Matt, I've sent you a Private Message.

There are direct flights from Warsaw to Lviv on LOT Airlines, or a flight from Krakow connecting in Warsaw and then onto Lviv. Not unusually hard to get to. Lviv is definitely on my list and I would have no qualms going there...it's extremely affordable. The only minor inconvenience may be using more cash than I'm used to and of course the Cyrillic script, but definitely not insurmountable.

Ryanair now goes non-stop Lviv to Krakow (starts in October I believe) and they will also be doing Lviv to Budapest (again, starting in October). This really opens up all of Ukraine. The ATMs in Kiev and Odessa worked fine for me.

Is there a visa requirement for a short visit to Ukraine?

There is no visa requirement for US citizens for Ukraine for less than 90 days. That's as of right now, could change at any time depending on relations with Ukraine.

There are a lot of really bizarre perceptions about Ukraine. The only European country I can think of that requires anything more than a ceremonial visa of a US Citizen is Russia and Belarus (even that is exempt if you fly in and out of the Minsk airport). That says a lot.

If Ukraine ever imposed a visa requirement I would be surprised. It would not be in keeping with their long term goals of demonstrating that they are part of the West. A few weeks ago the EU decided to drop the visa requirement for Ukrainians visiting the EU. I think it should be in effect by the end of this month.

Tom MN; like "K" commented above, the world is changing, and this is the moment to pounce. Krakow, as difficult as it is to reach is not what it was even 10 years ago, Lviv will not be far behind if the air connection stays open. Imagine visiting Dubrovnik just 10 years ago; before it became what it is today. Ukraine has incredible potential and as soon as the world perception changes I think its going to change rapidly. I see in Ukraine what i saw in Budapest 15 years ago and I am considering investing.

Trains: Spain and France also have a different gauge making direct train service difficult (except on the new bullet lines). There used to be an all sleeper Paris/Madrid train that had an expanding wheelbase contraption that allowed the train to move car by car from one gauge to the other without waking the passengers.

Is there any way to fit the Holocaust memorial at Belzec, Poland between a journey from Krakow to Lviv without hiring a driver for the 8 hour drive? Or is it best to reach on an international daytrip from Lviv?

Belzec looks to be something less than a 3-hour drive from Lviv. I would fly to Lviv and then make it a day trip. I am certain you can find some interesting stops along the way. Places like Zhovkva Castle (really a fortified manor house) on this square. Then there is the Holocaust memorial at Rava Ruska If you are interested in Belzec, this and Lviv are closely tied.

Once the Visa requirement for Ukrainians is dropped, crossing the border shouldn't be a huge problem.

Ukraine has much significant Holocaust history, WWII History and Soviet pre and post WWII occupation history. The Holodomor for instance, which was perpetrated by the Russians just prior to WWII was nearly equal in death and brutality as the Holocaust.

I know an excellent guide in Central and Eastern Ukraine (Kyiv to Odessa) and I have interviewed a number of guides for the West (Lviv and the Carpathians) and have found one I will use this Christmas. If you are interested PM me and I will pass the names and contacts.

Thank you James, excellent links. There's also the obscure internment of Canadian Ukrainians that happened during WW1, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Canadian_internment

The whole journey (June 2017) is planned to start in Nuremberg, cross to Czech Republic to visit ancestral villages, then on to Prague, Krakow, and Lvov, much of the trip expected to be overland.

Trying to spend a least some time away from the tourism hordes for this trip to Europe.

Just occurred to me, that if that is your path, with Lviv being last; you might find good fares home by way of Kyiv. In that case if you have a few days to spare spend it in Kyiv. I haven't been as excited or impressed by a location since I stumbled into Budapest 15 years ago. Some very recent history

And another interesting movie

Tom MN--I am hoping you have a great trip and post a trip report--in the past couple of months I have worked up an interest in visiting Ukraine, inspired by James' comments and my own research thus far. Lviv and Odessa interest me the most, then I would end up in Budapest.

Christa, Kyiv is easily good for 2 full days, Odessa similar. I dont know how many direct flights from the west there are to Odessa, the flights I am familiar with all change in Kyiv, and within Ukraine all flights go through Kyiv so it's logical to spend a few nights there. Personally, I enjoyed our time in Kyiv. But my interests may just be odd. Suggest you watch on Netflix "Winter on Fire" before you go. Know now Maidan is clean, restored, and beautiful.

NEW TRAIN SERVICE to Ukraine. This may not help you, but someone else might find it useful:http://euromaidanpress.com/2017/06/16/109771/

Also, you might want to watch two movies: "Bitter Harvest" currently on Pay Per View and "Winter on Fire" currently on NetFlix.

And a new museum in Lviv dedicated to the atrocities of the Nazi's and Russian's.

These websites can be useful for Polish part of the travel
http://poland100bestrestaurants.pl/en/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g274723-Poland.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/polish/soap/facts.shtml
You can check trains and buy tickets on
http://rozklad-pkp.pl/en

There are a few interesting places on the route of tran from Cracow to Lviv:
Wieliczka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka
Bochnia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bochnia
Tarnów https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarn%C3%B3w
Rzeszów https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rzesz%C3%B3w
Łańcut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81a%C5%84cut
Przemyśl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przemy%C5%9Bl

Historically, a visa used to be imposed on US citizens by the Ukraine as late as the early years of the 21st century, say up 2004(?) or later, don't know the exact date. In those early years of the 21st century, my friend in Ireland flew from the Rep of Ireland or London for absolutely dirt cheap prices to Kiev. I asked him about the visa requirement, he said there was none for EU citizens, just showed his Rep of Ireland passport. I told him that for Americans the visa requirement was still in force. As I pointed out, I don't know when the Ukraine ended the visa requirement for US citizens.

I have traveled to Ukraine every summer for the last 6 years and I spend a few days in Lviv every time I go. Lviv is an absolutely beautiful city with great architecture, beautiful views, an amazing city square, and unbelievably nice people! Transportation is easy and cheap. For that matter, everything "touristy" is quite cheap. I will go back again next summer and introduce my husband to this lovely city for the first time.

@ Michal...You listed two places above which I'm very interested in seeing in southern and southeast Poland...Tarnow and Przemysl. The closest I got to Tarnow was at Krakow Glowny in 2001. I was standing on the platform, all of a sudden I noticed the next train going to Tarnow. I thought, what?? I should have known my historical geography much better, it's not very far indeed from Krakow. ca 30-60 mins, can't recall exactly and it's a direct line from Krakow to Tarnow too! Certainly a missed opportunity and more incentive for going back to Poland.

Likewise with Przemysl, an absolutely interesting site and going into eastern Poland, all part of the former Galicia. That's one place, Przemysl, I would be tempted to spend the money on a guide if offered by the hotel to see the outskirts and the surrounding area by car.

Hi guys! I’m finding this topic very informative as I’m also planning with my husband to visit Ukraine next year! Could someone give some feedback on the services such as https://www.showaround.com/locals/ukraine/kyiv as I want to see Kiev as much as possible, but to have some more insights than just being touristic about the visit. I’d appreciate it a lot! Thanks in advance!

Don’t know exactly what you are looking at doing. “Insights”? That could mean a lot of things. Not even sure what “show around” means. I am guessing it is a term to avoid the issue of being a licensed guide.

I love Kyiv and am returning in January. The last trip I hired a guide and she was pretty exceptional. As Kyiv isn’t terribly “touristic” to begin with, it’s hard not to get a pretty well rounded impression. http://kyivexplorer.in.ua/new-page-1/

A little note of explanation for Kiev and Kyiv. Kiev is the Яussian word, while Kyiv is the Ukrainian word. Unless Яussian is your native language I think Kyiv is correct.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-kyiv-kiev/28478117.html

Marc Bodnick, Former Stanford PhD student in Politics

In standard English, it's Kiev; in transliterated Ukrainian, it's
Kyiv. In Russian, it's Киев; in Ukrainian, it's Київ.

Transliterations can do some damage to the 'authentic' spellings,
particularly when there's a letter in the original that doesn't exist
in the other language. In 2006, the US Board of Geographic Names (the
group that tries to make sense of all this) approved Kyiv on the
request of the Ukrainian government. Particular spellings are
sometimes of political importance to governments (witness: Bombay is
now Mumbai; Rangoon is now Yangon).

EDIT:
The UN and the Ukrainian government English language documents both use Kyiv and Lviv; much in the same way the UN and Italian government English language documents uses the name Florence.

I also consider my hosts, who prefer that their names be translated from Ukrainian and not from the language of the former occupation army. Kyiv and Lviv and Odesa are the technically correct translation from the official language of the nation, and will offend no one. Granted Kiev and Lwow will offend only a few of the more nationalistic citizens so it becomes a more a matter of displaying education and respect.

If you do want to be pretentious, spell Kyiv as Kyyiv.

So, why does it matter? One of the reasons for going to Ukraine should be experience and examine a country and a culture in transition. A culture trying to define its self as a nation, for all practical purposes, for the first time in the history of its people. At the same time, they are in a state of armed conflict with the former occupying power and struggling to move towards the west while struggling to define a legitimate and working democracy. Its all very tenuous at best. Given that, it easy for me to show support to their ambitions by calling Kyiv, Kyiv.

:-)

saira.loce

Kyiv is great. Try and stay someplace between Maidan and Volodymyrska St. The Senator Apartments, Maidan are pretty nice. (called Apartments, but its a hotel); or the Hotel Ukraine if you want to stay in one of the world's great iconic buildings.

Ukraine Air is inexpensive so if you have time run down to Odesa. Great night life and street parties.

Services like showaround seem to be legit (and a decent substitute for actually having a local contact), but it must be hard to sift through all the offers.
Like Kaeleku stated elsewhere, if you are really after informal interaction with locals, the best way to proceed would be to find a club or group that shares your hobby. For me, it was always judo and wrestling - and it worked perfectly everywhere I went, from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine to Holland, Germany, Florida, and (very rural) US. People really open up.

PS.
James,
I am glad that you have discovered the joys of using a Cyrillic keyboard, but botching country names is perhaps not the best use you can put your new skill to.

Kaeleku, you Яascal it was indeed a good but shocking thread. I am still trying to cope with it. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/how-not-to-look-like-a-tourist-238d90fc-f17c-41f1-b4d5-5d2efb4a389b#bottom

Oddly enough I would suspect if we sat across a table from each other and had a good healthy argument we would find we agree on 75% of the desired end results and 25% of the means to achieve those results.

G-d Bless, my friend.

Before you go to Ukraine you might want to see a few movies. Look on Amazon and Netflix for "Break Point" and "Bitter Harvest" and a sitcom I believe was called "Servant of the People" all provide interesting context.

In the early years of the 21st century, a good friend of mine in Calif was sent in Bosnia/Kosovo area ( I forget which or both?) as he was part of the US Army. Bored stiffed on a daily basis, he took it upon himself to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, since the Serbs use it. He says it isn't all that difficult to tackle. If you can crack that, my compliments on achieving that.

The book Red Famine (subtitled Stalin's War on Ukraine) by Anne Applebaum, was just released. I haven't gotten too far into it, but if you like your history straight up, its worth a read. She has written a few books on that area and on Russia that have all been good at explaining the ethnic and political history of the area.

The book Red Famine (subtitled Stalin's War on Ukraine) by Anne Applebaum, was just released. I haven't gotten too far into it, but if you like your history straight up, its worth a read. She has written a few books on that area and on Russia that have all been good at explaining the ethnic and political history of the area.

I'm so sorry if I have offended someone by using the wrong name of the city!
I'll be sure to check-out also the mentioned movies and books, so that I'm more prepared - greatly appreciate the suggestions!
Now off to do my home-work! :))
Thanks, guys!

saira.loce; no, no, you didn't offend anyone. Just a little context to add to the experience. Wonderful place, wonderful people. Actually language is sort of an important topic in Ukraine, so while you are there its a topic worth discussing. About 60% claim Ukrainian as their native tongue, 30% Russian. Some because of the borders some because of forced relocation out of Russia. The overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian speakers also speak Russian and the majority of the Russian speakers also speak Ukrainian. Most under 30 speak English as well. Since Russia occupied Ukraine and because of some rather despicable history involving Russian occupation and conquest there is a substantial drive to strengthen the role of the Ukrainian language. This is backed by the government and a very large segment of society; especially among the young and those that want to be closer to Western Europe. And even all of that is a gross over simplification of the issue.

I had to call UIA (in Ukraine) to change my flight reservation today and the guy at the other end of the phone was pretty good with English, but only "pretty good", but he was patient and incredibly polite and incredibly helpful. Sort of what we experienced when we were there last year and one of the reasons for the return. Even these sorts of headaches can be good experiences.