I'm planning on travelling to Ukraine in late July and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a reputable travel agent in Ukraine? This will be my first trip and any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'll be flying into Kiev, but am interested in visiting several different cities specifically Mariupol.
Travel agents, even in Ukraine, book flights, hotels and international holidays, international being outside of Ukraine!
Best method is to 'do it yourself', work out an itinery, city(s) to city(s), how you're going to get from/to each city, by air, by train or by road, 'working' Ukarainian airports are listed on www.ukrainefare.com, some hotels are listed on www.besteurasian.com but don't trust a Ukrainian hotel in a regional city, you could find yourself booking and paying for a top grade room to find yourself staying in a budget room, you can google for 'apartment' city by city and all you need is one long distance taxi quotation to get a ballpark rate per kilometre to figure out costs of the rest of the taxi rides although the roads are so bad in Ukraine the novelty of travelling distances by road very quickly wears off and is not to be recommended.
Getting to Mariupol from Kiev is easy. I would suggest for ease taking a connecting flight from Kiev to Donetsk and a taxi from Donetsk to Mariupol two reasons, one you don't have to travel to Zulhaney airport to get a direct flight from Kiev to Mariupol and leaving from Donetsk on the return gives you many more options. At the time there is only one flight in the a.m from Mariupol to Kiev. The Taxi ride should be less than 200 Grivnas at this stage of the currency exchange. I have a number of a reliable driver but he doesn't speak english. The cab ride from Donetsk to Mariupol is little over an hour if Sasha is the driver. Good Luck.