Kyiv (Kiev) tours and excursions
Kyiv (Kiev) tours
Bus tours
To visit some of the more outlying sites like Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the Jewish Quarter in a limited time period, it is necessary to use a tour company that provides bus transport. City Sightseeing Kyiv has a daily sightseeing tour that visits most of these in 1.5 hours.
Tel: +380 93 187 8328.Website: http://openkiev.com.ua/en/
River tours
Several tour companies offer boat tours along the Dnieper River that offer good views of sights such as Podil, St Andrew’s Church, Kievo-Pechersky Lavra and Vydubychi Monastery along the way. This is a pleasant way to get a feel for the layout of the city’s major sites and monuments.
Tel: +380 67 500 1222Website: http://www.riverest.kiev.ua/
Car tours
A private car and guide offers a more intimate view of the city for groups of between one and four people. Green Tour offers a three-hour private car tour of all the main tourist sights in Kyiv (Kiev).
Tel: +380 44 254 2891Website: https://greentourua.com
Walking tours
Walking tours are popular in Kyiv (Kiev) since many of the top sights, such as St Sophia's Cathedral, St Mykhail’s Monastery of the Golden Domesand Andriyivsky Uzviz are within easy walking distance of each other. Kiev Walking Tours offers a good range of cultural and historical tours around the city including a Kyiv Pechersk Lavra tour, a beer tasting tour and a Kyiv sightseeing tour. Some tour options typically last between two-five hours while others are day-long excursions.
Tel: +380 93 006 1217Website: http://www.kievwalkingtours.com.ua/
Kyiv (Kiev) excursions
Chernihiv
This town about 150km (93 miles) northeast of Kyiv (Kiev) with its splendid collection of gold-domed churches is a peaceful retreat away from the hustle and bustle of the Ukrainian capital. Fast trains now connect Kyiv with Chernihiv in around three hours, making this historic town a feasible destination for a day trip from the capital. Sights worth seeing include the Cathedral of Borys and Hlib, the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour, and the Uspenski Cathedral in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery complex.
Strategic Missile Forces Museum, Pervomaysk
South of Kyiv (Kiev), several tour companies run day-trips to this curious and rather sinister place, almost 300km (186 miles) south of the city. The Launch Control Centre, reached by a cramped lift, lies in tunnels 33m (108 feet) below ground level and gives a real flavour of what it must have been like to be stationed here during the Cold War. Tours in English give a background history of Soviet-era military activity in Ukraine.
Tel: +380 44 279 3505.Website: https://www.tourkiev.com/tourtostrategic/
Chernobyl
Day tours to the chilling site of the Chernobyl disaster, 134km (83.3 miles) north of Kyiv (Kiev), near the town of Pripyat, can be easily organised with several Kiev tour companies. The 30km (19 mile) 'Exclusion Zone' of the former nuclear power plant, which was previously closed to the public, is now open for official guided tours. Although radiation levels in the zone are still high, flourishing wildlife means that the area is now deemed safe enough for humans.
Tel: +380 44 279 3505Website: https://www.tourkiev.com/
Museum of Folk Architecture and Life
An excellent place to get a flavour of the rest of the country is the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Pyrohiv village, 20km (12.4 miles) south of the city centre. Here, around 300 pieces of original folk architecture, including windmills and thatched huts, have been collected to create a village that visitors can roam through freely to explore the six regions of Ukraine. Organised tours are available from most Kiev-based travel agencies.
Tel: +380 98 913 8007Website: http://pyrohiv.at.ua
