How to Visit Chernobyl and Pripyat
An abandoned kindergarten room strewn with toys. The hollows of an amusement park that was never even used. An eerily vacant high school with its desks still draped in school work. These are the remnants of Chernobyl – a town blasted with 400 times the radiation of the bomb of Hiroshima, over 35 years ago. Today, it lures curious tourists in the tens of thousands. But why?
Chernobyl has always interested us since a young age and a few years back, we decided we would take the plunge and just go! Dark tourism intrigued us, and we were keen to learn more about this abandoned place and the disaster story behind it.
We did a 2-day tour with power plant. We will show you where you can do the same tour below…
Brief story behind the Chernobyl disaster
On April 24th, 1986, reactor 4 from Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a massive, destructive explosion, releasing tonnes of radioactive material into the sky, which spread across Europe and even to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
It was an unprecedented accident caused by human negligence, which took the lives of tens of thousands of people, caused hundreds of thousands to be evacuated, plus all the social, economic and natural repercussions, whose consequences are still being suffered today.
As a result of the disaster, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was created, a 30km² territory that surrounds the nuclear plant, from where all the people were evacuated and access to which was completely restricted until 2009, when the Ukrainian Government decided to open it to the public.
Since then, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has attracted a few intrepid travelers interested in learning and seeing with their own eyes the effects of the worst nuclear disaster in our history.
At the beginning of 2019, after the successful TV Show broadcast by HBO, Chernobyl was, once again, something to talk about and, in very little time, just a few months, Chernobyl visitors increased by 50%, and statistics say that they will keep increasing in the coming years.
Where is it?
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is 150km north of Kyiv and less than 20km from the border with Belarus.
Chernobyl is a small town but the power plant, despite being named after Chernobyl, is in a city called Pripyat, 20km north of Chernobyl.
Today, Pripyat is a ghost city but Chernobyl is partially inhabited, mainly by workers from the exclusion zone, who do 2-week shifts.
Is it safe to visit Chernobyl?
We felt safe and we have no health issues after visiting!
Radiation sticks around for a very long time, and the exclusion zone is not expected to be safe for humans to live in for the next 20,000 years. However, radioactivity can be considered mostly harmless in small doses (like when you get an x-ray, or even take a long-haul flight), and the day tours into the exclusion zone mean that you’re only exposed to low levels of radiation for just a few hours.
There are around 400 people that actually live inside the exclusion zone, and another several thousand that work in and around the power plant, decommissioning the retired reactors and constructing the new sarcophagus. They manage the radiation exposure by limiting their time in the most hazardous areas, and are also required to take longer breaks away from the site so that their bodies have time to recover.
On the way out of the exclusion zone, everyone is required to go through an old soviet radiation control checkpoint. The device required each person to place their hands on either side while it checks your radiation levels.
Can you visit Chernobyl without a guide?
No, you cannot visit without a guide.
Tourist entry into the exclusion zone is only permitted with a licenced guide. There are many areas inside the exclusion zone that are still considered very dangerous, and a guide will have the expertise to keep you safe at all times.
How was our tour?
AWESOME! It’s like nothing we have ever done before.
Here’s a rough itinerary:
The Pick-up
Different tour companies have different pick-up location but all will eventually travel together to Chernobyl. For example, if you are with Chernobyl X, the pick-up location is the KFC in front of Kyiv Central Train Station and the pick-up time is around 7:30 AM.
The process of registration is pretty simple. Your guide will ask to see your passport and you can choose to sit where ever you like in the minivan. If you want a great seat, be sure to come earlier than the appointed time. They will drive-by some really cool places like the Red Forest and the Bridge of Death without stopping so if you want to see them, sit by the window.
The minivan is spacious and comes equipped with air-conditioning which is a godsend in mid-summer Ukraine. After everyone arrives, you will then be driving to a petrol/ gas station outside of Kyiv where you can stock up water and snacks for breakfast and throughout the day.
Depending on how hot it is outside, you will need at least 2 liters of water for the day. Keep in mind that many of the places you will be visiting are exposed to the sun so if it is clear outside, be sure that you have enough water for the day.
Passing Through The Chernobyl Checkpoint
At the first checkpoint, you will have to get off the bus and wait until the guard comes and check your passport and scan your ticket which should be given to you by your tour guide at the checkpoint. It usually takes around 15 minutes as they have to check your passport one by one for each tour running that day.
After checking your passport, you will have to walk through the barrier and you will be given a radiation dosemeter that will track how much radiation you accumulate throughout the day and you will be able to see the result at the end of the tour.
After the checkpoint, you will either continue towards Chernobyl town or head off in a separate van to the power plant, if you chose that extra addition to your tour.
Power Plant tour
Our power plant tour started with radiation and document checks before getting equipped from head to toe with overalls and a special mask.
The basics of the power plant tour to keep it short:
- 800-meters “golden corridor”;
- The Central Control Room, the only original location that is operational nowadays;
- Unique Soviet analog computer “SKALA”;
- Unit 3 Control room;
- Unit 3 Main Circulating Pumps that provided water to the core of the Reactor;
- Valerii Khodemchuk Memorial, dedicated to the first victim of the disaster.
Photos from our tour of the power plant. The power plant tour is a must if you are only going to visit Chernobyl once!
Have Lunch At Canteen 19
After 2 hours in Chernobyl or Power plant (tour addition), it is time for lunch. With all the tours we mentioned, you will be having lunch at Canteen 19, a canteen built for the workers of the clean-up of Chernobyl.
We thought the food was really good!
Another fun thing to do here is that you will have to go through a Soviet-style radiation detector where you will have to put your hands on both sides of the machine and it will tell you if your radioactivity level is in comply with the law and it will let you into the canteen.
A Close Look Of Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor #4
After lunch (before if on the power plant tour), you will continue towards Reactor #4 where you will stop at the entrance in front of a monument dedicated to Chernobyl victims where you can take photos and listen to how the old sarcophagus was built and how the new safe confinement were rolled in to replace the concrete one.
Your guide will also show several photos of Reactor #4 after the explosion which you can no longer see as it is under the new safe confinement. It is chilling to think that all the bodies of people who lost their lives in the reactor including those from the crashed helicopter are still in there, unretrievable for the next hundred years.
Explore The Abandoned City Of Pripyat
After visiting the explosion site itself, you will then be dropped off at Pripyat, the city that was hit the hardest in the 1986 disaster. This is where the most interesting part of the tour begins.
You will be dropped off at the Pripyat town square, while your guide shows you what the square looked like before the evacuation, a chilling reminder of the catastrophe that be fell upon the people living in Pripyat.
From the square, you will be exploring Pripyat on foot where you will get to check out the abandoned supermarket, a restaurant and the Palace of Culture Energetik, all of which are completely abandoned and left for nature to take over.
From the Palace of Culture Energetik, you will continue behind the building into an opening where you will see the iconic Pripyat’s Ferris wheel and other amusement park’s machinery.
The amusement park was never actually open to the public as it was supposed to open on the 1st of May 1986, only 4 days after the Chernobyl disaster. At the amusement park, you will see the iconic 26m high Ferris wheel, bumper cars, swing boats, and several shooting games, all of which are deteriorating and overgrown.
After the amusement park, you will then walk to the Avanhard Football Stadium, an abandoned stadium in Pripyat. You can barely see the running track as the forest has grown in its place.
Amidst all the abandoned structure in the overgrown forest of Pripyat, you will find an abandoned school where the building had collapsed exposing one of the classrooms. Within these rooms, the student tables, chairs and textbooks are still there, untouched by anyone after it was abandoned.
Last but not least for day 1 of the 2 day tour, you will be visiting an abandoned living quarter where you will be able to see what was abandoned and what was left after these homes were evacuated in 1968.
DAY 2
After spending the night in Chernobyl you will go for breakfast before making your way to an abandoned boat.
After the boat you will have lunch with babushkas! The food is excellent, but the homemade booze is not (its safe to drink)
The Duga “Woodpecker” Radar
After lunch the tour will drive you into a forest and drop you off so you can walk up to one of the largest secret constructions in the Chernobyl, the Duga “Woodpecker” Radar.
The Duga Radar was a Soviet over-the-horizon radar that is part of the early-warning missile defense system built to detect a missile attack from the US. It was so secretive that they grew tall trees around the area to prevent people from spotting it from afar.
This construction is so massive and used so much power that they had to build the grid within the range of Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The reason why they call it the “Woodpecker” radar is because of how sharp and repetitive the broadcasted radio wave was. It also appeared without warning and can be heard by many amateur radio operators who then dubbed the signal as the “Russian Woodpecker”.
You will be able to walk around the grid for 15 minutes while your guide explains how the Duga Radar works. After spending time exploring the Duga Radar, you will have to backtrack your way to the bus and head back to Kyiv.
After you go through the checkpoint, your tour will drive you back to Kyiv which should take around 2 hours depending on traffic and they will drop you off the same place they pick you up.
Booking a tour
Tours from Kyiv cost between £70-£400 GBP / $100-$500 / €90-€450 per person, depending on the type of tour that you choose.
The tour that we went on starts at 229 Euro each £190 / $260, but if you want to add the Power Plant tour it will cost another 159 Euro / £132 / $180! It is well worth the extra!
We booked with a company called Chernobylx and we could not fault them!
You can browse a variety of tours along with prices, reviews, and booking with immediate confirmation on GetYourGuide (ADD LINK)
More Photos
Should you visit Chernobyl?
100% YES!
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