Going on a 24-day trip in Easten Europe and need some suggestions on getting around
Hi - my wife and I are planning on a 24-day trip to Eastern Europe in June 2010. We are going to spend a week in Lviv, Western Ukraine visiting relatives. The rest of the time we would like to spend in the following cities: Munich, Prague, Vienna, Budapest. We are completely open to how we would travel. The plan so far is to buy tickets from Chicago to Munich and then use trains to get around. Cost-wise, would that be advisable? There are daily trains going from Budapest and Prague all the way to Lviv so getting there would not be a problem, however is it safe to travel with a US passport crossing the border? I assume US passport is somewhat a rarity there. Any other suggestions on how to get to Lviv by plane? Form researching on the internet, I see it is rather expensive to fly from Chicago to Lviv or Munich to Lviv, etc. Anything else I should know, or plan for? Thanks in advance!
Reply to this Hey,
I'd imagine the border control in Ukraine will know what a US passport is, however, US citizens need a tourist visa to travel to Ukraine, and you won't be able to get this on the border especially on a train, so just make sure you arrange all of this beforehand. With all the documents you need and your passports you'll be able to go across no problem.
Also, don't underestimate how long the Ukraine legs will take on the train, international trains crossing that border take forever and a day because they have to change gauge. Budapest to Lviv takes 13 hours and from Prague 25 hours, both trains are sleepers. A ticket from Prague to Lviv bought in the Czech Republic will cost EUR 55.30 per person (source: www.jizdenka.cz) and that's without the surcharges for sleeper/couchette cars which I think is between about 20 and 50 euros more depending on arrangements. So it might work out easier to get flights for that bit, I don't know how expensive the ones you saw were.. you could also try flying to Kiev from Chicago and getting an internal flight to Lviv.
For the rest of it though trains are cost effective, check the deutsche bahn (Germany) and české drahy (Czech Rep.) websites (www.deutschebahn.com, www.cd.cz) for special offers on international fares which they do, for instance from ČD you can get cheap tickets from Prague to Vienna or Budapest for 19 EUR one way if you book 3 days in advance.
Reply to this Hi - thanks for your advice! One thing is sure is that US citizens do not need visa to Ukraine on stays less than 6 months (it was 90 days a year ago). I travelled to Ukraine a year ago, no issues. That was by plane and the reason I was asking is because I am planning on going by train and I would imagine they don't see many US passports coming in that way.
Going to Kyiv doesn't make sense to me as I am staying in Lviv and want to spend two more weeks in Eastern Europe, so the trip to Ukraine will be more of a week-long side trip. Flying from Munich/Prague/Budapest/Vienna to Lviv is 400-500 euro r/t per person (i checked every possible site and airline this week I could think of) which is ridiculous. Not only it's expensive but I would have to get to the airport two hours before the flight and also account for possible excess luggage weight. So, 75 euro with add ons per person sounds like a great deal.
I will make sure to check out the websites you gave. Thanks again!
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