Crimea - Ukraine - page 327

More buses for Kerch (half-hourly), as well as long-distance buses to the Ukrainian
mainland depart from the main bus station (

275 211; vul Kievskaya 4) on the other side

of town.
Locals usually catch marshrutky (fixed-route minibuses) to Bakhchysaray (10uah, one
hour) from the west bus station; they leave every 20 minutes. For newcomers, it's easier
to hop on a Sevastopol-bound bus at the Kurortnaya bus station. It will pass
Bakhchysaray bus station on the way.

TRAIN
Simferopol is Crimea's main railway junction and has five trains daily to/from Kyiv
(300uah, 14 to 17 hours). Daily services by modern Intercity trains have reduced travel
time to Dnipropetrovsk (150uah, five hours) and Kharkiv (220uah, seven hours). There
are many more slower trains to Kharkiv, which stop at Zaporizhzhya (150uah, five
hours). Many Kharkiv-bound trains continue onwards to Moscow. Tickets are often in
short supply in summer, especially at the end of August.
Local elektrychky (electric trains) run regularly along the Crimean peninsula to/from
Yevpatoriya (12uah, two hours, seven daily) and Sevastopol (12uah, two hours, seven
daily). The latter service stops en route in Bakhchysaray (7uah, 40 minutes).

Getting Around

Trolleybus 9 goes from the airport to the train station. Many more marshrutka do the
same route and continue to the centre. Look out for 'C ' (Silpo) signs on their side. From
the train station, trolleybuses 2 and 5 also go to the city centre. Marshrutka 60 and 65
connect the train station and the city centre with the main bus station.

BLACK SEA RAVE

Most people west of Berlin have yet to hear of it, but long-term attendees complain
that the annual rave Kazantip ( www.kazantip.com ) in July/August has become too
commercial. Launched in the early 1990s as an après-surf party near a half-fin-
ished nuclear reactor on the northeastern Kazantip peninsula, the five-week-long
festival moved, because of local pressure, to Popovka, north of Yevpatoriya. Today
'the republic of Kazantip' is a huge Ibiza-style operation with enormous stage sets,
international DJs and thousands of punters, many of them half-naked (or naked),
along with dodgy food, deliberately humorous rules and lots of serious security.
Too commercial? Probably, but the only way you'll make up your own mind is to
visit. Once you book, the organisers can arrange to pick you up, but for the dura-