Kiev & Chernobyl Group Tour, Ukraine
Description of Kiev & Chernobyl Group Tour, Ukraine
An exclusive and unique small-group tour visiting the colourful and welcoming city of Kiev and fascinating Chernobyl. Explore the Ukranian capital of Kiev, a pleasant city boasting the golden spires of St Michael's Cathedral, the wide streets and exclusive houses in the elite Vozdvizhenka district and the ancient cupolas of St Sophia's.From the city head to Chernobyl, site of the worst environmental disaster in human history. Explore the various parts of the exclusion zone, visiting the school, sports centre and fairground to see the devestation of the event and how nature has since begun to re-claim the site. Meet with some of the 'self-settlers', people who have since returned and settled in the zone. These people are often from the older generation returning to their historic homes: learn about everyday life in the zone and how these resilient locals pursue a lifestyle many would never consider. Spend the night in a small hotel built for scientific advisors before returning to explore the capital a little further.
This unique tour is designed to provide visitors with a fascinating contrast between the beauty and impressive scale of the the colourful capital of Kiev with Chernobyl, site of a disaster that rocked the Soviet Union leaving the area still in recovery.
Day-by-day experiences
| Day 1 | Fly to Kiev. Upon arrival you will be met and transferred to the hotel for two nights. Enjoy the evening at leisure. |
| Day 2 | Enjoy a full day tour of Kiev with visits to Kreschatyk, the Golden Gates, St Michael's Cathedral, St. Sophia and the fascinating Chernobyl Museum. Enjoy lunch before heading to the Cave Monastery. The evening is at leisure. (B,L) |
| Day 3 | This morning drive to Chernobyl. Arrive at the outer boundary of the exclusion zone and pass through the control checkpoint. Lunch will be taken here followed by a presentation on the areas dark history. After lunch head to Reactor 4 and enjoy an extended tour of the ghost city of Pripyat. Explore the abandoned city with visits to the sports centre, school, swimming pool and fairground. Return to Chernobyl for dinner and an overnight stay in a small hotel built for scientific advisors. (B/L/D) |
| Day 4 | Continue your tour of Chernobyl with visits to further sites around Pripyat which includes the cooling reservoir. You will also be lucky enough to meet some of the 'self settlers', people who have returned to the exclusion zone despite Government ruling. Learn about life in the zone and see how nature has started to re-claim the site. Leave Chernobyl (with a check for radiation levels first!) and return to Kiev. Check in to your hotel for two nights. (B/L) |
| Day 5 | Today is entirely at free to explore the city at your own pace. (B) |
| Day 6 | Return to the airport and take the flight back to the UK. (B) |
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.comCheck dates, prices & availability
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
Travellers to Chernobyl are provided with a lot of useful information from the local guides about nuclear power stations and their possible influence on any environment. With the example of the Chernobyl nuclear power station history, you can see what awful consequences to people and the environment after the blast of a nuclear reactor.As a destination Ukraine does not tend to attract huge numbers of visitors and as a result environmental considerations which are now common-place in many other parts of the world often get overlooked. We work with our local agent to encourage environmental responsibility where possible. Such things as not asking for new towels every day in the hotel and turning lights off when leaving a room are strongly encouraged by our local agents and the hotel but can be still slow to catch on. All food served on the tour is sourced locally which not only helps the local communities but minimises the environmental impact of transporting goods. The very format of this as a group tour means fewer vehicles are required to transport visitors thus avoiding excess vehicle fumes being released into the atmosphere. Drivers of the vehicles are also advised not to leave it 'idling' to avoid release of pollution into the air.
The Impacts of this Trip
Our local agent has been operating socially responsible trips to the country for many years and has a wealth of experience and expertise in the region. The trip includes the chance to meet with the 'self settlers', people who have returned to the Chernobyl area against Government rules. These local old people are always glad when guests visit them as they haven't got any neighbours and many of them haven't got any relatives or family to help them. They are always glad to greet guests with local homemade food and drinks and to talk with someone about their history and issues of life in Chernobyl. These self-settlers get very little support from the state today and try to survive on their own by growing some food and keeping some animals. Our local agents pay these settlers and donate food which not only provides an important income and source of food to settlers but also provides a great opportunity to learn about real life in the Chernobyl area and how hard it is.
Also increase of the volume of travellers to the Chernobyl area also helps local businesses and people, as there are few other job opportunities than tourism in the 30km restricted Chernobyl area.
For every booking we will donate to Chernobyl Heart a charity which was set up by two clients of ours who had previously travelled with our company to Belarus and were moved to do something about the lives of the children still being affected by the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The tragic events of 1986 caused thousands of tonnes of radioactive material to affect the surrounding natural environment leaving long-lasting effects on the populace. As the new generation of residents start families in an attempt to move on, many years later children are still being born with cardiac conditions which heavily affect their quality of life. We donate to this organisation in an attempt to help alleviate at least one child’s suffering.
Travellers to Chernobyl are provided with a lot of useful information from the local guides about nuclear power stations and their possible influence on any environment. With the example of the Chernobyl nuclear power station history, you can see what awful consequences to people and the environment after the blast of a nuclear reactor.As a destination Ukraine does not tend to attract huge numbers of visitors and as a result environmental considerations which are now common-place in many other parts of the world often get overlooked. We work with our local agent to encourage environmental responsibility where possible. Such things as not asking for new towels every day in the hotel and turning lights off when leaving a room are strongly encouraged by our local agents and the hotel but can be still slow to catch on. All food served on the tour is sourced locally which not only helps the local communities but minimises the environmental impact of transporting goods. The very format of this as a group tour means fewer vehicles are required to transport visitors thus avoiding excess vehicle fumes being released into the atmosphere. Drivers of the vehicles are also advised not to leave it 'idling' to avoid release of pollution into the air.
The Impacts of this Trip
Our local agent has been operating socially responsible trips to the country for many years and has a wealth of experience and expertise in the region. The trip includes the chance to meet with the 'self settlers', people who have returned to the Chernobyl area against Government rules. These local old people are always glad when guests visit them as they haven't got any neighbours and many of them haven't got any relatives or family to help them. They are always glad to greet guests with local homemade food and drinks and to talk with someone about their history and issues of life in Chernobyl. These self-settlers get very little support from the state today and try to survive on their own by growing some food and keeping some animals. Our local agents pay these settlers and donate food which not only provides an important income and source of food to settlers but also provides a great opportunity to learn about real life in the Chernobyl area and how hard it is.
Also increase of the volume of travellers to the Chernobyl area also helps local businesses and people, as there are few other job opportunities than tourism in the 30km restricted Chernobyl area.
For every booking we will donate to Chernobyl Heart a charity which was set up by two clients of ours who had previously travelled with our company to Belarus and were moved to do something about the lives of the children still being affected by the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The tragic events of 1986 caused thousands of tonnes of radioactive material to affect the surrounding natural environment leaving long-lasting effects on the populace. As the new generation of residents start families in an attempt to move on, many years later children are still being born with cardiac conditions which heavily affect their quality of life. We donate to this organisation in an attempt to help alleviate at least one child’s suffering.
1 Reviews of Kiev & Chernobyl Group Tour, Ukraine
Reviewed on 06 Oct 2017 by Vince Payne
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Learning about the timeline of the disaster whilst being in the area.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take a good camera and be prepared to have a complete sensory overload.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
I'm not sure how much it benefited the local people or the environment, it does make you think about the environment and how we damage it.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
This was a brilliant trip, so much better than I was expecting.
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