Travelling to Lviv

By air...

Lviv does have its own airport, albeit a rather modest one, so don't expect state of the art slickness. The most convenient places to fly from are London, Vienna or Warsaw. Poland's LOT airlines operates regular flights from London Heathrow with a brief stop in Warsaw. Austrian Airlines also operates flights and these are direct to Lviv, but only a few times a week. If you're coming from the British Isles you can also fly from Manchester, again with a short stop in Warsaw. Ukraine's own international airline runs direct flights to Lviv from Frankfurt and Kiev itself. If you're kicking off your trip in the Ukrainne's capital you can fly direct to Kiev from most of Europe's major cities, including London, Paris, Vienna and Madrid. The flight duration of the subsequent trip between Kiev and Lviv is about 1 and a half hours. Lviv airport is just 6km outside the city so it won't take you long to get to the heart of the action. As of yet there are no budget airlines flying to Lviv, but the prices aren't too terrifying with the major players, so if you book in advance you should be able to secure a reasonable fare.

International State Airport Boryspil in Kiev

By train...

Lviv's grand art nouveau station, a relic of the days when the city was the capital of Habsburg Galicia, is a spectacular sight in itself. It was recently restored and it's is in fine condition. Of course, during the Habsburg days the train journey from Vienna was a good deal quicker - today it's about an 18 hour slog from the Austrian capital. If you're travelling from Poland it's about 11 hours from the southern city of Cracow. Naturally, if you're coming from Kiev, there are daily trains and these take roughly 8 hours to reach Lviv.

Train time table - in Ukraine

Train time table - from Poland

By bus...

It's possible to set out on your adventure to Lviv from a multitude of cities across Europe, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, London, Manchester, Paris, Prague and Strasbourg. Most of these options constitute a fairly long haul, but if you're intending to visit other destinations in Eastern Europe, you'll most likely be approaching from Poland. In this case, a couple of the more interesting points of departure would be Przemysl or Zamosc. Both of these historic cities are worth a night-stop in themselves, and they're not far from the Ukrainian border. You can take a bus direct from Przemysl itself, or if you're on the Zamosc route, you can head off from Hrebenne. Zamosc, a charming little Renaissance town, was founded on the ancient Lviv road, and it was a remarkable multicultural settlement for many generations.

www.bus.com.ua/

By car...

It's an intrepid choice, but if you like an adventure there'll be plenty of thrills and spills in store. If you're coming from the north-west, bear in mind that Polish roads don't have a wonderful reputation, and the Ukrainian ones are also unlikely to win prizes. Motorways themselves are rather few and far between - we don't mind that so much but pot-holes are very much the norm, not forgetting all kinds of slippery surprises when Old Man Winter descends. On the plus side Western Ukraine's straight, tree-lined pre-war roads (reminiscent of Napoleon's attractive French numbers several hundred mlles behind you) are certainly picturesque. And its only with a car that you'll have complete freedom. All in all, a road-trip has the potential to be very rewarding... but only for the bold.