Ukraine maps, which ones?
 

Living in London, I’d normally walk into Stamfords and leaf through the maps on offer, but due to the Covid restrictions, that option is not available to me.

Whilst I realise maps are personal things, one style not necessarily suiting someone else, I’d be pleased to have some suggestions. I’ll be riding a 1600, so I won’t be wanting real goat track stuff but something with enough detail to show ‘reasonable’ roads (they don’t have to be perfect) would be great.

Thank you.

Welcome to the forum,
I prefer Michelin maps as they show scenic routes if they do one for Ukraine.

Hello Richard
1st post here but lurking from UKGSER since 1997 ;)
something like this in cyrillic which you wanted? click map to enlarge
1st pic is digital and other two come RU 2006 paper auto atlas
then you can have a look at OSM maps - excellent and free :0)

Hi Wapping:

Welcome to the HUBB! You and I have had many conversations in the past on UKGSer.

I've travelled through Ukraine a few times. The country has its challenges, notably border formalities going in and out (anticipate at least 4 hours each way, maybe up to a day wasted at the border if things are running slowly), bad roads in places, and corrupt police who consider foreign travellers to be ATMs at their roadside radar traps.

Concerning maps, I suggest you get a Michelin map or similar map that has English language place names on it. Maps with Cyrillic place names are useless if you are trying to program a route into a GPS navigator, or compare what the GPS shows your position to a paper map. Google Maps (online) is also quite handy for route planning.

There has not been much in the way of new road construction (or even old road maintenance) in Ukraine in the past 20 years, so you don't need to be too concerned about the map being super up-to-date.

Security is a big problem in Ukraine. At every place I overnighted at, I was able to arrange storage of my moto in a locked-up garage behind the hotel/motel/ B&B, or inside a barn located well back on the property, etc.

I do not recommend riding at night in the Ukraine, this because of poor road conditions (like, potholes that have a phone booth and a tow truck at the bottom of them) and many unlit vehicles, horse carts, or drunken drivers. Also be aware that you might have trouble buying premium petrol outside of major towns - out in the hinterlands, there is often only one flavour of petrol available, and it's not super.

If you are going all the way to Ukraine, consider exiting to the south and riding into Romania. Romania is a really delightful country, a night-and-day difference in hospitality & security compared to Ukraine.

Lastly, apropos of insurance coverage for Ukraine, you can buy it just inside most major border crossings. It's dirt-cheap. The vendors tend to be quite informal, they might not have a building, just a table set up 100 yards into the country, past the immigration & customs people. They will happily take Euros, but won't have change, so bring small bills with you. Be aware that Ukrainian currency is not wanted outside of the Ukraine - it's virtually impossible to exchange Ukrainian currency for anything else in neighboring countries.

Michael

The best maps for Ukraine are those sold locally in bookshops in larger cities, which are accurate and up to date. However, if you are not proficient in reading the Cyrillic alphabet then you are better off with a Western map. I would steer clear of anything by Michelin there as it will be high scale (I think it's part of the 'Western Russia' sheet), and instead recommend the Reise Know How 1:1,000,000 map. I have not personally used this, but I have used many of their other maps (including the full 1:2,000,000 set for Russia) and they are pretty good.

One thing to be aware of; as anywhere outside of western Europe, road prioritisation is not necessarily indicative of road condition. Ukraine has easily the worst roads in Europe, in fact the worst I have seen anywhere in the world, even some of the major routes in the east are a horrendous obstacle course of pot holes.

And for the record, my experience of Romania vs. Ukraine is the exact opposite of PanEuropean's - I have never had issues in Ukraine (maybe it helps that I speak some Russian) but have found no better place in the world to get ripped off and robbed than Romania. So go and have your own experience. That said, I did most of my travelling in Ukraine in 2011 and when I returned in 2018 found it had definitely slipped in terms of prosperity. Hardly surprising given what's going on in the east.

EO

Good morning Richard
Just another tit-bit on the electronic side- I have found it useful to have maps for the same country in my satnag. One in English and the other in that countries' language.

You cannot, as you already know, enable them together but switching from one to another is useful when faced with confusing road signs (not to mention when the satnag, seemingly sensing your temporary confusion, tries to pull the wool over your eyes... ) ;)
My 2 pence. I'm looking forward to when Stanfords re-opens.

Hello everyone, especially those from UKGSer.

Many thanks for your advice and assistance, much appreciated.

The tip about the dual language in my gps is a useful reminder. That’s the second time that I have been directed to Reise Know How‘s maps, so they’ll be on the list. By the look of it, a trip to the dentist will be in order before I go, or I’ll not have many fillings when I get back.

I’m now getting my head around the size of the country. It’s quite large, isn’t it.

I don’t plan on riding too much in the dark or at least that’s the idea. The 1600 is a bit of a double edged sword, heavy enough at 320 kg to ride over some quite large bumps but a bit of a bitch if it’s pointing in the wrong direction, as it takes a bit of stopping sometimes. Similarly, if it’s going over, then you are not going to stop it in a hurry.

Richard

After an adverse experience in Italy a couple of years ago when both the satnav and phone became unavailable I've considered taking paper maps. The trouble with these is, particularly of you're doing a longer route, they are either bulky and heavy, or at too large a scale to be very useful.

My approach so far has been to take a few with me from home for the countries/regions I'm visiting first, then buying local or swapping with other travelers I meet on the road.

In the 90s I used russian miltary paper maps a lot. They were made from satellite images and you were able to see the smallest creeks as well as donkey tracks on them. You have to give yourself some time to read russian but it will work. With GPS I lost the demand of it and the shop where I bought them went bankrupt in 2000s. I don`t know if they still existing as a paper maps newer than 1980s.

Through an android app some these maps are available, I never tested it beause of missing android device.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ee&hl=de&gl=US

I use this if I want to look up a region on my computer:
https://www.geamap.com/en/soviet#2/37.3/-4.9

e.g. centered to Donezk; Ukraine:
https://www.geamap.com/en/soviet#10/47.9145/37.8630

There are several other sources in the net to get them but often they are outdated. But still useful to get a detailed overview about landmarks and to find old tracks which disappeared on the new ones.

In case of Ukraine it should be clear that this is still in parts a war zone and that landmines could be a potential danger on tracks aside main roads.

ITMB has Ukraine maps in 1:600,000 and 1:1,000,000. They have maps in pdf and paper. We use the pdfs when on the move.

I am not familiar with Ukraine, however have found ITMB to be excellent, and they're continuously working on updating their maps.

Look at https://www.itmb.ca/catalogue.php#u

I also used a satellite map in the very early '90s though I think it was American. I bought it in London. At that time the only available road map of central and Eastern Russia was the Russian national road book which had large random blank spaces for security reasons. In about '92 the Germans produced a good road map for Western and central Russia which was invaluable.
May I ask what took you there in the '90s?

I never went into eastern countries that time - I got asked from a friend in Argentina to buy a good map. He told me that he couldn`t find a good detailed one. So I went hunting in Germany and found a small store in Munich which was specialized in maps.

The seller in the shop showed me by comparision with a US satelite maps that the russian ones aren`t out of scale or missing details or that they don`t have this white security spaces. A lot of 4wd off roaders who went to Afrika used them too, he told me. They were cheap, about 5DM/3$ a piece, and I needed as far as I remember for e.g. to cover the province of Cordoba 5 or 6 of them. They were in a big size, think ca. 100x140cm.

My friend colour copied and sold them. We used theam when we went riding in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Brazil. We only used this maps, the topographic details were rich and it was easy to navigate.

Later I found out that I could have run into serious legal problems because it was forbidden to import them into Argentina. I "imported" a lot of them and luckely the argentinian border control never looked into the roll in which I carried them.