What kind of lodging arrangements is the best option for an individual tourist traveling about Ukraine?

Many customers write us to ask what their cost anticipation can be if they visit Ukraine for a short (1-2 weeks) term. Here are a few thoughts in response to this question. This article is about the lodging situation, and one of our next articles will be about making transportation reservations in Ukraine.

First of all, each traveler needs to realize that the cheapest trip is the one that is well planned and prearranged. It is difficult to save on some services if you do not know the culture, the language and do not have anyone local who you can trust and who can assist you in doing things, especially when you are already in the new country and are trying to make some arrangements on the spot. In Ukraine, it is practically impossible, because of some local conditions: train timetables are very inconvenient between some cities, or apartment owners set up conditions that sound ridiculous, or simply there are no tickets to some direction.

I think there is no need in giving more examples, and everyone who wants to make his/her trip enjoyable, will follow this good rule: before your arrival to Ukraine, think over all your trip and make arrangements for your stay in each city, and for the transportation between cities. Here are small tips and notes for those who are planning their first trip to Ukraine:

Renting a place to stay in Ukrainian cities
Most of individual tourists and families arriving to Ukraine, prefer to rent private apartments rather than stay in hotels. It is cheaper; apartments are paid for on per apartment basis (no matter how many people are planning to stay), and good apartments always have everything necessary for comfortable living, cooking, relaxing and even working - like at home.

Besides this, apartment owners are usually small business owners, and they can quickly adjust to the requirements of their foreign tenants. So, rentinig apartments is more common than reserving hotel rooms.

At the same time, the whole industry of tourism in Ukraine is only beginning to develop, and hotel services are not as good as the visitors anticipate, so many visitors state that the hotels are a bit overpriced for what they can offer.

So, how much will it cost to rent an apartment for a few nights?
If you want a cheaper deal, it is good to rent it directly from the owner, and to negotiate with the owner until you are really satisfied. The real estate companies also offer many apartments for rent, but they always mark up the price, and they offer a set price that is not to be negotiated, so in the end the apartment is rented 1,5 times more expensive than the owner's price.

As we at Discover Ukraine have contacts of numerous apartments owners all over the country, we know the  real prices in various cities. For your  comparison, here are some of the prices today:
A central city apartment of 2 rooms (a living room and a bedroom) with nice furniture, a fully equipped kitchen and nice, clean bathroom would cost-
Kiev (the capital)  $60 per night and higher
Odessa  $50
Crimea (Yalta, Sevastopol) $40
Lviv $40
Kharkiv - $38
Kherson - $38
Nikolayev - $40
Majority of other cities - $36

It is possible to find apartments even for a cheaper price, but they will be really simple, or may lack some services/appliances etc.

If you come for only 1-2 nights, it is more difficult to find a good apartment, because the owners are interested in renting them for a longer term, of course.

The owners of apartments are usually people with a very specific local mentality, and, as we already mentioned, a good negotiation is needed before you can be sure that they will provide the service well. :-)
They accept (and prefer) cash payments, and it is good when you can pay directly to the owner's hand, there is more guarantee this way that you are not overpaying for the apartment.
As our team deals with apartment ownes every day, we are aware of many situations when dating companies make up agreements with owners of apartments to provide tenants to their apartments, and in the end a very primitive apartment is rented at a price which is usually requested for really good apartments.

In most of cities of Ukraine, the central city apartments have 2 (sometimes 3) rooms. There may be very specific peculiarities about available facilities in particular cities, so if you let me know what cities you are planning to visit, we can give you more particular information.

Discover Ukraine offers a convenient service where our team members can release you from unnecessary do all the work of making the lodging arrangements