Product Description

Be dazzled by the golden domes of myriad Orthodox cathedrals, be awed by the monumental Stalinist architecture of Kyiv, be inspired by the breathtaking natural beauty of the Crimean peninsula. On the edge of Europe, Ukraine is a land of the unconventional and quirky, a unique mix of cosmopolitan and Soviet, and this insightful guide shows you how to make the most of it all.

Read All About It – Ukraine’s colorful political events and fascinating history explained

Find Adventure – ice fishing, mountain biking, caving and skiing are just some of the activities on offer

Rest Easy in rural homestays or refurbished Soviet hotels – reviews to suit every budget

Get Around – 35 detailed maps include Cyrillic for easy navigation

Talk The Talk – our practical language guide helps you chat to the locals: budmo!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #454467 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Review
…these smart and exhaustively researched guides have become the gold standard for serious, independent travelers.' --San Francisco Chronicle

Customer Reviews

Before the travel
It's hard to judge a travel guide before the actual travel, but this guide is verbose and useful. There are recommended places to stay and good tips what to see.

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.

Missing half of the country
I recently used this book on a 2 week trip to Ukraine, we spent most of our time in Eastern Ukraine and a few days in Kiev. The coverage of Eastern Ukraine is sparse, to say the least. Kharkov, for instance, is a huge city but there is very little coverage. The practical information that is presented is useful, however, I feel that it has a very negative connotation (watch out! this country is dangerous! kids will hate it!) and the author approaches it with more fear/caution than sense of adventure and exploration.

The historical/cultural information that is presented is interesting to read, and the author makes some great recommendations for future reading about Ukraine.

I'm glad that we had this book with us, but we found the Bradt guide much, much more detailed and useful for use while in Ukraine.