European Rail Travel - Train from Kiev to Odessa

I have always wanted to visit Odessa after seeing the film Battleship Potempkin (crazy I know but i want to run down the odessa steps). I saw that Whizz flies from London to Kiev making it quite cheap. Do people know how easy it is to book a rail journey outside of the Ukraine from Kiev to Odessa? Also a day train or a sleeper?

I also saw that there is a coach route available but their website seemed a bit rickety.

I never get tired of recommending The Man in Seat 61 :)

http://seat61.com/Ukraine.htm

Excerpt:

Two daily high-quality sleeper trains with 1st class 2-berth and 2nd class 4-berth sleepers link Kiev and Odessa. One leaves Kiev at 21:50 arriving Odessa at 06:10 next morning, the other leaves Kiev at 23:14 arriving Odessa at 08:50 next morning.

Apparently for booking from the UK you can use www.bahn.co.uk or www.ukrainetrains.co.uk

I rode one of the overnight trains last year, and it was perfectly fine. I booked it early, so I don't know how quickly the trains sell out. For the more adventuresome of course there is the daytime train from Chisinau to Odessa - through Transdnistria, where there were no border checks last year.

I've travelled on the Odessa - Kiev/Kyiv sleepers more times than I care to remember. Another option when booking a train tickets in advance from the UK is using a specialist agent like Bob Sopel Ukrainian Travel in Oldham or Scott's Tours in London. I've used Bob Sopel in the past for train tickets on this very route a few years ago. Very straightforward, picked up tickets in KBP.

I've also taken the Autolux (http://en.autolux.ua) coach between Odessa and Kiev/Kyiv, which was perfectly fine and good value, although if I remember correctly the bus stations aren't quite as conveniently located as the train stations. However there is a bus that serves KBP directly from Odessa, which can be useful.

The view up from the bottom of the Odessa steps is far better than the view from the top down! The city has a very pleasant atmosphere and is very easy to explore. See also: http://www.inyourpocket.com/data/download/odesa.pdf

If you book a train instead of a bus, it will save you a hotel night's stay. I would recommend booking "Chornomorets/Чорноморець/Черноморец" [the black-sea-er]. You should be able to buy your ticket on UZ's ticket website (http://www.e-kvytok.com.ua/) and then print it at any railway ticket office.

I rode one of the overnight trains last year, and it was perfectly fine. I booked it early, so I don't know how quickly the trains sell out. For the more adventuresome of course there is the daytime train from Chisinau to Odessa - through Transdnistria, where there were no border checks last year.

I would not recommend the latter. The Transnistrian ''authorities'' now do border checks, and the train crew warns passengers to give one word answers and be careful what they say, and that is true even for Moldovans.

Transnistrian ''authorities'' are well known for shaking down foreigners passing through.

The Odessa steps are actually known as the Potemkin Steps.

There are at least two bus stations in Odessa. One is a block from the train station and very convenient. The other I have been to is some distance away and would be a long walk if you don't grab a cab.

The Londonskaya is my favorite hotel in Odessa.


I've travelled on the Odessa - Kiev/Kyiv sleepers more times than I care to remember. Another option when booking a train tickets in advance from the UK is using a specialist agent like Bob Sopel Ukrainian Travel in Oldham or Scott's Tours in London. I've used Bob Sopel in the past for train tickets on this very route a few years ago. Very straightforward, picked up tickets in KBP.

I've also taken the Autolux (http://en.autolux.ua) coach between Odessa and Kiev/Kyiv, which was perfectly fine and good value, although if I remember correctly the bus stations aren't quite as conveniently located as the train stations. However there is a bus that serves KBP directly from Odessa, which can be useful.

The view up from the bottom of the Odessa steps is far better than the view from the top down! The city has a very pleasant atmosphere and is very easy to explore. See also: http://www.inyourpocket.com/data/download/odesa.pdf

I took the train from Kiev to Odessa last year. We took the most expensive "SV" room and this was the worst trip. Train was shaking non stop. We both couldn't sleep at all. I don't know what was going on.

When I took a train to a different city in Ukraine it was fine, but this one going from Kiev to Odessa was just horrible. I am still trying to understand what the deal was.