gnaruki wrote:Something to think about. I'm either going to do a loop through western ukraine ending up in krakow or just start meandering west then backtrack to krakow.
Haven't been to these places but last time I was in E. Europe and researching places to go, I read about Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi as neat places to go. Not as far south as Crimea but close to the Romanian border so a bit of a swing south from Lviv. Probably possible to get to Kosice, Slovakia from there, which I've heard good things about in terms of access to good hiking. I would also assume the train from Kosice to Krakow would be shorter.
You only have two weeks though so, given what I've heard about train travel in Ukraine, might be best just to spend it in Kiev, Lviv, and Krakow. There's more than enough to keep you busy in those three places. Also, if you're into chicks, Polish and Ukrainian ones are pretty hot so that could keep you busy too.