Tourist Advice

Borders

Ukraine borders Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Romania, and Slovakia. Passport control and other border formalities take about one hour for buses and two hours for trains at the border crossings. At the border crossings keep your documents and belongings all the time with you.

Visas

EU citizens, alongside with citizens of Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Canada, USA, and Japan do not need entry visas and may stay in Ukraine up to 90 days. Citizens of other states need entry visas. The visa procedure lasts for one day. Visa fee depends on a type of visa and duration of stay in Ukraine. A lot of Ukrainian Embassies and Consulates issue visa on certain days, so you should check it beforehand. Tourists from the European Union and USA must have entry visas to Belarus, Moldova, Russia, which are not issued at the border.

Customs

If you are over 18 years old, you can import 1 liter of strong alcoholic drinks, 2 bottles of wine, 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars, or 250 grams of tobacco free of custom duty. You personal belongings are not subject to customs duty fee, although you may be requested to fill in a written declaration.
Goods of total value less than € 200 may be brought in free of customs duties and taxes. If their total value is more than € 200, but less € 1000, you must mention them in the custom declaration. If the total value is more than € 1000, you must meet formalities according to requirements of import declaration.
All your customs declarations must be kept during your stay in Ukraine and must be handed over upon departure.

Electrical Current

The electrical current in Ukraine is 220 V, 50Hz. Electric sockets are of Russian and European standards, which differ in size. Russian standard sockets are being changed into European. It is possible to buy a cheap adapter for European standard sockets. It is also recommended to bring your own adapter, which corresponds to your equipment.

Currency

Ukraine national currency is hryvnia (UAH). There are banknotes of 1 UAH, 2 UAH, 5 UAH, 10 UAH, 50 UAH, 100 UAH, 200 UAH, and 500 UAH. 1 UAH consists of 100 kopecks. There are 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 kopeck coins and 1 UAH coins. There are a lot of money exchange points; therefore it is not a problem to exchange money. If you are to exchange your Travellers’ Cheques into cash, go to a bank. Visa and MasterCard are commonly accepted in hotels and restaurants, whereas American Express is not so popular.

Tips

The culture of tipping is developing slowly and there are no general rules. Usually it is 10% from your bill. If you are a foreigner, you might be expected to leave more. Sometimes 5% - 10% tips for a service charge are already included into your bill, which is mentioned in the menu list.

How to dial

To make a local call (within the city area) just dials the number. To call to other city (area), dial 0, then wait for a dial tone, then dial code of the city (area) and number. For international call dial 0, wait for dial tone, then again dial 0, then country code, city (area) code and the number.

Ukrainian Cities Codes

Vinnytsia 43 Lutsk 33
Dnipropetrovsk 56 Lviv 32
Donetsk 62 Mykolayiv 51
Zhytomyr 41 Odesa 48
Zaporizhzhia 61 Poltava 53
Ivano-Frankivsk 34 Rivne 36
Kharkiv 57 Sevastopol 69
Kherson 55 Simferopol 65
Khmelnytskyy 38 Sumy 54
Kirovohrad 52 Ternopil 35
Kyiv 44 Uzhgorod 31
Kyiv region 45 Cherkasy 47
Lugansk 64 Chernivtsi 37

Countries Codes

Australia 61 Austria 43
Belgium 32 Bulgaria 359
UK 44 Greece 30
Denmark 45 Israel 972
Ireland 353 Spain 34
Italy 39 Canada 1
Moldova 373 Holland 31
Germany 49 Poland 48
Russia 7 Rumania 40
Turkey 90 Hungary 36
Ukraine 380 Finland 358
France 33 Czech Republic 420
Sweden 46 Japan 81

Useful words and expressions

Hello Вітаю (vi-TA-yu)
Goodbye До побачення (do po-BA-chennia)
Please Будь ласка (bud' LAS-ka)
You're welcome Прошу (PRO-shu)
Thank you Дякую (DIA-kuyu)
Excuse me Вибачте (VY-bachte)
Yes Так (tak)
No Ні (ni)
Enjoy your meal Смачного (Smach-NO-ho)
Cheers! Будьмо (BUD'-mo)
I don't understand Я не розумію (Ya ne rozu-MI-yu)
I don't know Я не знаю (Ya ne ZNA-yu)
Help! Допоможіть (dopomo-ZHIT')
Hospital Лікарня (li-KAR-nia)
Ambulance Швидка (shvyd-KA)
Where is ... ? Де знаходиться ... ? (de zna-KHO-dytsia)
Right, left Право, ліво (PRA-vo, LI-vo)
One beer, please! Одне пиво, будь ласка (od-NE PY-vo bud' LAS-ka)
Do you speak English? Ви розмовляєте англійською? (Vy roz-mov-LYA-yete an-GLIY-s'koyu)

Days

Monday Понеділок (pone-DI-lok)
Tuesday Вівторок (viv-TO-rok)
Wednesday Середа (sere-DA)
Thursday Четвер (chet-VER)
Friday П'ятниця (PYAT-nytsia)
Saturday Субота (su-BO-ta)
Sunday Неділя (ne-DI-lia)

Numbers

1 один (o-DYN) 7 сім (sim)
2 два (dva) 8 вісім (VI-sim)
3 три (try) 9 дев'ять (DE-vyat')
4 чотири (cho-TY-ry) 10 десять (DE-syat')
5 п'ять (pyat') 100 сто (sto)
6 шість (shist') 1000 тисяча (TY-sya-cha)