Kiev advice

>>1246355
Kyiv is safe -- I'll come back and write more about it later if nobody else does.

You should definitely think about going to Lviv and Odesa as well, because those three cities are the best Ukraine has to offer (although Western Ukraine in generally is really nice).

>>1246540
I've definitely heard good things about Odessa. Looking forward to your insight anon.

>>1246355
Okay, I am back with some new advice and some advice I have previously given on here:

The best museum of all in Kyiv is the WWII Museum (but now it also has exhibits on the current war against Russia), which is where the big Motherland statue (Rodina Mat) is located.
That's the same big statue that you posted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_the_History_of_Ukraine_in_the_Second_World_War

The guy in your photo got to that part of the statue because he bribed someone who works in there to get up to that point. I've read you can bribe with about $10 (around 250 UAH), but I'm not sure about the success rate of that.

All of that is within walking distance of Lavra, the most famous Ukrainian monastery with caves underneath. You should check them out.

You might also want to visit Pyrohiv, which is an outdoor folk museum...although in all honesty, it might not be too interesting to most people.
I had a nice time there because I went on a bike with my girlfriend but I was expecting something else from it, such as historical reenactors.

There's also an outdoor government run aviation museum, a rail museum (doesn't seem particularly spectacular), and an outdoor Kyivan Rus museum which looks pretty cool...I have never been to any of these but they all seem interesting.
http://parkkyivrus.com/en/

My favorite part of Kyiv is Andriyivsky Uzviz. You should spend a lot of time walking around there and the city center.

You also like trains, so you should take the metro around just to see the train stations and trains. The deepest train station in the world is located in Kyiv and it has two different escalators.

You should also look into going to the Mezhyhirya Residence of Yanukovych, the former leader of Ukraine before he left/got kicked out due to Maidan.
It's his elaborate mansion that he had made with stolen funds and is now a museum of sorts, maybe sort of like a 21st century Versailles that was never meant to be seen by the public.

>>1246687
I have not been to Odesa, but it would be a good place to spend a few days, especially if you like beaches.

Lviv can really be done in just one day if you don't have much time, and there is a fast, comfortable train (and modern) train that goes between Lviv/Kyiv in (I think) just four hours.

Some nice places in Western Ukraine:
Lviv
Ivano-Frankivsk
Yaremche
Bukovel
Kamianets-Podilskyi

>>1246355
Don't miss Pripyat. That's the site of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. You can only go in as part of a guided tour and have to book it well in advance but it's so much worth it.

I went solo to Lviv, Kiev, Odessa, and some small towns. Can't speak a word of Ukrainian or Russian.

What do you want to know?

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>>1246687
Woah! Thanks anon. Some awesome info there. I'll have to check out the links you posted after work. I plan on riding the metro a fair bit... definitely will check out some of those deep level stations.

>>1246775
Did you have any trouble getting around? Buying train/bus tickets etc.
What was the general attitude towards you/tourists in the places you went?
Any highlights? Must see/do/eat?

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>>1246790
>Did you have any trouble getting around? Buying train/bus tickets etc.
Booking tickets was actually more difficult than I initially thought. You will need a passport and can only book tickets in advance. Trains are horribly slow and depart/arrive at awkward times. Workers in ticket offices will almost never speak any English at all. It's best to have all your travel details such as destination and time written down in cyrillic and show them. However, travel costs are extremely cheap. I can remember riding 1st class in a modern express train for about $8 on a 5.5hr journey. I also remember riding 10hr+ journies in 2nd/3rd class for about $6 which gives you a bed and linens. Long distance coaches looked like something from the 3rd world and I know the road conditions in Ukraine are nightmarish so I didn't even bother. For metro buses it's literally this: hail down a yellow van near a bus stop, walk inside, throw some cash on a carpet near the driver while he's driving and he'll give you some change. If you get in from the rear you tap the person in front of you's shoulder and give them some cash. They pass it up and eventually a ticket gets passed back. Then you stamp it on a clamp hanging from a wall. In trams and streetcars it's the same. Absolutely nothing is automated, even in brand new trams. Trams in Lviv cost 2uah or about $0.07. Metro in Kiev is 4uah or $0.14. I mostly walked in Odessa.

>What was the general attitude towards you/tourists in the places you went?
I only met one western tourist while in Ukraine lol so I was quite rare. Most people are curious and if they can speak English will ask why the hell you came to Ukraine of all places. If it's known that you are foreign people will do their best to treat you good. I'm an average looking guy that rarely sticks out and gets maybe 1-2 matches on Tinder but in Ukraine I can honestly say I matched with everyone I swiped right on. All I had to do was make it known that I was western.

Cont.

>>1247204
What year did you go?

>>1247204
>If it's known that you are foreign people will do their best to treat you good.
>I'm an average looking guy that rarely sticks out and gets maybe 1-2 matches on Tinder but in Ukraine I can honestly say I matched with everyone I swiped right on.
That's very true, and I would recommend that all single men going to Ukraine should use Tinder, but also Interpals.net ahead of time in order to meet women.

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>>1246790
>Any highlights? Must see/do/eat?
I really enjoyed Lviv and Odessa. Kiev felt a little run down and stereotypically eastern. It was mostly commieblocks and not the most tourist friendly of cities but I still enjoyed it. Lviv and Odessa mostly had their older sides preserved and felt more "European."

In Lviv you can get to the top of the city hall for views over the entire city. It's only 5uah and totally worth it. If you want a free alternative, you can hike to the top of a hill nearby and get a view but it's slightly obstructed by overgrown trees. Lviv is more used to tourists so there is tourist industry located there. The city is a little worn but suits the city nicely. It actually feels old and not modernized like in western Europe.

In Kiev, first thing that caught my attention is that there is basically an entire city underground. There's so many shops and walkways under the surface that I got lost often. I'd try to take the metro and end up in an underground shopping center. Fun to explore for nick nacks. Definitely be sure to check out the Andriyivskyy Descent. It's a winding street on a hill with antique dealers setting up shop. You can find all sorts of interesting artifacts and art. Podil is a nice district; my Ukrainian friend told me it's where the old town used to be. Check out the metro station Arsenalna. It's the deepest in the world and takes 5 minutes to ride the escalators all the way. I didn't cross the Dnepr river to the east of Kiev, I was warned that it was stabby territory.

I visited in May so I expected Odessa to be beachy and warm but the beaches were mostly empty and the water was cold. It's a nice city with nice buildings.

Try eating at Puzata Khata (Пyзaтa Хaтa). It's a buffet chain that serves traditional Ukrainian food and is cheap and delicious. Try the borscht and varenyky. It can be found directly behind Kiev's main train station.

Overall, I loved Ukraine and the people. No problems with crime or anything.

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>>1247207
Exactly one year ago, May of 2016.

>>1247210
I tried Interpals to no avail. I usually got half ass messages back or no response at all. I later found out that Ukraine has a real problem with sex tourists. Lviv was especially bad at it. It was filled to the brim with Turkish sex tourists that treated any woman in sight like a whore and trashed the city. If you try to find a Ukrainian girl online and tell her that you'll soon be coming they might think that you're coming for easy sex. I visited with the sole intention of visiting a friend in Kiev and tourism purposes, not women. Tinder was just something I accidently discovered while being bored in my airbnb at night.

Even aside from Tinder, I noticed that Ukrainian girls were all over me, something I am definitely not used to. Many of them couldn't even speak any English at all but made an effort to approach me. I remember having to use google translate all night with a girl I met on a train because she wanted to talk to me but couldn't speak English. I went bar hopping with this one girl I met and she introduced me to some people she knew and as soon as the bar heard I was foreign I got stares and conversations from everyone. Probably helped that I was American and not the usually Euro.

I also wouldn't recommend that single men should go to Ukraine with the purpose of finding women. That's not what Ukraine is about.

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>>1246687
>current war against Russia

lel, so Donbass IS Russia afterall

I have relatives in Odessa, and can confirm that Odessa is probably the best place to go to in Ukraine. Not only is it safer than the rest of everything there (especially pripyat), but it's also a cultural powerhouse. It has one of the 3 greatest european opera houses (the other two being Paris and Moscow), the beaches are lovely during this time of year, they have the best clubs (especially club Ibiza), a cool dolphinarium, and you could spend the night at a hotel that used to be a sanatorium that's actually quite nice.

>>1246355
If you go to Odessa keep on mind that its stairs are closed for reforming, and it is closed with sidings. Apparently they are putting atomic bomb silos there for some reason.

>>1248279
Right now it's Haiti, more or less.