When you visit Ukraine, you will be treated to some of the best hospitality the world has to offer.  As a guest you find table filled with food and gifts and toasts will be offered all around.  If you are offered a gift from one of the residents, it is considered rude to turn it down.  Always make sure that you graciously accept the proffered gift so that you do not insult your hosts.  This is the Ukrainians way of saying, ‘Welcome to our humble home and country’.

Some other rules of etiquette that you may find helpful when you visit Ukraine are as follows:

• Bring a gift when you visit a family home.  A bottle of wine, bouquet of flowers, or a cake satisfies this tradition.  If you know there is a child in the home, bring them a small gift as well.
• If you choose to bring a bouquet of flowers, make sure there are an uneven number of blooms.  This is considered good luck.
• Remove your shoes when you enter a home in order to help your hosts keep their home clean.  More often than not, they will offer you slippers to wear.
• Casual dress is acceptable when you dine at a host’s home unless they specify otherwise.
• Be ready to give a toast during dinner.  Guests are usually asked to so as an honour to them. 
• If you are offered food and drink while visiting friends in Ukraine, accept it even if you are not hungry.  It is considered rude to refuse, although if you leave some on your plate, your hosts will graciously accept that you are full.
• Your host’s may offer you an item that you compliment on so make sure you are very careful when doing so.
• While using public transportation, give up your seat to mothers with children, the infirm or the elderly.  This shows respect.
• Do not whistle or shake hands with someone across the threshold of a door.  Both are considered bad luck.
• Expect to have your coat, briefcase, or baggage checked at a restaurant or theatre.
• Make sure you share any snacks or cigarettes with those around you as it is a sign of respect and friendship.
• If you are in Ukraine on business, have your business cards printed ahead of time with English on one side and Ukrainian on the other.
• Business attire is conservative and men should not take off their jacket unless they are asked to.
• When attending an Orthodox Church service or simply touring one of the many cathedrals in the country, women should wear head scarves or hats and men should remove any hats they are wearing.  This is a sign of respect.
• Do not put your thumb between your first two fingers as this is a rude gesture in Ukraine.

Entering and leaving Ukraine is no longer a problem for most visitors since the country became an independent nation.  If you are a citizen of the United States, the European Union, Swiss Confederation, Liechtenstein, Canada, and Japan, you no longer need a visa if you are not going to be in the country for 90 days or less.  To be sure that the law has not changed since it was instituted in 2005, you should confirm this information with the Ukrainian Consulate in your home country before travelling.

When you enter or leave Ukraine, you should pass through the green or red custom corridors.  Always have your travel papers available for inspection including any paperwork that you receive and fill out when going through customs into the country.  You will need them in order to leave.  Also, always make sure that you have all of your paperwork before leaving the customs area to make sure they have been properly returned to you.

If you are carrying goods or money that needs to be declared you will need to pass through the red corridor.  These items include: prohibited items such as explosives, weapons that are not approved by the authorities; drugs; artwork; antiques; luggage that is being sent through separately; more than $1,000 and 85 hryvnyas in cash; personal jewellery that exceeds $240 in value; more than 1 litre of alcoholic beverages; and more than 200 grams of tobacco products.  Everyone else should us the green customs corridor.

All foreign visitors are required to have insurance policies in place that guarantee payment if any medical treatment is provided to them.  These policies can be bought in Ukraine from the State JSC for Providing the Foreign Citizens with Emergency Aid or any place where a visa is processed and at the state border during crossing.

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When you travel to Ukraine, there are some great places to visit during your stay.  Here are the top ten places you are going to want to see before you leave the country.  Each of them has their own unique qualities and all of them combined make up the beauty of Ukraine.

Crimean Resorts

Crimea is a beautiful region to visit and vacation.  Many of the cities in this region were built and settled by Greek, Venetians, and Genoese who inter-married with local residents as they built their life there.

Carpathian Mountains

Considered the ‘Green Pearl’ of the region, the Carpathian Mountains is filled with resorts and tourist centres.  It is filled with wildlife, small villages, and meadows.  It is also the mysterious inspiration for a variety of vampire novels over the years.

Kiev

Located on the Dnieper River, Kiev is the capital of Ukraine and the home to 3 million people.  The centre of trade routes during the 11^th and 12^th centuries between the Baltic and Mediterranean, Kiev is a beautiful, historic city.

Lviv

Lviv is city that is made up of medieval streets paved with stones, architecture of different centuries, and once the capital of the Slavic state of Galicia-Volyn.  It was also once part of the Austro-Hungarian and Polish empires.

Odessa

The third largest city in Ukraine, Odessa is known as the ‘Pearl of the Black Sea’ by the countries residents.  The city has a mild climate, warm waters, and sunlit beaches that attract thousands of tourists each year.

Yalta

This is the city that Anton Chekhov chose to live in while writing his many novels.  This seaside resort on the Crimean peninsula is filled with resorts, beaches, and museums.

Kamyanets-Podilsky

Considered to be one of the oldest cities in Ukriane, Kanyanet-Podilsky can trace its history back over 1,000 years.  It’s on Smotrich River on a rocky island in a picturesque canyon.

Chernihiv

This city has been known as a human settlement for over 2,000 years and was the second most important city in Ukraine during the Kyivan Rus period of the country.

Sophievka Park, Uman

This beautifully landscaped park has architecture masterpieces that date back to the end of the XVIII and beginning of the XIX centuries.  The park is spread over 154.7 hectares of land outside the ancient town of Cherkassy.

Poltava

Poltava is located between Kharkiv and Kiev.  It is the city in which the Swedes and Cossacks battled in 1709 against Czar Peter I, securing the Russian position over Ukraine.

You can get more information at The Ukraine Travel Advisor.

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Recently Ukraine’s government allowed tourists into the area surrounding Chernobyl, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in the history of man.  Visitors to Ukraine who are interested in seeing the site first hand and are not afraid of a little bit of radiation can now take a one day trip to the nuclear site and meet people who still live in the surrounding area who refused to give up their homes.

The trip leaves Kiev at exactly 9am and travels north to the ‘exclusion zone’, a 214 kilometre perimeter that surrounds the nuclear plant.  At 10:30, visitors will pass the ‘Dytyatky’ checkpoint which is located on the border of the 30 kilometre zone – also known as the estrangement zone and compulsory resettlement area.  Once past the checkpoint, visitors will travel a half hour to the site and then learn about the scientific work being done in the estrangement zone where scientists and specialists are learning about radiation and how power plants can be made stronger.

Visitors will then travel to the 10 kilometre zone, the closest anyone is allowed to the power plant.  They will be able to see the ‘Sarcophagus’ – the concrete and steel shroud that covers the radioactive elements and debris left from the explosion – visit the review pavilion and the ‘red forest’ and see the burial village as well as the ghost town of Prypyat.

After lunch visitors to Chernobyl will be able to speak with the residents of Paryshiv, the self-settlers and elderly who refused to leave their homes and resettle somewhere else.  Visitors will leave the area at 5pm and return to Kiev by 7pm.

While the one day excursion could be considered a very sobering day, it is also a way to witness in first person the site and to speak one on one with survivors about the days after the explosion, learning their stories to pass on to the next generation.

Part of the group who has become affectionately known among football fans as the ‘Group of Death’, Ukraine’s football team is preparing for the next World Cup, to be held in 2012 in their home region.  Joining Ukraine in this group includes Italy, France, and Scotland.  Ukraine qualified and played in the 2006 World Cup for the first time as an independent nation.  Unfortunately they – with the other three teams – did not make it to the 2008 World Cup and practice has started for the team in an effort to make it to the next football running.

The team is gearing up for the 2012 World Cup qualifying round, led by coach Alexei Mikhailichenko.  They drew a place in Group Six and are joined by England and Croatia.  The Croatia team almost made it into the 2008 Euro semi-finals.  So far the teams from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra do not seem to be posing much of a threat to the team from Ukraine, but it could still be a tough race to the finals.

 Ukraine’s captain is Andriy Shevchenko with strikers Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Andriy Voronin joining him on the pitch.  Both are experienced players on the international level and come from top drawer clubs Zenit St. Petersburg and Liverpool.

You can find more information about the world cup at Ukraine.worldcupblog.com

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