Customer Reviews

Kiev: The Bradt City Guide (Bradt Mini Guide)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My Ukrainian girlfriend and I spent 9 days in Kiev last month. This book was invaluable. Naturally, when visiting a country it's very helpful to have someone with you who speaks the language. This is particularly true in Ukraine - even though many people in Kiev do speak English. We stayed in a hotel she heard about through a friend that's near the Golden Gate (Zoloti Vorota) Metro stop - centrally located in Kiev. It was $30 a night for me and around $10 a night for her. While I bought a Visa to go to Kiev (around $120) in May - I'm told they are free to Americans and Europeans these days.

The color map of the metro layout and the color maps of the city listing landmarks in the back of the book were particularly useful for us. The bus guidance was a bit of a waste - never seemed to be right. There were buses going where the book said they were but they always had different numbers than the ones in the book. I never did see a bus schedule anywhere and the bus signs at the bus stops didn't seem to list the numbers properly either - so maybe this was no fault of the author. If you want to take a bus somewhere - go where the book says and then start asking questions about a bus to the place you want to go.

We saw Faust at the opera house. A marvelous performance - for just a little more than the price of a movie back in the states. The author is right about most bathrooms having either rough and unpleasant toilet paper or none at all. The opera house, for all the grandeur of the building and world class performance, had no toilet paper in either the men's or woman's restrooms.

The list of restaurants in the book is ok - but could be better. I enjoyed the Indian food at Himalaya, and Kozak Mamai did indeed have exceptional food (along with very nice atmosphere) - though our waiter was a little pushy about getting a tip. We searched all over Pankivksa street but couldn't find Mangal anywhere. Makabi Kosher is more of a snack bar than a restaurant. We couldn't figure out how to get a substantial meal there. We ended up at a Georgian restaurant a across the same street - a little further down. The wine was very good but the portions were too small and it was a bit pricey. I was thoroughly disappointed with Kyivska Perepichka (author's favorite). I have found bageldogs enjoyable in the past but a hotdog inside some greasy bread is not my idea of good street food. Some other places serve bilash (maybe the wrong name) - hamburger inside some greasy bread. For some reason, I found this to be a great deal better. There are lots of places to eat in Kiev. Some charge quite a bit of money for lots of atmosphere and mediocre food. It make take some talk with the locals to find the good ones.

I really enjoy visiting churches and was most impressed with St Vladamir's - beautiful place and much more exciting than St Sophia's or St Andrei's. We were even lucky enough to catch a ceremony led by the Patriarch of Kiev - head of the Orthodox church in Ukraine. I also highly recommend the Patriotic War Museum. While it helps to have someone who can read Russian or Ukrainian along - there are lots of pictures and maps that can be appreciated by anyone. The statue over the museum is a site to see in its own right. The Monastery of the Golden Domes was a little disappointing. The grounds are lovely, as is the view of the city from them but the caves were not what I had hoped.

The book is full of little anecdotes. The author gives his thoughts on the use of language (Ukrainian or Russian) in Kiev. Many people (including my girlfriend) feel pretty strongly about what language should be spoken and displayed. He also provides an interesting tale about why there are so many old women (and not old men) and why the sword held by the statue over the Patriotic War Museum looks a bit short.

I have made several trips to Kiev (officially Kyiv) in recent years and am very glad to have found this excellent guide, which I will use on my next trip. Well-written, packed with information, and handy. Although more than 300 pages it can easily be carried in any pocket.
Evans covers all the tourist sites but he is very good also on the culture, the amenities, how to get the most from your trip. This book will also be very useful for people who will spend a longer time in Ukraine, at a job or on a business project, or studying. It covers a lot of nuts and bolts that visitors need to know. It is filled with information that will save you a lot of money and that will protect your health. For example: "don't drink the water."
Anyone who gets this book and the very good, just published, Lonely Planet guide to Ukraine, will be well-armed for an enjoyable trip. Evans has also written a guidebook to all of Ukraine that I haven't read yet.

There are not many travel guide books to choose from in English on Kiev. No matter, Mr. Evans book proved to be extremely useful on my first trip to Kiev, Ukraine. It was accurate and I used this guide book every day for the two weeks I was in Kiev. His review of hotels, shopping, restaurants, clubs, and casinos were excellent. Mr. Evans was very adept at suggesting places to go where Westerners could get by with little or no language skills. I recommend this book and I hope he plans an update in 2006. John Doyen, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas USA

I bought this because at the time, there were no other guides in existance for Kiev. Now there is the Cityspots guide to Kiev which is much better but still lacks bulk. The Bradt guides I find rather boring. It is like reading a novel because there is not a single photo in the entire book and the information is so limited it might as well be a brochure. If you cannot find anything else, they are better than nothing but I much prefer, Dk Eyewitness guides, Lonely planet, Insight pocket guides and time out series.

This book was my 'tour guide' for my vacation to Kyiv. I followed the points of interest when I didn't have a tour guide or my English-speaking friends around. I even suggested a museum and a few restaurants that they didn't even know about, even though they lived in Kyiv most of their lives! Though the prices have risen since the publishing of the book and a few restaurants and museums have closed or moved, this book is a must-have for anyone going to this great city!

Anyone planning to travel in Ukraine--or having just returned from a visit to Ukraine--should know that this is the best guidebook I have yet to see. For what I call "after-study" (reading the guidebook when you return from a foreign land, rather than before you go--yes, it's extremely useful), Andrew Evans can't be topped. His chatty yet comprehensive account of Ukraine--its major cities as well as nooks and crannies--is enormously instructive. Not only historical sights and sites, but also hotels large and small, ditto places to eat and drink, are described with indispensable detail. The author KNOWS Ukraine and shares myriad helpful insights with his lucky readers.

I will travel to Kiev this fall; this book is fairly recently published (prices quoted are undoubtedly higher) but has all the essential information and very readable historical and factual descriptions of the city, amenities and sights. It will be in my luggage!

This is a terrific introduction to the city, easy to read and digest. It is not detailed like a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide, but it has the essentials, including some phrases, maps, and web site references.