Top Ukraine Shore Excursions

We couldn't have asked for a better guide than Michail: full of knowledge, adding to the history of the city his own family history, showing pictures and videos in addition to him telling the story and open to questions all the time. Fabulous experience - highly recommended!

The tour was very informative and our guide Mikhail was wonderful! We learned a lot about Odessa and its history. Will recommend to others

This private tour is really amazing, make sure you get Max "The Dentist" he is great, he made the tour so much more fun and interesting, we got to see A LOT! 10/10

Absolutely amazing experience! This tour to the Chernobyl exclusion zone exceeded my expectations. Daniel was my tour guide and he was absolutely fantastic. I went to the exclusion zone to create a youtube vlog and Daniel showed me some amazing locations to capture great content. I am so glad that I booked onto the private 1-2-1 tour as I saw extra locations than what I would have seen on the group tour, and also it meant that I could have a more personalised tour. Daniel was. very knowledgeable on the history and locations in the exclusion zone, and this made the tour extremely interesting. He clearly knew his stuff and he also asked me what I would like to see. Daniel is also a great guy; he is very friendly and approachable and truly makes an effort to provide a first class service when conducting a tour. I give him five stars.If anyone reading this review is interested, my youtube channel is THOMAS WILLIAM TRAVEL - I create travel videos of lesser visited destinations. Please subscribe and check out my video of this trip. Amazing experience and I would go again.

On this tour you will hear very interesting,inspiring and emotional stories about heroic defense of Odesa in hard times, solders,various weapons, vehicles and see very interesting exhibits. Guide Nastja know a lot of interesting and historic information and she transfer everything in very good way. They offer transport which is cheaper then taxi or uber. There is also very good entertainment park for children.

We have just returned from a three day visit to Odessa. We arranged our tours with Olga at Odessa Walks by e mail. She was very accommodating taking into account my husband's difficulties in walking. She is a wealth of information, very personable and a pleasure to spend the time with. At her suggestion, we took the Odessa historical walking tour first to get a general background of the city and then the two Jewish tours. We were also very interested in seeing the residences of the Jewish writers and intellectuals as well and she also arranged that tour for us. We feel that we toured the city with a friend and recommend her highly. Excellent.

Great, well-informed tour of the Soviet 411 battery and military equipment. Each piece has a story to tell and guide Nastya tells it well. One learns about heavy tanks and artillery and how well they worked and how far they reached. One sees a tiny artillery apparatus dubbed the "Goodbye Motherland' because of its vulnerability to retaliatory strikes. Nastya explains the mystery behind the numbering of the submarine on display. On display is also a gigantic gun of the type used to counter Romanian advances in World War II. The actual guns and their supporting bunkers had to be destroyed by Soviet forces eventually as the attack on Odessa proceeded. One can see the remains if those bunkers nearby. Next to the park is a small military history museum of the 411 Battery and other military forces in the region in WW2. It tells the human stories behind the military equipment [albeit all in Russian text]. The tour and museum addition probably take two hours to traverse and contemplate. For those interested in seeing real historical artifacts read about in books or seen in documentaries and movies, this is a must-do tour for you. Nastya's in-depth knowledge and personal style ensure you enjoy a most informative experience.

I spent three days with Olga, the first on a general city tour with a group I'd been touring with, the second and third were just booked by me --Jewish heritage tour. It's usually done in one day, but Olga agreed to split it up over two days, because of my health issues. My grandparents and extended family came from Odessa to the U.S. in the early 1900s. Olga made the world they'd lived in come alive. Her knowledge and passion was infectious, and I felt the unique spirit of the city: exciting, playful, and vibrant. She's great company and a wonderful story teller. My experience with her was unforgettable.

It was a pleasure to walk around the city center with knowledgeable Svitlana. I got to learn a lot about the history of Odessa. I highly recommend this tour.

The tour was great. My tourguide Mikhail was very helpfull, good at giving information in an interesting way and design the tour around, what you find interesting. If you want a quick way to see Odesa, this is a good way to do it.

We booked a private tour and the bus arrived earlier than expected at our hotel in Kyiv along with our guide Nikolai. We were on our way almost straight away after a quick passport check. The bus was reasonably comfortable with A/C and heating. On the journey there Nikolai introduced himself, told us what we were going to be doing and seeing through the day. Also during the journey, an interesting video is played to educate you on what actually happened to Reactor 4 and the people of Chernobyl. We sailed through the checkpoint in almost no time at all. We got to see Chernobyl, Chernobyl 2 (USSR radar station), Reactor 4 and Pripyat. Lunch was provided halfway through the tour. Not much choice but perfectly edible. Nikolai was very knowledgable, he kept us informed of what everything was, what happened and answered all our questions as best he could. He was very friendly and easy to get along with. Overall we had a great day. Our only complaint is that we couldn't stay longer, but it was getting dark and we had to be back at the checkpoint for 6pm. We will be back for a 2 day tour at some point and hopefully get Nikolai as our guide again. Thank you Nikolai, and the rest of the team from Jake and Becki.

This was an amazing experience! Very eerie to see the devastating effects from the nuclear reactor explosion. Our guide Daniel knew a lot about the history and was very kind and helpful. The food is not so good so I would suggest bringing your own lunch. Also, if you like dogs, bring some snacks for them because there are tons of stray dogs everywhere. They are really friendly and well fed from all the tourists, but some extra food and love can never hurt 🐶

If you're going to do any tours of the city, definitely skip the ubiquitous driving tours and stick with Odessa Walks. Do as many of their tours as possible. My friend and I first did the "Odessa Through the Centuries" walking tour in a small group of five with Alexandra, who was just lovely and gave a thorough rundown of both the actual history as well as the anecdotes and myths of Odessa, in which she was fluent (as well as at least 3 languages, which is helpful for multilingual groups). Also, her beer recommendation was excellent!We then did the ~5 hour Jewish History walking tour privately with Olga, who is also a goddess and champion of a tour guide. My friend only speaks Russian, so Olga gave over the tour in both languages and knew everything about everything. I also requested the addition of Moldavanka and kingpin Misha Yaponchik's house to the tour, which she duly showed us. The tours are specially tailored, and whatever interests you, trust me, Olga has forgotten more about it than you'll ever know. Even if you're not Jewish, like my friend, the history of the Jews in Odessa is fascinating, and if you're there in the summer, you'll barely notice the heat and distance once she gets started.Had we had more time, we'd definitely have done all the other tours on offer. If you're in Odessa and are even mildly interested in the city and its history, definitely ensure you do at least one of these.

We were two couples who are very experienced travelers. Olga led the four of us on three separate tours of this fascinating city - the Jewish Heritage walk, a walk around the less visited parts of Odessa’s historic center and the Odessa Catacombs. Every one of the tours was thorough, interesting and highly informative. Olga was a pleasure to be with during the three half days we spent with her. Olga also recommended and booked for us a couple of excellent restaurants. If you’re visiting Odessa, have no hesitation in reaching out to Olga. Highly recommended!

Getting Mikhail's take on modern life in Ukraine, local Odessa culture, Odessa humor, and the wonderful architecture in Odessa.

I booked this tour for two of us around Odessa. The price was good and I made contact with the company via WhatsApp. I asked if our guide could meet us at the hotel as I was worried about getting lost. As our hotel was central that was no problem and at 6pm the wonderful Michael was waiting for us.Michael was a really interesting guy, very friendly, intelligent and excellent English. He immediately put us at ease as he walked us through the city explaining some highlights and allowing us time to take photos. We really enjoyed the tour, the time seemed to go very fast.It was also a very clever tour as we walked in a loop and got a good sense of what Odessa is like. We loved how vibrant the city centre was and was really pleased to take this tour since Michael was so professional and a great guide.