We’ve been organizing trips to Ukraine for almost a decade. Through the corruption fuelled days of the Yanukovich regime and through revolution and war, we’ve seen Ukraine at its very worst and its very best. As a result, we’re the go-to people for an in-depth and off the beaten track tour to this enormous and fascinating country.
YPT offers over 6 affordable scheduled tours throughout the year to Ukraine. But as well as our range of group tours, we also run completely customizable, private tours 365 days a year. We can take tourists, photographers, and journalists into all corners of Ukraine and organize outdoor activities, shooting ranges, Soviet relic hunting, and more! Below is a sample itinerary for a private tour, contact us for a quote today!
The following is simply an example of a private tour. Private tours can begin and end anywhere
you like and can be combined with neighboring countries such as Transnistria, Moldova, Poland, and Belarus.
Day 1 – Kyiv
- Meet up in Kyiv in the morning where we will meet a veteran of the recent Euromaidan revolution and begin a walking tour of Kyiv to introduce you to this amazing city and see the sights were the revolution raged in 2014. The tour will also take in breathtaking churches, monasteries, monuments, and dominating Soviet architecture.
- Stop for lunch in a Soviet-style canteen with great, hearty food on offer.
- Visit one of the deepest Metro stations in the world that doubled as a nuclear bunker for the masses in the Cold War.
- We will then head to one of Europe’s greatest war museums, the vast National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War which is topped with the gigantic Rodina Mat statue and boasting many awe-inspiring and colossal Soviet war memorials, tanks, aircraft, and nuclear missiles. Inside the museum is a hive of rare WW2 relics and amazing displays and dioramas of critical WW2 events. If weather conditions allow, we will climb to the top of the Rodina Mat statue for a bird’s eye view over Kyiv. There is also the chance to climb inside and explore the cockpit of the world’s only assault gunship, the feared Russian hind.
- Free time in the evening and then dinner at a traditional Ukrainian restaurant.
- Overnight in Kyiv.
Day 2 – Kyiv
- This day will see one of the highlights of the trip; tank driving!
- We grab breakfast at the hotel and this action-packed day will start fairly early.
- We will meet our driver before leaving Kyiv for the day and cutting across the Ukrainian steppe. We will be heading for a military base at an undisclosed location where we will be briefed and familiarized with security and safety procedures. You will then meet the Ukrainian troops who will be accompanying us and the 15-ton war machine that we will be riding before taking turns driving. The adrenaline-filled, off-road driving that follows will take us through the Ukrainian wilderness, through acres of scenic forests and steppe. You can take as many photos and as much video as you like.
- We will then try some traditional Ukrainian lunch and vodka with the troops in the wilderness.
- Another ride back to base along the highway to get some final excellent photos and video.
- Transfer back to Kyiv and arriving back to the hotel in the evening where we will freshen up before heading out for dinner.
Day 3 – Kyiv
- We grab breakfast and head out of Kyiv to the countryside.
- The day will be spent exploring the lesser-seen part of the Stalin line surrounding Kyiv from preserved to battle-scarred Red Army bunkers, tunnels, and hideouts. Our guide will provide some harrowing stories of the vicious fighting and brutal last stands that took place here during the Nazi invasion of Ukraine.
- Our final destination will be a bunker in the middle of a lake, which can be reached by boats we will hire.
- We will have some kebabs overlooking the lake and can cool off in the water afterward.
- Return to Kiev
- Overnight in Kyiv.
Day 4 – Kyiv
- We wake up early and grab breakfast
- Drive on the Kyiv-Odessa Highway for approximately two hours.
- Possible visit to a rural shooting range owned by an eccentric local who sometimes allows tourists inside to fire a range of heavy weapons and machine guns.
- Our next stop is a secret Soviet missile attack base.
- Arrival to Museum where we will meet a manager of the museum, the ex-officer of the base for a briefing on the history of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile base of ICBM silo launcher in Pervomaisk in a Pavillion with many exhibits.
- Head down a hidden passage through 150 meters long underground corridor. Take a lift 12 floors down to the bottom of the Unified Launch Control Center. (the lift can barely fit three people so with a big group may take some time.)Visit the rest area of the officers and climb one floor up to the control center, where the launching equipment with “THE BUTTON” which would have ended the world is located. You are free to push it and initiate the firing sequence, luckily, no rockets will be fired.
- See the guards’ bunkers, tanks, artillery, missile trains, silos, trucks, and the infamous SS-18 “Satan” Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Everything can be climbed on, and many can be entered, such as Russian army helicopters.
- We will then transfer to the city of Dnipro. The Soviet Rocket City is formerly known as Dnipropetrovsk: It was closed by the KGB in 1959 and only reopened for visitors in the 1990s. .
- Overnight in Dnipro.
Day 5 – Dnipro
- Breakfast at a traditional Ukrainian restaurant.
- Walking tour around Dnipro city taking in the Dnipro-arena (Site of EURO 2012), a monument in honor of the victory football cup during the USSR.
- Visit the rocket-park dedicated to the cities armament producing past, the wall of Celestial Hundred and a monument to victims of Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 and about the heroism of firefighters from Dnipro
- We’ll then head to embankment called “Naberezhnaya”, Monastery Island, Taras Shevchenko Monument, who had a great contribution to the development of Ukrainian culture, then visit St.Nicolas Church and Waterfall “Porig Revuchiy” – The Roaring Rapid.
- We’ll see Taras Shevchenko’s Park, then Transfiguration Cathedral – the first building of Yekaterinoslav – city built in honor of Russian Empress Catherine the Great.
- We will visit the Historical Museum, Eternal flame, Diorama of “The battle for Dnepr,” then walk to The Monument of Eternal Glory
- Have lunch at Stara Taverna restaurant nearby The Monument of Eternal Glory
- Visit the Yekaterinoslavskiy boulevard and walk along Yavornitskogo avenue to the fountain of the Muse.
- Return to the hotel for some free time.
- We’ll enjoy dinner at Pazata Hata and later drinks at the famous “Walk of Lights” party street.
- Overnight in Dnipro city.
Day 6 – Zaporizhia
- We grab breakfast and check out of the hotel for the drive to Zaporizhia, a major city on the Dnieper River.
- We’ll spend the day exploring the heart of Cossack country as the city is home to Khortytsia Island, a former Cossack stronghold with the Khortytsia National Reserve and the open-air Museum of Zaporizhian Cossacks.
- We grab lunch before heading to the Regional Lore Museum which explores Cossack, Scythian and medieval history.
- If time permits we will see the Boguslayev Museum of Technology which has jet engines and motorbikes.
- We grab supplies for the drive back to Kyiv.
- Overnight in Kyiv.
Day 7 – Kyiv
- After lunch, we will head to the former residence of Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovich. There are few places on Earth like this $75 million residence. Since fleeing the country, this luxurious site has been opened to the public and has become a must-see destination for locals and tourists alike. From the ostriches in his private zoo to the replica Spanish galleon, to the exquisite landscaping across the expansive 140 hectares of territory, you’ll see firsthand why Yanukovych was named by Transparency International as the world’s most corrupt politician in 2016.
- After exploring inside the opulent house, we enjoy a golf car ride around the 350 acres residence with stops to see main sights: Spanish galleon, golf courses, Putin’s guest house, retro car collection, helipad.
- Return to Kyiv for some free time.
- Farewell dinner and drinks.
- Overnight in Kyiv.
Day 8 – Kyiv
- End of tour with the option to extend into neighboring countries such as Transnistria, Moldova, Poland, Belarus, or Russia.
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