Border Delays crossing from Poland to Ukraine (Ukraine to Hungary)?

Posted by Mike on 01/08/18 10:50 PM

My wife, son and I will be using Mike's Limo (RS recommendation) to travel from Krakow to Lviv. After a short stay, we will then be driving to Budapest.

Does anyone have any recent experience with delays at the border and have any suggestions? I have read that in the past, at least, there have been long delays, but I don't know if that has been from going from Poland (or into Hungary).

Thank you for any information/suggestions.

Note, I did consider flying, but with 3 of us, it is not any cheaper, nor are there direct flights, so it was not much of a time saver either (unless we spend hours at the border!). Plus, we'll get to see a bit more by land.

Mike

Posted by beng

Rick Steves' Europe

01/09/18 12:45 AM

6 posts

Hi Mike,

There are occasionally delays at the border, absolutely, at least 30 minutes and sometimes a few hours or more.
Definitely bring reading material and some snacks to pass the time and not go hungry. I bet Mike's Limo has more experience, so you could consider inquiring with them.

Last year, I had the fascinating adventure of taking a train to Przemysl, a taxi to the border, walking across the border, and then taking a bus to Lviv. This way I avoided the wait but had to take a few extra steps. What can I say- I was a cheap college student!

You will have an easier trip, but may still have a wait at the border to contend with.
Enjoy Lviv, it is a wonderful city (formerly Polish) with a lot of charm. If you like chocolate, consider trying some of the chocolate sold at various stores.

Posted by qq

01/09/18 05:24 AM

202 posts

Here is the border crossing monitoring site:
https://granica.gov.pl/index_wait.php?p=u&c=t&v=en&k=w

At the moment cars wait only to enter Poland from Ukraine, exit at all crossings is without delay. You may want to check it to see how situation changes during the day and also workdays vs weekends.

There are some direct flights to Lviv from Katowice airport with Wizzair. Katowice airport is 1.5- 2 hrs by bus from central Kraków (frequent departures).

Posted by Mike OP

01/09/18 12:11 PM

30 posts

Thank you! VERY helpful.

Posted by tonfromleiden

the Netherlands

01/09/18 01:45 PM

2487 posts

The rail service from Kraków to Lviv has improved a lot with several daily departures. The 8.31 brings you in Lviv in 6,5 hrs, including 1 hr connection time in Przemysl.

Posted by Fred

San Francisco

01/09/18 09:33 PM

14507 posts

What? Going from Przemysl to Lviv? Fantastic! That's doing a real war history route. In 1914 Lviv ie, Lemberg was the Russian strategic objective. The city and its forts were besieged, they surrendered, the city with all its population came under Russian occupation until it was "liberated"/recaptured as part of the massive Austro-Hungarian-German counter-offensive, the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive on 2 May 1915.