Kiev

Ooaj Travel Guide, tourism, hotel reservation, residence, plane, cheap pension for you holidays in kiev

Free Travel guide Ooaj.com A free travel guide for holidays. Hotels in kiev, Bed and Breakfast!

Kiev is capital of Ukraine.

kiev Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By plane 2.2 By train 2.3 By car 2.4 By bus 2.5 By boat 3 Get around 3.1 General 3.2 Navigating 3.3 Money 3.4 Groceries 3.5 Shuttles / Marshrutkas 3.6 Taxis 3.7 Subway 3.8 Telecommunications 3.8.1 Cell Phone 3.8.2 Internet 4 See 5 Do 6 Learn 7 Work 8 Buy 9 Eat 9.1 Budget 9.2 Mid-range 9.3 Splurge 9.4 National 10 Drink 10.1 Clubs 11 Sleep 11.1 Budget 11.2 Mid-range 11.3 Splurge 12 Contact 13 Stay safe 14 Cope 15 Get out 16 External links

Understand

Kiev is the transliteration of the russian prononciation of the town. The correct transliteration for the town from Ukrainian would be Kyiv.

The city is bilingual, however some residents have Russophobia and will be offended if you speak Russian to them. If, you must speak Russian to explain an issue or point be sure to address people only in formal salutations and try to express that you mean no ill by speaking Russian.

The displeasure felt toward Russia began in the past couple of years and especially escalated during the Orange Revolution that forced a peaceful change of leadership and thrusted Viktor Yuschenko, the Western leaning candidate, into the office of the presidency.

After the first runoff election Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader congratulated Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian leading candidate, as winning the election despite international monitors saying the election was rigged and corrupt. This angered many of Yuschenko's supporters and Western Ukrainians, becaused they viewed this as an attempt by Putin to regain his influence upon the Ukraine.

It was later reported that that Russian military and security forces were waiting to work with Ukrainian security forces in order to prevent a revolution or an uprising. This further anger Kievans. This claim has never been proven.

Get in

By plane

Fly into KPB (Kiev - Borispil) airport about 40 minutes from the city center. Check for the latest visa requirements especially because they change a lot. As of July 1, 2005, EU and US Passport holders no longer need a visa, but you will need the address of where you are staying. Always know how much currency you have with you. If they ask and you say "about $600" instead of "$600," you'll get to pull it out and count it.

Simplest way to get to the city center is by Taxi. Going rate is $20, but they will try for more like $60 and you should be able to negotiate down to $40 or less. There is a regular bus service going to the center, though most people will helpfully show you the way to the taxis if you speak english.

By train

By car

The main route into Ukraine from the West is via Poland - the only 24 hour customs post is in Lvivska Oblast at a place called Kruskavetz, which as a 'place' is essentially just the customs post - and it's not marked on most maps either. The nearest significant town on the Polish side is Przemysl, and it's straightford to find by following route # 4 (which passes through Przemysl). When you arrive, the road is fairly narrow (no motorway/autobahn this) with a queue of trucks and vans parked to the right of the road. Don't park behind the goods vehicles, slip up the side of them and then feed into the customs area when the guy flags you forward (for courteous Europeans, you're not jumping the queue - commercial traffic goes through a different process). If you're in an EU registered car then make for the EU-passports, passport control section. Thence to Ukrainian passport control and then Ukrainian customs and then you're through. It used to be a nightmare, with apocryphal tales of 5-6+ hours at the border, but the Ukrainians have made great advances in effeciency (really!) and it took me about an hour the last time I came through (September 2005).

Once through, just follow the main road towards Lviv/Lvov on the E40 - this is the route right across Ukraine to Kyiv (and thence on to the East). Stick to this - the main towns on the way are Lviv/Lvov, Rivne, Zhitomir. Watch out about 15-20 km inside Ukraine, I think the village is called Mostika, as they have gone crazy about traffic calming measures here (speed bumps or sleeping policemen). They're like icebergs across the road, and very badly marked. And there are about 4 or 5 sets of them through the village. Other than that, take care on the road, which although the main East/West highway, and the main road route into the EU, still remains in a miserable condition (surface-wise). And you'll soon realise why Ukraine has such poor statistics in relation to driver and perdestrian fatalities and injuries. Drive defensively is the optimum advice re the roads, other road users and the walking, riding public.

By bus

International busses stop at the central station. There are busses coming in from Germany

By boat

Get around

General

Among places most of us travel, Kiev is rather unique in that we arrive almost totally illiterate (since the character set is new to most of us) in a place where very little is in English and it is pretty unlikely that people you interact with in the city will speak any English at all. However, it is still quite possible to get around and it is a very intesting city to explore. Absolutely pick up a very portable Ukrainian (or Russian) phrasebook and spend some advance time with it. In addition to being an essential resource in communication and even in figuring out if a place name on a sign is the name you've seen spelled out in latin characers, your feeble attempt at Ukrainian or Russian will amuse most people to the point where they are comfortable engaging in pantomime or trying out the little bit of english they know (which is an order of magnitude more than your knowledge of Ukrainian).

Navigating

Pick up a "Kyiv Tour Guide" map book (Geosvit books - around US$3-4). You can find it at a number of kiosks or at the central post office. If you are spending much time in Kiev, get the matching Ukrainian version. Many of the locals have as much trouble with the version that is transliterated to latin characters as you have with the verison in the cyrillic characters. When asking for directions or setting out in a taxi, it helps to locate the place you want on the English map and then point out the same spot on the Ukrainian version.

Money

The unit of currency is the Hryvna (UAH) and is about 5 UAH to the US Dollar. There are many exchanges that will convert USD or Euro to UAH, just look for signs with exchange rates posted on just about any block. Exchange rates vary a lot and deteriorate fast when you get into less competative places or outside of standard business hours.

It is reasonable to carry small change in Kiev. Most retail establishments really scowl at you if you try to pay for a UAH4 purchase with a UAH20 note. They generally keep very little change on hand.

WellsFargo ATM cards do not seem to work in Kiev even on Plus network machines (under investigation). As a backup, it is possible to get dollars from most banks using a cash advance from a Visa or Mastercard. There is a small service charge (3%) to do this in addition to whatever your bank charges. Debet cards such as maestro do work in ATMs.

Groceries

There are tiny grocery stores scattered all over the city. There is a number of "MegaMarkets" and "Furchets" that are not obvious at first glance, but are very handy. One is on 50 Gor'kogo near the city center. The most convenient for the city centre is in the basement of the new Mandarin Plaza - a swanky shopping centre/mall next to Bessarabka market (rynok) - in through the front doors and down the escalator and you're there.

Do not forget to buy a few big jugs of bottled water such as Stryi Myrhorod or Truskavetska.

Shuttles / Marshrutkas

The city is full of short yellow/white shuttle busses called "Marshrutkas." If you overshoot, you get a nice walk. The fare ranges from 1 to 2 UAH.

The shuttle routes are a bit hard to figure out, but they have a list of stops in the window and have a Metro logo for the metro stops.

Taxis

Seem to be reliable and handy. Fares vary widely. On the same route, a local paid UAH15 and the driver quoted this author UAH60 and settled for UAH30. You don't necessarily have to use the taxi in a normal sense - it is sometimes even easier to pick up just any car driving on major street. Don't hesitate and just raise a hand at the pedestrian area. Negotiations are quite similar to ones with taxi drivers, although you are more likely to get a "native price" (remeber that petrol prices are on their way up here too).

Subway

The subway is very fast and easy once you realize that all the lines come back to the city center. If you can corrolate the Cyrillic station names on the wall to the transliterated names on your map book, it is easy to go where you want. The subway is 50 Kopeks (8 eurocents/ 10 cents)and you buy tokens just before the turnstyles to enter. You can also obtain a monthly ticket with a magnet tape, which saves even more. Trains run every 30 sec. to 2:30 minutes in business hours and from 10 to 15 minutes from 11 p.m till 1 a.m. at the last station. Even so they are a bit crowded sometimes.

There is a display of transliterated stations on the maps which are sticked above seats and above the doorframes

If you enable "Cell Info Display" on your GSM phone, it will show you the name of the station (in transliterated latin characters... (for UMC and Kyivstar) just like your map) when you are underground in the vicinity of a station.

Telecommunications

Cell Phone

If you have an unlocked GSM phone, you can get an ACE & BASE (Kyivstar), Sim-Sim, Jeans (UMC) or MOBI (WellCOM) SIM for a few dollars at street vendors which will give you a local number and free incoming calls. If you don't have an unlocked phone already, a new one is just over $100. If you expect many incoming calls, that pays for itself in a very short time.

T-mobile customers can get their (3 or 4-band) phones activated for travel, but the rates are unfriendly. If this is you, use SMS when you can.

If you are roaming in Kiev, SMS messages do work well. They are confirmed to work for US and UK T-mobile customers as well as UK Vodaphone customers and local Kyivstar customers.

If you are trying to call the US from your GSM phone, you may find that the access numbers for your calling card are blocked. Plan ahead and sign up with a callback service (such as UWT (http://www.uwt4me.com/) **warning, lead-time required**) before you start your travels and you can provoke them to call you (at much more favaroable rates) when you need to make a call.

Internet

The easiest way to maintain internet connectivity if you use your own laptop is to buy a 7-day unlimited Lucky Internet callback card. They are about UAH36 at the street kiosks. When you dial in, you will be initially firewalled off from everything until you activate by visiting card.lucky.net. (I am sure it says that somewhere on the card, but I'm illiterate here!!)

Internet cafes have a good service. They usually have different types of computers with varrying prices. A bit higher than the metrostation on ul Khmelnitskoho (on the left side at a corner) there is one that is very good, open 24 hours non stop. The cheapest computers cover your basic needs, the most expensive ones are usually for hardcore gamers.

See

• Chornobyl Museum

A fascinating museum but no signage in English. Make advance arrangments for an english speaking guide. Often, the guides are already booked.

• Hreshchatyk Street

The main drag of the city center. It is closed to traffic on weekends and full of entertainers and people wandering around. A big happy crowd and very conducive to peoplewatching.

• Pecherska Lavra

The cave monastery. Do not miss the display of micro-miniatures. It sounds lame, but it it fascinating. You can enter the caves in the lower part if you dress correctly (women MUST cover their hair. Expensive scarves are for sale there)

• Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life

6 restored rural Ukranian villiages. English-speaking (sort of) guides with expertise on the whole site are available and well worth-it. Ukrainians come on sunny days to relax in the grass.

• St Sophia's Cathedral

• Motherland Statue and War memorials

Kiev was pretty much destroyed during the invasion in WWII. The memorial near the motherland statue is pretty gripping. Lots of examples of classic Soviet-era memorial statuary as well as some amazing exhibits of military hardware. One of these trips your author hopes to go when the museums there are actually open. Try to enter coming from the top part of the Pecherska Lavra. This way you get submerged with old soviet music and dark statues.

• Zoloti Vorota - Golden Gates

• Maydan Nezalezhnosti - Independence Square

If you follow Hreshchatyk street to the end you will arrive at this square. This square has been built after the independence of Ukraine and figures two persons holding a banner. This symbolifies the link that will stay between Russia and Ukrain. From there you also get a great view over the Dniepr river.

• Kiev TV Tower 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_TV_Tower) is the tallest lattice tower in the world. It is not accessible for tourists.

Do

Buy a CD or DVD on Petrovka (next to the similar metro station). They are one tenth of the price and off course illegal. Watch out with what you buy because the content of the cd is not always what it says it is. The deeper you go in the market, the smaller the offer on discs, but the lower the prices. You can also buy all sorts of books there, with one very good shop for dictionaries.

Learn

• National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Is the leading university in the Ukraine with regards to political related fields. The university's professors offered support to Yuschenko and various international media outlets during the Orange Revolution that resulted in the election of Viktor Yuschenko in late 2004. 2 (http://www.ukma.kiev.ua/eng_site/index.php) (English)
• Kiev Shevchenko University The university is the largest and one of the more important universities. It's enrollment is over 30,000 3 (http://univ.kiev.ua/eng/) (English)

Work

Buy

Go to Andrivskis usviz for a nice collection of things. They sell traditional thing, old communistic goods (real good but also fake mass-produced), folkloric things, ... Every sunday there's a market. The rest of the week there are a few people selling things, but it's usally not worth to go.

Eat

In general, it is very cheap to dine in Kiev by US standards. So long as you stay away from the places that totally pander to tourists, the food is great and cheap. Try the Borscht and the Mlyntzi and then try absolutely everything else. Baked goods are cheap and great too. Even the ice-cream on the street is great. One, especially distinctive is to the right from Hreshchatyk subway exit - blue kiosk with varying lengh of que.

When you see vendors selling some liquid from big yellow/blue tanks on the street, that is "Kvas" which is a brewed bread drink. Some people like it and others hate it. It tastes a bit like a hard cider (the yeast) even though there is no alcohol. Try "Odyn Malenkyi" (one small) drink.

You should not drink the tap water. It is advisable to buy 5l. bottles in the supermarkets, they usually have English section for "ingridients". You can always order "Bonaqua" (sparkling mineral water), but beer is just about as cheap.

Budget

Fast-food chains: Shvydko (pseudo-national), Kartoplia (main dish: mashed potatoe with 1 or 2 of 30 different kinds of salads), MacSmak (pizza)

Domashnia kuchnia (home kitchen) offers a buffet with typical ukranian food. Some say it's nice, others get sick of it. It's a favorite for ukranian students.

Mid-range

Corsair, on Sagaydachnogo (about $17/person complete)

O?Panas, Shevchenko Park, 10 Tereshchenkivska, 235-2132. Open daily from 10 a.m. till 1 a.m. Really good Blintzies... try the mushroom ones. ($10-$20/person). If you just want to try the blintzies, you can walk-up to a stand on the side of the restaurant and get them to go.

Tsimmus, 10/5 Sagaydachnogo for Ukrainian-Jewish food just like my Great-Great-Aunt used to make. That's in the #10 building on the main street, but go around the corner to a side street where the street number would have been 5 had it not been attached to a building that already has an address (about $20/person complete)

Splurge

There's a german called Eric that owns a series of clubs, bars and restaurants (Eric's family 4 (http://www.eric.com.ua/)). They are frequented mainly by expats working in Kiev and very rich Ukranians. The two restaurants are:

• Schnitzel Haus (ul Sakhanskoho 51)
• Tapas Tapas Bar (ul tarasovskaya 10a)

You can eat in the other venues as well, but they're not mainly intended as restaurants

National

There are many restaurants that claim serving authentic Ukranian food, but often they prepare cosak food.

• Irish: there are two irish pubs in Kiev, neither authenticly irish, but OK if you're in need of a Guinness and ex-pat company. One is located near Zoloti Vorota one Volodomyrska (called, eponymously, The Golden Gate Pub). The other is O'Briens, and is on Mykailovska on one of the streets running west off Maidan (the one to the right, with a branch of Raiffeisen Bank on the corner)
• Italian (rather falls into "tourist" category, very classy cuisine)
• Georgian (no experience)
• Vietnamese (several restaurants, owned by a person from Vietnam; cuisine comprises of "hits" rather than complete lucheon sets; considered above-average within local Vietnamese community; extremely expensive)
• Chinese: There is a good one near Metro Universitet. It's called "Jiu Long", which means "Nine Dragons". There is a fast food store upfront, but if you go through the arch, you will see an entire Chinese-style building where the real restaurant is. Quality is good and prices are lower than some other similarly fancy restaurants. If you don't care about price, go to "Lun Van" near Metro Teatralna. The wife of director of Microsoft-Ukraine told me it is expensive but good.
• Japanese: There's one called Hanoi which serves Japanese and Vietnamese food. It is located near Metro Arsenalna. The quality is quite high even for me who lived in San Francisco for 10 years. The prices are also high by my standard.
• Korean (no experience)

Drink

There are several nice places in Kiev to get a drink. From small cafes that are only frequented by locals (they look dirty at first sight) to expensive places. Most locals buy some drinks (beer or vodka) at a stall in the street and drink it in a park, leaving their bottle for the homeless to collect. With this they often buy some chips or other salted things (I think it's squid, not sure though tastes like seasalt).

As said in the Food section, Eric owns many venues. The prices are rather high, even for western standards.

• Art club 44 (ul Kreschatik 446) it's a club that plays live jazz music every day. It's almost impossible to find if you haven't been there. Don't be afraid to enter the patio and try opening some doors, or follow people.
• Viola's bierstubbe (bulevard Shevchenko 1a) Is also well hidden behind a dark door in a small alley.
• Eric's bierstubbe (ul bolchaya vasilkovskaya 20)
• Orech (ul bolchaya vasilkovskaya 126)

There's another "brand" of cafes called "babooin". They have 3 places located over Kiev

• Babooin (ul Chmelnitskoho 39) is a nice place where you can read and buy books and some books can be returned for another book after buying. They have a nice collection of english books, making it worthwhile to pass some time. Prices are still cheaper to western prices, but you'll pay more than normal ukranian prices. They serve small meals too.
• Kvartira Babooin (ul Choriva 1/2) (I haven't been able to get there)
• Antersol (ul T. Shevchenko 2)

There are two Belgian beer cafés. One is located on the side of the opera house. The other side is close to the olympic stadium. Prices range between normal western prices and splurge western prices. Service is in perfect english usually and they do serve belgian beer and traditional belgian food.

There are more theme cafés over Kiev, but they are often hard to find. Therefore try meeting english speaking people in the above mentioned cafes.

Clubs

Kiev has a nice club scene. Ranging from very cheap to overly-expensive you can find what you want.

• Down at Nivkyi you can find a pretty cheap disco. (no experience though)
• Club 112 is the club that was errected after some drugs and shooting problems in club 111. It's a very expensive club.
• La Fiesta (I forgot the location (though close to a green line metro station) has a nice setting. Tables at good location cost a certain amount, but that amount can be used in drinks. (usually it's not worth it)

Sleep

Budget

For any stay of more than a few days, it is possible to rent apartments (http://www.rentapartments.com.ua/eindex.html) in the city center through numerous brokers for rates of US$50-US$80/night (usually in USD Cash). The buildings are not fancy (alarming, actually), but generally have washing machines and cooking facilities. If you manage to avoid the hot-water shutdowns, they are really the way to go. The author had local contacts with ongoing relationships with apartment brokers. The price for a better grade of apartment seems to be closer to US$120/night for a 2-bedroom. You mileage may vary.

Rumor has it that there are less expensive hotels in this range, but those same rumors imply that the quality suffers a lot.

Mid-range

The Hotel Libid (http://en.hotellybid.com.ua/main/) is a standard European hotel in Kiev at around US$115/night. It is a short Subway or Shuttle ride from the city center.

Splurge

The Premier Palace Hotel (http://www.premier-palace.com/) is probably worth US$300/night if any place is, but is any place worth that? Apparently it is the only five-star hotel in town.

Contact

If you are a Salsera visiting Kiev and want to dance with a Californian Salsero, feel free to email salsa.kiev@gmail.com

Stay safe

The usual "don't be stupid" advice seems to be adequate. Do not drink the water. Kiev is a generally open and friendly city and stays lively until at least 11PM in most districts.

There are occasional (rare) reports of visitors being shaken down by corrupt officials, often customs officials. Naturally, the best protection is to make sure that you stay on the correct side of the law and - if there is any question - keep your cool and do not become argumentative. It seems that the cost of an error is surrendering the object in question and paying a "fine." The officials are skilled at ensuring that people who argue miss their flights. Some thieves like to abuse naive tourists, for example by playing plain clothes cop. They are rarely aggressive and not sure. They will only go to you if you're walking alone and don't look too familiar with the town. A bit of resisting usually shakes them off. (not too much, you never know)

There still is some corruption in Ukraine, some services might openly ask you to bribe them to process your request and denying it might make them refuse to help you.

The people are very tolerant and it is only reasonable to assume that they expect the same in return.

Cope

Kiev is part of the former USSR. Some things work well and other things may be rather broken. There is no point in stressing about this. Arrive with that realization and be prepared to relax and roll with a few suprises. Also, bring the basic things that keep any suprises from developing into a serious problem. You should always have a flashlight, a few snack bars, and some toilet paper with you anyway. How seriously can anything go wrong if you have those items covered? Local people, however mange their lifes without the above mentioned (except for tiolet paper), as the "7/11" and kiosks can be met virtually at any public transport station and 24-hours stores are a normal practice.

Get out

External links

Biggest country to travel: Biggest cities to travel: Islands in the top travel 40: World Travel guide Random travel link: England China Brazil Mexico State Chicago in USA Rio de Janeiro in Brazil Sao Paulo in Brazil Los Angeles in USA Mauritius Bermuda Lanai Lanai Maldives Bahrain Saint_Vincent_and_the_Grenadines Belarus Yemen Ethiopia Nice Provence alpes cote d azur Edinburgh Hungary Guernsey

• Url Rewriting et referencement made by Atuvu
• Photographe aix en provence Daniel Weiss
• Ooaj Travel Guide Home Page