Odesa or Odessa is a beautiful city located in Southern Ukraine on the shores of the Black Sea northwest of Crimea; it is the administrative centre of the Odesa Oblast, the fifth-largest city in Ukraine and its more important trading city. Odesa limits with the countries of Moldova and Romania.

Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is a favourite destination in Ukraine, her warm waters, recreation complexes, beautiful sanatoriums, sunlit beaches, cultural traditions and fine architecture attracts thousands of visitors year round. Odesa has developed a huge tourist infrastructure; visitors can find restaurants, discos, nightclubs, hotels, theatres and more. The city has a Mediterranean architecture heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist styles are widely present. Most of the city's 19th century houses were built of limestone mined nearby.

Since Odesa has got a lot of theatres, museums, libraries and other educational establishments (such as a university, polytechnic and medical schools, a marine academy, and a music conservatory), the city is considered an important cultural centre in Ukraine.

Odesa is also the home of the largest market in Europe: Seventh-Kilometer Market.

Odesa has been always welcoming spirit; population is a mixture of lot of nationalities; nowadays there are more than 135 ethnic groups from all around the world living here. The mixture of cultures has given this City a very cosmopolitan spirit. People are very tolerant, friendly and simple. Odessites are known for their hospitality, warm-heartiness and use of humour in public. Some famous Odessites include the writer Isaac Babel, violinists David Oistrakh and Nathan Milstein, pianists Sviatoslav Richter, Benno Moiseiwitsch, and Emil Gilels, scientists Ilya Mechnikov Dmitri Mendeleev and Leonid Mandelstam.

Odesa can be reached by plane, train, bus, or ferries. The city has a well developed highway network; her International Airport and railway system offers favourable conditions in order to get the City. The transportation network around Odessa consists of trams, trolleybuses, buses and marshrutkas.

The principal industries here are shipbuilding, fishing, steelmaking, and food processing. Odesa host two big ports: Odesa itself and Yuzhny situated in the Odesa city�s suburbs, another important port, Illichivsk, is located to the south-west of Odesa City.

Although Ukrainian is the country�s only official language and many advertisements and signs are written in it, the vast majority of the population speaks Russian. In outlying areas, Ukrainian can also be heard, as well as Romanian near the Romanian border. English is the most used tourist language.

Odesa has a mild and dry climate; the city receives 350 mm of rain precipitation a year. The best time to visit Odesa is during summer when everything is in bloom.