Ukraine's airspace has been closed to civil flights since February 2022, so there is no flight to Uman, to Kyiv or anywhere else in the country. Every pilgrim flies to an airport in a neighbouring country and makes the rest of the journey by road, crossing into Ukraine at a land border. The table below compares the 17 airports we drive from: how far each one is from Uman, how long the drive takes with the border crossing included, and the latest landing that still reaches Uman before Rosh Hashana 2027.
Drive times include an ordinary border crossing. Queues change from hour to hour, so check the live border wait times before you set off.
Sorted by distance. The landing deadline is in the airport's own clock — the time on your boarding pass — and gets you to Uman by 22:00 on the night before the festival begins.
| Airport | Distance | Drive | Land by | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iași | 320 km | 5–7h | Thu 30 Sep, 14:00 | Romania |
| Chișinău | 380 km | 6–8h | Thu 30 Sep, 13:00 | Moldova |
| Suceava | 470 km | 8–10h | Thu 30 Sep, 11:00 | Romania |
| Bacău | 530 km | 9–11h | Thu 30 Sep, 10:00 | Romania |
| Rzeszów | 580 km | 9–11h | Thu 30 Sep, 09:00 | Poland |
| Tulcea | 620 km | 10–12h | Thu 30 Sep, 09:00 | Romania |
| Bucharest | 700 km | 10–12h | Thu 30 Sep, 09:00 | Romania |
| Kraków | 760 km | 12–14h | Thu 30 Sep, 06:00 | Poland |
| Cluj-Napoca | 850 km | 13–15h | Thu 30 Sep, 06:00 | Romania |
| Katowice | 860 km | 13–15h | Thu 30 Sep, 05:00 | Poland |
| Debrecen | 900 km | 14–16h | Thu 30 Sep, 04:00 | Hungary |
| Warsaw | 920 km | 14–16h | Thu 30 Sep, 04:00 | Poland |
| Varna | 1000 km | 15–17h | Thu 30 Sep, 04:00 | Bulgaria |
| Budapest | 1100 km | 17–19h | Thu 30 Sep, 01:00 | Hungary |
| Sofia | 1250 km | 19–21h | Thu 30 Sep, 00:00 | Bulgaria |
| Vienna | 1300 km | 20–22h | Wed 29 Sep, 22:00 | Austria |
| Prague | 1500 km | 23–25h | Wed 29 Sep, 19:00 | Czechia |
The shortest drives start in Romania and Moldova: Iași is about 320 km from Uman, Chișinău about 380 km and Suceava about 470 km.
The larger airports further west — Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna and Prague — often have more flights to choose from, but the drive grows to between 14 and 25 hours. Whether a more convenient flight is worth the extra time on the road depends on where you fly from and how much time you have before the festival.
Travelling alone? Our shared ride matches you with pilgrims on the same flights, so you split the cost of one car.
Every route crosses a land border into Ukraine, and the queue there is the one part of the journey nobody can schedule. It can take minutes or many hours, and it changes through the day.
Our border wait times page collects recent reports from travellers at each crossing. Check it before you leave and tell your driver what you see: when one crossing is unusually slow, we can route you through another.
Rosh Hashana 5788 begins at sundown on Friday 1 October 2027, and its first day is Shabbat. From Friday sundown to nightfall on Sunday there is no travel at all, so the journey has to be over before Friday afternoon.
The landing deadlines in the table work back from 22:00 on Thursday night, using the slow end of each drive estimate, so a delayed flight or a long queue still leaves room. Landing earlier is better still.
A driver meets you in the arrivals hall and takes you to the door of your lodging in Uman. We also pick up at border crossings and train stations.
Nothing is paid in advance: book with the form or on WhatsApp, and the dispatcher confirms the car and the price.
The day after Rosh Hashana is the busiest of the year for cars leaving Uman. Our return pages work out, for each airport, when you need to leave Uman to make your flight.
Tell us your flight and where you are staying in Uman. The dispatcher confirms the car and the price on WhatsApp — no prepayment.
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