This section is dedicated to take away all your "I wish someone had told me that before I went!" experiences. This way, you can spend less time settling in, and more time making new friends in your chosen hostel. We share our insider knowledge of tips, tricks and important things to look out for in Chernivtsi.
Chernivtsi is underrated due to its proximity to Lviv, but the city is great. As Chernivtsi is close to Romania and Poland, it was historically involved with both of them. It used to have one of the largest Jewish communities in the region just less than a century ago but now, there are almost no Jews.
Chernivtsi can offer the visitor great cultural variety, as it has preserved monuments from different ages and different empires. For such a small city, it has plenty of interesting sights such as the Drama Theatre; the Regional Philharmonic Society; the Organ and Chamber Music Hall; the Museum of Local Lore, History, and Economy; the Museum of Fine Arts; the Bukovynian Diaspora Museum; the Museum of Folk Architecture; and Chernivtsi University (which is located in what used to be a whole cathedral complex). All of them are quite cheap to enter (some are even free). As there are many students in the city, nightlife is quite good but boring in the summer when there are no lectures.
There are a few options for hostels in Chernivtsi, almost all of which are in the city center. Hostels in Chernivtsi are cheap and all of them are closed in the winter. The train station is not very close to the center and the bus station is in the outskirts, but there are regular buses. You have a lot of minivans that travel regularly from the station to the center. As they are very cheap, they are almost always overcrowded. If you want to go to Romania, take a bus and not a train.
Written by local enthusiast for Chernivtsi hostels
George Traveller