Can you travel to Ukraine in 2024?

Can you travel to Ukraine in 2024? As in is it possible to visit Kiev and Lviv during the current conflict between the Ukraine and Russia? The short answer is yes and with relative ease, although it is not something we currently advocate, nor are planning tours to do so.

Travel to Ukraine before the war

Traveling to Ukraine before the war was extremely easy, with numerous international flights, as well as trains from Poland, Belarus and of course Russia. Prior to the current conflict Ukraine was one of our main destinations, particularly Chernobyl.

In fact we had a tour ready to go on February 28th 2024, of course we cancelled it, ironically to the ire of guests who had booked, but with hindsight it was obviously the correct choice.

We are though still running tours to Transnsitria, you can read about our Unrecognised Countries tours here.

Things though have of course changed and all flights and most trains have been cancelled, there are though still some ways in which you can travel to Ukraine in 2024.

Traveling to Lviv and Kiev from Poland in 2024

While most people are trying to get out of Ukraine, many are traveling in to the country be it on humanitarian work, as journalists, or even as volunteers for the Ukrainian army.

There are also now a number of Ukrainians traveling to Lviv and Kiev as both are now considered relatively safe. This can perhaps be epitomised by how often soon to be ex-PM of the UK Boris Johnson has been going in and out of Kiev. Wag the dog anyone?

To read about Wag The Dog click here.

The most popular route into both Lviv and Kiev is to take the train from Krakow in Poland. Train times change, but it essentially involves midday journey from Krakow to Przemysi Glowny (station) for 3 hours and then changing for the Kiev leg of the journey. This part of the trip takes 15, or so hours to Kiev, or about 5 to Lviv. The cost is just over $100 as things stand. Obviously this involves going through Ukrainian customs and immigration, but with the amount of volunteers and aid workers going through is a relatively pain free process.

With that being said do not travel there with bad intentions, nor a Putin t-shirt. Do not also go as a so called “war tourist” what is happening in Ukraine is very real and should be teated with good taste.

Is it safe to travel to Lviv in 2024?

OK, so pretty much all governments as advise against all travel to the Ukraine, so we are not advocating it, but merely saying how it is. Lviv has largely been spared the horrors of war and is now home to many Ukrainians who have fled the rest of the country.

In fact the bars and restaurants of Lviv are now so full you can hardly get in. If you were to pick anywhere in Ukraine to visit then it is Lviv.

Is it safe to travel to Kiev in 2024?

While it was under constant attack from Russia and could have fallen, the city has now been largely left alone and life has slowly started to get back to normal. Bars are now open and people are indeed returning, although there is an 11 pm curfew.

With that being said rockets and missile attacks do still periodically hit the capital and as things stand no one truly knows how the war will play out. Therefore while you could never truly call Kiev, Kyiv safe, it is about as safe as it could be since the start of the conflict.