Although at the moment Odessa airport does not accept any direct flights from Russian cities, getting to this glorious Black Sea resort of Ukraine is not so difficult. Moreover, not all tourist destinations can please with such a choice of options: even with transfers, a plane trip will take only 4-6 hours, there is a direct train, buses from both capitals, you can get from Georgia by ferry in 3 days (they say you can get to Odessa by sea is the best possible way), and if the soul lies in free travel by car, then 1350 km from Moscow is a ridiculous distance, at the same time you can drive into Belarus on potato pancakes. All road subtleties are collected on a special page ” How to get to Odessa “. According to populationmonster, Odessa is one of the largest cities in Ukraine.
Transportation
Ground public transport
Public transport in Odessa is represented by almost a hundred city, suburban and seasonal buses and minibuses, two dozen trams and a dozen trolleybuses. The fare in buses and minibuses is 8 UAH, in electric transport – 5 UAH. Also in Odessa there are two bus stations and a bus station from which you can go to neighboring resort towns.
In some trams in Odessa, instead of conductors, there are payment terminals. Odessans themselves complain that it is more boring to travel with “payments”, they say, they don’t joke, they don’t swear and they don’t direct passengers at all.
The routes of Odessa can be found on the portal of the City Hall, in the monitoring system “Transport of Odessa” and on the website of the project “Odessa on wheels”. By the way, trams and trolleybuses have a chance to connect to the city’s Wi-Fi network.
About a dozen free buses run around Odessa to large local shopping and entertainment centers. It is absolutely not forbidden to use them in your needs.
Taxis
There will be about 70-80 taxi companies in Odessa, if you take the average prices for trips around the city in an economy class car, then you won’t feel much difference. The minimum order is usually 30-40 UAH and includes 2-3 km of the way. Each next km will cost another 5-6 UAH. Some taxi services in Odessa have moved to the Internet and mobile applications, so travelers who are used to calling a car from a smartphone will not have to go back to the old “Hello, girl, I would like a car…”, risking running into a special Odessa humor.
Unusual
Odessa would not be itself, limiting itself to banal buses and taxis (although a trip in the Odessa tram is sometimes not banal). Guests of the city are waiting for at least three more exciting transport entertainments: a funicular, pleasure boats and a cable car.
The funicular duplicating the giant Potemkin Stairs appeared on Primorsky Boulevard over 100 years ago. Several times the project was closed, then restored and always received its portion of people’s love. The operating funicular has been operating since 2005. Each of the two trailers can accommodate only 10 passengers.
A cable car stretches from the Otrada beach to the French Boulevard. It is small in size, but the cabins offer excellent views of the sea. The fare is 40 UAH.
And, of course, in the summer you can not go on a boat ride. Small catamarans and pleasure boats set off from the berths of the Seaport. Boat trips are offered on weekends without visiting the beaches, for 50-60 minutes of travel, adults and children over 7 years old will have to pay from 130 UAH. Perhaps later there will be intracity flights to Arcadia and Lanzheron.
- Odessa map
Rent a Car
A few quick answers to the question “Why rent a car in Odessa”: take a ride along the coast, look for wild free beaches, drive to the Chagall lagoon and admire the national natural park “Tuzlovsky estuaries”. Or here is Chisinau: only 3 hours – and already in place. Why not an adventure?
With rent, everything is quite worthy, there are global international offices, and all-Ukrainian companies like Svcar, or you can turn to interesting local distributors: VRC or Master Car. What’s nice is that the vast majority of rental companies’ websites have full-fledged Russian-language versions.
Budget class and economy class will cost about 600-800 UAH per day, a more spacious car – 1100-1800 UAH. Business class starts from 2900 UAH, but you can find a good car for 2000 UAH. For SUVs, the price range is quite serious – from 3000 UAH to 8000 UAH per day of use, for minivans and minibuses they ask for 3500-3800 UAH. A coast without a convertible is not a coast – prepare to pay 2900-3500 UAH for not the most sophisticated model. Exotic lovers have a direct road to VRC, these guys offer to rent an exclusive Tesla 85 Model S superelectric car. As they say, a good show is more expensive than money. Money, by the way, they want order9000 UAH per day.
The amount of the deposit depends on the cost of the car, for the economy and middle class you need to have about 7800-20 000 UAH. Often this may not be cash, but funds on the card for temporary freezing.
Odessa Card
Odessa Card is a useful thing for prudent and active travelers who are prone to planning and saving, allowing you to visit city attractions at great discounts.
The tourist card Odessa card includes more than 80 offers, including free admission to museums and galleries, discounts in restaurants, hotels, etc. Visiting 20 city attractions will be free for the card holder. These include all communal and municipal museums in Odessa (10 museums), the Museum of Cognac Business. N. Shustova, excursions in the historical center of Odessa and the catacombs of Moldavanka, Odessa Zoo, Nemo Dolphinarium, Biopark, boat trip, as well as tasting Odessa cuisine in one of the restaurants.
In some restaurants, cafes and bars on the card you can get discounts up to 50%, you can also visit excursions to the Opera House, Bessarabia and the Black Sea region at a discount, tasting collectible cognacs in the Shustov Museum, as well as buy souvenirs, books, etc. at a discount. Aquapark ” Odessa” can be visited with the Odessa Card with a 50% discount, but only once, all other discounts can be used as often as you like within the validity period of the card. In particular, numerous hostels in Odessa, Gribovka, Karolino-Bugaz, Zatoka and Koblevo offer discounts on the card.
Each Odessa Card comes with a city guide with a detailed map.
How much and where to buy
As of today (April 2019), cards are available for one and two persons, valid for 24, 48 or 72 hours.
Cards for one person cost: for 24 hours – 599 UAH, for 48 hours – 799 UAH, for 72 hours – 899 UAH. Prices for cards for two: for 24 hours – 1199 UAH, for 48 hours – 1599 UAH, for 72 hours – 1799 UAH. The card is activated at the time of the first electronic scan.
The Odessa Card can be paid online with a bank card, and then received by an electronic code at the point of issue. There are two pick-up points in the city: at the Ukrticket office at st. Greek, 11 and at the Oden Tour travel agency at Deribasovskaya, 9. The card can also be purchased offline at any Ukrticket theater box office, at the Ecar sightseeing ticket offices, at the Odessa Book store, at the offices of the travel agencies Plaske Travel, Oden tour ”, “Vilkovo-Tour” and “Arcadia Tr’vel”, as well as in some Odessa hotels.
