Kyiv Travel Guide
The concept and perceptions of Kyiv / Kiev are a bit strange. People who haven’t visited Kyiv perceive it as a distant Eastern European city with close ties to Russia, a lot of apparent corruption and frequent protests going on – This couldn’t be further from the truth!
Kyiv is a vibrant city with golden domes and has shimmering spires peek out from the wooded hills rising above the wide Dnipro River. Leafy-green Kyiv, with its traffic-packed boulevards, shopping malls, countless churches, brilliant music and lively nightlife, has embraced capitalism, yet held firmly to its heritage.
The Caves Monastery is the spiritual heart of Ukraine, and nearby, a gigantic Motherland statue bearing sword and shield casts her all-encompassing eye over the city, the river, and its island beaches.
Brief Overview
Even if Kyiv, or the Ukraine in general, may not be on your tourist radar, maybe it should be! We were totally taken by surprise by travel in the Ukraine, and Kyiv, being one of the most welcoming capital cities in Eastern Europe, is brimming with fantastic sights and attractions.
Traveling in Europe, Eastern Europe that is is getting more and more popular, and we think that Ukraine should be one of the first places to try!
We know that Ukraine has certainly had it’s problems in the past. The secessionist movement and loss of the Crimea to Russia was a major blow to both the national psyche and international tourism.
However, Ukraine is a beautiful country filled with amazing sights, delicious food, and friendly people and unless you need to go to some of the troubled regions, your trip to Ukraine will be completely safe and highly rewarding.
The capital, Kiev (or Kyiv as it is known to locals), is the natural starting point for any visit to the country so we’ve created this Kyiv travel guide to help visitors get the most out of their time there. So, with our help, start planning your visit to Kyiv now.
Best time to visit
What is the Best Month to Visit Kyiv. In our opinion, the best time of the year to visit Kyiv would be during the late spring-early summer or early fall. Months of April (second part), May, June, September, and October are usually months of the best weather in Kyiv.
We visited at the start of September and had no issues with overcrowding, and we didn’t have to cue for museums etc
Getting around Kyiv
The best way to get around Kyiv is on foot, use an UBER, or use the Metro. We found Uber to be super useful as it only cost around £2 / $2.7 / €2.50 for a long journey and was probably the quickest way to get around.
Getting around the city is very easy with the subways / metro / underground. At £0.12p / $0.15c / €0.13 a ticket, this will be your cheapest option by far. You can also use contactless card or your mobile phone to pay.
Walk! Grab a map or use Google maps, and off you go! The city is walkable if close to the river!
Things to see and do
Motherland Monument
Soviets refer to World War II as the Great Patriotic War because it was a real conflict and struggle to protect their motherland, the Soviet Union, and the massive titanium statue that overlooks Kiev, wearing a sword and a shield with the hammer and sickle, represents precisely that.
The National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War is a great place for getting a profound understanding of Kyiv´s history and the impact it has made on the country today. This museum has both an indoor section and a big outdoor section with monuments and statues.
If you can only visit one museum in Kiev, it should be this one.
Price
The outside is completely FREE allowing you to get those great photos of the Monument.
The indoor museum costs around £1.50 / $2 / €1.70
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Sunday: 10 am – 6 pm
The ticket office is open till 5.30 pm
Monday – closed
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery lies on the Dnipro river bank and it boasts soaring domes, mosaics and memories. It was built in 1713 and it has been complemented as well as rebuilt and reconstructed several times since.
This is one of the most important religious places to visit in Kyiv and is quite beautiful!
Entry is FREE
This monastery is located in the upper part of Podil and to get there, you can get the funicular located right next to Poshtova Ploshcha metro station.
Andriivsky Uzviz (Andrews Descent)
Perhaps the best collection of older Kyiv architecture can be found in the Podil neighbourhood and along Andrews Descent.
This is the perfect place to get a glimpse of what Kyiv might have been like before the Soviets and Germans, before the Battle of Kyiv laid waste to so much of the city. Sitting like a jewel at the top of the hill, overlooking all of the Baroque beauty below, sits the colourfully extravagant Saint Andres cathedral.
The picturesque and steep cobblestone hill Andriyivsky Uzviz, meaning “Andrew’s Descent”, is lined with souvenir sellers and artists. Historic landmarks, for example the Castle of Richard Lionheart, are spread out along the descent and they all a great sight.
Completely FREE to walk up or down! These views…
Saint Andrew’s Church
St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv – a monument of history, architecture, painting of the 18th century of world importance.
It was built in 1747-1762 in the Baroque style by the famous architect F.-B. Rastrelli. The perfection of the lines, clear proportions, amazing harmony of forms and the surrounding landscape have earned its general recognition and fame.
St. Andrew’s Church has preserved not only authentic architectural forms, the largest percentage of exterior decoration, but also fully conveyed its interior decoration.
It’s absolutely gorgeous to look at from the outside.
Price
£2 / $3 / €2.50
Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)
In many ways this is the heart of the city where revolutions have started and ended.
This is the place to go in the evening for some interesting people watching and the fountain music and light show must be seen and experienced to be believed. If you’re in Kiev during the summer months, don’t miss the nightly show.
There is a permanent outdoor exhibition with photos.
We suggest you come here first, but this is also one of the best places in Kiev to see the sunset.
Maidan Nezalezhnosti is definitely, one of the best things to see in Kyiv.
Bus/Metro: Maidan Nezalezhnosti; 24, 114, M2
Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Kiev Monastery of the Caves)
This monastery is a historic pilgrimage place and an UNESCO World Heritage Site, housing amazing churches, museums and eerie monastery caves. In 2007, it was also elected as one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
Pechersk Lavra, is a Christian Complex and the headquarters for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Composed of several churches and cathedrals with white walls and shiny green and gold rooftops, Kiev Lavra is gorgeous, and spiritual. Most buildings you see here were built between the 11th and 18th centuries.
The general entry ticket costs 80UAH (£2 / $3 / €2.50) and it allows you to climb the bell tower (view is amazing), as well as visiting the cave. We think this is more than enough but, if you are interested in visiting the museums and entering other churches, you will have to purchase separate tickets for each.
Chernobyl Museum
The National Museum “Chernobyl” is a multifunctional institution combining scientific, cultural and educational activity with a modern museum and archive, documenting, preserving the history of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The after-effects of it have no analogy and differ from other natural or manmade catastrophes. These are still the issues of contemporaneity and, unfortunately, of the generation to come.
The Museum opened to the public on April 26, 1992,in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, from a hundred kilometers ofthe epicenter of the disaster.
How to get there: (Metro “Kontraktova Plosha”)
OPEN
Monday – Saturday
10:00 а.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Price
80UAH – £2 / $3 / €2.50
Saint Sophia Cathedral
This gorgeous cathedral was the first place in Ukraine to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. As in many places around Ukraine, you need to purchase a separate ticket for each place within the complex, including general entrance, getting inside the cathedral, going up the bell tour, visiting museums, etc.
Entrance cost is around 80UAH (€2.40 / £2 / $3) – but if you want to visit everything, you may need to spend nearly 10€ / £8 / $12 (Worth it)
Golden Gate
The Gate is the last remains from what used to be Kyiv’s outer wall and gate, before the Mongolian invasion in the 13th century.
Restoration of the Golden Gate Monument was initiated on the occasion of Kyiv’s 1500-year anniversary in 1982. This was met with some criticism, since this decision implied the structure’s original ruins had to be removed to erect the new monument. The Gate has now been rebuilt in a combination of brick and wood.
Price – 80UAH / £2 / $3 / €2.50
Address: Volodymyrska St 40A, Kyiv
Other notable museums and spots
National Opera House
A Viennese style building constructed in 1901. You can’t get inside unless you purchase tickets and you can check all the events on this link.
St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral
One of the most important Orthodox churches in Ukraine is the Little Prince-themed Volodymyr Cathedral, completed in 1896.
Bessarabsky Market
This is one of the busiest markets in Kyiv, and a cool place to take a break. Inside you will find a craft beer stall and authentic Vietnamese food stall run by actual Vietnamese people.
Hydro Park (Island)
Hydro Park is the island located in the Dnipro River right in front of the Lavra, and one of the top places to go in Kyiv.
You can sit in a lovely bar looking back towards the Lavra etc.
Arsenalna metro station
According to the locals and Wikipedia, Arsenalna is the deepest metro station in the world (105m) .
You need to stand on the two escalators for nearly 4 minutes. By the way, this is the closest metro station to the Lavra.
Holodomor Memorial
Holodomor, better known in the West as the Great Famine, was a famine that took place in the 30s when several million Ukrainians starved to death.
This unfortunate event, however, wasn’t a coincidence but it was a real genocide organized by Joseph Stalin himself in an attempt to eliminate Ukrainian nationalism.
One of the most sobering, yet interesting, things to see in Kiev is visiting the Holodomor Memorial, which is also a museum where you can read several absolutely crazy stories from survivors of the Great Famine. A must-see.
Best Day Trip from Kyiv
Chernobyl
You already know about Chernobyl, so I won’t go into details, but the exclusion zone is 150km north of Kyiv and, if you want to visit it, you must go on a tour (you can’t visit it independently).
This is a must-do while you are in Kyiv!
Check-out our dedicated Chernobyl page.
Book your tour here (get your guide link)
Where to stay
Wherever you stay, we strongly recommend you stay close to a metro station and, if possible, near the centre. Otherwise, getting back home every day can be a time-consuming experience.
We stayed at IBIS city center – this was ideal because it was close to the train station and close to the metro line.
Grata Apartments – This is an old apartment building right in the centre.
We would recommend using Booking.com to find a place to stay in Zürich.
(ADD BOOKING AFFILIATE LINKS)
Where to Eat
Ostannya Barykada (Last Barricade in English)
There many restaurants in Kyiv but this one had us return for a 2nd feast! AMAZING!
Ostannya Barykada is widely known among locals in Kyiv but its presence is far from advertised. Every year thousands of visitors frequent the city’s Independence Square, though very few of them know about the secret restaurant that lies beneath the concrete.
For one who doesn’t know, the only hint that you might get of the nationalistic eatery underground is through the glass panels next to St. Micheal’s archway. Even if you are fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the waiters underneath you, it will take much more than luck to fathom out the clues in order to gain entry.
Once inside you will find many hidden doors and rooms! I won’t give it away, but if you sit at the bar you will experience something straight out of a James Bond film!
Food was great by the way!
Getting to Kyiv
Kyiv Boryspil (KBP) Airport and Kiev Zhuliany (IEV) Airport provide air connections to the rest of the world.
Most international flights go in and out of Boryspil about 35 km from the city center. Wizz Air, however, is a cheap airline that connects to several other Eastern European destinations and it flies into Zhuliany.
Other good options with affordable flights include Ukraine International Air, KLM, and Smart Wings.
Getting to Kyiv From The Airport
After collecting bags at Boryspil and exiting through customs, just head outside from the arrivals hall in terminal D. Here you’ll find line 322, the Kyiv Sky Bus, which will whisk you off into the city for a mere 80 UAH (about £2 / $3 / €2.50).
Buy your tickets on board from the driver and then settle in for the ride. It takes about an hour to get to the central train station.
We actually used the train that is also located to the right as you leave terminal D. It costs roughly 100 UAH / £3 / $4 / €3.50 and it took about 30 minutes.
At Zhuliany, passengers exit arrivals and hop aboard From there you can use the metro or bus to get to your final destination. Alternatively, you can take a taxi for about 400 UAH (about $15 / €12) or an Uber for a little less.
Check with your hotel, as well, since most will happily arrange your transfer.
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Final thoughts
We had an amazing time visiting this Eastern European capital and we really hope that this Kiev travel guide will help you plan the perfect trip this fantastic city in Ukraine!
Other Ukraine Related Guides
Be sure to check out our other exciting guides related to Ukraine:
We loved Kyiv! Make sure it’s on your list.
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