Tulcea Program Vapor
Navrom Delta asigura transportul pe toate cele trei brate al Dunarii, principalele trasee fiind Tulcea - Periprava, Tulcea - Sulina, Tulcea - Sfantul Gheorghe. De asemenea navele Navrom Delta are curse si catre Mila 23 si Caraorman.
There aren't any buses, trains or ferries directly from Constanta to Odessa. To get to Odessa, one way would be to travel by bus from Constanta to Galati ( 3 1/2 - 4 hours away), it's a city near the border with. From Galati you might find a direct bus to Odessa, though I really doubt it. If you don't find such a bus you should travel from Galati to Reni, the first city in Ukraine after the border and there you'll certainly find a bus to Odessa. Note that there is no public transportation between Galati and Reni, even though it's a distance of just 10 km, so you'll either have to take a taxi or hitchhike.
Also note that between Galati (in ) and Reni (in Ukraine) you'll pass through a small area of (and yes, they'll have a border post there). This letter is writing by 'Sami' member from or I dont remember sorry: 'Border crossing UA (Reni) - RO (Galati): How did I do it Hi all, earlier I asked advice for crossing the border from (Reni) to Galati. Nobody seemed to have any practical experience.
Well, now I can say: it is possible! Here is the whole story. All this happened on Saturday 28th June 2007. 1) Be an early bird I started my tournee from at 6.30.
After getting a taxi, I was at the Odessa MAIN bus station at 6.45. (There are several bus stations in Odessa).
The bus station is - how to say - chaotic. There are marshrutkas ('mini buses') leaving from Odesa to Reni at 7.30, next at 13.00. Marshrutkas depart near the gate of the station. There were no seats left for the 7.30 marshrutka to Reni. At 7.30, there was also a marshrutka to Izmail (check your maps;) ). No seats left.
Next marshrutka to Izmail will leave at 8.30. What to do: The next marshrutka to Izmail appeared immediately after the previous left the station. Do NOT move from the parking place of marshrutka - stay there! When the next marshrutka has arrived (i.e. One hour before departure), haggle yourself to the driver and get a place. Most of seats are prebooked (by phone by the driver, no info about how). There might be a few free seats.
I was lucky to get one of the two free seats to the marshrutka leaving Odessa at 8.30. The fee from Odesa to Izmail was 30 hrivnas including a luggage. From the Izvor bus station (near the main railway station), there is a marshrutka to Reni at 7.20. Don't trust for any other / later departures from Izvor station.
2) Enjoy the rural Ukraine The route from Odessa to Izmail is very rural - enjoy the scenes (or sleep after 1,5 hours waiting and standing at the Odessa bus station). The marshrutka made a 10-minute-stop in Tatarburani at 10.30.
Enough time to buy cup of coffee or an ice cream. The marshrutka arrived in Izmail at 12.00.
The final stop was about 200 meters before the bus station. 3) Find the next connection to Reni Near the bus station (walk a bit around) are marshrutkas waiting for passangers to Reni. The next departured at 13.00. I got my name on the list (i.e. Got booked a seat), left my luggage to the driver and enjoyed a lunch (a cabbage pirog and coffee) in - well, how to say - 'tent cafe' near the bus station. When I found the marshrutka, the driver with golden teeth asked me whether I'm going to Romania. I answered yes, and he promised to drive me to the border.
So, the marshrutka was in Reni at 14.00 and I was at the border at 14.15. The fee was 20 hrivnas to Reni and extra 15 hrivnas to the border (the driver changed a taxi sign in Reni). If you get yourself to Reni, the only practical (and available) way to get to the border is taxi. There are no marshrutkas to Romanian site, and neither taxis won't take you from Reni to Galati - just to the border. 4) Walk through At the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, you'll get advice what to do. The Ukrainians and Moldovans are operating at the same border station. The Ukrainian customs wanted to check my luggage.
After this, I got my passport stamped with Ukrainian and Moldovan stamps. Then: walk through Moldova! Between Ukraine and Romania, there is Moldovan territory for about 1,5 kilometres. Just walk straight forward. Rns 310 maps of europe. 5) Get your passport stamped again 30 meters before the next Moldovan border station, a car picked me (it was about at 15.00). An older man told me it is not possible to cross the next border by foot. Afterwards, I realized it was half-true: you can cross, but you should walk 12 kilometers to Galati.
I jumped in the car and we got to the Moldovan border station. After waiting for a while (appr. 30 minutes) we were there.
At the Moldovan border station the driver had problems with his car documents; he couldn't go to Romania. I took my passport and luggage and made the customs & passport control procedures myself. Meanwhile, a Moldovan border control officer arranged me another drive to the Romanian site. I was happy and jumped in. 6) Welcome to Romania We drove over the river Prut to the Romanian border control.
Now, this driver didn't have a first aid kit in his car and he had to return to Moldova. Again, luggage out of the car - I was happy to have no problems at all.
The staff at the Romanian site was very helpful and I had even fun! I kindly asked if they could arrange me a drive to Galati - and that happened in 10 minutes.
Another officer came to ask me, where I would like to get off! I jumped in the car, and ten minutes later (after all this, at 17.10) I found myself in Galati railway station. I gave the driver a reasonable sum. The last train from Galati to Bucarest left at 17.40, so I had just enough time to buy the ticket and something to drink. 7) Summa summarum If everything goes just perfect (and you get yourself out of Odessa), the trip from Odessa to Galati can be made in 4-5 hours. But, this equation has a lot of variables, and for me it took totally over 10 hours to reach Galati.
Without any knowledge of Russian language, it would have taken (much) more. English is understood at the Romanian control station. Local people is very friendly and helpful. You will find a drive over the border to Galati, and you can ask the border officers for help. Everything in nutshell: Get yourself early to Reni, take a taxi to border, make Ukrainian formalities, the Moldovan ones, walk (or drive) to the next Moldovan control point, make Moldovan formalities, go to Romanian control point, make formalities and go forward. There are facilities for crossing these borders - just check whether you need a visa for any of these countries. Do not smoke at the border control stations (e.g.
Ukraina had a penalty of 500 hrivnas). After all this, I felt like like a great winner! Regards, Sami '. First hand current (June 2009) information to travel from to via. 1) There is no southern route to travel from Romania to Ukraine. This land is the delta of the Danub River and therefore there are no through roads.
2) Despite EVERYONE right across Romania saying that travel from Galati (pronounced Galatzi) to Ukraine is impossible, they are wrong! There is one bus that runs from, to Constanta, to Galati, to Odessa. It only runs twice a week.
To Odessa on Mondays and Fridays. I am not sure of the return days. The bus costs 45 euros to/from constanta, and 30 euros to/from Galati. The bus is new and safe but there is no WC on board.
The length of travel depends on where you travel from and how long the borders take. You must go through 4 check points that take up to 2 hours each. If you are lucky it can be faster. There are no visas required for Canadians or Americans to enter Moldova or Ukraine. I am not sure about other countries. It is wise to carry a 5, 10, and 20 euro bill with you in case a bribe is required although we traveled across and no guards ever talked to anyone on the bus. To catch this bus in Galati you must book in advance and be waiting at the bus stop in front of from 11 pm to 1 am.
You can pay the driver when he gets there. (Hotel Turist is closed but it is a huge land mark in the middle of town that can't be missed. If you train to Galati, just catch a mini bus into town for 1 Lei (35 cents) and ask the driver to drop you at Hotel Turist. He may question you because it is closed, but insist that he drop you there.
3) There is a very from Constanta to Odessa but it is not running this year (2009) at all. Email 4) You can also fly though it is fairly pricey. The cheapest is Carpatair.com. They fly from various locations in Romania but from Timisoara is the cheapest. 5) There are no trains via the southern route but you can travel north to Chisinau (pronounced Kishinow) and then bus or train from there. Second hand knowledge - There is apparently a bus almost every hour from Chisinau to Odessa. Also there is apparently a train from there to odessa but is only aknowlodged by locals and the german website.
Program Vapor Tulcea Crisan
A reliable source also told us that he travels via train to a location near a border, takes a taxi across the border from one train station to the next, and then continues via train on the other side. I'll see what other information I can find on that because we home to do that on our way back. I am going to take a break now and I'll try to post more ino later. Here are some updates. Does anyone know how I can edit my previous posts so I don't have to create new posts when I gain information? - Email office@navlomar.com in 2010 to ask if the Constanta - odessa ferry is running. Again it is NOT running in 2009!
No need to ask them. More info on the Varna to Odessa bus - it leaves Constanta between 5 and 6 PM, you save 10% if you book a round trip, and if you want to catch it in Constanta book in advance at the number in my previous post, and then go to Autogara Yuel (sare)? The writing I am reading is horrible so I have probably spelled that wrong.