Ukraine and Kiev

[iced]

Me and my friend are going from Slovenia to Ukrain in the end of July. We have 14 days available. Our goal is Chernobyl tour.
I would like to know where is good or safe place to park our motorcycles in Kiev for 2 days. We are planing to stay in hostel.
· But if you have better idea, please let me know…
· Which road should we take from H - U border to Kiev (autobahn or somewhere else)?
· How long does usually take from H – U border to Kiev? (we have to book a tour)
· Are there places near the road to put a tent?
· Any other recommedation what to see beside Kiev and Lviv? (Carpatian…?)
· Any other suggestion about visiting this country?

Thank you
Best regards,
Uros

[Nixa]

Dear Uroš,

1. Where to stay...
I stayed two times in hotel Odesa which is on the way to Odesa, 10 min drive from the Center, on the left side. Very good hotel with good service, food and nice staff. Their parking is guarded 24h/day, there is no need to worry about safety if you stay there, very professional guards armed and nasty looking as they should be.
I recommend booking in advance because you will get much better deal that way, also pretty much all hotels in Ukraine have guarded pakings so don't worry about that.

2. Which way to take from Hungary to Kiev...
Enter in Ukraine at Chop and just follow the signs to L'viv and Kiev. It goes like this Chop-Stry-L'viv-Rivne-Žitomir-Kiev. Also you can take road road L'viv-Ternopil-Hmeljinski-Žitomir-Kiev but I would rather go with the first version. In Ukraine there are no autobahn's as in the EU, first of all you don't have to pay second every few to ten km you can make 180 turn on the "autobahn" very dangerous! Drive carefully. The way from Hungary to Kiev is mostly magistral road, but their roads are really wide and many times I have seen two trucks and a car in the middle all in two lanes... So you get the picture

3. How long...
On the first day you need to go across all of Hungary, I recommend not to push it all the way to L'viv if you go to Ukraine for the first time, keep in mind that you will lose some time on the border, they like paper stuff.
When you enter Ukraine you will find yourself in Zakarpatska oblast, there (some 80-100km) are alot of really good restaurants and hotels there. You will see when you start to go uphill.
On the second day you can go and visit L'viv, it is a nice place.
From L'viv to Kiev if you start in the morning you will come to Kiev at evening. It is a long drive, but it is like that in Ukraine.

4. Tent...
Well on your place I would leave the tent at home. Stay out of trouble...

5. What to see...
In short, forget about Chernobil. L'viv, Kiev, and Krim are places to see.

6. Etc...
Drive cerfully. I have seen some of the worst accidents in Ukraine. Ukranian police is much much better than the Russian, but keep within legal limits. Main roads are generaly ok, but local roads... you don't want to go there If it is raining avoid little ponds because the hole might be deadly deep.

Keep it safe

Nikola

[KingAlrik]

Hi Nikola,
You don't happen to have a link to the Hotel Odesa in Kiev?

Have you visited Prypyat?
If so, any tips...

regards, Johan

[ROCKOZ]

A hotel link would be great. I am heading the same way in July and paranoid about leaving the bike!

[moggy 1968]

I've driven the support truck for 2 motorbike trips to Chernobyl.

you have to do it through an organised tour, an online search should bring one up. It is quite interesting but it's a bit touristy now and some of the scenes have been set up to perpetuate the myth of emergency evacuation. The reality is the town was still occupied some time after the explosion but it is one of those tick in the box trips.









The border crossing can take a while so factor this into your calcs. it's taken me between 2 and 4 hours on the 3 occasions I have done it. coming back out though has taken upto 20! (and that was with a bribe to get into the compound). police are sharp, but fines are negotiable. do negotiate hard and if you are really good at playing the idiot tourist (it comes naturally to me!) often gets you off completely.

[Jervig]

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...681#post447596

My answwers from 2 weeks ago.

JP