Odessa City Information

Odessa (also known as Odesa) is the third largest Ukrainian city after Kiev and Kharkov, a major industrial, cultural, scientific, and resort center in the Northern Black Sea region. Territory 160 square km. Population 1.122.000.

Many years ago, Odessa was once the 3rd leading city in old Russia, after Moscow and St. Petersburg. Odessa looks more like a city located on the Mediterranean, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Odessa has always had a spirit of freedom, probably endowed to her by her location and by her ability to accept many different peoples. The city is a diversity of Ukrainian, Russian, Moldavian, Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian, Caucasian, Jewish, Turkish, Vietnamese and so forth.

Modern Odessa is a city rebuilding herself, and her downtown is slowly being revitalised. Odessa is well-known as the capital of humour, probably due to the great variety of people and her southern location on the Black Sea. Today, Odessa is referred to as the "Pearl of the Black Sea", "Odessa Mama" and "Southern Palmira" by many.

Many world-famous musicians, writers and artists lived and worked here, not every city has so rich a cultural biography as Odessa does. The mixture of rich architecture, warm hospitality, and beautiful nature is the secret of Odessa?s popularity, and success as one of the leading Ukrainian resorts.

Odessa has regular air connections with Vienna, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Athens, Aleppo, Larnaka, Moscow, Kiev, Kishineu, Yerevan, Tiflis as well as with some other cities of Europe and Asia.

Trains connect Odessa with Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, Berlin, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, major cities of Ukraine and many other cities of the former Soviet Union.

Buses go between Odessa and Germany (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich), Greece (Thessalonica, Athens), Bulgaria (Varna, Sophia) as well as major cities in Ukraine. There is regular passenger ship transportation between Odessa and Istanbul, Haifa and Varna