Europe - Kiev Questions

I will be visiting Kiev for the first time in a few weeks and I had a questions...

1) Security - It is safe especially at night as I will stand out as I'm of South Asian heritage ? Is there any concern of being stopped by the police for no reason and and should I carry a copy of passport or the actual passport with at all times ?

2) Anybody has had issue with credit card fraud as I was told to use cash where ever possible. Also do the new bank cards work that have a chip in them as I know many ATM currently do not also work with these new cards.

3) Is English widely spoken ? I was thinking in investing in the services of a interpreter - if anybody knows of such a service please let me know.

Cheers
Tony

1) Be smart and you'll be fine.

2) The chip cards will work fine.

3) In 2010, it was easier to get by using German rather than English. That being said, if you stick to restaurants and shops in the "touristy" areas, you should be fine with English.

The "market" that winds down along the Andriyivskyy Uzviz had less than 25% English-speakers but they made up for it by having calculators to type out prices.

If you go to the Pechersk Lavra, it might be worth it to enlist the services of one of the private guides that linger in the area. We hired a guide and for 20 Euro we got a few hour tour that was worth every penny.

Kiev is now an easy destination and a good starting point for those visiting the eastern Europe.

English is still not widely spoken, but for the tourism purpose it hardly represents an issue.

As sparkchaser said, if you visit main areas, use "around the world" common sense and don't let your CC too far from your eyes, you're going to be totally fine.

I doubt you'll need a full interpreter (depending on what you're looking to do, of course), but it might be a good idea to pre-arrange a ride from the airport to the city center. Both the airport and the rail stations have rather unscrupulous taxi operators who want $50+ for a ride to the center. The airport itself is rather far though.

Security shouldn't be a huge concern. Definitely make an effort to learn at least the Cyrillic alphabet, as that will make things much easier.

Credit cards are widely accepted and I've never had a problem with mine.

Thanks for all the information ! One last question - does anybody know if a unlocked iPhone 4 will work over there if I purchase a local SIM card ? I was thinking of buying another cheaper unlocked just in case but I would prefer not too.

Cheap local SIM cards are easily available, but I don't know if they have mini (micro?) SIM cards. I'm 100% sure you can get one of the mobile phone shops to cut your card to the iPhone standard though.

What would be the best transportation option from KBP to the center of Kiev?

What would be the best transportation option from KBP to the center of Kiev?
Define best? Cheapest or fastest? Where in the city do you need to get? Last time I was under my own steam I just used the Sky Bus. Whatever you do, it is quite a long schlep from KBP into the centre! http://kbp.aero/en/transport/

Define best? Cheapest or fastest? Where in the city do you need to get? Last time I was under my own steam I just used the Sky Bus. Whatever you do, it is quite a long schlep from KBP into the centre! http://kbp.aero/en/transport/

Hopping to stay at Hyatt Kiev. Not looking for the cheapest, but fastest would be nice. There might be 5 of us arriving.

Hire a driver. It won't be expensive.

Hire a driver. It won't be expensive.

Can you recommend a company or a private driver?

Not really. I used Tour Kiev (http://www.tourkiev.com/) and arranged a driver from/to the airport with them.

Not really. I used Tour Kiev (http://www.tourkiev.com/) and arranged a driver from/to the airport with them.

Ok. Thanks