Odessa Travel Forum

I'm traveling to Odessa in August and want to know if I should stay on Deribasovskaya in Odessa, or stay closer to the beach in Arkadiya? I'm looking for a safe, lively nightlife where you can spend hours pub crawling and meeting locals. Thanks. John.

Deribasovskaya Str and it's surroundings will be optimal for "safe, lively nightlife where you can spend hours pub crawling and meeting locals"

Thanks for the tip.

Stay near Deribasovskaya. There's nothing interesting on Arcadia.

Arkadiya is a livelier place for nightlife. If you like to dance. Many diskos together. You should at least go see it. It may be something that you've never seen before. If one disko is dead you just go next door. I highly recommend Itaka first. DeRibasovskaya Street is a better place to stay. It has a few pubs but I never saw them lively. Good place to meet the locals because there are a lot of them. :) And more to do during the day. There's not much else around Arkadiya.

Having spent some time alone in Odessa,a place I like very much,I enjoyed the atmosphere around Deribasovskaya specially in August.
Very warm evenings and the place full of many different nationalities.

I have been to Odessa three times and will go again this month. I would recommend near Deribasovskaya, more to do and see. Arkadiya will prey more on a tourist in summer and it is easy enough to get there anyway. There are many sites to rent apartments and it is better a block ot two from that main street. The added bonus is that for a rental of 5 or more days includes pick up/drop off at airport The fare from airport should be about $5 but the drivers there want $20 so be prepared to argue and don't listen to them about the conditions of the streets or having to feed a family (complete with picture). If you are adventurous and know a little Russian you can "hitch" rides very easily by just sticking out your arm straight out palm down (write the address in Russian and negotiate price, if they are going that way you get a ride very cheap!)