Ukraine

Getting around

Boat

Dnipro River cruises, from Kyiv to the Black Sea, can be booked through many travel agencies, but the principal operator is Chervona Ruta (8-044 253 9247; www.ruta-cruise.com). Check its very comprehensive website for details.

Ukrferry (8-048 234 4059; www.ukrferry.com) has Black Sea cruises in Crimea, where, depending on availability, you might be able to nab a berth for just one leg, say from Sevastopol to Yalta. A similar arrangement exists with Dnipro River trips where you might be able to travel from Odesa to Sevastopol. For these short hops, contact London Sky Travel (8-0482 729 3196; www.lstravel.com.ua).

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Hitching

You simply can’t hitchhike around Ukraine for free. Hitching a ride is common, but it’s necessary to pay drivers for the privilege. Also, hitching is never entirely safe anywhere. However, given the prevalence of unofficial taxis in Ukraine, it’s reasonably safe to do so during the day, within big cities. Obviously, exercise common sense, particularly if you’re a woman travelling solo.

You will need to speak the lingo to discuss your destination and price and it’s easiest to get a ride where locals are flagging down cars. Put your hand up in the air, palm down.

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Bus & tram

Bus

Buses serve every city and small town, but are best for short trips (three hours or less) as they’re generally old and uncomfortable. There’s a very ad hoc feel to the experience, with buses continually coming and going, seemingly without rhyme or reason, and drivers sometimes decorating their buses with religious photos, curtains or plastic flowers.

Some Western-standard ‘luxury’ coaches do ply major routes. The largest operators are Autolux (www.autolux.com.ua) and Gunsel (www.gunsel.com.ua).

Bus stations are called avtovokzal or avtostantsiya. Some of Ukraine’s larger cities have several stations – a main one for long-distance routes and smaller stations that serve local destinations.

Information

Reliable timetables are displayed near the ticket windows, but don’t rely on the Soviet-era route maps. Destinations are usually signposted on platforms. There might be an information window (dovidkove byuro; ), but you can usually ask at any window.

Online information is found at www.bus.com.ua, but it’s not very reliable.

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Car & motorcycle

We don’t particularly recommend driving in Ukraine, unless you’re used to developing-world driving conditions. The roads are mostly terrible and there’s a tacit, unofficial highway code that local drivers understand but which you probably never will. Traffic accidents are also on the high side, with an average 7000 people killed annually on Ukraine’s roads. In 2007 a sharp spike in numbers (9500 deaths) even prompted President Viktor Yushchenko to launch a major road safety campaign, plus a road-investment programme of $3 billion for 2008.

Hire

Between them, Avis (www.avis.com), Europcar (www.europcar.com) and Hertz (www.hertz.com.ua) have locations in Kyiv (airport and downtown), Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, Simferopol and Yalta. Drivers must be over 25 years of age. Check insurance and hire conditions carefully.

Insurance

Third-party insurance is compulsory, which will normally be covered by a ‘Green Card’ International Motor Insurance Certificate. Other insurance isn’t compulsory in Ukraine, but a useful national insurer is Pro100 Strakhuvannya (www.pro100.com.ua/eng). Hire companies provide their own vehicle insurance.

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Train

Although the rolling stock is overdue for retirement and the rails aren’t in the best shape, train is still the preferred form of transport in Ukraine. Although they’re very slow, they’re also cheap and reliable – lateness is rare. You can also move around or get some sleep.

Every train station (zaliznychny vokzal or just vokzal) has a left-luggage counter – which usually goes by the Russian name kamera khranyeneenya () or kamera zberihannaya () in Ukrainian. Many are open 24 hours except for signposted short breaks. You usually pay when you deposit your luggage and retrieve it with the receipt or metal tag you are given.

Most railway personnel in Ukraine tend to be Russian-speaking. Train tickets are printed in Ukrainian and Russian.

Classes of trains

Spalny vahon (SV) is a 1st-class couchette (sleeper) compartment for two people. This is perfect for couples but, if travelling alone, sharing with a stranger can be a little awkward. Your bed will already be made for you and SV toilets are much cleaner. Not all trains offer SV, which costs two to three times more than kupe.

Kupe or kupeyny is a 2nd-class sleeper compartment for four people. This is the most popular class – which books up fast on some routes – and also the safest and most fun. Sharing the compartment with two or three others is less awkward and there’s safety in numbers. Kupe is about twice as costly as platskart. Bed-sheet charges (usually 6uah to 8uah), which used to be paid to train attendants, are now usually included in the ticket price. Platskart is a 3rd-class sleeper. The entire train car is open (no separate compartments), with groups of four bunks in each alcove, along with two others in the aisle. This is not really recommended for foreigners.

Zahalny vahon (obshchiy in Russian) means an upright, hard bench seat for the entire journey. This is generally only used over short distances, although one or two long-distance overnight services use it.

All classes have assigned places with your carriage (vahon) and bunk (mesto) numbers printed on your ticket.

There are many types of trains but the most important difference is between diesel-engine mainline services (often just poyizd but sometimes called pasazhyrskiy poyizd, skoriy poyizd or shvydkiy poyizd, meaning ‘passenger train’, ‘express, long-distance’ and ‘fast’) and electrified suburban trains (elektrychka). The latter will leave from a different part of the train station set aside for local trains (prymisky poyizd, or pryhorodny poyizd in Russian). Some express trains from Kyiv to eastern cities have airplane-style seats, rather than the usual benches.

Costs & reservations

Despite enormous price hikes, train fares are still cheap and you can go from one end of the country to the other for not much more than $40. However, buying tickets is impossible without using a smattering of Ukrainian or Russian (or getting someone else to do it for you). You’ll need to learn some basic phrases or use a phrasebook.

Several cities, such as Kyiv, Lviv and Simferopol, have advance ticket offices in the centre, and some larger train stations (eg Kharkiv, Kyiv, Simferopol) have ‘service centres’ where foreigners might be directed, particularly in busy periods. No-one in either will speak English, but at least you won’t be shoved by so many irate people waiting behind in line.

When buying train tickets you must show a passport (or give a name) for each ticket. This is to thwart touts who used to buy all the seats on popular routes and resell them at a premium.

Information

There’s a searchable English train timetable (www.poezda.net) that’s not 100% up-to-date and which uses downright perverse spelling for town names (eg Chernovcy for Chernivtsi, Harkov for Kharkiv), but is still pretty good. The official Ukrainian Railways site (www.uz.gov.ua, in Ukrainian) even includes prices from Kyiv. Also good is www.seat61.com/Ukraine.htm.

Strictly Russian- or Ukrainian-speaking attendants in information booths (dovidkove byuro; ) are frequently surly and uncooperative, but at least they no longer levy charges for information given.

Schedules are posted on the wall – once you have mastered some basic words, they’re simple to decipher.

In Kyiv, an updated and comprehensive train timetable is printed in the Kyiv Business Directory. At some stations you can buy pocket train timetables or pick up free ones sponsored by local advertising.

On the journey

Each carriage has an attendant called a provodnik (male) or provodnitsa (female), who collects your ticket, distributes sheets, makes morning wake-up calls, and serves cups of tea.

It’s de rigueur to change into sleeping wear in your carriage, so bring tracksuit bottoms, a comfortable top and thick-soled slippers or flip-flops (thongs). Your fellow passengers will happily leave the carriage while you change – just motion.

It’s always been traditional to share food and drink with your fellow passengers. This is still common, although much less so than formerly. Dining cars rarely sell anything more than sandwiches, snacks and drinks.

Toilets are locked some 30 minutes either side of a station. Bring your own paper. Don’t drink the water from the tap or even clean your teeth with it.

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Travel documents

Tickets

Ukraine International Airlines and Aerosvit have offices in most cities, and the website of Kiyavia Travel (www.kiyavia.com) lists timetables, prices and aircraft used – all in English. Tickets can be booked with Kiyavia by email but must be collected in person.

Tickets

Tickets are sold at the bus station a few hours before departure and resemble shop-till receipts. Your destination and time of travel is clearly marked, as well as your seat number (meest; ). Tickets from the bus station are valid only for one service. Having bought a ticket, you can’t suddenly decide to take a later bus without paying again.

Unless the bus is full, you can always simply pay the driver, however. Indeed, if the bus is passing through town, tickets can only be bought this way.

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Local transport

Ukrainian cities are navigable by trolleybus, tram, bus and (in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk) metro. Urban public transport systems are usually overworked and overcrowded. There’s no room for being shy or squeamish – learn to assert yourself quickly.

Still, a ticket (kvytok or bilyet) is dirt-cheap. A single bus/tram/trolleybus ride costs 60 kopecks. It’s always simplest to pay the driver or conductor. Tickets have to be punched on board (or ripped by the conductor). Unclipped or untorn tickets warrant an on-the-spot fine, should you be caught.

For the metros you need a plastic token (zheton), sold at the counters inside the stations for 50 kopecks. Metros run from around 5.30am to midnight. Metro stations can have several names – one for each different line that passes through it.

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Air

Ukraine doesn’t have the world’s safest airline industry, but then it’s probably not the world’s least safe either. In 2005 the US Federal Aviation Authority downgraded the country’s safety rating to Category 2, although both of Ukraine’s international airlines meet FAA standards and air fatalities since independence are low. (Essentially, planes are old, while operating procedures do not meet minimum international safety standards.)

The national network mainly uses Kyiv as a hub. To fly from Lviv to Donetsk or from Simferopol to Kharkiv, for example, you ­almost always need to go through the capital.

Kyiv’s Zhulyany airport (IEV; 8-044 242 2308; www.airport.kiev.ua) receives many domestic (and some international) flights. Smaller airports are listed under individual cities.

Airlines in ukraine

Between them, Ukraine International Airlines and Aerosvit can book most internal flights. However, many services are operated by their domestic code-share partners, often using creaky, smoky Soviet-era Antonov, Ilyushin and Yak aircraft. It’s too complicated to discuss all the individual domestic carriers here, but for reference, they and their IATA codes include Air Ukraine (6U), Dniproavia (Z6), Donbassaero (7D), Lviv Airlines (5V), Motor Sich (M9), Odesa Air (5K) and Tavrey Airco (T6).

Ukraine Mediterranean Airlines (UF) was banned by the EU in 2007 because of safety concerns.

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Bicycle

Although you have to keep an eye out for crazy drivers and keep to the road’s shoulder, cycling is a great way to see the real Ukraine. The Carpathians and Crimea – in that order – are particularly pleasant cycling country. Markets everywhere sell lots of spare parts. Rental is rare; you’ll be better off buying a bike and selling it at the end of your trip.

To transport your bike on a mainline train, you must remove the wheels, wrap the bike in plastic, and place it in the luggage niche above the top bunks. On local electrychky trains you only need to buy an outsized luggage ticket (3uah to 4uah).

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