How to plan your first trip to Ukraine?

If you are reading this article on our website, then we assume you want to travel to Ukraine not just to do some sightseeing, you have a romantic interest. Let’s assume that you want to do both – enjoy sightseeing and meet some Ukrainian beauties.

Planning a round trip to Ukraine. What to start with?

Of course, choose the locations where do you plan to go. Very often tourists especially from the USA underestimate how big is our country. It is the biggest country by its territory in Europe. We are like two Germanies or four Englands by size. So, if you expect to see all the interesting cities and tourist places during one trip – that’s way too optimistic.

Let’s assume you have one week, and you plan to Visit Kyiv and Lviv. Google how you will get from one city to the other. Will you fly there, take a train, perhaps take a bus or rent a car. How much time are you ready to invest in moving between the cities? How much money do you want to spend? Taking a bus or a train might be the cheapest way though now there are new local airlines that offer not expensive domestic flights with a comfortable schedule. Just google “Windrose” airlines. Don’t forget to pay attention if your luggage is included in the ticket and to do the online check-in. Otherwise, you will have to pay extra at the airport. Airline tickets’ prices are truly affordable. For example, a one-way ticket from Kharkiv to Odesa in summer 2021 cost about 50$. Of course, prices will warry because of the season and demand.

What things about Ukraine you should really know before traveling?

· Language

While in big cities like Kyiv or Kharkiv you can easily meet foreign students or locals who speak fluent English, also in tourists areas of Lviv in Odesa you won’t have problems in shops or restaurants to be understood in English in small towns like Poltava, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Mykolaiv or Ternopil meeting someone English speaking can be a problem. So have your smartphone with Google Translator ready to help you out.

· Money exchange

Again, if you travel to a big city or to a popular resort area you won’t have problems using your Visa, Mastercard, or even Apple Pay. In Kharkiv, I almost don’t carry any cash around with me and use my phone to pay for everything – even tips. Of course, if you do sightseeing in the Carpathians mountains outside of Bukovel resort, then you might need cash.

It is easy to change money in any bank or withdraw cash at any bank terminal. The rate will be almost the same. You can check the exchange rate online.

If you are looking for a real travel guide for your trip to Ukraine, we recommend watching some episodes of the TV series “Orel and Reshka”. You will easily find them on YouTube. Of course, the episodes are in the Russian language, but you can watch them with subtitles, and you can see the sights and make notes of what to visit first.

What to pack for your vacation in Ukraine? Of course, check the weather forecast before you leave. Many times, we have warned our clients that it is actually cold here in March or February in comparison to Holland or Singapore. Our clients said they understood it and would bring warm clothes. Well, a client from the Netherlands has shown up wearing very light loafers. It was a real challenge for him to even walk from the car to the hotel because the road was covered with ice, and he literally felt like on a skating rink. Our client from Singapore came wearing a thin hoody. A hoody! Not a parka or a real jacket. No surprise here that we went shopping for a parka right from the airport.

Do you want more travel tips for your trip to Ukraine?

If you are renting a car in winter – book one with the winter tires. If you are traveling to meet a lady you have met online then discuss beforehand the day and time of your date. Surprises are great but if she already has tickets to Hurghada, Egypt, and a girlfriend with whom she has planned this vacation beforehand then can you be really surprised she won’t cancel her vacation at the last minute for a guy she has met online.

We wish you a safe flight and a fun trip!