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Lviv and Kyiv

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Just came back from visiting Kyiv and Lviv and thought I would share a few experiences of mine...
Flew into Lviv from Bratislava on a Wizz Air flight, no issues...taxis will try and rip you off at the airport (at least they did for us). Luckily thanks to the Trip Advisor forum we knew what to pay (we paid 150 UAH but some reported to pay as little as 100). There were ATM's at the airport.
We found it really handy to get a SIM card (was about $8 CDN for 8 days that gave us plenty of data and never used it all). Communication was often difficult so google translate was very handy. We also used Uber throughout our stay (so incredibly cheap and was a couple of dollars for most trips).
Lviv is one of my favourite European cities. It was so beautiful, everything was walking distance, great food and so cheap. So many of the restaurants were quirky and lots of fun. We had a great one bedroom airbnb for around $40 CDN/night and it was very modern and had all the amenities you would need. It was right beside the Opera building and loved the activities/people watching in that area. I can't say enough great things about this city.

Took a train from Lviv to Kyiv and booked our train through the website before we left Canada. Printed off the receipt (all in Ukranian and couldn't understand it) Went to the train station and had read on Trip Advisor that you had to take the receipt to a ticket booth to get an official ticket. Communication was pretty difficult at the train station and we were pointed in so many directions. Luckily we ran into some travelers who pointed us to the right area. I would give extra time at the rail station for this. Don't even think we did it right as when boarded the train we had to show our ticket before boarding and the attendant got upset with us and waved our ticket around but we couldn't understand her. She reluctantly let us on. Never found out what that was about. Train was great, took an intercity express and it was very comfortable. Bring toilet paper.

Kyiv was fantastic and different from Lviv. Besides the obvious fact that it is so much bigger, it seemed more "Russian" if that makes sense. Still, despite it's size it was easy to get around. We ended up walking everywhere but they have a very cheap metro and Uber is everywhere and very cheap. Did a Chernobyl day trip (used Solo Ease Travel and highly recommend them). What an experience that was! Very informative and the town of Pripyat was so eerie to walk through.

always felt safe and couldn't get over how cheap everything was! We would go out to eat and order two entrees and 2 drinks each...came to around $18CDN total. loved our time there and want to go back and explore more of the country.

Posted by
4171 posts

Glad you've discovered the gem that is Ukraine, sounds like you had a great adventure! ;-)

Kyiv was fantastic and different from Lviv. Besides the obvious fact that it is so much bigger, it seemed more "Russian" if that makes sense.

It does make sense, not sure if you took a tour that explained the history Lviv, but it was once a Polish city called Lwow, during the medieval and Renaissance times, and later again as the 3rd largest city in Poland (if I remember correctly) pre-WWII. During the partitions of the 18th-19th centuries it was also part Hapsburg Empire, so that is probably why it feels "different" from Kyiv, which was part of the Russian Empire.

Posted by
5315 posts

Wow, sounds like you had some adventure! Fun reading about them!!

Posted by
542 posts

Thanks for the comments on Lviv and Kiev. We are in Kiev currently - day 5 of 7 - and curious about the places you landed at $18 CDN (325 UAH) for two entrees and 4 drinks. We have routinely been at $75 - $100 CDN (1400 - 1800 UAH) for 2 apps, 2 entrees, and 4 drinks or a bottle of wine. Not at all complaining as this would be double that in Canada or more in Western Europe. We can certainly live well and eat well here.

Agree with your comments about the Metro and Uber in Kiev being a crazy good value. Just over $4 CDN (80 UAH) for two large double cappuccino. Our new Ukraine shuttle driver/friend wanted just €50 for getting us to the "ex President-Criminal " (his words) Victor Yanukovych residence north of the City and spending the day with us. I gave him €100 as I felt that was more appropriate and fair to him, and was still a good value.

We were willfully in the middle of the Defenders of Ukraine parade yesterday, then escaped the parade to catch it from our apartment balcony. I thought the parade was merely a celebration and recognition of the military efforts in the east and related veterans but realized after reading media reports that it was also an aggressive demonstration against the efforts of President Zelensky for his talk of a settlement agreement with Putin. Could have turned ugly before we knew it but fortunately that was not the case.

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Glad you were safe during that parade Peter!

We ate at Puzata Hata (didn't have drinks there but it is great food and incredibly cheap) and there were several of the restaurants in Kyiv. We were staying in the Independence Square are and found a delicious place called Borscht Cafe (that was where we had a very good $17 CDN meal and drinks). Would recommend Spotykatch (sp?), one of our "expensive" meals that cost around $30 for 2.
The drinks we would have would be either house wine, vodka or draft beer which helped keep costs down. We also ate at some Georgian restaurants but can't remember the names of them but they were really good value!

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