City of Odessa, Ukraine

Odessa (in Ukrainian spelled as Odesa) is one of the most exciting southern cities of Ukraine, that is very popular as a resort area for Ukraine. Odessa also attracts many tourists worldwide. The population of Odessa is 1 million people, plus another 1 million non-residents who live temporarily, study, work, or come on business.

Arrival and departure

There is an International Airport in Odessa with Airport Code ODS. There is a number of airlines that fly to and from Odessa: Austrian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Lot Polish Airlines, Aerosvit Airlines (Ukraine), Aeroflot Airlines (Russia), Moldova International Airlines (Moldova). Sometimes it is hard to find connecting flight to get to Odessa though. In case connecting flights are not available Ukraine Fare offers solutions which includes flying through Kiev (KBP) airport and using internal flights from Kiev to Odessa.

Sightseeing

Odessa has some world famous sightseeing, such as Potemkinskaya Stairs, The Opera and Ballet Theater, Archeological museum. Ukraine Fare has a great selection of sightseeing tours in Odessa. Besides the famous sights we would also recommend excursion to the Belgorod Fort, excursion to the arts museum, and Excursion to the catacombs (the quarters of guerillas movement during the WW II in Odessa).

Safety

The tap water in Odessa is not very good for drinking. We recommend to buy bottled drinking water in the stores. Also beware of pocket pickers while using public transport or in crowded places (especially shopping malls).

The safest area as of accommodation is downtown of Odessa. We do not recommend walking alone in some residential areas of Odessa at night. For those who likes to go out be careful when drinking and communicating with people you do not know. We would not recommend to stay late at the popular "Irish Pub", as besides many foreigners who go there, there is a lot of people who could try to cheat of you. Also do exchange currency in exchange offices or banks only. Trying to exchange money in a bar, restaurant of if someone offered it to you may result in you just loosing the amount you wanted to change.

Places to visit

For souvenirs the best place to go is Odessa open air exhibition at City Garden that is located on Deribasovskaya Street. If you have someone in Odessa asking him or her to help is a good idea, as the artists who exhibits in the City Garden can name as twice or three times higher price rather than they would sell to a local resident.

Odessa has a huge number of shopping malls and world standard stores that you would find convenient to use. Most of the accept major credit cards.

Odessa has several high standard modern cinemas, so if you know some Russian, we would recommend you visiting. The best in the downtown are "Rodina", "Moskva", "Utochkino".

Night life in Odessa is very active. At wintertime we recommend to visit YO night club, "Rio", "Amsterdam", PALLADIUM. At summertime the best place to visit in Odessa is "Arcadia" entertainment area. There is a number of great night clubs along the beach area, restaurants and bars for all tastes and ages. So if you are in Odessa in summer, this is something that is a must to visit and experience.