Pripyat is a ghost town, but far better known is a small village after which a nuclear power plant was named, which is known worldwide as the epitome of botched construction, megalomania, Soviet propaganda, secrecy, “apparatchiks”, negligence, carelessness and worst-case scenario. We are talking about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the third block of which literally blew up in 1986 and has since cost thousands of people their lives and health. This lifeless, contaminated and largely deserted place has meanwhile become a tourist hotspot.

There is a lot of documentation and extensive specialist literature about the events of 1986. Therefore, this article does not deal with the causes, but with the current situation, the so-called dark tourism, which depicts the village of Chernobyl and its only “hotel” as a “climatic health resort”. According to official information from the Ukrainian government, it is completely safe to make a trip to the actual exclusion zone. Yes, you can stand around very close to the new sarcophagus of the accident reactor and take photos for Instagram and Co. But selfies really seem a bit disrespectful in such a place.

In the beginning there were a few poor people who plundered Pripyat in order to somehow get money, later it was crazy guys who were looking for a “kick”. In the meantime, there can simply no longer be any question of “a little sightseeing”, but rather it has become big business. Tens of thousands of people are carted in and taken through the exclusion zone every year. A day tour including lunch in the canteen of the power plant is available from the equivalent of 89 euros. There are even “vacation stays” over several days, whereby one is then accommodated in the only “hotel” in the village of Chernobyl.

Anyone who believes that nobody lives or works in the “Zone” is wrong. Not just a few old babushkas that the government cannot get out of the 30-kilometer zone despite many efforts, because they keep coming back, but thousands of people work here. Until the last reactor was shut down, many were employed there, but now they are engaged in dismantling and monitoring work. The situation in Block 3 is still not calm, but has to be monitored around the clock by engineers and workers, because something could happen again. However, this does not prevent the government of Ukraine from even paying a visit to the areas of the contaminated accident reactor, including the control room.

Particularly noticeable: one encounters the many workers again and again on a Chernobyl tour. Their careless handling of the radiation is very obvious, because the jobs are highly paid by Ukrainian standards and they have come to terms with the invisible danger. Nobody knows what long-term consequences the workers could suffer and is accepted by them for the money. The carefree workers look like they are in the wrong movie to tour participants, because you have been taught for ages what you shouldn't do under any circumstances, and voila, that's exactly what a worker does.

Carrying a Geiger counter with you quickly shows why you should definitely not stray from the officially approved routes. These have been decontaminated and have a low level of radiation, but incredibly high microsievert values ​​can be measured immediately next to them. Those who take it especially hard can ruin their health in the hospital basement, because the radiation there is still as high as it was immediately after the accident. Why? There the first contaminated people were treated for the first time and their clothes and shoes were simply thrown into the cellar in case of need. The uniforms of the doctors and nurses also follow, because you just didn't know what to do with the “stuff”. And that's where it is to this day and officially you are not allowed in. Of course, a special permit can be obtained for money, whereby protective clothing must then be worn and the stay may only be extremely short for safety reasons.

The tour through the exclusion zone is impressive and depressing at the same time. You can see the traces of the incredible suffering that tens of thousands of residents of the city of Pripyat have suffered and the cover-up that lasted for days really accelerated this. A city in which from one moment to the next everything was left standing and lying and time was stopped. Of course everything is now falling into disrepair and many buildings are in acute danger of collapsing, but it is precisely the absolute silence between tall buildings, former theaters, shops, kindergartens, schools and so on that makes everything really surreal. Only a few buildings are officially allowed to enter and there is not much left there, because everything that could be turned into money was looted. Other rooms, especially in the schools, seem to have been specially prepared for the tourists. It seems unbelievable that school books still look like new after so many years with partly destroyed windows, Ukrainian winters, moisture and contaminated wild animals. Old, rusty stoves, cash registers and torn out power lines are much more believable.

The Ferris wheel and the autosooter are certainly the most famous “monuments” of Pripyat, once a model city of the Soviet Union. These are also there authentically as you left them. Much of the rest is also “real original”, but is it completely unnecessary for tourists to have additional “head cinema pictures” by staged school classes whose class photos should not be faded in more than 30 years despite the blazing sunshine? It is precisely these things that make it obvious that everything is designed for mass tourism.

What do you get to see on a day tour and how does it work?

First of all, it is remarkable how many different providers of guided Chernobyl tours are on the market. Their prices differ massively, but since the course and the buildings that can be visited are precisely specified by the authorities, you should choose the best price-performance offer. The reputable providers require a very small deposit as security and the rest is paid in cash when starting the tour. Surprisingly, a proper invoice including tax number, stamp and signature was handed out, which is by no means a matter of course in ex-Soviet countries. Important: The tour must be booked a few days in advance and passport details must also be submitted, because official approval must be obtained for each person. The tour operator takes care of that.

The departure point is in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. During the journey there are numerous instructions - verbally and in writing - by the tour guide and the permit (curiously called “eTIcket” by the authorities) is handed out. When the checkpoint in the 30-kilometer zone is reached, the police will conduct a personal check. Alcohol controls are also carried out selectively and anyone who has more than 0,0 per thousand must get out and are not allowed into the 30-kilometer zone.

Then it goes to the place-name sign of Pripyat, where the first photo stop is made. To this day, candles and flowers for the victims of the disaster are laid here. So selfies are absolutely disrespectful. The nearest checkpoint is in the 10-kilometer zone where the abandoned city of Pripyat is located. Here, among other things, the former swimming pool, sports facilities, schools, kindergartens and many other lost places are shown. The schools in particular unfortunately seem very staged and not very authentic.

Photo tour through the exclusion zone - 500 photos in the slideshow:

After a tour of several hours through individual microdistricts of the city of Pripyat, lunch is served in the power plant canteen. Of course, you can see the famous Ferris wheel, the bumper car, the hospital (from the outside), the former main square and numerous buildings (some of them also from the inside). That leaves very formative impressions and it does happen that radiant moose want to join the group. The animals are surprisingly trusting, but according to the guide, they are extremely dangerous due to the radiation.

Lunch is such a thing in itself because there are radiation tests that you have to do in self-service mode. Anyone who expects a star restaurant will be disappointed. It is a normal self-service workers canteen, with extremely large portions being served. The meals were surprisingly good and tasty. 

After you have your stomach full, it goes to the accident reactor. At this point, at the latest, the group's jokers began to feel scary and suddenly these people were in a hurry to get away again. Keyword smoking ban: The guards in front of the sarcophagus seem to care less than the angle from which photos are taken of the accident reactor. Again symbolic of the carelessness of the workers on site.

Within the 30-kilometer zone there is also a former barracks and houses, the ruins of which can be visited. The former fire station can also be seen. The antennas of the Duga radar system, which was assumed to be the cause of the so-called “Woodpecker effect”, are still there as they were left behind. The steel is irradiated and unusable. You can not only see the impressive structure up close, but also stand directly below it. Of course, there is also all sorts of junk from the time of the liquidators to see on the tour, because there are many trucks, buses, excavators and other vehicles standing around. Well, with some just what the looters left.

In the former cooling channels or in the former cooling lake live extremely large catfish, the size of which is a mystery even to scientists. On some tours the voracious animals can be fed. The ruins of blocks 5 and 6, the construction of which was canceled after the disaster, can also be seen.

The tour ends in Chernobyl village, which serves as a kind of large workers' dormitory. The power plant employees spend the night here in shifts. There is also something like a hotel that can accommodate tourists. There is even a small shop that accepts credit cards.

A radiation check takes place at every checkpoint, whereby the technology seems extremely outdated and the reliability is a bit questionable. The guide expressly advised washing the laundry immediately or at least placing it in a plastic bag.

Is a Chernobyl tour dangerous?

Officially, the government of Ukraine and the tour operator say that everything is safe and that you would only get as much radiation as on a short-haul flight. Even the tour guide, who earns his income with it, expressed massive doubts and said that you simply cannot believe everything that is being said and you just have to be careful. It is also generally recommended to do such a tour in winter. Yes, it is bitterly cold and there can be a lot of snow, but in summer a lot of dust is thrown up by the wind and this is often heavily irradiated. In winter it is frozen solid and covered by a blanket of snow. If you decide to visit Pripyat and the “zone” or even want to go to the basement of the hospital or the control room of the accident reactor, you have to be aware that you are in a place where the worst nuclear accident of all time is has happened. It is not without reason that the city of Pripyat is uninhabitable and that for hundreds, if not thousands of years. There is no insurance that protects you from “late effects”, participation is at your own risk and with no liability. Whether it is safe in the “zone” on the given routes or not, probably only the Ukrainian government knows and since so many tourists are brought to the area and even “vacations” are made possible, the question arises as to whether this is not the case but economic interests are in the foreground. The licenses for the tour operators are not only in great demand, they are also expensive. In other words: The state earns money from every tourist.

How did the editor feel before and after the trip?

I can answer that quite honestly, because until the taxi that took me to the departure point was in front of the hotel, I didn't think about it at all. The closer the check point got, the more uncomfortable I became. At no point in the zone was I afraid, because now it's already too late for that. It was impressive on site, but the carelessness of the workers made me think. Since I can speak Russian, I fascinated the guide with the fact that he could not take the guesswork out of old signs, but instead I read them to him and translated them. For me it was very surreal what kind of sick propaganda slogans can be read in the abandoned city of Pripyat to this day. As a person who was born a few years after the accident and no longer noticed the “iron curtain”, it is hard to imagine that back then everything was believed that was propagated in this way. It was very helpful for me that I could read the texts and sayings myself. But it was funny when I asked the tour guide in the power plant canteen for a translation because I didn't know a whole letter from the Ukrainian language. Russian and Ukrainian are different. In the entire zone you can see very clearly what was hung in Soviet times, because in Russian and what afterwards, because in Ukrainian.

On the way back, I was very pensive about how much some of the participants in the group viewed the tour as a kind of party or a special kick. This was noticeable throughout the day and is unfortunately symbolic of why some people want to go there. For me the motives were interest and to write this article professionally. I wanted to get an idea for myself and not give you, the reader, any nonsense. There are just things that as an editor you have to see with your own eyes to be able to report anything at all. This definitely includes tourist reports about Chernobyl. Another point that made me think: Why on earth do schools and other points have to be staged and dramatized so obviously? Nobody believes that a photo that has not faded after 30 years with no window panes or that seemingly new school books have seriously accidentally been in the middle of the way for more than 30 years. I even noticed a small but fine detail: at least one of the books was in Ukrainian, which I just don't understand. But Pripyat was a Russian-speaking city and all the signs and inscriptions in the schools and all other buildings and propaganda texts are in Russian and not in Ukrainian. Isn't it possible to cheat something to add more drama to the tourists? You don't know.

Which airport is the best for your journey?

The Kiev International Airport with the IATA code IEV, also known as Kiev-Schuljany. This airport is located in the city of Kiev and has excellent public connections. Taxis are very cheap in the Ukrainian capital and especially from Shulyany you can get to the other end of the city for a single-digit euro amount. The time and cost advantage that you have by choosing Kiev-Schuljany as your landing and departure point is enormous. Since a pink low-cost airline is spreading rapidly at this airport, the tickets are also affordable. Borispil Airport with the IATA code KBP is located far outside the city and is in great need of improvement in connection with the city of Kiev. Getting there and back is time-consuming and comparatively expensive, because taxi prices can be negotiated freely and public transport is rather unreliable. Tip: If you find Chernobyl rather scary, you will find a great aviation museum with many exhibits (military and civil) from the Soviet era at Kiev-Schuljany Airport. The entrance fee is the equivalent of just over 1 euro, depending on the course.