Flights
There are direct flights to Kyiv from multiple cities in Germany.
Please note: Kyiv has two airports.
The airport Kyiv-Zhulhany (IEV) is the smaller airport, in the city center of Kyiv. This is the primary airport for WizzAir.
The airport Kyiv-Borispol (KBP) is the bigger airport and outside of Kyiv in the city of Borispol. Ryanair, UIA and most major carriers use this airport. With an Uber/Taxi you need about 30-60 minutes to Kyiv, depending on traffic conditions.
Most direct connections from Germany are offered by the Hungarian budget airline WizzAir. They offer flights from Berlin, Bremen, Dortmund, Hamburg, Hannover, Köln and other airports.
Ryanair offers direct flights to Kyiv among others from Berlin and Düsseldorf Weeze.
Please note that WizzAir and Ryanair are low-cost carriers and that they have their own carry-on and baggage guidelines which are not preferable for their customers. Please be careful to choose the proper baggage option you need.
The Ukrainian flag carrier Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) offers flights between many major cities and Kyiv but they are usually quite pricy and also have non-standard carry-on luggage rules.
You can also use a comparison service such as kayak.com to find affordable tickets. Below are some example searches for expected travellers departure cities.
Flights from New York City, USA
Flights from Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Flights from Bratislava, Slovakia
Hotels
The “official” hotel for our wedding is the Bakkara hotel. We will stay there from 25th to 29th as it is on the same island on which the ceremony will take place on the 27th.
Our guests get a discount of 20 % on each room price. If you want to make use of this offer, please contact us directly. We will then make the reservation in your name.
By now only ‘Deluxe’ double rooms are still available. The discounted price is 95€ per night, including breakfast. The rooms, including pictures and description, can be checked on the following hotel webpage.
Additional hotel recommendations:
The BURSA hotel, a modern concept+art hotel in the Podil disctrict. Rooms start at 112 € per night.
For those who want to experience original soviet hotel architecture, Lera recommends one of the following three hotels. Room rates range between 60 € and 260 € per night.
Based on personal experience, we can also recommend the Podol Plaza hotel. A standard but good hotel in the Podil district. Single rooms start at 80 € per night.
Webpage of the Podol Plaza Hotel
If none of the before mentioned hotels suits you, you can find many other options in Kyiv. The wedding itself will take place in the center of Kyiv we therefore recommend to choose a centrally located hotel.
Who considers to book an AirBnB should note that many of the offered apartments are only equipped with the most basic facilities. Also the communication with the host can be quite complicated without local language skills.
Passport & Visa
Please don’t hesitate to contact us directly if any of the following explanations are unclear for you or if you have further questions. We can definitely help you and are more than happy to do so.
For EU-citizens with a passport issued by a member country of the European Union, the following general entry conditions apply though slight variations between member countries might exist.
EU-citizens usually don’t require a visa for stays up to 90 days.
To enter Ukraine, every person (also children) needs their own, biometric passport which needs to be still valid on the day of entry.
As for any travel outside the EU, it is highly recommended to have travel health insurance. When entering Ukraine, the border police might ask for proof of such insurance.
The border police might ask you about the purpose of your travel therefore it is very helpful if someone in your group speaks English.
We will send every guest an invite in Ukrainian language by e-mail. Please print this invite and be prepared to show it to the border police if requested.
As we can’t list the exact entry conditions for each nationality, we kindly ask you to check your specific entry conditions upfront. A good help is the following webpage of the IATA where you state your nationality, country of residence, travel documents and destination country and then get an overview of the passport and visa requirements for you.
Webpage of the IATA for entry conditions
For non-EU-citizens we recommend to check directly with your nearest Ukrainian embassy or consulate whether or not you require a visa.
Contact list of the Ukrainian representations in Germany (in German)
Transportation in Kyiv
For visitors without Russian or Ukrainian language skills the easiest and most comfortable choice of transportation is Uber. A simple ride in the city usually costs between 2 to 4 €. But be aware that the vehicles in the standard Uber class in Kyiv are not comparable with standard Ubers in the EU or US. If you want to be sure to have a comfortable vehicle, you should book a premium class vehicle. The costs for that are usually twice the standard price.
If you don’t use Uber yet, you should download the app before and register yourself.
Please note: Though Uber offers PayPal as a mean of payment in many countries already, it is not available in Kyiv. It is strongly recommend to use a credit card for Uber in Kyiv. Theoretically Uber offers cash payment in Kyiv but this, again, might be challenging without local language skills.
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Of course you can also use public transportation in Kyiv.
Quite easy to use is the Metro which covers most of the city with multiple lines. Tickets can be bought directly at the station with cash, or you can directly use your contactless enabled credit card as a ticket. A single ride costs around 0,12 €.
Furthermore there are different types of bus services but their correct usage without local language skills can be very challenging. For the bus you pay in cash either directly to the driver or to a conductor inside the bus. It is highly recommend to have someone with Russian or Ukrainian language skills with you.
For navigation in the city we recommend to have a map application readily available on your smartphone. Quite reliable is Google Maps (including public transit routes). Apple Maps also has a good coverage but might still miss English names for some locations. HERE Maps has the advantage of offering offline maps so that you can download the full maps for Kyiv upfront and can use the app also without mobile internet.
Mobile & Internet
We strongly urge you to check the specific roaming conditions of your mobile phone contract. As Ukraine is not a member of the EU, the free-roaming rules for EU don’t apply.
Especially German mobile phone providers usually classify Ukraine in the most expensive country group for roaming so that the charges for calls, texts and mobile internet can be horrific.
ATTENTION: Please be sure to have data roaming deactivated BEFORE your flight departs!
For your understanding and orientation, below are examples of the standard roaming charges of the main German providers (unless you have a specific roaming tariff):
- Vodafone: 19.250,00 € per GB of mobile internet
- Telekom: 15.800,00 € per GB of mobile internet
- o2: 417,00 € per GB of mobile internet
The roughly twenty-thousand euro per GB are not a typo!
If you don’t have a special roaming tariff, we recommend to use a local prepaid SIM card while you are in Ukraine.
The cost for a prepaid SIM with 8 GB LTE internet is roughly 5 €.
Please inform us upfront if you want to use such a SIM card, we can then buy and activate them for you before your arrival.
Cash & Credit cards
The currency of Ukraine is called Hrywnja, pronounced as “Grivna”. Currency code is UAH.
The exchange rate between EUR and UAH varies for some years now around 1:30. It means 1 EUR equals ~ 30 UAH or 1 UAH equals ~ 0,03 €.
The exchange rate between USD and UAH is around 1:25. 1 USD equals ~ 25 UAH or 1 UAH equals 0,04 USD.
Exchange calculation between EUR and UAH on Google
Banknotes are available in denominations between 1 UAH and 500 UAH and coins for smaller amounts.
Overview of current banknotes on Wikipedia
Cash
Generally only UAH are accepted in stores and restaurants. Euro and Dollar are usually not accepted.
Euro, Dollar and other common currencies can easily be exchanged anytime in one of the many currency exchange offices which can be found in nearly any street in the city center. The exchange rates are usually very good.
Currency exchange offices are easily recognizable by their Ukrainian name “обмін валюти”.
Alternatively you can easily withdraw cash from nearly any ATM with a common credit card.
Credit cards
Payment with VISA or MasterCard is available in most stores, restaurants and bars. Contactless payment is very common in Ukraine. Sometimes foreign credit cards have issues with contactless payment in Ukraine above certain amounts. If a payment fails just ask to try it again with chip and PIN which then usually works.
NOTE for certain credit cards:
American Express cards are not accepted in many stores and restaurants. Also only very few ATMs support withdrawals with AmEx. If you would like to use an AmEx card, please check upfront where you can find supported ATMs.
Some VISA and MasterCards have defined minima for cash withdrawals (e.g. DKB in Germany has a minimum withdrawal of 50 €). In these cases it can sometimes happen that the set minimum is higher than the maximum which is offered by the ATM (some ATMs only offer withdrawals of up to 1.000 or 1.500 UAH). In these cases the transaction will fail with an error. But you can just go to another ATM with a higher maximum to avoid this issue.
Other
Eat & Drink
Please note that the tap water in Ukraine is not safe to drink!
Outside of our wedding program there are many opportunities to visit good and inexpensive restaurants in Kyiv. A main course usually costs less than 5 € in most restaurants but of course you can find way more expensive ones as well. We are happy to give you recommendations at any time, just ask us.
Touristic
For all of you who have never been to Kyiv or Ukraine in general before, here are some links for touristic inspiration: