Odesa
Ukraine · Odesa Oblast · 40 m
Description
Odesa was founded in 1794 as a free port on the Black Sea and grew rich on grain, which paid for an opera house by the architects of the Vienna Burgtheater and a grid of pastel streets under plane trees. The Potemkin Stairs drop from the boulevard to the harbour in a deliberate optical trick that makes them look longer from below. The historic centre was placed on the UNESCO list in 2023, and on the list of World Heritage in Danger at the same time, after missile damage to the cathedral and the buildings around it.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 2 to 5 days (optimal 3 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: May – September
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Potemkin Stairs
- Odesa Opera and Ballet Theatre
- Historic centre of Odesa (UNESCO World Heritage in Danger)
- Deribasivska Street and City Garden
- Arkadia and the city beaches (June - August)
- Privoz market
- Transfiguration Cathedral and its missile damage
- Odesa catacombs, the longest network in the world
- Prymorskyi Boulevard and the Duc de Richelieu statue
- Black Sea seafood and the Odesa fish cooking
- Passage arcade and its glass roof
- Odesa Fine Arts Museum
- Vorontsov Palace and its colonnade over the port
- Shabo and the Bessarabian wine estates(Day trip)
- Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi fortress(Day trip)
- Odesa Film Studio and the Battleship Potemkin story
Getting there
- Airports:
- ODS
- Train stations:
- Odesa-Holovna
- Seaport:
- Reachable by ship or ferry