Yalta Transportation

Since the Swallow's Nest and Aluptka Palace are in the same direction, after we finished at the Swallow's Nest, we climbed a rather long set of stairs, past a man with a peacock, past the man running a shoot the can with an air rifle stand, to get to the main road, crossed it and stood on the other side to wait for a bus. Our hotel clerk said we needed to get a bus #27, but it appeared that we could also have gotten a #32 as that's what we took back and one passed us as we waited for the #27.

Aluptka is farther away from Yalta than the Swallow's Nest so if you are standing facing the road and the Black Sea, you are waiting on the right side. Aluptka Palace was the final stop for the #27, we paid when we exited the bus and since the fare wasn't posted I held out a bunch of small bills, the driver took some of them and I have no idea what we were charged but I think it was 4 uah per person from Swallow's Nest to Aluptka and 6 or 7 uah from Aluptka back to Spartak Cinema in Yalta.

To get to Lividia Palace, we walked to Spartak Cinema where many of the buses and marshrutkas leave from and got on a #5 marshrutka. It was 1.5 uah, there was a separate ticket seller on this bus who I swear is Joy's twin from "My Name is Earl", we told her we wanted to get off at Livadia Palace and when we tried to get off prematurely (I thought she said Lividia), she yelled "nyet, nyet, nyet" at us and let us know where the real stop is. The #5 drops you on the grounds of the Palace although the Palace itself is nowhere in sight at the bus stop.

Lonely Planet says the #5 only runs in the summer, so check with your hotel clerk to be sure. LP says that you can also take a 26, 27, 32 or 47 bus from the main bus station and ask for the Livadia Dvorets stop, but it sounds like a bit of walking and a lot of potential for getting lost.

After getting off the bus from Sevastopol, we were approached by all kinds of taxi drivers but we were determined to use the bus. The streets on either side of the bus station are one way, you'll want to look for the overhead electric lines for the trolleybus on the street that is going downhill, not uphill. We eventually spotted the bus stop, according to our guidebook, trolleybuses 1, 2 and 3 all go down vul Kievskaya towards the waterfront so we jumped on whichever one of them came 1st and got off when we saw the street end and a glimpse of the Black Sea. The trolley cost 1.5 uah, I believe we bought the ticket from the bus driver who was further multitasking by driving, searching for her matches and lighting her cigarette all while the bus was moving.

We took a bus from Sevastopol to Yalta, I assume they also run the other direction and that they run about as frequently, around every 1/2 hour during peak times. In late May we did not have to purchase tickets in advance, this may not be the case in the peak summer months. The longer range buses are more comfortable that the shorter range buses, plenty of leg room and luggage storage underneath the bus.

The scenery along this route, which runs along the Black Sea coast, was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip so try to get a seat on the sea side (right on the way to Yalta, left on the way to Sevastopol). The journey took about 1 1/2 hours and cost 21.38 uah, less than $3USD. We purchased tickets inside the bus station so we made sure to get on the next bus, they will tell you which stop to stand by and the ticket will have the time of the bus and in our case an assigned seat number.

We walked over to the boardwalk to find the boats to Swallow's Nest, the 1st booth we approached had a sailing at 11am, over an hour later, and claimed they were the only boat going there so we were going to go back to the hotel to get an umbrella when I saw another window advertising a boat going there at 10am so we purchased tickets for that one. The ticket booths had signs that said Swallow's Nest and a picture of it.

You can buy a round trip ticket for 50uah or a one way ticket for 30 uah, if you buy the round trip ticket it sounded like you had about 40 minutes to walk around which is more than plenty seeing as you can't enter the Swallow's Nest unless you eat at the restaurant there.

By far the cheapest and most reliable transportation in and around Yalta is the Mashrutka. It is a small bus similar to a large van with extended roof. It costs about .30 cents for inter city routes! Even routes to and from Simferopol [ the main transportation hub for Crimea], are only about $12. There are routes to other cities and landmarks along the southern coast which are even cheaper. Their are literally thousands of these buses and seldom do you need to wait more than a few minutes.
Taxis are available but rates are often determined upon if your a foriegner and the time of day. Nights are more expensive. If you are with a local shut up and let them do the talking! The average rate for within the city is about $4 or $5 dollars so don't let them overcharge you. Negotiate a price if you are able to communicate or simply find another until you get a fair price.
There are large excursion buses which give you a guided tour to the many palaces and landmarks in Crimea. Tickets are obtainable at booths along the embankment on the seaport. Easily recognized by the pictures of these landmarks located at the booths. Prices are around $30 for these excursions depending on how far you travel. Very modern large buses if you don't mind feeling like a tourist.

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Took the train from Dnepropetrovsk to Simferopol - about 11 hrs.

Once we got to Simferopol, we took marshrutka (local public taxi), it was about 20 gryvnyas for 2 hrs per person and they drop you off at Yalta bus stop.

If you need to get to your hotel from there, ask the driver and they can help you out how to get there or if he feels like it he will offer to drop you off at your hotel.

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There are two options to vist Ai-Patri i.e by taxi or by trolley. In order to enjoy the fullest, we had travelled from Swallow Nest to Ai-Patri by Taxi and came back by Trolley. The way to Ai-patri, by road, is 'The beautiful' and u will have various other amusements in between like Waterfall, Sight seeing from midway and finally to Ai-Patri.

By taxi, total travelling duration is about 3hours and will cost somewhere around 150UAH (1USD=5UAH) but it is worth paying. If u are not alone, it will also be cheap.

By trolley, total travellling duration is approximately 30 minutes and will cost u around 25UAH per person.

If u don't have much time to spend in travelling then u can use trolley both ways.