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TOUR INFORMATION Safety Tips
Please,
NOTE! our company does not specialize on making hotel reservations!
we
provide a high quality sightseeing service in the Crimean PENINSULA.
Our Crimean Tour was created and designed for a goal: to present the opportunity for tourists to travel "worry free" to this beautiful vacation paradise.
Every detail has been planned and provided for, so you may relax and enjoy this beautiful country at your leisure. We also provide an interpreter for all the days you spend in the Crimea, and a private car with a driver who will be at your disposal, beginning with your arrival at the airport, until the end of your tour and departure flight.
SMALL GROUP TOUR:
- The best tour is a Small Group Tour. Never go on a tour that packs 40 people into a bus!
- Receive more personal attention from your Tour Director and local Guides.
- Experience fewer delays and inconveniences.
- Enjoy more authentic and spontaneous encounters.
- Intensive sightseeing.
- Traveling with fewer tour members, gives you a degree of freedom and independence simply not available to travelers on conventional group tours of 40 or more.
- You will travel with 4 to 10 guests - not more- guaranteed.
SAFETY TIPS
From
lana's correspondence
- Crimean mountain roads are very difficult to drive. A knowledgeable driver is very important for the traffic is very heavy, especially during the "season". It is almost impossible to rent a car in the Crimea, and the average price is $100.00 per day or higher.
- People try to make money any way they can, for the economic situation in this beautiful country is very bad. So, they raise their prices 5 times higher when they hear a foreign language or even an accent. Another side of being safe, you will have the same driver for all your tours and you will know him and your tour director. To take a ride from an unknown driver from the street near the hotel (they will offer you everything in the world!) is really not safe.
- If you believe you can simply travel to the Crimea, and see the true beauty of this paradise without a guide, it will be a very sad mistake. You may waist you time, staying in line for many hours to purchase tickets for "any" excursion, and if you are able to get tickets with a local tour company, more than likely you will be placed on a tour bus with 30-40 other tourist, and "whisked along" the excursion. You will not be able to stop at your leisure, and enjoy a particular area for again, you are part of a group. All the basics tours are led by Russian speaking guides without an interpreter. You will be very disappointed, for museums and the botanical gardens are the primary areas you will be able to see.
- A great advantage of taking our tour is that it is always good to have an experienced guide who can tell you about the places you go (and they have a lot of interesting facts and stories to tell !!!). They also are able to book times and tickets in the museums, give you good advice about what to wear in the mountains/ caverns, what shops/restaurants are better, and take care of you in all situations because THEY ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU. They are our best friends and we know and trust them as very responsible people.
- Prices and money exchange! Our tour guide will also help you with prices. At present, the rate in Yalta is about 5.5 "Grivna" per US Dollar. She will show you places where it is safe to exchange your dollars for Ukrainian money. It is also a safety problem and we would not suggest to exchange from people who meet you in the street and offer to exchange for a very good rate. Do not trust these people! You might loose everything. We certainly do not want to scare you, but this is what we mean by "Safety".
- We can arrange you an apartment for you in the center of Yalta, close to the sea and embankment. It is better to stay in the hotel or holiday lodge, though. Due to a very dry climate, in summer season it may be lack of water in local apartments. Hotels are better supplied with water. You also will receive a proof of hotel room reservation. It will make a process of obtaining Ukrainian visa easier.
- Food is included in our mountain excursions. Basically, it is included in tours where you will try local cuisine. All the meals that are included in the tour are mentioned in the "Tour Itinerary". The other days you might visit any of the restaurants in the Yalta or Alushta embankments.
- We call daily to Olga Evtushenko, our tour director, to ensure everything is going well, and help arrange any changes you may want to make in your tour itinerary. We do not forget you once you are on your way to this beautiful paradise. We monitor daily all our tours.
Mountain Climate Jackets
are required for any mountain trip, due to difference in climate between coast
and mountain summits.
Walking Tours All
cities in the Ukraine are developing as havens for pedestrians and our program
features walking tours. Comfortable walking shoes are therefore recommended for
all tourists, hiking boots or tennis shoes are required for any hiking trips.
Plan Your Budget You are
advised to do this well in advance and be sure to allocate funds for special
events while on tour, such as souvenirs, tips, celebration meals, shopping, and
side trips, and "Additional Excursions."
Additional Excursions
With Lana's Tour you will enjoy many of Crimean famous highlights as included
features on your tour at no extra cost. However, there is an exciting array of
additional sightseeing excursions available to enhance your enjoyment. These
excursions are optional and are offered at special prices. They are only
bookable once you start your tour, as many of them are programmed to coincide
with the highlights available. You can book and pay for them through your Tour
Director. Don't forget to budget for these Additional Excursions. They will only
come around once on the tour of your choice, and you won't want to miss out on
them.
We hope to make this place popular for people from other countries, and to show them not only the standard set of tours, but show something special that will stay in your heart forever.
We feel we have one of the best tour options available. We offer trips to sights that most tours do not, as they are mainly concerned with showing "some" of the main attractions. We try to take our tours to another level, and show the wondrous sights that the ordinary tourist is not privilege to. You probably have already noticed from the site, it is made with all our love for this beautiful place. We offer a wonderful tour where you will enjoy the beauty of the Crimea, palaces, sea, mountains, historical sites.
Thank you for your interest in this beautiful place on Earth.
from lana's
correspondence
- Hello. I am from Canada and just wanted to comment on your website. It is
> >real good. I was in Crimea last January for 3 weeks, two of them in
yalta, > >a few days in Simferopol, and a couple in Kyiv. > I
went on my own, knowing little russian, meeting the mafia in Kyiv, and >
>went on to Crimea with the help of an English speaking Turkish man. If I
> >were to do it again, I would recommend a tour agancy such as yours,
as I > >was shitting bricks! > > I plan on going in July
again, to be married to my now fiance. >I plan on returning several
more times to Crimea in the next few years, as > >you cannot see all
the beauty of Crimea in a few weeks. As you stated > >foreigners pay
more. I was lucky to have had a girl fluent in English who > >was a
native, had connections to renting apartments, and we found a taxi >
>driver who was cheap and knowledgable, took us to several palaces etc.
> > Next time I may not be so lucky. > >I will keep your
site bookmarked and may actually arrange travel with you > >in the
future. > >Thanks. > >Terry Cooper
Hello Lana. Thank you for replying. I did like your site, and glad you do
read your emails. If you like you may use some of my comments, I don't
care. If somebody else even wants to email me that is fine too. I loved my
trip. I look forward to going back, but I was very shocked when I arrived. I
expected a lot more English spoke, and perhaps too naieve as I am from
Saskatchewan, where our whole province has less than 1 million people and I
live in a community of 800 people. I used to live in a city of 200 thousand.
That is a small city there, but it seems like a city 5 times as big there
when you see so many people walking, using pubic transit. The shopping was
even so different in the sidewalk kiosks. The sights were great,
the black sea in yalta was nice. Thanks for reading my email. Hope to
hear from you again. Terry Cooper
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