Hi all,
My husband and I are looking into a trip to Poland and Russia, with possibly Finaland and Ukraine. But here's where I need help -we're not exactly sure where to go! We found a good airfare going to Budapest and leaving from Helsinki, so we were thinking of:
Budapest -> Krakow -> Kiev -> Moscow -> St. Petersburg - > Helsinki
I realize some of these cities are a bit far by train, we are looking to spend about 10 days total.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this itinery. Are there other places we should be going instead of above? Anywhere we should skip? Is our trip manageable? We're open to almost anything, we're both young and experienced travelers. Thank you in advance!
Help with Poland/Ukraine/Russia itinery
Recent Activity
View all Europe activity »
- 1
Just Returned from a Gate 1 Danube River Cruise
- 2
My First Trip to Provence and Paris...Loved!!!
- 3 How Long For Santorini?
- 4 Bathrooms Along This Itinerary (Day in Rome)
- 5 Car rental Italy
- 6 Crete to Sifnos by Ferry?
- 7 Rough itinerary for 14 days in the UK
- 8 Scotland Itinerary getting better, still needs your expertise!
- 9 4 days in Zurich for the adventurous- what to do?
- 10 Prague Itinerary
- 11 A Christmas Store in Paris
- 12 EU Rule On Olive Oil Roils Europe!
- 13 International Trains to Switzerland using Swiss Pass
- 14 Help me choose places to visit in Italy
- 15 London at Xmas
- 16 how much time in York, Edinburgh, etc?
- 17 Best castle for 7 and 9 year old boys
- 18 When to exchange US dollars to Euros
- 19 Zagreb, rental car and Slovenia
- 20 browsing homes for sale in Kent
- 21 Weather's crummy in northern Italy now--suggestions for places
- 22 A few questions about the Amalfi Coast (in May)
- 23 Northern Italy
- 24 How to make a phone call from a pay phone in London to Germany
- 25 Sicily- two week summer vacation
Hi
It's a big itinerary for 10 days. May I suggest narrowing it down. You also need visas for Ukraine and Russia. It's a lot of traveling and you might wind up spending so much time on trains that it's not a fun trip. Changes could be made based on your interests.
A visa is no longer required for US citizens entering Ukraine.
Your itinerary is WAY too aggressive for a 10-day trip. In my humble opinion, you can easily spend that much time in Moscow and St. Petersburg alone. If this is your first trip to the area, I'd forego the cheap airfare you found and pay a bit more for a better defined plan. I'd fly into Moscow, spend 4 days there, then take a train to St. Petersburg and fly home from there. While beautiful, Kiev is (at least in my book) a good step below St. Petersburg and Moscow. However, if you really want to visit Ukraine, you can spend 8 days in Russia and 2 days in Kiev (which is a short fly from either Russian city). Btw, as of last year, Americans no longer need a visa to visit Ukraine.
I have to agree...your trip needs to be split up into 2...either Poland/Ukraine or just Russia...St Pete alone is worth a good 4-5 days...you'll need a day just to visit St Pauls Palace, and a day to spend at the Catherines Palace...trust me, your trip is too agressive, and you'll end up seeing a little of each, but not much, but to compare St Pete alone with the likes of Kiev or Krakow, not to mention Helsinki is funny...the sheer magnitude of St Pete and Moscow will blow you away.
I agree with Eugene, Moscow and St Pete in 10 days sounds like a good plan. And you could get a good fair on Aeroflot that will include your intercity flight. Or just head on to Poland and go up the Baltics to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and even end in Helsinki, its near Tallin. Hope this helps,
Serge