Crimea
 

Did a search but there don't seem to be any recent threads. Has anybody been recently and how was it? I'll be heading east in 2020 and spending a little time in southern Russia after exiting Ukraine, thought it might be an interesting place to visit.

I'm aware that Ukraine gets upset if anyone enters Crimea on a Russian visa without seeking their permission, but I'd be going via the Kerch bridge, which is Russian territory so the Ukrainians wouldn't know I'd been there. It's fairly unlikely I'd be going back to Ukraine in future anyway. I'm also aware the FCO warn against travel there as they can't provide consular assistance, but there are worse things in world travel.

Any thoughts, experience, advice? Thanks :)

From what I understand the situation there is pretty stable but you cannot use credit cards and the border between Ukraine and Crimea is closed, locals only you would have to go to Russia and take Kerch straight bridge. And to get there you would have to go around warzone in DNR/LNR.
EDIT: probably phone sim wouldn't work either.

Yes, the UKR border is closed but from what I can see Crimea is accessible from Russia by the Kerch bridge on a normal Russian visa. No need to go anywhere near the warzone in Luhansk/Donetsk.

It is just if Ukraine knows that you have been there.

in 2017 I met some European Motorcycle riders in Russia who have been to a Festival in Crimea and they were worried about Ukraine to go through there.
They had the message, that also in Crimea there are Ukrainian intelligence forces to look who is around.

I dont know if it is so, but this people hat contact to some people there who told them to be careful.

I'm just passing through this thread to remind people that civility is greatly valued here--and difficult to sustain once the subject shifts to sensitive political matters. Please keep your end of things respectful and resist any temptation to poke and prod at the other guy.

Yup, thanks.

Mark (as moderator)

Crimea 2020
 

Hello all!
June 2020 I'll go to crimea !

To get in and out of the Crimea I'll go over the Kercht Bridge.

then to return to Europe, I plan to enter Ukraine via Rostov and cross Ukraine to the border of Lviv
(By avoiding the common border between Ukraine and the Crimea)

Do you have any information about the attitude of Ukrainian customs officers towards travellers who have wheeled into the Crimea?

Have a good day

I don't think you can (or should) enter Ukraine anywhere near Rostov--that whole part of Ukraine is essentially a warzone, or at least not safe and probably not possible to enter or exit. See this thread for a map of the occupied area and coordinates for southernmost practicable crossing into Ukraine:
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...aganrog-100081

Also here the picture:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/bQgfCA.jpg

As the guys already said, Ukraine views anyone who has entered Crimea from Russia as having entered the territory illegally. They may be fined, banned from the country, or worse. The question is, would they know? As far as I'm aware there is no special stamp or visa to visit the area, so if you don't tell them, they don't know.

They dont know (or if they do they dont care) unless you blast it all over social media. The only people I have heard of having issues with Ukraine later down the line after visiting Crimea are those who preformed concerts there or other high profile events or are involved in political social media projects against Ukraine. Millions of Russians go to Crimea each year on holidays (6 million last year apparently) and I have not heard of a single normal Russian being denied entry to Ukraine on the basis of having been to Crimea post 2014. For that matter I have not heard of any normal expat being denied on that basis either. As far as I am aware, unless you are high profile and putting out media / social media that the Ukrainian govt objects to, particularly as it pertains to Crimea, then you are extremely unlikely to have an issue. The Ukraine is in no position to allow its relationships with western governments to turn south. They are not going to start locking up westerners for frivolous issues.

The only guy I know of who has even occasionally fallen foul of that rule is Graham Phillips, a British guy based in Crimea (and high profile local blogger - https://www.youtube.com/user/gwplondon/videos) who broadcasts on you tube non stop pro "Crimea in Russia" videos, from Crimea, and he also travels to Ukraine from time to time (usually to show how much worse it is there than in Crimea). Sometimes they dont let him in to Ukraine, sometimes they do. Sometimes they take him in for questioning in Ukraine, but he has never been arrested or charged AFAIK. If thats the worst they do for him, then a biker going thru is not going to have any issues.

August 2020
 

Hi all, thank you guys for the info here.

Agree totally with what Colebatch said about Ukraine

I have been in July 1999 on Crimea and I am now in the early stage of planing my return for August 2020. In July 1999 I encountered a petrol shortage and I recall buying fuel on the black market and waiting for hours at petrol stations for nothing.

This years journey of about a month, maybe six weeks, will take me from Germany thru Poland and the Baltic States very quickly. Before entering Russia near St. Petersburg. Riding the Golden Ring around Moscow and going down to Rostov on the Don. Over the Kerch bridge to Crimea. Spend some time on the beach, as I did in 1999, and then somehow back to Germany.

Talking to a friend about it yesterday, he said I could take a boat (ferry) from Crimea to the West .... ??? Do you guys know if there are any regular boats?

Do I really have to go thru Northern Ukraine on my way back? I dont want go through the hassle of a getting a visa for Belorussia again. And riding up to Lithuania again, is too far of a detour.

What about selling the bike on Crimea/Russia??? I have done that in 2003, but that was a different time. Anyone done that recently?

Paca
mika :scooter:

Crimea
 

Talked to a Russian friend today, he said that there is a ferry from

Sevastopol to Istanbul and from Kerch to Zonguldak. The later maybe only for cargo, he said.

But he also said that one can cross now from Crimea to Ukraine. It would take a few hours, but lots of people are doing this now. I asked him about international travelers (non Russians or Ukrainians) , but he did not know about that.

So, lets see. I just started my research.

paca
mika :scooter:

Looking at my planned route (aside from Crimea) it would actually be very useful to be able to enter Russia from Ukraine, but the authorities forbid it. Also worth noting that your travel insurance will not cover you any places where your embassy says you should not visit.

Russia
 

Do you really mean it when you say ‘entry to Russia from Ukraine is forbidden’?

It's good to hear that situation is changing