Public transportation in Kyiv includes, as in any other European city, metro, buses, trolleys, and trams. There is just one slightly different way to transport in Kyiv, and that is mini public buses called marshruthkas, which I will talk about later.
About the airports, there are basically two – Zhulhany and Boryspil. The first one is smaller, it’s used mostly for short flights and a low-cost airline WizzAir flights there. The second one is bigger and modern, it was built farther from the city and this is the airport for Ryanair flights. I flew to Kyiv on Zhulyany. There were a lot of people at the arrival hall, but not really foreigners, mostly Ukrainians. In case you would forget to check the transport to the center, there is wi-fi at the airport.
So there are several options to get to Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) from this airport:
Bus + metro – The cheapest option (0,45 EUR) is a combination of bus and metro. From the main entrance to the left, there is a way you can get on the main road, from where on a curve you will see a bus station. Most likely will arrive a minibus – marshrutka with a number 302.
The bus appeared as an old, yellow, shaky minibus and I could barely push myself inside the bus. I had to put my suitcase right next to a gear stick and I was standing right next to a bus driver listening to him cursing all the time. He screamed the names of the bus stops and for the money people gave him like in a market, no one saw any ticket. Surprisingly, the doors were automatic, even though the passengers had to sometimes close the door manually. The space between the doors and the bus was that big that a mouse could easily pass through it. At least some fresh air was coming inside which made the stinky interior and dust a bit easier to breathe. One adventurous ride like this would cost you 7 UAH (0,21 EUR). The ride takes around half an hour and a bus stop you should get off is called Kontraktova ploshcha. From there you have to just get on the metro and let it drive you two stops to Maidan Nezalezhnosti (The Independence Square).
Uber – There is also another way to get from the airport and of course more comfortable. For Uber, you will probably pay something between 100-200 UAH (3-6 EUR).
So now, what are the options for transport around the city?
Metro
Most of the Ukrainians use the metro which has 3 lines with 52 stations. In total, they have 130 trains that carry 1.422 million passengers per day. You can find the tickets in metro kiosks or you can ask about them in a window, which is actually a faster way. For one ticket you pay 8 UAH and you get an old token you put into one of the tourniquets. Don’t worry about getting confused about the maps at the metro stations, there aren’t any. Except of Maidan Nezalezhnosti. I was actually using the metro without a map even for the first day and didn’t get lost. On the tables in every car, there are written stations also in the Latin alphabet.
Kyiv’s metro has just three lines, so it’s quite hard to get lost and even the cars are almost as old as a human race, inside you can find a map of the lines. You can download the map of the metro here. The main transfer stations are Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Teatrálna, and Zoloti Vorota, which is by the way one of the most beautiful metro stations. In Kyiv, there is the deepest metro station in the world called Arsenalna with 105.5 m. To get from the entrance all the way down by escalators takes approximately 5 – 10 minutes. They had to build it deeper because of the high bank of the Dnieper River. There is also a central concourse missing which is quite unusual for metro stations.
I was using the metro for a whole week I spent in Kyiv and I can tell you, I wasn’t really excited. Especially during the working days, there are a lot of people. If I compare it to a metro in New York I seriously didn’t see as many people there as here. Once I took the wrong direction to the exit and I just couldn’t turn around since all the mass of the people was going in the opposite direction. When I asked my Ukrainian friend about it, he told me the reason for this might be a mass migration from Krym and other eastern parts of Ukraine in lately months.
How to get to Boryspil airport
From the center, or wherever you are, you can get on the metro to Vokzálna station and from there you will see a big building of Railway station, you can’t miss it. The trains go to the Boryspil airport every half an hour or so. The ticket costs 80 UAH (2,40 EUR) and you can buy them in the window. Don’t expect to connect to the wi-fi at the station hall or in cafes, but if you head from the main entrance to the right, there is a small kiosk with computers. For 10 UAH (0,30 EUR) you will be able to connect your device for 30 minutes. You can even play WoW with the Ukrainian guys.
There is luggage storage in the basement with the lockers or you can leave your luggage in the window which will cost around 35 UAH (1,05 EUR).
There is something that I didn’t know before, the passengers who travel to the airport can stay before the departure in a waiting room that looks like a premium paid lodge. They won’t tell you this when you are buying the ticket because they barely speak English (a woman who sold me a ticket had to turn the screen to show me the price and departure time). You can get to this lodge by going up on escalators to Eastside to platform 14. Then you can easily pass through a hall and look for the number. There are comfortable sofas and a TV you can enjoy before the departure of your train. Don’t sit on the floor for half an hour like me.
Have a safe trip!
