pretty cool once you get past the headache of getting in and out though. What exactly do you have to do to be “allowed in”?

@Feicht : I’m from Canada, i arrived by plane in Kiev and left by train to Poland. Didn’t have any problem, did not need a visa, just my passport. I only had to fill some form at the custom, you keep hald of it and you need to show it when you leave.

@oldlady : yeah i hear the road are not good at all in Ukraine, and i haven’t experienced it very much when i was there, but i remember reading somewhere that the road between Kiev and Odessa has been “renovated”, that’s why i suggested it. But i can’t tell for sure though…

Ah, interesting. Maybe they’ve eased the restrictions then. Any idea what the rail infrastructure is like connecting to other countries? I just checked on Deutsche Bahn’s website and it looks like to get from Lviv to Bucharest you practically have to go to Budapest first….

To/From the west, your best bet would probably be the Krakow – Lviv “short” 9h train ride. I think Kiev has good connection with Minsk and Moscow.

From my experience, it looks like the southwest of Ukraine is not very well covered by railroads. There are probably some options, but some painfully long train rides ahead. If you want to connect to/from Romania, you could check out transportation via Odessa. But the problem with this is you might need to cross Moldavia, and i heard there might be complications with that (especially with the self-proclamed Transnistria republic.)

A visa in no longer required for US and Canadian citizens. I’d read and heard all the corruption stuff, be we had absolutely no problems, although the locals we worked with had a phrase for the $5 traffic stop. We were stopped by police on a road trip. It turned out to be a legitimate stop and no money changed hands. It actually turned out to be a positive memorable experience that we tell often, but the story’s a little too long to relate right now.

Quite good. That means, you can get to all neighboring countries using a train at least once a day, except Romania maybe. There are 2 rail crossings to Romania from Ukraine, but there seem to be no trains. Anyway, if you insist, you can travel using Ukrainian trains or marshrutka minibuses to Solotvino station in Zakarpatya district of Ukraine, from there it is 2 miles on foot to Romanian town Sighetu Marmatiei, which has a direct fast overnight train to Bucharest. See the border crossing in Google Earth at 47.939 N, 23.876 E.

It is possible to cross the EU/Ukraine border on foot, Ive seen it. Last time I was there, I used the public bus from Uzhorod to Michalovce in Slovakia and had no trouble at all, not counting the fact that even the liner bus had to wait for over an hour and a half at the border. All they (Ukrainians) require, if you have a visa free regimen with Ukraine, is to fill out the immigration card – twice – and keep one copy until you leave Ukraine.

Yikes… I dunno dude… last time I tried to walk into another country, I got detained by the military police… haha

Heh, which country was that?