Ukraine
Location


How to get there?
Unfortunatly, Ukraine didn't sign the 'Open-Skies act' yet, so low cost carriers don't fly there. Still, it's not too difficult to get there quite cheap, but it might take time:
  • Air Baltic operates flights from Riga
  • Blue Air has cheap flights to Bucharest, Romania. Take the train to Odessa (warning: non-EU citizens need a visa to pass through Moldavia!)
  • Sky Europe flies from Brussels to Krakow (Poland). Lviv is only a traintrip (8h) from Krakow.
  • If you want to save some time while going from Krakow to Lviv, then take the train to Premsyl (Poland), take a minibus to Medyka (border), cross the border on foot, and in Ukraine, take a mashrutka (bus) to Lviv
  • new! Wizz Air flies from Dortmund to Lviv
  • new! German Wings flies from Cologne to Kiev from 30 euro one way

    • Documents
  • Citizens of Belgium only need an international passport for a maximum stay of 3 months. A visa is not nescessary anymore since 2005. But this situation has changed before and can change according to the political situation, so check your local embassy.

    • Transportation in the country
  • Transportation is good, but slow. Especially sleeper-trains offer a lot of comfort (even 2nd class).

    • Accomodation
    Accomodation might be a bit harder to find. Like in every ex-soviet country hotels are expensive, so better rent an appartment, even when it is for only 1 day. Also, you can look in metro stations or near the railway station for elderly women who carry a sign 'komnati'. You can rent a room or an appartment from them, it will be around 15-20 euro/night. Hostels seem to be finding their way through the whole country, though some are just old soviet appartments where you can rent a room. Since the lonely planet is very unhelpful in finding budget accomodation, here are some usefull addresses (prices for 1 person) :
  • Kamenets Podolski, Hotel 7-days (Sobornaya 7): Very good and modern hotel, Price: +/- 30 Euro.
  • Kiev, Youth Hostel Yaroslav (Yaroslavska str. 10, Tel: +38044-417-3189): Looks nice, though a bit hard to find. Price: +/- 20 Euro.
  • Kiev, Youth Hostel Kiev (Artema street 52A, Tel: +38044-481-3838): Accommodation in an old soviet-style appartment, close to the metro. Price: 20 Euro.
  • Lviv, Lviv Backpackers (Kotliarevskoho street 37): Friendy & Clean, only dorm available. Price: +/- 20 Euro.
  • Odessa, Black Sea Backpackers (Ekaterininskaya 25, Tel: +38048-725-2200)
  • Yalta, Hotel Otdih (Drajinskovo Street 14, Tel: +38065-435-3079: Best choice in Yalta after private appartments. Friendly staff. Price from +/- 20 Euro incl. breakfast.
  • Yalta, Hotel Krim (Moskovoska 1/6, Tel: +38065-427-1701): Great location in the center of Yalta, though a bit unfriendly staff. Price: +/- 20 Euro.

    • Costs
    Ukraine is not an expensive country. Including transportation, entry tickets to museums, meals, drinks and accomodation, you'll spend 30-35 euro/day. Some examples:
  • Price of a meal excluding drinks:    
    		•  30-70 Gr (4-10 EUR)
  • Price of a big bottle of water:    
    		•  4-7 Gr. (0,5-1 EUR)
  • Nighttrain from Kiev to Odessa, 2nd class:    
    		•  60 Gr (8 EUR)
  • Hostel, Lviv (dormitory):    
    		•  120 Gr (20 EUR)
  • Hotel, Kamenets Podoski (quite good):    
    		•  225 Gr (30 EUR)
  • Hotel, Yalta :    
    		•  from 120-600 Gr (20-100 EUR)

    Literature
    Unfortunatly, the Lonely Planet is quite outdated. To find accomodation this guide is pretty useless unless you want to stay in the more expensive hotels. Situation in Ukraine is changing rapidly and even some hostels exist already.

    Do and Don'ts
  • Buy an Ukrainian SIM Card for your mobile. Telecommunication is cheap (25 Gr/3 EUR) for a SIM card, it will be handy to check availability of hotels.
  • Learn some russian before you go. You'll enter a country where nobody speaks english- take this in account! If you don't have the time, learn some cyrillic (it's not difficult) and/or take a phrasebook.
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