Help! Route from Bucarest to Odessa?

[dorongs]

What might be the shortest route? Is there a way south of Moldavia? what is the border crossing from Romania to the Ukraine?
Thanks

[usl]

Last year (2008) i entered Moldavia from Husi (romania) ... I was told there is not a direct entrance from romania to Ukraina from black sea coast ...

hope this helps

[Mike]

Hello dorongs

usl's right: there's no direct crossing from Romania to Ukraine: the delta of the Danube is too bloomin' wet [and politically sensitive..]

Having been told that morning "by the head of the Romanian coastguard" that the following was impossible, this is the route I took in November:

[Bucharest to Galaţi -- straightforward; choice of northern or southern highway]

From Galaţi - head for the Giurgiulesti crossing in to Moldova. With an EU passport/ bike I was waved through Romanian customs.

Moldova took a little longer - an hour and a half to cover 1.5miles of pothole and cowpat from the Romanian frontier to the Ukrainian border post. There was a €10 bill for "road tax and insurance" -- have small bills to pay for that -- and an incredibly friendly, French-speaking Moldovan border guard at Giurgiulesti.

Entry to Ukraine was also slow but straightforward. There's at least one kiosk selling cheap insurance for Ukraine and green card cover for the rest of Europe if you need it.

Ride on to Izmail, find the only hotel in town and fall in love with the receptionist. I did.

Oh hang on, you wanted to go on to Odessa! It's another 250km or so -- that was a full day in November -- you can avoid passing through Moldova again [on the main E road.. no idea what those border posts are like] by riding the terrible road through Tatarbunary and then heading off right/ south towards Bilgorod-Dnistrovskiy. It's a smaller road but in much better condition. You swing past that town to the coast and then head north in to Odessa. Which is a verrrrrrry interesting place.

More words and pictures of potholes:
Beside the Seaside
and
Beside the Seaside

[dorongs]

Thank for replies. Does it mean that I need a visa to Moldavia just for the crossing from Rmania to the Ukraine ??

[motoreiter]

I posted a different thread with this same question yesterday...Mike, thanks for your response, but parts of it confused me...

1) after entering ukraine why did you go to ismail instead going straight toward tatarbunary (via Bolhrad?)? On my map it looks like it is considerably out of the way?

2) once you get to bilgorod-dnistrovsky, is there a ferry or something to cross that inlet or whatever it is? (the only map at my disposal is not very detailed...).

Thanks!

[dorongs]

Hi, I will be in Odessa on a 1200GS as well, around 7th of June. From there to Moscow. It seems from the map there is a bridge over the stretch of water (Google maps) towards Odessa. After all the reading here about the crossing from Romania to Ukraine I think I will get to Odessa through Sochi/Rus after crossing the Black see from Trabzon/Tur. To much unknown and problems crossing Moldavia and Transdeniester or making a very long detour through Chernivcy/Ukr

BTW, where can I get a green card (insurance) for Europe and Russia?

Thanks

Doron

[motoreiter]

Originally Posted by dorongs

I think I will get to Odessa through Sochi/Rus after crossing the Black see from Trabzon/Tur.

Don't know how you plan to get to Odessa from Sochi, but I highly recommend crossing from Russia into Ukraine at the Kerch peninsula and then ride along the south shore of the crimea--spectacular road and scenery--mountains and sea, with numerous little resort towns. very very nice.

from my experience, you can get russian insurance at most border posts, not sure if it is different if you take the ferry from turkey.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by motoreiter

after entering ukraine why did you go to ismail instead going straight toward tatarbunary (via Bolhrad?)? On my map it looks like it is considerably out of the way?

The Izmail road is the one you want. It's a relatively good road and it doesn't zigzag back into Moldova [I think it's safe to assume any border crossing will take a while.. if it's open! Incidentally, I got so much conflicting info from people even five miles away from border posts.. locals don't cross the borders if they can possibly help it. There's a peculiar lack of interest in their immediate neighbours.. but that's another story.]

Originally Posted by motoreiter

once you get to bilgorod-dnistrovsky, is there a ferry or something to cross that inlet?

There's a bridge -- you ride alongside and just below the railway line. Quite nifty. All clearly signposted. There's a few hotels/ campsites down there but I would recommend heading on in to Odessa.

Originally Posted by motoreiter

Would like to ride from Tulcea (Danube Delta) to Odessa, more or less along the Black Sea.. is there some way (ferry, etc.) to cross into Ukraine closer to the Danube Delta? [EDIT: I'll be on an R1200GS, so need something bigger than a rowboat!]

-- from another thread.
It's frustrating - Ukraine is a mile or so away but you're right, there are no roads. And no ferries. The gun-waving racist Ceauşescu apologist I met the night before crossing the border[s] did suggest getting me smuggled over on a fishing boat. He also mentioned a fee of $600. And that he'd never heard of anybody doing it.. I wonder why?!

As i wrote of my crossing.. in Beside the Seaside .. "I was through, into Ukraine and reached the village of Orlivka, a mile across the Danube from Isaccea [the Romanian village I'd started from], after no more than five and three-quarter hours and 77 miles. [Average speed.. I'm obsessed.. 13.391304 mph]"

Originally Posted by dorongs

where can I get a green card (insurance) for Europe and Russia?

There's a kiosk on the Ukraine side of the Ukraine-Moldova border post at Giurgiulesti. Nice bloke. Smokes roll-ups. Can't add up to save his life -- so I hope his calculator is still working. He'll sell you a green card for what seemed to be a good price. I don't think the green card covers Russia, mind. They prefer to get you to buy their own insurance. And don't get me started on their attitude to visas...

[motoreiter]

Originally Posted by Mike

The Izmail road is the one you want. It's a relatively good road and it doesn't zigzag back into Moldova

Mike, thanks much for the great info! I guess you're saying that after leaving Romania, you can enter Ukraine along the Izmail road after a mile and a half in Moldova? From my maps (not very detailed), it looks like you've got to stay in Moldova for some distance, and I don't even see a road to Ismail! I've got more detailed maps on Ukraine on the way, so I guess it will all be clear once I have those...Google maps of this area is almost blank...

[Mike]

Originally Posted by motoreiter

.. after leaving Romania, you can enter Ukraine along the Izmail road after a mile and a half in Moldova?

That's exactly right. The northern-ish road east of the Moldova-Ukraine border crossing darts back in to Moldova which I guess slows you down: the Izmail road is rutted and, err, interesting, but much more straightforward.

Originally Posted by motoreiter

I've got more detailed maps on Ukraine on the way, so I guess it will all be clear once I have those...Google maps of this area is almost blank...

Don't forget the place you're most likely to find maps of Ukraine is.. Ukraine. GoogleMap scared the bejeebus out of my Pa.. he couldn't understand why I'd entered a country with absolutely no roads!

It's an anachronism, this route. You can pretty much see from the Romanian border to the Ukranian one. Build a road 200 metrres closer to the coast and you'd avoid Moldova altogether. And you'd think Ukraine and Romania would benefit from a common border post, not least so that commercial vehicles could cross without punitive taxes and long delays from Moldova. Why hasn't that happened? Take yr pick from local politics, national politics, international politics, corruption, gangsterism or poverty. Probably. Still, you get a pretty Moldovan stamp in yr passport.

--Mike