Bus Ukraine

If you are planning to explore Ukraine, you can hardly avoid having to travel by bus. Although the country has a fairly good railway network, the bus is by far still the most common means of transportation between cities. Buses also account for a large portion of the people travelling to and from Ukraine. Many bus companies operate lines to Russia, Poland, Germany, Italy and other European countries.

Travelling by bus in Ukraine is very cheap compared to western Europe. One reason for this is that the bus fleet is much older, but of course the much lower salary level in Ukraine also has an impact.

Intercity buses in Ukraine

So if you are used to travelling with intercity buses in Western Europe, you might have to lower your expectations a bit when you go to Ukraine. The domestic intercity bus network is dense and you can basically get anywhere with a bus. However, the quality of vehicles can vary a lot depending on where you are travelling. On routes where many tourists travel, you will find the majority of buses are in good or very good condition. But if you are travelling on less popular routes, you will in most cases end up on an older bus. Also on many routes, transportation is done in small buses. Some of them are old eastern European manufactures buses, but you might also end up in an Mercedes Sprinter or similar sized vehicles.

On international bus routes from Germany, Poland and Italy majority of buses are new or fairly new and equipped with everything you would expect from a good long distance bus. International buses to Russia, Belarus and other former Soviet states are usually a bit older but still suitable for long distance trips.

Tickets and timetable for intercity buses

Majority of Ukrainians buy their ticket at the bus station, but there is an increase in the online sale of tickets, especially for the international and long distance domestic routes. Tourists travelling to or within Ukraine buy a large number of the tickets online. 

Timetable for the most common intercity buses, you can be found here at GetByBus. Timetable for short distance buses can be found at the bus station, but it is complicated to read it, so asking for the information is probably the best option.

Popular domestic routes

As mentioned above, lots of people travel with buses, which of course also means there are lots of departures, especially between the larger cities. Below we have listed the most frequent routes, but you can of course use the search form to find any other domestic route.

Kiev – Kharkiv	Kiev – Lviv	Kiev – Odessa
Kiev – Kryvyi Rih	Kiev – Dnipro	Kiev – Mykolaiv
Kiev – Poltava	Kiev – Donetsk	Kharkiv – Poltava
Kharkiv – Dnipro	Dnipro – Donetsk	Dnipro – Zaporizhzhia
Dnipro – Kryvyi Rih	Dnipro – Mariupol	Kryvyi Rih – Zaporizhzhia
Kryvyi Rih – Mykolaiv	Kryvyi Rih – Kherson	Kryvyi Rih – Odessa
Donetsk – Mariupol

Popular international routes

One of the main reasons for many international bus routes, is the large Ukranian diaspora and the many Ukranians working in other countries. Obviously most bus routes go to the neighboring countries. Below we have listed the most popular international bus routes to and from Ukraine.

Kiev – Warsaw	Kiev – Krakow	Kiev – Lublin
Kiev – Lodz	Kiev – Poznan	Kiev – Prague
Kiev – Moscow	Kiev – Minsk	Kiev – Berlin
Lviv – Warsaw	Lviv – Krakow	Lviv – Lublin
Lviv – Lodz	Lviv – Prague	Kharkiv – Moscow

Bus Companies Ukraine

There are a lot of bus companies in Ukraine, probably over 1000 in total when you include all types of companies offering transportation. The vast majority of them are small companies operating only one or a few vehicles. Of course there are also larger companies having a fleet of vehicles. Below we have listed some of the largest bus companies in Ukraine.

Maksi Tour Varna	AL-Trans	Arman Bus
Benz Express	Centurion Plus	Doris
Eastern European Travel	East West Eurolines	Erabus
Euroclub	Euro status	Eurovoyage
Gunsel	LuxExpress	Lux Reisen
Lviv Inturtrans	Maksimov Tours	Maximov Tours
MID Travel (FOP Yakhnis O.M.)	Parus Line	Radchenko
SanAvto	Shevschenko	Ternvoyage
OOO tourist	TOV Nasorokh	Vega Reisen
Viabona Express	Winew	ContraBus
Oryon-Avto	Pavljuk L.I.	Cazna Trans
Stecik	Vilartrans	Fedak I.M.
PP TVAD	Mustang Trans	Prykarpat Express
Denysivka Lux	VasilkivTransAvto	Z-TIME
PrAT TERNOPILSKE ATP 16127	Yatsiv FOP	RegionAvto
Kaluzhenov V.V.	Chornyi V.M.	FOP Pavlovskyy
Lvivske ATP 14630	Nudha D.V.	Modultrans
Shumske ATP 16145	Anatolii Kantor	Uzhorodskoye ATP-12107
Potynhe H.S.	Kolomyjske ATP	Brintsov S.V.
Lys-avto-trans	FOP Niediev D.M.	FOP Levicka
Gadzhyev	Efremeniuk A.L.	P-TRANS
Shlyakh GmbH	FOP Mirchev A.G	Boreychuk M.I.
Pal tour	Tur-Trans	Illo D. S.
Kalistratov S.A.	Voyag-luks	Avtotranzit
RB Polska	Grechanyuk Viktor	Volodymyretstransservis
TranzitService	AVTO FORSAZh	Vol-Volynske ATP-10707
FOP Shablii	FOP Pankiv	Lines Polissya
PP Luciv	Terletskiy Petro	FOP Kononchuk
Skybus Ukraine	Bus Touristic	FOP Ostapa
FOP Synook	KiyPasTrans	MN-TRANS
MoskiTrans	Tretii Avtobusnyi Park	Viktoriia Trans Zakhid

Bus stations Ukraine

In Ukraine there is almost a bus station in every city. In the larger cities like Kiev, there are multiple bus stations, usually there is one main station for most intercity buses, these stations usually have waiting rooms, toilets, kiosks, coffee bars and other useful stuff for travellers. Majority of buses depart from the bus stations. In any case if you buy a ticket upfront the exact location should be stated on the ticket. Click on the city name below to see bus stations and stops in the respective city.

Kiev	Donetsk	Kharkiv
Dnipro	Kryvyi Rih	Lviv
Mykolaiv	Zaporizhia	Kherson
Khmelnytskyi	Luhansk	Makiivka
Mariupol	Vinnytsia

Coach hire Ukraine

If you are a tourist group who needs a charter bus to take you from the airport to your hotel, or between two cities, you can of course hire a coach. Most of the larger bus companies mentioned above have buses for rent, but alternatively you can also contact your hotel or a local travel agency. Buses used for bus rental are in most cases fairly new and equipped with everything you need for a comfortable trip.

A Ukrainian speaking guide might be useful for your group, you might want to hire one or make sure that the driver speaks English, which is not always the case.

For Bus companies

If you are a bus company operating in Ukraine and wish to be included in this document, please feel free to contact us, which you can do here.