catacombs of odessa

The "catacombs" are tunnels in the golden limestone that underdays Odessa, stretching out from the Black Sea shore miles inland. Not so much for burials, but excavated originally for building materials. There are literally thousands of miles of tunnels... These were used by several bands of resistance fighters during WWII. Take an organized tour with an English speaking guide. Most go out to the Museum, located in a village outside Odessa. Its a very moving experience.... you will see rooms, kitchens, hospital, communications areas.... many with authentic WWII equipment. Good for a nice day trip with family and friends to see some REAL history.

You really need to take the time to visit the Catacombs and learn the amazing history of their use and times. But do not get lost in here!!!!!

Our guides Egor and Vanya made a great team showing us through the tunnels. Took our kids 7,8 and 10 and they loved it. Prepare to get a little dusty but worth the trip!!

I would say more 'abandoned limestone quarry tunnels.' interesting and historic but not outstanding. we hired egor as our guide and did not take the 'official' tour.

You must book a guide for this. Our hotel (The Frederic Koklen) helped us with that. The site is unmarked and locked. You need a guide with a key to get access. In recent history, during the Great Patriotic War, the Catacombs were used by anti-Fascist fighters. Our guide was quite knowledgeable and illuminated much of that time period for us.

I was thinking that this is old Christian funeral place like Catacombs in Rome, but it isn't, this is former underground mine of limestone, which had been used to build the buildings in the city!Why you have to be careful? Because it is almost 3 hrs excursion and you have to walk with hard hat and electric torch in your hand. If you are lucky, you will get hard hat with installed torch on it.I wasn't lucky, so in one hand I carried electric torch and in second hand my professional photo camera. At one place where I had to cross an underground water stream I had fallen to the water up to my waist including my camera!Thanks God nothing happened to it, but I had to walk next 1.5 hrs. with completely wet trousers. When we get out from underground is was really cold, there. So I had to walk fast to my sleeping place.BUT I DO ADVICE TO VISIT THE CATACOMBS IN ODESSA!!!!

On our recent visit to Ukraine, we hooked up with a private guide named Yuriy. He is a young and vibrant fellow who is anxious to share all that Odessa has to offer. At first we went directly to the catacombs. Unlike the catacombs in Italy, these tunnels were NOT for burying the dead. They actually formed an underground city to protect the folks during the Crimean war. It was interesting to find out how they survived. After lunch at a local restaurant where the servers were dressed in folkloric costumes, we continued our visit seeing many interesting places such as the opera house and public gardens. I realize Ukraine is not high on travelers lists, especially for people who have not seen a lot of the world, but we are fortunate to have seen a lot of the world and now we can add Ukraine to the list.

I think if one is in Odessa one should go there. But dont forget that you must go 15 metres down (no fresh air) and continue for about 600 metres. I didnt manage it because of my claustrophobie

Yuriy took us ot the partisan caves/catacombs, as part of our tour of Odessa.It is some way out of town, not somewhere you would get to by public transportI was fascinating for us to compare with places like the Ku Chi tunnels (Vietnam) on other trips, and also with other places on this tour (Auschwitz-Birkenau, KGB prison in Vilnius, Inkermann, etc).Yurij gave us an indepth apreciation of life and times during the occupation.It might not be everyone's ciup of tea, but we thoroughly enjoyed our morning visit there.

We were on a recent Celebrity cruise round the Black Sea and took an optional tour of the catacombs, not really knowing what to expect. Our tour started about 15 miles outside of Odessa, at which stage the sheer scale and size of the catacombs network became apparent.Our local guide explained quietly and dispassionately the vital role the catacombs played in the local history of WW2, and some tremendous feats of heroism and ingenuity. This was a history I, as a comfortable, middle aged, middle class British male had no idea existed. Shame on me, it really is true...travel does broaden the mind.Go and visit these catacombs. It isn't your average style of holiday tour but you'll feel better and more aware of an important phase of world history because of it.

We wanted to visit the catacoms and the first problem was how to get there. We couldnt find any tour in the streets. Our hostel found two places with a group leaving in the next hour for 720 ( around 72 euros) for two. We asked in tourist information and they quoted us 600 for two of us so we decided to go on our own tour. Driver took 200, guide 300 and tourist information 100. The problem was when we were in the catacombs they asked for 160 more for fee and safety. So be careful when you book the tour make sure there are no extras hidden... Tourist "dis"information told us is 70 km away but it is actually 10 km away. The Catacombs is a really interesting place, worth the visit but not worth the price they charge to foreigners.

There was a whole lot of history learned here that I never knew about before. We had a private tour (arranged for us by our tour group) and she really stressed about not going in if you are claustrophobic, but we thought she made it seem far worse than it was (our group did not find it any big deal at all). It can be a bit cool, so have a jacket/sweater and wear pants with good walking shoes. Very interesting.

We recently joined a group of friends on a Black Sea cruise. We had 3 port stops in the Ukraine. One stop was Odessa. We all enjoyed our private tour reserved through Sergey Tsarapora sergey.tsarapora@gmail.com.Natasha was our private guide. We walked through the historical area to view the beautifully restored Opera House and other buildings as Natasha shared interesting detailed information. Humorous stories were included.As we toured the catacombs, we were constantly reminded of the local people living in these underground tunnels during World War II. Lanterns, drums used to store water, cooking utensils, boots, rifles, tools, and helmets were some of the items salvaged from the war and on view in the tunnels. This site should be a “must see”. We saw other interesting sights on our tour. I would recommend contacting and booking a private tour of Odessa through Sergey Tsarapora.

There are lots of companies around Odessa offering Catacomb tours. We found one that had a good deal for 100 UAH. Most of the tours bus you outside the city where the museum of catacomb history is. We roamed in a group seeing the WWII partisan encampments and ended up in the museum. The group was large (more than the bus load, a few other people joined in) and it was not always easy to hear) but the guide was very knowledgeable. Overall it is a cool tour. I do wish they would show more other parts of catacombs' history - smuggling operations, etc (which they did talk about very briefly). Comfortable shoes and a layer for cooler air helps.

The world war two Catacombs tell an amazing story. The conditions under which the partisans lived, fort and died demonstrates bravery and commitment.I cannot imagine living under such conditions. The constant fear of cave-ins or of the enemy using gas.If you come to Odessa you must see this.A guide is needed!