ChernobylX
ChernobylX Everyday we get a lot of feedback from you. We are very thankful for that, as the feedback from you helps us to mutate for good, or shall we say, even better. But in the dozens of reviews, we stumbled upon one that we decided to share with you, because who else can describe our tours the best, if not one of you – our beloved travelers. So, here it is:
“You must have lost your mind”, “Are you stupid?!”, “We’ll, you don’t plan to have kids, right?” or “You want to light your whole damn street?!?” … This was only a selection of few questions that i got from my friends & family, when I told them, that I bought the 2-day tour to Chernobyl with access to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant itself. Well, what is the saying? I guess, “fortune favors the brave”. But you know what, it’s not about courage or braveness.
The tour itself is completely safe. Or that’s what you’re being told when it all starts (but you can later reassure yourself with the Geiger-counter provided by the guide anytime for free). Our tour started on Friday. We got to the first checkpoint on Dityatky pretty fast. The two hour drive from Kiev was comfortable, we were watching a document about the disaster back in 1986 and until it ended, we’ve reached the mentioned checkpoint. After the quick passport check, we were driving within the first kilometers of the exclusion zone. Whoa, I remember that I really got the chills and I started to look out of the windows to see the abandoned villages. First minutes we only saw the forest and the road, but later on, suddenly, a village! I was very curious if this is the ghost town Pripyat itself. Our guide told us that this is Chernobyl, the village where many workers from the power plant and administration still lives. We took a quick guided tour trough Chernobyl but I was really looking forward to (for me) more interesting Pripyat and a secret radar that I’ve read about so much. Then our guide called out: “Okay guys, next destination – Pripyat”. We stopped by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to look at the New Safe Confinement (BTW it’s f***ing HUGE!) with the promise, that the next day we will see more during the power plant tour.
Well, I can tell you, when I saw the Pripyat sign for the first time, my smart watch started to beep and warned me about a fact, that my pulse skyrocketed and maybe it’s something wrong with me. Haha i was just super-excited to see this city with my own eyes. In a few minutes, we’ve entered city through ex-boulevard which today looks like a pathway in the forest. Suddenly, all the apartment houses popped up somewhere between the threes. Everybody were literally glued on glass and watched all this with open mouth. It’s a moment that you will never forget in your whole life, I guarantee. Whole afternoon we were wandering around Pripyat and we’ve visited all the famous places which I’ve known from photos. The main square with Hotel Polissya, the amusement park with ferris wheel, stadium Avantgard, schools, hospital, river-café, supermarket, post office. There are so many things which you can discover. I think that the whole two days spent in Pripyat wouldn’t be enough to see it all. It’s so sad, exciting and mysterious together, that at the end of the day you’ll be exhausted not from all the walking, but from all the emotions you get during the tour.
The second day was the day why we came to Chernobyl – to see the legendary power plant! Yesss, the three-hour tour was LE-GEN-DA-RY! We’ve visited the evacuation centre under the power plant, went via the golden corridor to see the operation room of reactor #3 which looks exactly like the one in damaged reactor #4, tried to push the SCRAM button which caused the explosion (it’s really A MOMENT! Instagrammers be ready!), saw the water-pump station and memorial of the first liquidator who was never found. It was a very emotionally powerful experience that will help you understand what happened in 1986 and what all could happened if the brave liquidators didn’t do their job properly.
After the lunch in the power plant canteen (BTW, really nice cherry on the cake after the tour) we finally went to see the secret military radar DUGA. Boy-oh-boy it was huge (150 m high & 500 m wide) and it was a “dream-come-true” for me. This is SOMETHING to see! I still don’t understand how it was possible for them to kept this huge building a secret when it was situated practically right next to Pripyat. Nevermind, I consider it as one of top three highlights of our tour, a really must-see place or as I love to call it – an eight wonder of the world. All-in-all, now I can not tell you what was the best part of the two-day tour. I perceive it as a whole package, which I will definitely soon repeat again!
– Mitchel, visitor
Do you want to visit Pripyat and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant just like Mitchel did? Feel the excitement, the adventure! If so, now might just be the best chance! Actually, did you know that right now, as a part of a limited time offer can visit it even for free? All you need to do is find three friends and the fourth one (could be you or anybody from your group) will be going for free. Read more about our time-limited special “3+1 offer” now.
