Tourist visas are no longer required
for citizens of the European Union, United States, Canada,
Japan, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Vatican City,
Monaco, Iceland, Norway, San Marino, Mongolia, Serbia,
Montenegro and the countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (except Turkmenistan). This applies only
for tourist travel lasting less than 90 days.
Visas are required for travel related to study or work, even
if for less than 90 days, even for the aforementioned
countries. For citizens of other countries obtaining a visa
for travel to Ukraine may take up to 10 working days; an
express option is available at a higher cost. More information
is available at Ukraine's Embassy in your country and/or the
Foreign service departments of your national governments (or
their embassy websites here in Ukraine).
Always know how much currency you have with you. Customs officials
might inquire about the amount being brought into the country. It is
prohibited to bring large amounts of Ukrainian currency (hryvnia)
unless it was declared upon leaving Ukraine.
It is advisable to check in advance the customs regulations (e.g.
the Boryspol Airport website, which has an English version) as rules
and regulations have the habit of changing at short and unannounced
notice.
When entering the country you will be required to complete an
immigration form - currently this is a simple white document with
two parts that have more or less identical information. Both parts
should be completed on arrival: the immigration officer will keep
one part and you have to retain the second, which you will need to
show to the immigration officer on your departure from the country.
It is not advisable to lose this easily lost scrap of paper, as
you'll almost certainly have difficulties on leaving Ukraine (and
likely incur a "fine" too). You will need to know where you are
going to stay as this is required on the form and the immigration
officer will insist that it is filled in.
By plane
The cheapest way to fly into Ukraine is through the Kyiv Boryspil
International Airport. The main international hubs for these flights
are Budapest, Frankfurt, Milan, Munich, Prague, London, Rome, Vienna
and Warsaw with several flights a day of Austrian AUA, CSA Czech
Airlines, LOT, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Air France, British Airways, KLM
and MALEV - Hungarian Airlines; also Ukraine International, which
code-shares on these routes with the respective carriers, and
another Ukrainian carrier, AeroSvit. Special offers on flights come
and go, depending on the whim of the carrier. The only low-cost
carrier flying into Ukraine, as yet (February 2007), is AirBaltic,
with flights routing through either Riga, Latvia, or Vilnius,
Lithuania, although AeroSvit could be considered a somewhat low-cost
carrier (considering there aren't many others.)
There are several airlines which offer direct flights to cities like
Dnipropetrovsk (Lufthansa), Donetsk (Lufthansa, Austrian), Odessa (MALEV,
LOT, Austrian, CSA Czech Airlines), Kharkiv and Lviv (LOT, Austrian
Airlines), but they are more expensive.
To fly inside Ukraine, the most common airline is AeroSvit. Although
this is the unofficial national airline, and its routes cover all of
Ukraine's major destinations, the planes used on some routes are
older Soviet aircraft. Ukraine International also recently
introduced flights within the country from its hub in Kyiv, mainly
flying newer Boeing 737 aircraft.
By train
One can enter Ukraine by train from any land-bordering neighbor.
When coming from Europe there will be a wait at the border while the
train's bogies are changed in order to adapt to a different rail
gauge. It's generally quicker and cheaper to buy a ticket to the
border and then change trains, rather than wait getting through
train. Generally, in Ukraine railway travel is much cheaper than
flying, and is comparable (but probably cheaper) to bus or car
travel. It will take at most a whole day to ride across the country,
so unless you are in hurry take a train. It's good practice to take
long-distance trains, which are much more comfortable. Avoid cheap
third-class travel if you're cautious of local experiences.
By car
The nearest significant town on the Polish side is Przemyśl, and
it's straightford to find by following route # 4 (which passes
through Przemyśl), also known as the E40 in European terms.
When you arrive, the road is fairly narrow (no motorway/autobahn
this) with a queue of trucks and vans parked to the right of the
road; a hard-core parking area with cafe/bar to the left. Don't stop
behind the goods vehicles, slip up the side of them and then feed
into the customs area when the guy flags you forward (for courteous
Europeans, you're not jumping the queue - commercial traffic goes
through a different process).
If you're in an EU registered car then make for the EU-passports,
passport control section. Thence to Ukrainian passport control and
then Ukrainian customs and then you're through. It used to be a
nightmare, with apocalyptic tales of 5-6+ hours at the border (and
as of July 2007, this is still a possibility), but the Ukrainians
have made great advances in efficiency and it takes about an hour to
make the crossing (September 2005 - still true in Feb 2006). Don't
expect the border police to treat you in a friendly or even
respectful manner, in fact, expect anything ranging from neutral to
extremely dickish behavior.
Once through, just follow the main road towards Lviv on the E40 -
this is the route right across Ukraine to Kyiv (and thence on to the
East). Stick to this - the main towns on the way are Lviv, Rivne,
Zhytomyr.
Watch out about 15-20 km inside Ukraine, I think the village is
called Mostiska, as they have gone crazy about traffic calming
measures here (speed bumps or sleeping policemen). They're like
icebergs across the road, and very badly marked. And there are about
four or five sets of them through the village. Other than that, take
care on the road, which although the main East/West highway, and the
main road route into the EU, still remains in a miserable condition
(surface-wise). And you'll soon realise why Ukraine has such poor
statistics in relation to driver and pedestrian fatalities and
injuries. Drive defensively is the optimum advice re the roads,
other road users and the walking, riding public.
by foot
You can walk across the 200 meter long bridge from Sighetul
Marmatiei, Romania. But once you get to Slatina, Ukraine, it may be
difficult to engage onward travel unless you came in a car.
Bicycling is also a possibility in summer.
By bus
There are inexpensive direct bus services to Lviv and
Ivano-Frankivsk from Poland. They usually offer a budget level of
comfort and cost about 90 to 100 hyrvnia (20 US$)
By boat
There are some ferries from Istanbul, Georgia, Varna (Bulgaria) to
Odessa or to Crimea.
