Product Description

Discover Ukraine

Feast your eyes on Scythian gold and mummified monks at Kyiv's Caves Monastery
Descend to the underground control room for a former Soviet missile base
Jump over a fire with your beloved to test in your love will last
Tuck into a bowl of borshch with sausage or marinated apples

In This Guide:

Two authors; 15 weeks of in-country research; over 15 years' travel experience in Ukraine
Expanded coverage of western Ukraine and the Carpathians
Novelist Andrey Kurkov, a Carpathian rapper and a Tatar elder discuss life in Ukraine
Content updated daily - visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler insights

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #366304 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781741044812
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
For sheer global reach and dogged research, attention must be paid to Lonely Planet…' --Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2003

Customer Reviews

Go with the Bradt Guide
This is probably the worst travel guide I've ever read. It completely misses the point of travel in Ukraine. It's constantly referring to the sub-standard quality of virtually everything and trashes all but three or four destinations. I can't tell you how many times I read descriptions of places I've visited an scoffed at how offhandedly they were dismissed.

People don't visit Ukraine for a relaxing week of 5-star hotels and Western European-style tourism. If not looking for family or engaging in business, people come to Ukraine for a decidedly different tourist experience. Yes, it's an experience that is a little rough around the edges. But it's also filled with cheap and convenient travel, incredibly hospitable and authentic people, and a surprisingly rich and diverse country that mixes snowy birch forests and rocky sub-tropical beaches, as well as European and Soviet history. However, this book is content to write off entire regions of Ukraine.

The LP folks were recently back in Ukraine doing research for the new edition, but I'm not all that hopeful much of this can be salvaged. Go with the Bradt Guide, it's the best guide to Ukraine available.

-
It's nice to finally see Lonely Planet print a book just on Ukraine with some current and updated info for people traveling there. The only disappointment I had was that there is very little coverage of Eastern Ukraine, the Donbass Region to be exact. Granted most tourist types won't venture to areas like Lugansk. For those who do want to brave the adventure don't rely on this book for any info. east of Donetsk. Other than that I thought the book was pretty good. It's compact size makes it easier to carry compared to when Lonely Planet combined Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus in their previous printing.

Not up to lonely planet standards
The lonely planet series has generally been wonderful. Every time I bought one, they were not only a fun read but were chalk full of info on things to see and do. The Ukraine book, however, seems very disappointing in comparison. For one, the book is very small for such a big country. The author only visits a number of selected cities and totally ignores whole sections of the country, especially in the east which has 5 pages for the entire section. Even within those cities she does visit, however, the sightseeing oppurtunities (according to her) appear very sparse, the accomodations listed are very limited, and there is very little information about day trips or things to see outside the city. Finally, the entire book is very politicized. It looks like she wrote the book during the Orange Revolution, and got caught up in the strong nationalistic and anti-russian feelings that accompanied it. Unfortunately, this also shows through in her writing.

So in general, this book is not good enough to go to Ukraine. There aren't many options available right now, but something better than this is definetly needed.