PeteHatesMusic

Hey all;

I've been digging through the archives and thought I'd consolidate some of the excellent questions/info I've found on this site.

I'm planning on going to Poland/Ukraine and other Eastern European countries next June, for Euro 2012. We have tickets to a match in Kiev (Kyiv) on June 19, and would like to be in the city for the Finals on July 1. This gives us about 1.5 weeks to play with.

We're having difficulty determining the following:

a) How to fly cheaply into Kiev
b) What other cities to visit. I would like to hit up Bratislava, and perhaps swing down through Slovenia and Croatia. I have been to Vienna and Budapest before, but am not against returning.
c) Depending on the answer to b), what is the best way to get around? Most people think night trains, but they can be upwards of 16 hrs, which seems a touch extreme. Would renting a car from just inside the Ukrainian border and driving to Kiev and back to the rental city, and then doing trains the rest of the way be worthwhile, or just a huge waste of time/effort?

Sorry for the verbal barfing of ideas in my head. I've been looking at maps and Fodor forums and googling airlines (Wizz Air, etc) for about 8 hrs and can't find any concrete solutions.

Cheers in advance

PeteHatesMusic

The best we came up with is:

Fly Kiev to Budapest via Aerosvit. Spend a couple of days in Budapest
Train to Bratislava (approx 4 hrs), spend a couple of days there
Train to Ljubijana (approx 8 hrs), 2 days
Train to Zagreb (2.5 hrs), 2 days
Train back to Budapest (7.5-9.5 hrs), immediate flight to Kiev, via Aerosvit

Any better options/itineraries?

tower

For Euro 2012...suggest you begin to screw down lodgings, flights, etc into and out of Kiev. Now.

You might try to fly Kiev to Krakow..stay two days. Train Krakow to Budapest (stay two days. Fly from from Budapest to Ljubijana, stay two days(rent car to see something of beautiful Slovenia)....skip Zagreb...fly to Dubrovnik ..stay two days and fly back to Kiev from Dubrovnik. In your above plan, you're killing a lot of time on the rails. I recommend you don't drive in the Ukraine.

PeteHatesMusic

Thanks for the reply, Tower. We're waiting for the tournament draw on December 1 to see where England will be playing, and will book our flights/accommodations the second it is known. But since they could play in 1 of 4 different groups, we're planning 4 different potential routes to maximize football time and tourism fun.

Any recommended airlines for the flights from Budapest to Ljubijana and also to Dubrovnik?

tower

Pete..start with Malev, Hungary's national airline. They usually have very competitive fares. Croatian Air from Ljub to Dub might be your best bet...unles Malev can beat it.

PeteHatesMusic

Thanks for the tips.

After looking at several airlines, and general logistics, we're thinking of scrapping going back to Kiev for the finals. We're now thinking:

Flight from Kiev to Budapest
Train to Bratislava
Train to Vienna
Flight to Ljubljana
Train to Zagreb (only a short stay)
Flight to Split, spend 2 days there
Train to Dubrovnik, spend 2 days there
Fly back to London from Dubrovnik.

tower

Pete:
no trains to Dubrovnik...either fly or drive or bus.
stu

Maksim

Wizz Air and Malev can be really cheap to go to Ukraine.

gwan

I booked my trip through bravofly.com which does a comparison of different airlines and shows your cheapest options on a grid. Skyscanner.net does much the same thing - I use it a lot for short-haul within Europe but it seemed a bit more challenged by going to Ukraine, which is why I booked with bravofly. One good thing about Skyscanner, though, is you can choose a whole country or whatever (or even all of Europe) and it will tell you which city is the cheapest to fly into, which can help if you're a bit open to suggestions. There are of course other flight comparison sites out there as well. Just be warned, I played around a lot with the idea of flying into one city and out of another and it turned out FAR more expensive than a round trip, which is why I flew in and out of Kiev. But maybe your searches have turned up different results?

rs899

I am always disappointed when Ukrainian business interests crash this site and try to use it for their personal gain. I think it speaks badly for the country, which I otherwise greatly admire ( married to a Ukrainian).

I looked at this thread , expecting to learn something new about the country, and what I got was a lesson in capitalism at its worst (well, if you exclude the banks).

thursdaysd

Malev has folded.

Since you are IN Ukraine,I would strongly suggest seeing more of it. Lviv in particular is well worth visiting, and you can swing south through the Carpathians to the Crimea. For my TR including Ukraine see http://wilhelmswords.com/eur2006/index.html