The multi-day tour can last from 3 to 7 days at your wish: choose the duration of your trip when booking. 

! Please let us know in advance what is your wish-list as some of the locations require additional preparations and permissions. 

The trip is designed in accordance with the group's interests for in-depth exploration of the most important places of the Zone and for the discovery of the new off-the-beaten-path locations allowed for visiting. 

On this trip you can see: 

• the Dytiatky checkpoint – the entrance to the Exclusion Zone, at 30km distance from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant;

• the village of Zalissia with abandoned households, shops and other buildings – one of 188 settlements that were fully evacuated after the accident;

•  the Leliv checkpoint – the entrance to the core of the Zone at 10km distance from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant;

• the village of Kopachi only 4 km away from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The whole settlement was turned into a burial site because of contamination, only few buildings were left:

- the local kindergarten with children’s bedrooms, toys and books still inside;
- the village hall;
- the collective farms;
- an ancient beehive, made from a tree trunk.

• the ghost-town of Prypiat – extended program. In-depth exploration of the abandoned Soviet Paradise town, built especially for the ChNPP workers and fully evacuated after the accident. The proposed locations are:

- a photo-stop at the Prypiat-town sign;
- the main bus station of Prypiat;
- the barbed-wire fence, built by the liquidators around the town;
- the Amusement Park with the Ferris Wheel that was never launched because of the accident;
- the Town Hall: the first headquarters of mitigation of the Chornobyl accident consequences;
- the Polissia hotel: the building was used as a headquarters for militaries who were controlling the helicopters flying over the burning reactor;
- the Lenin square with the Palace of Culture, the central commercial center and a restaurant;
- the iconic mosaics created by Soviet artist Ivan Litovchenko on the walls of the Prometheus cinema, the Arts School and on the shops of the main avenue;
- the river port with the most prestigious Pripyat café at the quay, flooded wharf and sunken landing-stage;
- the hospital, where the firefighters and ChNPP workers were brought at night of the accident;
- a fire department: its firefighters brigade was the second to extinguish fire at the ChNPP at night of the nuclear accident;
- a police station with its cells and interrogation room;
- abandoned schools and kindergartens full of Soviet propaganda materials, gas masks for children, books and other learning materials;  
- the swimming pool “Lazurnyi” that was used by liquidators during the mitigation process;  
- a unique natural phenomenon – moss as a radiation collector;
- debunking radiation myths: a “mutated” pine tree;
- the “Jupiter” factory in the outskirts of the town with its spacious facilities for producing tape-recorders and top-secret objects for Soviet defense, used as a test and repair workshop for robots after the accident, flooded radioactive basement, contaminated Japanese Komatsu bulldozer and remains of other vehicles.

Attention! Entering buildings in Prypiat is officially prohibited because of their poor condition.

• the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant:

- sightseeing drive around the decommissioned power plant;
- stop at the observation point only 250 meters away from the damaged reactor 4, that is now double covered by the Old Sarcophagus (Object Shelter) and the Arch (New Safe Confinement);
- the fire station at the ChNPP: its crew was the first to arrive to the NPP for extinguishing the fire after explosion;
- the remains of the ChNPP cooling pond;
- feeding giant catfish in the cooling channel during the warm season.

• the town of Chornobyl – exploring the current administrative center of the Exclusion Zone: the only settlement where people are officially allowed to live. The level of radiation background is the same as in Kyiv: normal. 

- sightseeing drive and walk around the town; 
- the river port with flooded contaminated ships;
- memorial "Wormwood Star” with the symbolical graveyard of evacuated settlements of the Zone; 
- state Chornobyl museum with exhibitions about the nuclear accident; 
- St. Elijah Orthodox Christian Church;
- the last monument to Lenin on the Ukrainian-controlled territory; 
- the Chornobyl post-office, the hospital and other operating facilities of the town;
- Jewish history of the Chornobyl-town: a synagogue, the Jewish cemetery, a monument for the Holocaust victims, the grave of tsadik Menachem Naum of Chernobyl (Tver) – a place for Hasidic pilgrimage from all over the world;
- staying overnight, having breakfasts and dinners in a local hotel (vegetarian meal is available upon request).

• the radar Duga-1 well-known as “Russian Woodpecker” and “Hidden Eye of Moscow” – the over-the-horizon radiolocation station that was spying on the USA from Chornobyl woods before the accident.

- the site of the main giant antennas: the 146 meters high and 750 meters long radio receiver;
- the main control room of the radar;
- remains of computers, electronic equipment, fire alarms system, military vehicles;
- walk through the secret soviet military town Chornobyl-2 that was built especially for maintaining the radar. More than one thousand people – militaries with their wives and children – used to live there before the Chornobyl accident. Observation of the military headquarters and residential houses, a hotel, a school, a kindergarten, a fire department, a cinema and other places.  

• the bypass road to the ChNPP around the town of Chornobyl, built a month after the accident to facilitate the traffic of military vehicles: the best angle to see the radar Duga-1 (Russian Woodpecker) – the secret Soviet over-the-horizon radiolocation station; 

• the unfinished reactors 5 and 6 of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant 3rd stage;

• the half-constructed cooling towers with iconic graffiti of the Australian artist Guido van Helton;

• the fish and rodent scientific experimental base standing at the bank of the dried out cooling pond. It was used for fish farming before the Chornobyl accident and for radiation experiments on fish and animals after the nuclear explosion; 

• the Red Forest – a place of the first and worst radioactive fallout. Crossing the so-called western trace of contamination on board of the bus;

• the concrete-reloading unit – the essential point for the Sarcophagus construction in 1986;

• the Yaniv railway station – the graveyard of the contaminated railroad passenger cars and locomotives at 1 km distance from Prypiat-town;

• the machine-tractor station – the graveyard of the contaminated agricultural vehicles including tractors, trucks and an old trolleybus, which is used as an overnight stop by stalkers;

• the World War 2 Memorial – the grave of the anti-fascist partisans of World War 2 near the “Bridge of death”;

• the Big Pumping Station – that used to supply the cooling pond with the water from the river Prypiat;

• the graveyard of contaminated vehicles next to the Prypiat ghost-town;

• the memorial "Life for Life” in front of the administrative building of the ChNPP;

• the memorial “To Those who Saved the World” – the monument erected by the local firefighters in memory of first responders to the nuclear accident;  

• the robots exhibition – the open-air demonstration of transport vehicles and robots that were used in 1986-87 clean-up activities;

• the helicopter pad that was used by liquidators in 1986-87 clean-up activities, memorial to helicopter aircrew that crashed in October 1986 during the flight over the ruined reactor, the landing pad used by modern helicopters in the Exclusion Zone;

• the Leliv vehicle decontamination site – the point for washing vehicles from radioactive dust, used by liquidators after the accident;

• the left bank of the Prypiat river: stunning view from the Paryshiv bridge over the river and acquaintance with nature of the river flood plain;

• remote villages of Krasne, Paryshiv, Kupovate, Opachychi – travelling around the abandoned villages of the left bank of the Prypiat river, observe the local abandoned households, administrative buildings and farms as well as remains of old Orthodox churches, contaminated cars, military vehicles and fire trucks;

• the town of Narodychi – an urban-type settlement that is situated in the Zone of Mandatory Evacuation, which was proclaimed by the government in 1991 because of radioactive contamination. More than 2.000 people still live in this settlement – families with children – despite the state’s decision about mandatory evacuation of the local population;

• the railway station Semyhody – is the only operating railway station within the Exclusion Zone. The local commuter train takes the employees of the Chornobyl Zone directly to the town of Slavutych that is situated outside of the alienated territory. We can take the train to Slavutych, explore the town and stay overnight at the local hotel; 

• the town of Slavutych (in case of an overnight stay) was purposely built for the evacuated personnel of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the nuclear accident. The town is situated beyond the Exclusion Zone with population of 25.000 people. Many of them still work at the ChNPP. It is possible to get acquainted with the local way of life, visit local Chornobyl museum and even stay overnight at the local hotel.

• self-settlers (samosely) – visiting the original residents of the Exclusion Zone, that were evacuated after the nuclear accident but returned illegally to their homes soon after;

other locations allowed for visiting upon your request 

You can find all these locations on the map of the Chornobyl Zone.

Please keep in mind that there can be some changes in the route due to weather conditions and/or restrictions from the Governmental institutions.

Looking for new ways of exploration in the Zone? Book an air tour or river tour with us.

Day 1

7:30-7:50 a.m. – meeting in Kyiv

Please be in time for registration and don’t forget your PASSPORT.

Your guide will be waiting for you near the bus with a radiation sign under the windshield.

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*meeting place on the map*

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! Simplify your way to the meeting point and order our transfer – pick-up/drop-off service.

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8:00 a.m. SHARP – departure from Kyiv 

! Please, be in time. In case of no-show the trip prepayment (25%) is not refundable.

The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is about 120 km away. It takes up to 2 hours of a drive (depending on traffic) on board a comfortable bus with air conditioning or a comfortable private car. 

On your way to the Zone you will review the detailed itinerary of the trip and receive safety instructions. The guide will be happy to answer all your questions regarding the trip, radiation and nuclear accident. You will also be offered to watch documentaries about Chornobyl accident. 

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10:00 a.m. approximately – arrival at the Chornobyl Zone

We arrive at the Dytiatky checkpoint which is the official entrance to the Exclusion Zone. Take your time at the local information centers for tea/coffee/snacks while the guide will be taking care of the paperwork needed for the visit. That is your chance to buy unique souvenirs in memory of the trip and everything you may need during the trip: from a Geiger Counter to paper tissues.

After passport control conducted by the local police, we begin the tour inside the Exclusion Zone. We drive between locations on board of the bus and walk on-site by foot – to explore the locations.

! Please, note: in a 2-day tour we don’t have a scheduled lunch in a canteen on a first day, so please have some water and sandwiches with you for a bite on the way.

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7:00 p.m. approximately – hotel check-in and dinner in Chornobyl town hotel

We stay overnight and have dinner at one of the Chornobyl town hotels.

The dinner is a traditional Ukrainian meal made of ecologically clean products. If you are a vegetarian, please inform CHORNOBYL TOUR manager about your eating habits when booking the trip.

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Please note! The meals in the tour are optional and not included in the price. Please pre-order it when booking the tour.

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NEXT DAYS

8.30 a.m. – breakfast in Chornobyl town hotel 

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2.00 p.m. approximately – lunch in the local canteen #19 that is serving the ChNPP employees and visitors. 

On agreement with the group we can miss a lunch on the day of travel to remote areas of the Chornobyl Zone. 

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6:00- 7:00 p.m. approximately – arrival back to the Chornobyl hotel for dinner and an overnight stay 

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THE LAST DAY

8.30 a.m. – breakfast in Chornobyl town hotel 

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2.00 p.m. approximately – lunch in the local canteen #19 that is serving the ChNPP employees and visitors. 

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6:00-7:00 p.m. approximately – departure from the Chornobyl Zone

On our way from the Zone we go through radiation control twice to make sure that we are completely clean and are not contaminated by radiation (don’t have any radioactive particles on our clothes or shoes).

Must have in the Zone:

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PASSPORT (not ID) – it should be the one that you specified in the application for the trip! It is impossible to enter the Zone without a passport. 

* CHERNOBYL TOUR shall not be liable for your failure to enter the Exclusion zone because of the wrong passport number / name / date of birth / nationality or wrong passport on the day of the trip.

CLOSED SHOES – boots or sneakers, which fully cover your feet without fancy openings, please. 

CLOSED CLOTHES – trousers (no shorts, no knee-breeches, no skirts) and a jacket or a shirt with long sleeves. Your clothes should fully cover your legs and arms without fancy openings, please. 

! It is PROHIBITED to wear any open type clothing and footwear in the Zone.

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To make sure your trip is comfortable and enjoyable, we advise you to:

• have comfortable shoes and clothes as we are going to walk a lot on-site 

• check the weather forecast and be prepared for rain or shine – dress warmly for freezing temperatures, have a hat for hot weather, waterproof shoes and spare socks for rain, snow or dew on the grass

• have a repellent for mosquito season 

• have some wet wipes or paper tissues

• have some sandwiches and bottled water with you to have a bite on the way

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To see the invisible – book a DOSIMETER

In order to fully understand and feel the most special matter of the Chornobyl zone – namely, radiation – we highly recommend you to rent the reliable personal Geiger Counter. Just click on the checkbox "Dosimeter" when you are ordering the tour.

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"To go to the Chornobyl zone without a dosimeter is like going to the usual tour with your eyes blindfolded."

 - Sergii Mirnyi, CHORNOBYL TOUR founder, radiation reconnaissance officer.

Limitations:

Legal issues

No weapons (even with a legal permit) are allowed within the territory of the Exclusion zone.
Visitors under the influence of alcohol or drugs are not allowed to visit the site.

Age limit

According to Ukrainian law every visitor of the Exclusion zone should be over the age of 18. No underage visitors will be admitted under any circumstances. Notarized parental consent or even their personal presence in the trip do not change this rule. 

Almost there?

Meanwhile, you still can see the Chornobyl zone! Get an unforgettable helicopter tour or plane tour to see the Exclusion zone from the skies!