A Western Russia Itinerary

Timing is Everything

          Just a few months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I took a three week, independent rail and bus journey through Western Russia and Ukraine.  This fabulous trip began and ended respectively in the gateway cities of Helsinki, Finland and Kiev, Ukraine.  In between, I visited the Russian cities of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Saratov, Volgograd, Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea and Rostov on Don before heading west into Ukraine to visit the cities of Yalta and Odessa on the Black Sea and Kiev on the Dnieper River.

Three Countries, Three Seas, Three Rivers

          I learned that train travel in Russia, while safe and reliable, could be painfully slow.  At times I literally wanted to get out and push the train to make it go faster when there was no apparent reason for it to be going so slowly.  Fourteen hour bus trips were the norm.  But these protracted sojourns gave me a wonderful opportunity to meet and get to know the friendly folks in Finland, Russia and Ukraine.  Even with this fast paced trip covering a huge territory, there was still plenty of time to explore the Baltic Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.  And I was able to check off one of my bucket list items by dipping my toes in the Volga, the Don and the Dnieper Rivers along the way.

City by City Itinerary

1)  Helsinki, Finland (3 nights)

-arrived by plane from SFO

2)  St. Petersburg, Russia (3 nights)

-arrived by train, 5 hours

3)  Moscow, Russia (3 nights)

-arrived by train, 4 hours, 45 minutes

4) Saratov, Russia (1 night)

-arrived by overnight train, 15 hours, 30 minutes

5)  Volgograd, Russia (1 night)

-arrived by train, 6 hours, 30 minutes

6)  Astrakhan, Russia (1 night)

-arrived by train, 8 hours, 30 minutes

7)  Volgograd, Russia (returned for train connection to Rostov on Don)

-arrived by overnight train, 10 hours

8)  Rostov on Don, Russia (1 night)

-arrived by bus, 8 hours

9)  Yalta, Ukraine (1 night)

-arrived by overnight bus via Simferopol, 14 hours, 20 minutes

10)  Odessa, Ukraine (transfer to train)

-arrived by overnight bus, 14 hours

11)  Kiev, Ukraine (2 nights)

-arrived by train, 8 hours, 30 minutes

A Whirlwind Trip!

          As you can see, this was not a trip for the faint at heart.  It required sticking to a rigorous schedule, with many long hours on trains and buses, but it enabled me to see some fabulous places that tourists may not have an opportunity to see again for quite some time.  Within months of returning from my trek through this area, Russia invaded the Crimean region of Ukraine, which it has occupied since.  Russian troops are still marshaled on the border in the Rostov region of Russia.  Within the same period of time, the train station in Volgograd, where I made several connections, was bombed by terrorists.  Yet, I would not have wanted to miss this chance to explore Russia and the Ukraine and to meet the wonderful people who reside in these two counties.  To a person, they were friendly, welcoming and interested in the American visitor traveling solo through their homeland.  Stay tuned for lots more information about traveling through Russia in future articles on your favorite travel blog, Blue Orb Travel.