Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2018/Travel

Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2018

Lviv, Ukraine, October 13-15

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Visa policy

Representatives who have valid passport of any CEE country, do not need a visa to enter Ukraine for a stay up to 90 days within a 180 day period. This also includes Albania whose nationals did not have a visa-free entry back in 2014. There is also no need for visa for citizens of other European states outside CEE, Canada, USA, Israel and many other states. You can check the information about visas on Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine webpage, but this information is not always up-to-date.^[1]

If you need a visa to Ukraine, please immediately contact organizers at ceem2018wikimedia.org.ua to send you an invitation (you should have an original document, not e-mail or photocopy).

More information about visas (inc. visas on arrival and e-visa) you may find in Wikipedia page.

Russia

Due to ongoing conflict with Russian Federation, the rules for citizens of this country to enter Ukraine are changing all the time. There is still no need for visa but you need a "foreign" passport, and you cannot use an "internal" passport anymore. You may be checked more scrupulously on the border, especially if you are a young man. Moreover, since 2018 Russian citizens have to provide biometric data (fingerprints) on the border check-point (together with citizens of other 70 countries, which are considered by Ukrainian government to be risky, the list of countries you can see here). In practice, many Russian citizens visit Ukraine, and attend Ukrainian wikievents. We recommend to all people with Russian passports who are planning to visit Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2018, to inform us in advance and send us a copy of your passport and home address, so that we can provide you with an invitation letter and other documents proving your aim to visit Ukraine.

Kosovo

Please note that Ukraine does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state. For this reason, Kosovan passports are rejected. People from this region may use passports of other recognized states for entering Ukraine.

Get in

By plane

Danylo Halytskyi Lviv International Airport (LWO) is a major hub serving Western Ukraine. The new airport terminal was inaugurated in 2012 and meets all modern standards. The airport is very conveniently located within 5-10 km from city centre, railway and bus stations and conference venue. More information on how to get to or from the airport can be found on the airport website (public transport and taxi services) or you can use EasyWay travel planner (includes real-times GPS data).

As of July 2018, the airport has flights of 18 different companies serving several dozen destinations in Europe. If you do not want to spend more than three days in Lviv (sad but we understand you have to work or study...) the most convenient direct flights are:


City	Company	To Lviv	From Lviv
Vienna	Austrian	AUA381, arriving Friday 15-20	AUA382, departing Tuesday 16-00
Minsk	Belavia	BRU827, arriving Friday 14-30	BRU828, departing Tuesday 15-20
Munich	Lufthansa	DLH2550, arriving Friday 11-30	DLH2551, departing Tuesday 12-10
Warsaw	LOT	LOT764, arriving Friday 19-15 LOT757, arriving Friday night at 00-50	LOT758, departing Tuesday 06-20
Olsztyn-Mazury	LOT	LOT739, arriving Saturday 05-35	LOT740, departing Tuesday 01-40
Istanbul	Turkish	THY0443, arriving Friday 20-50	THY0444, departing Monday 22-10
Kyiv Boryspil	Ukrainian International	AUI033, arriving Friday 21-00	AUI034, departing Tuesday 07-00
Kyiv Zhuliany	Motor Sich (note: uses An-24)	MSI263, arriving Friday 11-15 MSI265, arriving Saturday 12-20	MSI264, departing Monday 17-50

Note this list is not exhaustive, and many other options (arriving earlier and/or departing later, non-CEE countries) are also available.

Alternatively you can fly to Kyiv Boryspil Airport (KBP) or Kyiv International Airport «Zhuliany» (IEV) and connect to a Kyiv-Lviv-Kyiv flight or reach Lviv by an express train.

Kyiv Boryspil offers many direct flights to and from CEE countries, including Armenia (Yerevan), Azerbaijan (Baku), Bulgaria (Sofia), Cyprus (Larnaca), Czech Republic (Prague), Estonia (Tallinn), Georgia (Tbilisi), Germany (Berlin, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt), Greece (Athens), Hungary (Budapest), Kazakhstan (Astana and Almaty), Latvia (Riga), Lithuania (Vilnius), Moldova (Chisinau), Romania (Bucharest), Slovenia (Ljubljana) and Turkey (Ankara).
Kyiv Zhuliany offers CEE destinations including Azerbaijan (Baku), Estonia (Tallinn), Georgia (Tbilisi and Batumi), Germany (Cologne-Bonn, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Memmingen and Nuremberg), Hungary (Budapest), Lithuania (Vilnius) Poland (Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, Lublin, Poznan and Wroclaw), Slovakia (Bratislava) and Turkey (Izmir).

Both airports also offer other destinations in Western Europe and Asia, and Kyiv Boryspil also offers transatlantic flights to New York and Toronto.

Note: Motor Sich flights between Kyiv Zhuliany (IEV) and Lviv (LWO) use Antonov An-24. These are Ukrainian planes roughly 45 years old, although well-maintained. This might be an interesting experience if you are an aviation fan. If you arrive to Kyiv Zhuliany and prefer modern planes you might rather choose taking a train from Kyiv to Lviv.

By train

Lviv railway station offers many international services to other Central and Eastern European countries. Timetable for Lviv railway station as of August 2018 includes the following services that can be convenient for attending the CEE meeting:


City	To Lviv	From Lviv
Vienna	147 Vienna-Kyiv, arriving Saturday 10-13	749 Kyiv-Vienna, departing Monday 21-00
Minsk, Mahilyow	371 Mahilyow-Lviv, arriving Friday 10-45	372 Lviv-Mahilyow, departing Tuesday 17-40
Budapest	34 Budapest-Lviv, arriving Friday 22-16	749 Kyiv-Vienna, departing Monday 21-00
Przemyśl	35 Przemyśl-Odesa, arriving Friday 22-15	36 Odesa-Przemyśl, departing Tuesday 07-50
Moscow	73 Moscow-Lviv, arriving Friday 15-17	74 Lviv-Moscow, departing Tuesday 10-03
Kosice	8813 Kosice-Kyiv, arriving Saturday 03-40	13 Kyiv-Kosice, departing Tuesday 02-52

Note that Lviv railway station also currently has direct services to Poland (Gdynia via Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk, Wroclaw via Krakow and Katowice) but their schedule for October is not confirmed yet.

Internal train tickets you may buy from train stations or online via Web-site. Please note, that Lviv is one of the most popular touristic place in Ukraine, so it is often difficult to buy tickets for the weekend. You may try other ways, one of them is to search for next station (for example Khodoriv, Sambir or Stry) but don't forget that you are travelling to/from Lviv, so please check the timetable. You may also ask organizers for help.

By bus

Lviv bus station is located a few km from the venue and has direct services to many Central and Eastern European cities. Most official schedules are in Ukrainian only but some services such as Infobus, Tickets.ua, Inbus or Busfor have English versions. Note that most carriers are private and listed only on some (but not all) websites. A more or less accurate schedule in Ukrainian is available here.

As of July 2018, there are direct services to Austria (Vienna), Belarus (Homiel), Czech Republic (Prague), Hungary (Budapest), Latvia (Riga), Lithuania (Vilnius), Moldova (Chisinau) and Poland (Warsaw, Gdansk, Krakow, Lublin, Poznan, Wroclaw and others).

References

↑ Visa-free regime for citizens of Rep. of Macedonia is prolongated till 15 March 2019

[1] Visa-free regime for citizens of Rep. of Macedonia is prolongated till 15 March 2019

[1]