Ukraine

I took a train from Kiev to Lviv last summer. It was about 11 hours. It was very inexpensive, but a long trip.

Kevin, Thanks. Was that a night train or a long day?

There are quite a few trains on this route (Kyiv-Lviv) including 2 or 3 overnight ones - at least there were about 4 years ago when I did this route. All of these routes you are looking at are long. Consider flying - 4 years ago some of the internal flights were less than $50. I waited too long to buy otherwise would have flown the Lviv to Kyiv route. Airlines I looked at were Aerosvit and Ukrainian Airlines.

Thanks, Arnold. We have looked at Aerosvit, and you are right, there are great distances between those cities.

Both from Kyiv to Lvov and Odessa to Kyiv (at least direct trips, have never been through Uman), are very easy by train overnight. You get on and basically sleep through the whole trip. Just two things to note - you should buy your tickets a few days in advance, especially if you need to have a low bunk in the Platzkart section, and the only inconvenience per se is that most of the trains leave at 11 or 12 at night, so there is a lot of waiting up for the train to arrive to the station.

That's good information, Paula, thanks. We have been on night trains in eastern Europe and don't particularly like them so we may look at flying.