Kyiv is not just a capital of Ukraine, but also a distinctive city with ancient history, very special people and interesting places. Here, like in the best household, people know how to meet warmly, how to welcome with hospitality and how to feed tasty. It can be hard for someone who visits the city for a first time to enjoy it fully, but with some insider guidance Kyiv has all chances to become a favourite place to visit.
When to come: late spring and early autumn is the best time to visit Kyiv. In cold weather give preference to museums and bus excursions, and in hot summer, visit beautiful Dnieper embankment.
What language to use: the state language is Ukrainian, but, besides it, people speak Russian fluently. At the same time, they are very open to visitors of the city and always try to switch to the best language for a newcomer. In addition, younger generation knows English really good.
Where to go: among the best sights of Kyiv users of TripAdvisor have distinguished the world-famous Kiev-Pechersk Lavra with it`s caves, Gothic style St. Nicholas Church and the Sofia Cathedral with it`s sanctuary.
Walk down from the center along the main craft street - Andriyivskyy Uzviz, take a stroll through the old and colorful Podil, drink coffee in the new Vozdvizhenka quarter, take a ride on the Kiev funicular, which, by the way is 100 years old, and, if the weather permits, take a water excursion along the Dnieper. Be sure to walk along the central street of the city – Khreshchatyk. Although, there is a joke among the residents of Kyiv that it is almost impossible to meet the locals on Khreshchatyk – it is full of tourists.
If you want to get to know the city better (and, just trust us when we say you do!) don't neglect services of professional guides. Also, you can use another popular among tourists service – the City Sightseeing bus.
Where to eat: there are a huge variety of restaurants in Kyiv worth paying attention to - both national cuisine as well as Georgian, oriental, Asian and, of course, Mediterranean.
A lot of burger restaurants, cozy coffee shops and wine bars have been opened in Kyiv recently. According to the rating on TripAdvisor the best three restaurants are:
- “Mama Manana” (Georgian cuisine), G. Kirpa St., 5B;
- “Musafir” (Crimean-Tatar cuisine), Bogdan Khmelnitsky St., 3B;
- “Il Gatto Rosso” (Italian and Mediterranean cuisine), Geroev Stalingrada Ave, 24.
All visitors of the capital should try the national cuisine in one of the restaurants of the Gastrofamily chain. The famous Ukrainian restaurateur Dmitry Borisov has created more than just restaurants, one of them - “Ostannya Barykada” is also a museum of three Ukrainian revolutions of modern times.
“Ostannya Barykada” is a 100% Ukrainian gastronomy and the first 100% Ukrainian bar.
Another restaurant - “Kanapa” - combines authentic recipes and modern technologies (including the techniques inherited in molecular cuisine).
One more place in your “must visit list” should definitely be Check-in Kyiv - a secret bar somewhere on Gorodetsky street. A place that intrigues even before visiting and leaves no one indifferent after.
We strongly recommend to reserve a table in advance, if you are going to visit popular restaurants in the evening or on weekends. Tips are usually not included, and it is customary to leave about 10% of the check.
Where to stay: city guests most often stay either in hotels or rent apartments, depending on the purpose of their trip. In order to make a stay as convenient as possible, make sure you use well-known booking services like booking.com.
A large number of mini-hotels and hostels has been opened in Kiev over the past few years. Hotel of the popular European chain Ibis is located in the city center. Famous luxury hotels like InterContinental, Hilton, Fairmont, Hyatt and Aloft by Marriott are also present in the city.
How to get around: the most convenient and popular public transport in Kiev is the subway – you can quickly get from one part of the city to another, cross the Dnieper, or take a short trip through the central part of the city, bypassing all traffic jams. You can pay in subway both with a token and a special subway card, as well as with the help of modern technologies like PayPass.
Taxi is another common form of transport, however, during rush hours you can get into a really serious traffic jam. Uber works perfectly fine in Kyiv. Also you can use local application Uklon taxi.
Taxi drivers who are "on duty" in the central parts of the city and offer their services by themselves can request an unfair amount of money from a tourist even for a very short trip. And if the telephone services/applications in most cases give a fixed tariff, with the “street” drivers it is better to negotiate the cost before the ride.
Money: you can pay with Visa and MasterCard almost everywhere, but it is always useful to also have a small amount of cash. Given the instability of the banking course, it is still profitable for tourists to pay in hryvnia. Banks and street exchange offices are open for currency exchange. It happens that the bank rate may be slightly lower, so we recommend to compare the exchange rate in several nearby banks and exchangers.
Do not accept offers to exchange money from passers-by on the street!
Shops: large and small supermarkets of various retail chains are located throughout the city and operate from early morning until late evening without weekends; in every district there are also 24h stores. For shopping and entertainment visit the largest shopping centers - «Globus», «Ocean Plaza», «Gulliver», «Dream Town», «Lavina Mall».
Souvenirs: the biggest so-called “souvenir shop” is the Andriyivsky Uzviz. Here you can find a huge number of exclusive national souvenirs, as well as various things “for the soul” - paintings, handmade jewelry, used books and antiquities. Gift shops also work near large monasteries and temples and are “scattered” along tourist routes in the city center. The most popular national crafts among foreign tourists are vyshyvanka – embroidered shirt with authentic ornaments, motanka dolls and painted decor items.
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