Ukraine Accommodation Guide

All about accommodation options available in Ukraine

This expanding section of TryUkraine.com talks about Ukrainian hotels and how to go about booking them, a small but increasing number of youth hostels, and finding apartments for long or short-term rental (read on below).

Short-term apartment rental

Private apartments for short-term rent are a popular alternative to hotels. Apartments offered in Kiev, for example, typically range in price from $40 to $120 USD per night (for the whole apartment), depending on the location, apartment size, interior design, and conveniences.

Many foreigners book apartments for their trips on Internet websites targeted at foreigners. These sites offer upscale and deluxe apartments with English speaking staff and added services (Internet, laundry, groceries, etc.). In many cases this is a better deal than a hotel room of the same price.

For apartments in Kiev, Lviv, and Odessa I recommend www.kievapartment.com. This company is able to accept payment by credit card or by PayPal. Ukr Apartments also has apartments available for rent in Kiev, has a searchable database, and accepts credit cards.

Where the cheapest apartments are
For the cheapest apartments oriented towards local travelers, look for ladies in front of train stations across Ukraine (including the Kiev train station) saying, "kvartira, kvartira" (apartment, apartment). It is best to have a local or an experienced expat do the bargaining, since local renters view foreigners as high-risk tenants.

Long-term apartment rent

If you are going to be staying in one place in Ukraine for an extended period of time, you will probably want to rent an apartment. Unless you have local friends who have their own connections, the best way to do this is by turning to a real-estate firm. However, here you must be careful, since realtors and renters will often take advantage of foreigners' lack of knowledge about the market and raise the price accordingly. To avoid this problem, consider getting qualified assistance renting an apartment (a TryUkraine service).

- read an expat's story about finding apartments to rent in Kiev

Keep in mind that many renters ideally hope to find a trustworthy family as long-term tenants and may be mistrustful of people who do not fall into this category — including foreigners, bachelors, unmarried couples living together, or people with eccentric habits, appearance, or unusual professions. You may have to convince people that you are trustworthy and will not run up huge phone bills on international calls then disappear, or lead a raucous lifestyle that could get you in trouble with the neighbors or police.

They may require a few months' rent (usually one or two) as a pre-payment. Often no rental contract is signed or the contract is for a much lower amount than you have actually agreed to pay (this is for the owners' tax evasion purposes). In actuality, renting an apartment is best done by a local unless you have excellent language skills and lots of living experience in Ukraine or other post-Soviet countries.

Rent for both short and long-term apartments is traditionally paid in dollars, though euros and hryvnias are becoming increasingly popular.

learn about acquiring real estate in Ukraine >>