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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Travel
Stephen Hurrell

Chernobyl trip from Manchester offered for 'dark tourism' fans

A new TV series based around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster has brought the events from 1986 back into the minds of the public.

Just 33 years after the world's worst nuclear disaster took place in the now-abandoned town of Pripyat the series explores what happened and how people tried to prevent the explosion at the plant.

The series is currently being shown on Sky but some history fans are taking it a step further by visiting the 18-mile radioactive exclusion zone.

Incredibly, Chernobyl opened to tourists in 2011 and now some holiday tour operators are offering trips into the exclusion zone.

It is safe to visit the exclusion zone for short periods and only ever with an expert guide and tourism trips are becoming increasingly popular.

They are so popular that deals website Wowcher is offering trips to Kiev from Manchester Airport with an optional tour of Chernobyl.

The two- or three-night break in Ukrainian city Kiev is priced from just £69 from Manchester Airport and the tour of Chernobyl costs an extra £81.60 per person.

The beautiful pink sand beaches you can fly to from Manchester for just £100  

The trip says: "You and one other companion can opt to delve into dark tourism, seeing the devastation caused by the 1986 nuclear Chernobyl disaster first-hand with an unforgettable Chernobyl Tour from Kiev from just £81.60pp."

The trip includes a visit through the checkpoint at Dytyatky on the border of the exclusion zone for military checks, followed by a trip in to the zone itself with an expert guide.

Highlights include a look at the abandoned Chernobyl town, the almost buried Kopachi Village and finally just 270m from the plant to see Reactor #4.

Visitors will get to see Pripyat itself and the famous Ferris wheel.

The tour promises ten hours of 'eerie' silence and is probably one of the most unusual and darkest tourist trips in the world.

Other companies are also offering the tour trip to Chernobyl including Viator , which is offering the same price of £81.65. You can get the Wowcher trip, including flights, here.

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