Guide · Getting there
There are no flights to Ukraine. That may not be true for much longer.
Anyone selling you a ticket to Lviv or Kyiv today is selling something that does not exist. But the picture changed in March 2026, and if you are planning a journey for next summer, the change matters to you.
Last reviewed 16 August 2026.
The short answer
Ukrainian airspace has been closed to civil aviation since 24 February 2022. No scheduled passenger flight has landed in the country since. Every journey into Ukraine — ours and everyone else's — enters by land, through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania or Moldova.
If a booking site shows you a fare into Lviv or Kyiv, it is a phantom schedule left in a database, or an agent who will quietly rebook you onto a bus. Neither is a reason to worry, but both are a reason to check what you are buying.
What changed in March 2026
On 16 March 2026 the Ukrainian government formed a working group tasked with preparing the safe reopening of the country's airspace, naming Boryspil, Lviv and Kyiv (Zhuliany) as the airports to be readied. Talks with IATA and ICAO have been running since.
Lviv is the one that concerns families like yours. It sits in the west, seventy kilometres from the Polish border and hundreds from any fighting; its infrastructure came through the war undamaged and its staff were kept on. Ukrainian officials have said that once the political decision is taken, first flights could operate within two to four weeks — other assessments put it closer to fifty days.
What has not happened is the decision itself. There is no announced date, and reopening is not a stroke of a pen: air traffic control, missile-risk mitigation, insurance for the airlines and international clearance all have to line up. Treat every report of an imminent reopening as what it is — preparation, not a schedule.
What this means for a journey you are planning now
Plan by land, and treat flights as an upside. Every itinerary we quote for 2027 assumes you land in Poland and cross the border with us, because that is the only version of the journey we can promise today. If Lviv opens before you travel, the journey gets shorter and cheaper, and we re-plan it with you at no charge — a change in your favour is not a reason to renegotiate a contract.
The reverse is the mistake we see families make: waiting for the airport to open before starting the research. The research does not need an airport. Identifying the village, reading the parish books and finding whoever still lives on that street takes months and happens without you — and the people in the village who remember the names are in their late eighties. That clock runs whether the sky is open or not.
How you actually get there today
You fly to Kraków, Warsaw or Rzeszów. Rzeszów is closest to the border, Kraków has the best long-haul connections from Canada and the United States, and Warsaw sits between the two. We meet you at the airport — not at the border, not at a hotel.
From there it is either the train from Przemyśl to Lviv, or a car with our own driver. Both are covered step by step in the border guide below.
Questions we get about this
Can I fly into Ukraine in 2026?
No. Ukrainian airspace has been closed to civil aviation since February 2022 and no passenger flights operate. In March 2026 the government began formal preparations to reopen it, with Lviv airport the likely first to resume, but no reopening date has been announced.
When will Lviv airport reopen?
Nobody can honestly give you a date. The airport itself is intact and ready, and officials say first flights could operate two to four weeks after an official decision — but that decision depends on air traffic control readiness, missile-risk assessment and international clearance, none of which run to a public timetable.
Should I wait for flights before booking a journey?
We would not. The land route works now, the summer season fills months ahead, and the research phase — which takes the longest and needs no airport at all — can start today. If flights resume before your dates, we shorten the itinerary and reduce the cost accordingly.
I have been offered a ticket to Lviv. Is it real?
It is not a flight. It is either a phantom entry in a booking system or an agent who will move you onto ground transport after you have paid. Fly to Kraków, Warsaw or Rzeszów instead, and let us handle the leg that follows.
Practical guides
How do you get into Ukraine from Poland?
The train, the car, the queue, the questions at the desk — the crossing described in full.
Can you get travel insurance for Ukraine?
Ordinary policies are void the moment you cross. What war-risk cover is, and what to check.
The full safety protocol
Where we go, where we never go, and what happens when a siren sounds.
The sky is closed. The road is not, and neither are the archives.
Write us the family name and the village as you know it. We will tell you what can be found, what it would cost, and how the journey would actually work from whichever airport you can reach.