3 days in Kiev and 3 in Chernobyl - any suggestions?

August 7, 2016 2:54 PM

We'll be visiting Kiev and Chernobyl (here with a guided tour) the next week. Already bought Lonely Planet and will check Atlas Obscura, Tripadvisor. But I'm a bit sceptical with travel advice coming from these sources - I'd rather have a mefite telling me what to do and what to avoid.

More specifically, do you have any suggestions regarding:

• second-hand (international) bookshops
• flea markets
• non-tourist trap restaurants (definitely not international)
• pubs where you're not beaten up for not looking slavic enough
• must see, little known sights?

posted by kmt to Travel & Transportation around Ukraine (1 answer total)

I've popped in here mostly out of jealousy, this sounds like so much fun! I visited Kiev and Chernobyl in February 2014, although I only did the one day tour to Chernobyl - I think in Pripyat you're unlikely to have much freedom to choose where you go. It seemed like most of the tours had an itinerary that was strictly followed. It was totally worth the 12 hour day in an unheated bus at -25C though!

My view of Kiev is slightly skewed, based on what was building up while I was there, and the violence that started 3 days after I left. I was told by a number of people to go on some sort of walking tour on my first day in Kiev, to get a better view of history, but they weren't running for obvious reasons. I didn't feel like I was going to get beaten at any stage for not looking right in any food or drinking establishment, I'm an Australian with a genetic mix that has an overall southern European look, so I stood out like a sore thumb (and they usually sent the young English speaking staff my way before I even opened my mouth), but YMMV.
posted by cholly at 4:18 AM on August 9, 2016