Belarus – Ukraine – Moldovia
 

Hi Folks

Need some advice on Belarus – Ukraine – Moldovia for summer 2019
Plan is to enter Belarus end of June from Latvia. Then hit down towards Ukraine, Odessa and further towards Romania thru Moldovia
The plan is not to go to Minsk and either not to Kiev. We are planning something like Hrodna - Brest - Lviv - Odessa – Moldavia – Romania
We both drive ADVs and I guess the main roads are good enough for any bike. But we don’t want just to drive thru the countries without exploring more interesting places
Any advice of smaller cities and more interesting roads and areas along the route plan we have?

THX in advance

You don't say what specifically interests you, but here goes according to my tastes:

In general terms, Belarus does not have many interesting places. I would not miss Minsk, it's a nicely preserved Soviet city. Hrodna has a few nice spots. I found Brest pretty dull, except of course Brest Fortress which is definitely worth visiting. There is some nice forest between these two towns where you have a chance to see wild wisent (European bison).

For nice roads, the whole south is rather beautiful, I especially liked the drive from Pinsk to Mazyr; again we're not talking about anything spectacular.

You can see my account of Belarus (I went all around the country) here: https://eurasiaoverland.com/2011/03/19/26/

Ukraine has slightly more to offer; again, I like Kyiv but from a sight-seeing point of view Lviv is more beautiful; one of the nicest-looking cities in the Former USSR in my opinion.

For scenery, the Carpathian Mountains are very beautiful; almost certainly the most beautiful part of the country now that the Crimea is off limits (without a detour round through Russia).

I thought Chernivtsi was a very beautiful city and would put that on my route. You can then head past the castles in Khotyn and Kamianets Podilskyi.

Odessa is a great place, very atmospheric and distinctive. A great mix of seedy port atmosphere and elegant buildings.

Accounts of Ukraine are on my website here: https://eurasiaoverland.com/category/ukraine/

Note that Ukraine has some truly awful roads; some are so badly potholed that they would not be much fun to ride on with a heavy bike. They also seem to have deteriorated (I visited this year and found them far worse then in 2011 when I did most of my travel in Ukraine). The areas around Moldova are some of the poorest in Ukraine, so expect the roads to be awful.

Moldova is a country I really enjoyed (I drove through much of Transnistria, which was beautiful and interesting). There's a nice castle in Soroca, and the cave monasteries of Orheil Veichi and Tipova. I liked Chisinau and Gagauzia too. My favourite memory though is of being invited into peoples' houses to drink home-made wine.

Moldova journey here: https://eurasiaoverland.com/2011/10/31/31/

Romania is not a country I have anything good to say about, so I will not say anything.

Good luck

EO