Odessa Travel Forum

Hello All,

I'm visiting Odessa for a couple of weeks in July and would like to have a rough idea of the general cost of living there. My accommodation is already sorted so I'm looking more at prices in pubs/restaraunts and that kind of thing. In other words, how much spending money would see me right for a two-week comfortable stay?

All help appreciated.

Thanks

Chris

Well, I would say around $50-$100 per day. The number of pubs/restaurants in Odesa is rather high, and most of them charge reasonable prices. 100gr of whiskey would cost you $8-12. A salad would be $4-8, a main dish - $6-12 at a lot of them. Beer starts probably from $1.4 per glass. A day at a comfortable beach would cost you $5. So I guess $50 may do, and certainly $100 is enough. However, that assumes that your consumption of whiskey is reasonable :))).

Thanks for the information. I'm not a super heavy drinker so I'm sure I'll be Ok. But thanks for the info on meal prices etc. Much appreciated.

Pikine's prices are correct, but there are places even cheaper than that. It depends on how much you like to dine "in style," and how much you'll stay in the more touristy places, like in the center or at Arkadia beach. Also, you can quickly eat up a lot of money taking taxis everywhere (maybe $6 a ride), or if you're willing to figure out the buses and marshrutkas (only 10-20 cents a pop).

Yes it is very true. I mean you can live on a tiny amount of money in contrast to the west if you bought your own groceries, ready to eat food, etc. Cost of that is dramatically lower than in most other places. Also, if you are looking for a quick cheap meal I found the shawarma stand on the corner of Deribasovskaya / Ekaterininskaya to be a great fix. It costs like $1.1 and with a coke it makes a great meal once a day.
Otherwise, I would aim for less visible restaraunts which will offer drastically lower prices than most of the flashier, restaraunts with excellent views or locations.

Well guys,

It's really funny how westerners are trying to teach other westerners the art of survival in Odesa on a coin. You pay certain prices in your home country. In Odesa, you have a nice resort city with lots on nice restaurants, bars and clubs at a fraction of the price you pay at home. And still you're proud to have discovered something "cheaper", probably the places middle class Ukrainian won't even go to.

What's the point of coming such a long way to save money? I'll never get that, don't even try to explain.

Pikine

I do not think there is anything wrong with looking at the budget side of things, even in a place like Odessa. Firstly, I am not a westerner, I was born and spent most of my life in Odessa and know it intimately. The place I mentioned, it very popular and happens to be cheap. I did not point to a restaurant in Slobodka or cheremyshki where the cost is an absolute fraction of that in the center, but I did point him to a place that serves fantastic food, which happens to be cheap. I personally always advocate that when in Odessa, go to the best restraunts, visit the best clubs, spend money freely without even thinking about. It is what vacations are for, and you are right in the end it is all still much cheaper than in the west (with some exceptions) but if someone is looking to also see the budget side of things, there is nothing wrong with pointing them out.

I think it's pretty snooty to assume that just because someone is a "westerner," he has all the money in the world to throw around. $100 a day on food??? Yeesh! I don't think most Americans can afford that, either here or back in the States. And then there are people like me -- I'm an American, but right now I live and work in Ukraine. I make $200 a month!

Right on Mary. What do you do?

I live in Odessa and fortunately get my income from outside UA. I travel a lot and Odeesa is a great base for me to get anywhere from Sydney (my home town), NZ (my country of birth) and the USA (where I have a business)...Europe for fun.

Odessa has the highs and the low's. I do all from rock bottom village prices for food etc., to the top end. You can certainly spend money in Odessa just the same as Fifth Avenue where I was 3 days ago.

Odessa is a place for all comers so to answer how much is the same question you can pose anywhere. I have two Odessa friends living in NY right now on a budget of around $1,000. They have a great 2Bed apartment up on 123rdW and buy and cook all their own food. They are living the high life in NY!!!

Odessa you can spend $1.50 for a meal of duck (Afina - a ultra modern clean restaurant) and spend $100's around a number of restaurants in Odessa.

In the end it depends what you want mate!!!!! Odessa has it all.