Exploring Ukraine

Any advice on visiting the mountainous, forest-covered region in the far west of Ukraine, known as Trans-Carpathia or Ukrainian Carpathians? Will my lack of knowledge of the Ukrainian language be a problem?
Hans Sluiman

· My advice is to go! The Ukrainian Carpathians have remained an undisturbed corner of Europe, and offer inspiring views and great trekking.

A few pointers. The best time for hiking is in late May, early June, or else in September/October. Summers can be rainy, and in August the area is packed with Polish and Ukrainian tourists. Consider travelling overland from Hungary or Poland, or else fly directly into Lviv, Ukraine - a city not to be missed. To avoid a lot of hassle, I suggest travelling with an agent who is familiar with the area, like Regent Travel (0117 921 1711). Not knowing Ukrainian is rarely an issue - Trans-Carparthia is an area that has belonged to over six different countries over the last century, and the people are polyglots, while the younger generation all know enough English to make your path easy. You'll also have a much easier time getting around if you take the time to learn the Cyrillic alphabet.
Andrew Evans
Author, Ukraine: The Bradt Travel Guide

· As a professional writer, maybe I shouldn't be answering this. However, I spent some time in the Carpathians last September, researching a guidebook, and do know the area. Although the Carpathian region is a honeypot for Ukrainian holidaymakers, only adventurous foreigners will really enjoy it. Unless you know Ukrainian (Polish or Russian), communicating will prove quite tricky: English and other Western European languages are barely spoken. Western Ukraine is also very poor, and many people in the Carpathians still drive horses and carts.

And that's not the only difficulty. Some places are quite inaccessible without your own transport, yet the roads are potholed and the drivers crazy. Additionally, hiking trails are not well-marked (but see this webpage and look under "hiking trails" for some tips, ignoring the outdated homestays).

If you're a seasoned backpacker, you'll cope with a guidebook, phrasebook, and an ability to read the Cyrillic alphabet. You will probably get more out of your trip, however, if you hire a guide. Two whom I've tried and would recommend are the reasonably expensive Lviv Ecotour, which provides an astoundingly good English speaker and a car; or those provided by the humble bed and breakfast On the Corner (+380 3433 274 37; hugovik@yes.net.ua) in Kolomyya. In the latter case, the hiking guides are Ukrainian-speaking, but they'll show you the way and only cost $US10-15 a day to hire. Plus, Vitaliy at On the Corner speaks English and German, while his mother, Ira, understands Italian.

If you do visit, don't miss the nearby town of Kamyanets-Podilsky. A medieval town perched on a tall rock island in the middle of a river loop, it's in a jaw-dropping natural setting.
Sarah Johnstone

· I have visited this region three times - in 1998, 2000 and 2004.

The first point to make is if you travel there, don't fly to Kiev, fly to Budapest - it's less than half the distance from Transcarpathia and takes a third of the time. There is a morning and an evening train from Budapest to Chop, the Ukrainian border station,k and the journey takes about five hours (From Kiev the journey time by train is around 17 hours). There are additional trains to the Hungarian border station, Zahony, and two or local connections a day. It may be possible to hitch over the border.

Prearranged accommodation - which can be pre-booked through Ukraine Travel - is a prerequisite for a tourist visa, although in practice you only need to book the first two or three days. The main cities are Uzhgorod and Mukachevo. Both have reasonable and cheap hotel accommodation The bad news is that Transcarpathia is not an easy region to travel around because although it runs broadly east-west, most of the mountain valleys (and therefore the roads and railways) run north-south. Internal public transport is quite limited and slow: there is only one daily train running along the southern side of the mountains on the railway line from Uzhgorod to Solotvino; it leaves before 4am and it takes around nine hours to cover 100 miles. There are limited bus and marshrutka (minibus services between main towns and villages). Some younger people are learning English, but it's not commonly spoken. Ukrainian is the first language of the region and Russian is universally understood. There is also a sizeable Hungarian minority: the bottom part of the region is largely Hungarian and is basically a flat extension of the Hungarian plain. This rises to rolling countryside then forested mountains up to about 8,500ft. If you want to go into the mountains you should use a guide - some are quite wild, and there are bears and wolves in the higher peaks. And beware of ticks.
Richard Madge