Kiev Transportation

I arrived on May 9, Victory day. I knew this in advance.
You have to know about Ukrainian important days.
Because specially on this day there is a lot of traveling
and you may not get into the train you want because it is fully booked.
I ordered train tickets in advance by special agency, very good service.
Ask on welcome@ukraine-tours.com They are good, reliable and fair price.

Since we weren't in the center of Kiev, we took the metro a couple of times to get into the center when we didn't feel like walking 20+ minutes. From the Arsenalna metro station it was just one stop to the Khreschatyk station which is the heart of central Kiev. Both of my guidebooks had the Roman and Cyrillic spelling of the metro stations, the metro signs only had the Cyrillic spelling so be sure to know what that is so you can locate it on the overhead signs to head in the right direction.

The fare was 1.7uah (less than 25 cents), you buy a plastic blue token from the cashier and put it into the slot, I didn't see any machines selling tokens nor did I read about any daily or multiday passes.

The metro stations in Kiev are dug very deep because of the Dnepr River, you will find yourself riding on the escalator for several minutes and then another several minutes for the next escalator. Be sure to hang onto the railing in case the escalator suddenly stops, a tumble down those stairs would probably kill you.

Be prepared to get very cozy with your new found Ukrainian friends, the metro is crowded even midday and Ukrainians are not afraid to get into your personal space or give you a little shove should you happen to be in the way of their exit or entrance. Keep your valuables where no one can get them, a good rule on any city's public transport.

We ended up using Aerosvit both directions between Kiev and Simferopol. It's a Ukraine based airline and had more flight options than Wizz Air, currently to ten different cities in the Ukraine and 4 or 5 non stops per day for Kiev to Simferopol, the transportation hub in Crimea. Other cities in the Ukraine are Lviv, Donetsk, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkov and Odessa. Both of our flights had time changes after we booked, when I found one of the time changes inconvenient, I emailed them requesting an earlier fllight and they were very accomodating although I think they didn't change it in their system as they didn't seem to have us on that flight when we got to the airport, but we still got on the flight.

Unlike Wizz Air, there are no extra luggage fees or credit card fees. The limit for luggage for an economy passenger is 20kg for domestic flights. A one way ticket was $46.30USD.

I was anticipating a rather hellish experience after reading about Aerosvit on different forum boards, but we had no trouble flying with them. The flight is only about an hour long so they don't serve food or beverages besides water, the flights were on time both ways. The seats were reasonably comfortable and both planes were Boeing 737s.

For domestic flights in Ukraine, you only need to be at the airport an hour in advance, the airport is relatively small although there are two separate terminals, one for domestic and one for international flights.

I originally booked our flight from Simferopol back to Kiev on Wizz Air, but they cancelled my flight and moved us to the next day, with only a 90 minute connection to our flight to London. I thought it was too risky and rebooked with Aerosvit for just a bit more.

Before they cancelled our flight, I was happy to see that there was a low cost airline flying between some Ukrainian cities as the distances between the cities are vast. WizzAir, a Hungarian based airline, seems on par with Ryan Air and Easy Jet, very low ticket prices with extra charges for checked luggage, using a credit card, etc. The base price of a one way ticket from Simferopol in the Crimea back to Kiev was 149UAH ($18US), 250UAH ($30US) after adding fees for a checked bag and using a credit card which is still a bargain.

Right now you can also fly between Kiev and Lviv and Lviv and Simferopol plus a variety of other destinations outside of the Ukraine. There is currently only 1 flight every day or less between the cities, Aerosvit has a lot more flight options at a slightly higher price so it's probably a safer bet to use Aerosvit.

Seat61 is a good source of information on what to expect when taking trains in Europe, they have a nice overview of train travel through the Ukraine. 1st class seats are more expensive but on a sleeper train, it looks like you can book a two bunk private compartment which would be ideal for people who prefer privacy and don't want to listen to other people snoring.

Although I really wanted to do at least one train journey as we had done one on our 1st trip back in 1989 when a flight was unexpectedly cancelled, we ultimately decided not to travel via train since our visit was so short, the overnight trains between Kiev and Odessa, Odessa and Simferopol (Crimea) and Simferopol and Kiev ranged from 12-15 hours but could be done overnight.

The bus ("POLIT") from Boryspil to the train station (vokzal) costs 25 gryvnas.

When you come out of the terminal you see in front of it a large car park. Walk through it, (walk-way) straight on, and on the other end of the car park is the bus stop. It runs frequently, roughly every 20 mins during peak hours and takes some 45 min to 1 hour, depending on traffic.

You may have a look at the website of Boryspil airport:
http://www.kbp.kiev.ua/

From the train station: go to the "South Terminal" exit (towards the higher numbered platforms); outside on the right (when you come out of the building) is the Polit bus-stop.

Info May 2009

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The Kiev funicular serves the city of Kiev, connecting the historic Uppertown, and the lower commercial neighborhood of Podil through the steep hill overseeing the Dnieper River.
The funicular was constructed during the years of 1902-1905, and was first opened to the public on 7 May 1905. The construction cost, about 230,000 Russian rubles, was covered by a Belgian owner of the Kiev trams. The funicular was the project of Arthur Abrahamson, who received professional training on railroad engineering in Zürich, Switzerland and Saint Petersburg, Russia. The station vestibules were designed by N. Piatnitskiy, and the railway structure was designed N. Barishnikov.

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Ukraine boasts a very convenient, safe, and inexpensive metro system in three cities: Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk. In Kyiv, you can buy tokens at any metro station. The price of one token is 0.50 grivnas , and it allows you to transfer from line to line.