Youth Hostels in Ukraine

Youth hostels are a low-cost alternative to traditional hotels and guesthouses and accommodate anyone — not just young people. Often they offer discounts to holders of ISIC and other cards. Hostels around the world often have four or more beds in each room, a cafeteria and commons area, and other activities available (Internet, swimming pool, etc.), so travelers can expect to meet new people if they choose.

Youth hostels are a very recent innovation in Ukraine (the first appeared in 2003), and they typically aren't exactly like European hostels, but rather something in between a hostel and a regular hotel. This is probably due to the fact that there is a shortage of regular hotels in Ukraine, so the temptation to apply a regular hotel design and charge higher prices is too great to resist. In Kiev the cheapest hostel bed will cost $17.50 and is on the edge of town; in Berlin there is a hostel in the very center of the city with beds starting at 10 Euros ($13).

Here are the most exhaustive lists of Ukrainian hostels I have been able to find:

- travellerspoint.com
- absolutehostels.com

If you browse these sites, you will see that not all the places listed are really "hostels." There appear to be genuine hostels in Kiev, Odessa, Lviv, and Balaklava (near Sevastopol, Crimea).

List of Ukrainian youth hostels

Here I will be developing a list of hostels around the country.

Odessa:
Black Sea Hostel - looks excellent. Foreign owned and managed. As little as 15 Euros per night. Internet and other services. City center.