Eastern Europe Travel

Obviously Lviv is out for the foreseeable future. I do not think there is any concern of the conflict widening to include Poland or other bordering countries (Hopefully those are not famous last words), but I think places in Poland and other close countries will be affected by an influx of refugees, not a safety thing, more of a resource/crowding type concern.

You still have time, in a month or more, assess how things are. If the refugee situation has worsened, then maybe not the best time, but overall, most of the cities you list should not be overwhelmed, and you will be well away from the border. As long as you are sensitive to what people may be going through, go, learn, be patient, might be an interesting time to travel.

Food for thought. I really appreciate your thoughtful response!

Those are all fascinating places (as is Lviv, of course). I definitely wouldn't pull the plug at this point. Personally, I think you'll be fine.

The cities you mentioned, other than Lviv of course, should be just fine. We are going to Prague, Budapest and Krakow in June and have no qualms right now.

One of our trips was very enjoyable and it was Budapest--Bratislava--Vienna--Prague by train. We just returned from Dresden and Berlin which is on the same train line in the same direction.

You couldn't go wrong visiting any of these great cities, but if time was an issue, I'd drop Berlin. We adored Dresden which was perhaps the most beautiful city in Europe before the end of WWII.

I wouldn't worry about any of the list except Lviv. And Lviv, well I want to believe Ukraine and the world will prevail before May. If that proves to be true I suggest we all head to Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and spend as much money there as is humanly possible.

Obviously we can't predict the future, but in my opinion there is no need to worry. Lviv is not an option, but the others are far from Ukraine. Krakow is the closest but still over 200 km so from a safety point of view I see no reason to rethink your plan.

However, a lot of refugees have crossed the border and that will have an impact, so you should probably avoid the border areas simply because you'll just be in the way.

It occurred to me last night that the refugees pouring out of Ukraine are going to need to sleep somewhere, so there may be some impact on availability of hotel rooms, especially down at the budget end of the spectrum (which is my end).

I will be in Berlin, Prague, Budapest myself around the same time as you! no plans to cancel, I don't see any worries yet.