Romania to Ukraine....

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Doing an 8 segment FF trip to South Africa, with a stopover with the wife's family in Cluj, Romania (we will have a Romanian Eurail Pass). Anybody been to Ukraine from Romania? Is it worth the trouble? (at least most folk don't require a VISA.

Would just like to cross the border, to say I have been there!
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Do you really need the rail pass?

There are not a lot of places you can get to quickly from Cluj. If you're asking if it's worth going to Ukraine, it's a big country, so it really depends where you go. If it's worth going there (crossing the border) just to say you've been there, I'd say, no, unless you're really close to the border.
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In November I wanted to go to Ukraine and Romania and especially to Moldova, since the direct train between Odessa and Chisinau had started up again (the Transdnistrians had been very unpleasant, so the direct train was dropped until suddenly last year they decided to be nice again, and the train resumed). So I booked the trip (Berlin-Kiev-Odessa-Chisinau-Bucharest). I found Odessa especially interesting and Chisinau surprisingly so. Go!
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Ukraine is great! I was there once and i was totally amazed! Lvov is the most spectacular, Kiev is nice but less beautiful Are you thinking of coming to Poland? Krakow? This is a very nice place to visit, don't you think?
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From Romania the closest Ukrainian destination of any relevance is Chernivtsi, which seems to be quite a nice old town, actually...if you want to go there, you can take a direct train from Cluj to Suceava (takes 6-7 hours), where there is either one daily train that goes to the Ukraine (up to Kiev, afaik) or local buses which go to Chernivtsi (2 hours). Nearby is also Hotin fortress, which is quite cool.

If you want to get to Odessa from Cluj, add a couple of hours to the Cluj-Suceava train in order to reach Iasi, then either get on the daily train that reaches Chisinau or take a bus.

If you need any extra info, you can ask me, I live in Romania and have been planning a trip to Ukraine also
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Quote: Doing an 8 segment FF trip to South Africa, with a stopover with the wife's family in Cluj, Romania (we will have a Romanian Eurail Pass). Anybody been to Ukraine from Romania? Is it worth the trouble? (at least most folk don't require a VISA.

Would just like to cross the border, to say I have been there!
1) In general, I consider EuRail passes being a rip-off, the Romanian EuRail is totally unnecessary. The local tickets cost much less.

2) The closest "regular" railway crossing to Ukraine is at Vicsani/Vadul Siret, north of Suceava. There are few smaller crossings, but you probably be better off going via Suceava.

Ukraine is well worth to visit - and keep in mind, the Ukrainian domestic train tickets are very inexpensive, buy cross-border tickets for a minimal distance only. While the train is changing the boogies because of the different gauge you have always ample time to buy domestic tickets for your train, the very same car/compartment you already occupy!

3) The Romania-Ukraine direct train discount is pretty steep, so even buying a, say, Cluj->Kiev ticket won't cost you arm and leg. Expect the Romanian part be ca. 16 Euro and Ukrainian part be 30.40 Euro, this is international price. Abusing Ukrainian domestic price would be 16 + 1.70 = 17.70 Euro till Vadul Siret. I think, after all the Romanian discounted international ticket is not much more than Romanian domestic and there is no Rapid-Intercity-Accelerat-etc. train confusion, it's valid on all trains. So just buy Cluj - Suceava - Vicsani - Vadul Siret for that price (sleeper surcharge extra). That ticket would be valid for 30 days. In Vadul Siret buy the ticket for the same train you are in while the boogies are exchanged for ca. $10-$20, it costs much less than even discounted international ticket for that distance. This price is till Kiev, till Lvov it's much less.

Also - you may consider to cross the border in Hungary, the Cluj - Pspkladny ticket costs 17.42 Euro. The Pspkladny - Debrecen - Zhony - Chop - Lvov is 9.10 + 15 = 24.10 Euro if you buy it in Pspkladny (Hungary).

Do your math about EuRail passes.
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