Kiev is the capital of Ukraine. It's one of Europe's most unknown capitals. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine stayed a long time behind in touristical information, continued to use visas for everyone who wanted to visit the country and did mostly nothing to promote one of the best kept secrets of the country: Kiev. Now, since 2005, this has all changed ...

To go to Ukraine is the first step. As a former Soviet Union province (now it’s an independent country!) you should expect the need for a visa. For European visitors, there is no need for this since May, 1st, 2005. There was talk about the reinstatement of visa as of September, 1st 2005 but that was overruled by the president in July 2005.

The best thing to do is get an airplane ticket to Kiev. The international airport is called Borispol (or Borispil in Ukrainian). It lies about 40km out of the city, and is very well connected by taxis and buses. Taxis here charge on a per person basis, not on a trip basis. For a complete trip to the city centre, you can expect a price of around 25 Ghrivnyas on a basis of 4 people. So for 100 GRH (around 20 USD/15 EUR) you’re in the city.

There are good hotels with good accommodation. Sometimes, the personnel still has to learn that they don’t work in SU anymore and could need with some smiles, but that is fairly normal in Ukraine. Ukrainians smile to you when they know you and like you, not for money or services. Good to know. In hotels, they speak correct (although accented) English. Don’t expect German, French or other languages than Russian or Ukrainian. Although these languages much look alike, they are very different. Most Ukrainians speak and understand Russian, although in some regions (mostly the west) they pretend not to understand Russian…

Now in the centre of the city, there are many things to see and to do. No need to speak Russian, most of the time English will do (but Russian can come in handy). The main street of Kiev is called Khrestchatyk. It has been completely rebuilt since 1945. It is packed with typical stalinistic buildings, and you can observe a certain lack of statues and other types of personal memorials.

On one end of Khrestchatyk, you will find one of the oldest covered markets of the city called Bessarabska. It is worth the look and good to see that you can get some caviar for reasonable prices. Underground, you can find a big (but also more expensive) mall with all kinds of merchandise, although nothing to eat except in the restaurants.

On the other end of Khrestchatyk, you will find the Independence Square or Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Ukrainian. This is the place where in 2005 the current president made the biggest of his public performances with the “Orange Revolution”. Although there were many rumours about riots on this square, there were none. Many children were present at that time. At the most crowded moment there were about 500.000 people around in the greatest calm.  Calm you shouldn’t expect with so many people in one place.