Ukraine's special gem and a city that's often called a pearl by the sea - Odessa is a destination that's definately worth visiting, with its buzzing street life, gorgeous beaches, charming Odessa hotels, great weather, and vibrant music and performing arts scene. The city is an eclectic mix of the cultures of the many people who have made Odessa their home over the centuries. From Ukrainians and Russians to Moldovians, Jews and even the Greeks, a variety of nationalities have fallen for the charms of this lovely city by the sea. Our local company based in Odessa offer a range of selected Odessa Hotels and tours of this stunning region!
First-time visitors to Odessa may be surprised to find it resembles a lot of Mediterranean destinations more so than Slavic ones. Some sections of the city may even remind you of Paris with their tree-lined roads and French style architecture.
The balmy Odessa weather and sunny location is mirrored in the warmth and enthusiasm of the locals, and it is easy to see why so many great artists have found inspiration here. From writers and poets to actors, Odessa is a haven for the creatively inclined. Little melodies played out at small cafes and seaside restaurants have been picked up and performed by jazz greats like Leonid Utesov. More have made their place on the music circuit in Paris, Moscow, Casablanca and New York. Odessa's own architectural masterpiece, the Odessa Opera House, has been the venue of choice for performers from across the globe. We offer some great Odessa Tours to enable you to visit all the sights of Odessa!
The many spas in Odessa offer therapy and cures for various ailments and are hugely popular with tourists and business travellers, besides being a haven for locals to unwind. The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy is well renowned for its quality eye care. However, in case you thought all Odessa was about is spa therapy, think again, as there is a lot things to see and do in Odessa! There are plenty of regular tourist attractions like palaces, parks and beaches, too. The homes of the Potocki, Tolstoy and Vorontsov families are also well worth visiting. Taking a tour in Odessa to see the major sights and experience all that the city has to offer is a highlight of a trip to the city.
Unexpectedly, Odessa has also brought out the funny bone in many and is well known for its many comedy and humour-based events, like the annual April Fool's Day Carnival that is broadcast nationwide and beyond. Also famous is the city's contribution to the silver screen, with several locally produced films like Sergey Eyzenshtein's Potyomkin making it big on the international film festival circuit. See a whole range of various activities in Odessa with our Odessa Events page!
The locals are fiercely proud of their city and deeply patriotic and will hugely appreciate compliments about their city. They are also very welcoming and will make your stay in one of the local Odessa hotels a homely experience. Since so many people here are of mixed descent, you will also find a lot of variety in the looks of the locals. The city was first established by Katherine II in 1794 as a port city that would serve as a link and watch-point to guard the frontiers. With time, though, it has done far more than protect the Russian Empire's borders and its importance today is probably more than the queen would ever have anticipated. Visit the incredible city of Odessa and this facinating corner of Ukraine with one of the many Odessa Tours of Ukraine Tours!
Odessa quickly became one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The presence of a well developed port, coupled with a pleasing climate caused traders and migrants to flock here from Asia and Europe. With a thriving business environment, and the determination and optimism of the locals and new migrants, Odessa soon established itself on the world's commercial maps. Even wars and famine could not kill the soul of the city, which came out of each adversity stronger than before.
Odessa is now Ukraine's fourth biggest city and is also the administrative seat of the province. Even today, it remains a key port on the Black Sea, with flourishing business, tourism and entertainment industries, and a population of over 1,027,000. There is also excellent tourist infrastructure, with a number of great places to stay in Odessa, as well as good Odessa shopping and a great local restaurant scene. The hotels in Odessa provide great value for money and you can even use our Odessa map to choose you Odessa hotel based on its location.
Odessa has cultivated musicians like the famous violinists David Oistrakh, Mischa Elman and Nathan Milstein and talented pianists like Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels and Benno Moiseiwitsch. Other famous locals include the writer Isaac Babel and chess player Efim Geller, who were both born here. Big show business names in Russia often have an Odessa connection. Comedians Yakov Smirnoff and Roman Kartsev and the famous humour writer Mikhail Zhvanetsky all started out here. Their legacy lives on in the many humour festivals organized here each year.
A lot of the buildings in Odessa were made of limestone quarried from local mines. When they were abandoned, these mines later became a haven for smugglers. Tunnel networks created then continue to exist even today but have not been properly or fully mapped making them a risky place to venture into. In fact it is this very reason that has held back local authorities from constructing an underground metro system for the city. There are Odessa tours offered into these old mines, but you join these at your own risk since none of them have official sanction.
Odessa was declared a free port between 1819 and 1858 and it was mainly during this period that a lot of migrants arrived in the city and began businesses. People moved here from as far as Greece, Italy, Germany and France and soon joined the already interesting mix of Bulgarians, Armenians, Jews, Albanians, Ukrainians and Russians who lived in Odessa.
Odessa arrived on the global theatrical scene in the early nineteenth century and discovered celluloid shortly before the twentieth century. The first-ever movie screened here on the eleventh of July in 1896 was shown a short six months after Parisians saw the Lumiere brothers' first and very historic screening. In 1912, M Grossman set up the first movie studio called the Mirograph in Odessa. Soon after, other studios opened up and the place became a hub for the movie making business in the region. A Dovzhenko, a famous producer and scriptwriter of the 1920s set up shop here and his contribution is recognized even today at the Odessa Film Studio, which bears his name. Taking a tour in Odessa of the film studio is a great way to learn about the history of film here.
We are a locally based tourism company that knows all there is to know about Odessa. Choose from our wide range of personally recommended hotels in Odessa and tours in Odessa and let us help you plan your ideal Odessa holiday!
Meet your local connection in Odessa, Helen, Vicki, Tatiana and the team of Primexpress! We are excited to be onboard with whl.travel, working with nice people and a modern attitude towards tourism! We want to enlighten people about our culture, history, art, etc- and we like to present it in a very artistic way. For example, our tour "Home Visits" offers guests the chance to visit ordinary Odessa people in their apartments, meet their family and converse- isn't it a wonderful way of promoting our local culture?
