Lviv by train · Lviv by train
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Lviv by train
Lviv by train
The easiest way to get to L'viv from Western Europe is through Krakow (or Wroclaw/Katowice) in Poland. From there, you have several options.
Take a train to Przemyśl near the Polish-Ukrainian border. It costs about 50 PLN and takes between 4 and 5 hours. From Przemysl you take a bus to the border ('granitsa' in Polish) for 2 PLN, walk through the checkpoint and take another bus (Marshrootka) to L'viv. When you exit the final border control, walk straight ahead and you will come out on to a street which cars use to cross back in to Poland. Follow this street up past the shops and money exchanges, and take your first left. About 50 meters down on the left hand side is the new bus terminal where buses run regularly to Lviv for approximately 21 UAH (2.50 USD). Get your ticket from the driver.
The total cost for this route is approximately 12 Euro and maybe less if you have a student card. It is around half the price of the next cheapest option. Whether to take it depends on your stress tolerance, Polish language skills and ability to push and shove at the border.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Queues at the border crossings used be unpredictable and hellish, but since Schengen laws were enacted, smuggling has dropped dramatically and queues are virtually non-existent. If you do encounter a queue (occasionally tourists groups must go through 'manually') and are in a hurry, get the guards attention, explain your situation and they will more than likely let you go through immediately. Be polite! 30 minutes from Medyka to Sheheni (Шегині) by foot is now the norm.
Update: July 2011. There were considerable queues in both directions. While the numbers in the queue were not large, there were very few people getting through. We got through by getting the border guards' attention and saying we were a 'Tourist group'. You will need to speak Polish to do this.
There is also a direct train from Krakow to L'viv once a day, plus one with a change. This costs 195 PLN as of the 3/3/2009 booking via Polrail Service . A sleeper berth is required on the train, as only sleeping cars are carried across the border to Ukraine. DO NOT pay a cash 'reservation charge' to the Ukrainian conductor on the second train. Ensure you have your reservations for the second train in your possession and fully identifiable.
There are trains coming from throughout Ukraine, including multiple daily trains (including 3-4 overnight trains) from Kyiv. The timings can be inconvenient - one night train from Kyiv gets in at 4:20am, the one back to Kiev gets there at 7am - and hotels in Kyiv really like to book that pair of trains for their clients. For better options, check the timetables at poezda.net or poezda.org.ua and buy the ticket at any train station in Ukraine.
Trains from Hungary and Slovakia come through Lviv, usually on their way to Kyiv. Train-fare from both countries is approx $80 per person for a bed in a sleeping car. On the MAV website the round-trip price from Budapest is quoted at €64.40, [ ] but, when contacting the international rail office by phone in Budapest, the one-way fare was quoted at 12,600 Ft ($75/€50), however, when purchased at Keleti train station the price was reduced to roughly 11,700 Ft ($62/€44) (1.1.09). Make sure to bring enough food and water for at least 12 hours (15 hours from Budapest).
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Lviv Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.