While there are numerous city guides available online and in bookstores, to see Kyiv’s best tourist spots nothing beats being shown around the city by one of the locals.
So a new Show Around service has been set up to connect visitors to the Ukrainian capital with locals who are ready to show them the sights.
Over 600 Kyivans have registered at showaround.com, which offers a range of options for tourists – from classic museum excursions to bar tours. Some guides don’t even charge for their services, while most others charge from $4 to $30 per hour.
Private tours
There are also more expensive guides: For example, Pavel Korsun charges $66 per hour for a helicopter tour. And there are professional photographers who not only show people around the city, but also take pictures of visitors as they do so – for about $80 per hour.
One city guide, Vera Roschyna, has been registered on showaround.com for a month. She is very passionate about Kyiv and says that money is not main the reason why she got involved.
“I like to highlight the best sides of Kyiv. That’s why I didn’t set a very high price – $6 per hour,” she told the Kyiv Post.
According to Roschyna, a typical excursion lasts approximately three hours. Sometimes clients decide what they want to see on their own. She recalls being hired by a tourist from Iceland, saying he wanted to see museums dedicated to war, and after that went to Chornobyl.
Sometimes, however, Roschyna has had to refuse certain requests.
“One man from Dubai started asking inappropriate questions about my personal life. Obviously, he wasn’t interested in an excursion, so I had to cancel it,” she says.
In recent days the number of booking requests has increased, Roschyna says, adding that “it has something to do with the Eurovision (Song Contest).”
She could be right. According to Kyiv authorities, about 20,000 people are expected to come to Kyiv during the contest, which has its grand final on May 13. Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service has reported that more than 600 Eurovision guests have already come to Ukraine, including singers and delegations.
Drinking tour
Artem Trawkin has been showing people around Kyiv long before Eurovision fever hit the city – he registered on the website about two years ago. One of the most popular guides with visitors, Trawkin, who charges $22 per hour, is high up in showaround.com’s rankings.
Moreover, a 60-minute tour with Trawkin is hardly going to be long enough for most people – he specializes in tours of cocktail bars and all the hidden drinking spots that only the locals know. He also has access to “secret bars” where only “chosen ones” are allowed.
Trawkin has dedicated the last three years of his life to studying cocktail culture. He says he has been to the best bars in Europe and is convinced that Kyiv also has a lot to offer. Trawkin also started Bar Crawl Kyiv (barcrawlkyiv.com), which offers a tour of five bars (and five drinks) for Hr 500 ($18). On the tour, the bartenders tell stories about the drinks while making them.
Interesting Kyiv
For those uncomfortable spending time with a total stranger there is the more traditional option of going on a tour in a group with a guide from a tourist agency. One such agency is Interesting Kyiv, which won a tender to work with the official Eurovision delegations.
Sofia Hrabovetska, a guide with Interesting Kyiv, says that most of her clients are surprised by Kyiv – they don’t expect it to be so modern and interesting, she says.
“Eurovision fans are not that much into the idea of going on a tour with a bunch of other tourists, they prefer simply to walk on their own and to discover the city step by step,” she says. “But the official delegates like group tours.”
Interesting Kyiv has a range of excursions: bus tours, walking tours, modern as well as historical places, secret or mystical sightseeing spots, and even Jewish Kyiv. A list of tour options can be found on the agency’s website, interesniy.kiev.ua.
Free walking tours
Free walking tours are popular all over the Europe – local guides conduct tours around the city for free, although if tourists want they can make a donation to their guides.
Kiev Free Tours have daily excursions that start on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in front of the Central Post Office by the Monument with the Globe at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The guides offer two routes covering different districts of Kyiv that represent the diverse historical periods of the city: the ancient period, boasting monasteries and churches, or the more modern period, with a mix of Soviet and classical Ukrainian architecture.
Helpful blogging
Another way to find out what local people think of Ukraine and Kyiv in particular is to search for online blogs.
Olga Reznikova calls herself “your personal assistant in Ukraine.” Almost 29,000 people are subscribed to her English-language YouTube channel, were she talks about her life in Kyiv, as well as providing useful information on how to book a ticket for the train, how to rent an apartment, and even how to offer compliments in Ukrainian.
Show Around. Personal tours with locals. From $4 per hour www.showaround.com
Bar Crawl Kyiv. Drinking tours. Hr 500 ($18) per five drinks www.barcrawlkyiv.com
Interesting Kyiv. Bus and pedestrian tours. From $50 per tour www.interesniy.kiev.ua
Kiev Free Tours. Walking excursions. Maidan Nezalezhnosti in front of the Central Post Office by the Monument with the Globe. Daily at 12 p.m and 4 p.m. www.freetours.kiev.ua
Olga Reznikova’s blog www.youtube.com/user/Solnce712
