1/5
531 reviews
Photo by Maksym Diachenko via Unsplash

Kyiv

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cheap

kiev

good

speak

expensive

language

great

food

real

beautiful

quality

prices

stay

english

nice

restaurants

warsaw

nomads

Kyiv has a mix of positives and negatives depending on what you're looking for. As a destination, it’s relatively affordable overall—public transport, taxis, mobile data, and food are cheap, even as the city’s prices slowly rise. The restaurant scene is diverse and well-regarded, with plenty of modern and budget-friendly local cuisines. The city is also praised for its historical architecture, green spaces, and lively summer atmosphere. It’s best enjoyed during warmer months, with winter infrastructure often falling short of expectations.

On the downside, language is a significant barrier, with few locals speaking English fluently and most services targeted toward natives or Russian speakers. Finding decent quality housing at reasonable prices is difficult, and the Airbnb scene is notoriously low in quality. Long-term stays can be frustrating, especially for digital nomads, due to limited coworking availability and little English-speaking support. Many expats find it hard to integrate, and services tailored to foreigners can be overpriced. While Kyiv may be worth a short visit, long-term living presents serious challenges unless you speak the local language and have local connections.

Overall, Kyiv is a city of contrasts—affordable and culturally rich but not well-suited for most digital nomads or expats without local language skills.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Kyiv is a seriously not a good place for nomads to stay in. People don't speak english and are not friendly to foreigners at all, either you're white, asian, black, arab, latino, whatever. Food isn't really good specially when it comes to delivery, expensive and tasteless. The metro is cheap which is a good thing, and there is a nice architecture and places to go to.

4 years ago

Been in Kiev for 6 months at this point. Apartments are abysmal, an amazing combination of expensive and low quality. That said, cafes, restaurants, co working spaces are top tier, for 1/3 of the price of anywhere else. Kiev is a diamond in the rough in Eastern Europe in that regard. Regarding the people, you have super-friendly young people, and more macho-type tough demographic. You can usually tell who is who and avoid accordingly. Language barrier is quite a challenge, some of the worst in Europe. Overall Kiev is not perfect, but it has been open during COVID and does certain things really well, but for most people, esp nomads working from home, the real estate is a deal breaker.

4 years ago

I've been in Kiev on and off since 2016.
A nice city in summer. Walkable. Beaches. Nature. Interesting, cultured people. Great restaurant scene. 30 degrees and sunny isn't uncommon.
In winter it's a harsh place to live - the city's infrastructure (water, heating, roads) can't handle it.

Lots of coworking spaces and good cafes. Many talented, low-priced freelancers available to hire.

The Airbnbs in the city are generally awful - either filled with ancient Soviet furniture or ugly, cheap modern furniture.
90% of the buildings in the city centre (Kreschatyk, Podil, Zoloti Vorota) are in a state of disrepair (filthy, with dodgy elevators and crumbling concrete).
Newer apartment buildings can be found in Pechersk, the East side of the river or near the railway station.

The landlords generally have an adversarial and aggressive demeanour that I have never encountered elsewhere.
It's hard to find a 1-bedroom apartment which is decent by EU standards for under $1200 per month.

For logistics - local transport is cheap. Great metro and cheap taxis on the Uklon app.
International travel is overpriced.
The main airport is owned by the same corrupt oligarch who owns the largest airline in the country - as a result prices are inflated.

Supermarkets are also tough. The choices are are either grim, dirty cheap shops or ridiculously overpriced gourmet supermarkets aimed at the oligarch class. There is no middle.

4 years ago

Kiev was a real bargain around 2016/17... Nowadays 2020, its prices are again comparable to a German city. Especially for same quality, since apartments here are the ugliest all over the continent.
Many Turkish sex tourists looking for girls... and local girls therefore avoid foreign men because they think you're sex tourist too.

5 years ago

Even during Winter Kiev is quite amazing.
Although the capital is getting more and more expensive, but it’s still relatively cheap.

Public transport is quite messy, so I took Uber most of the time which is quite cheap (15-20min trip, 3-5km ca. 2 Euro, depending on time and how busy traffic is)

I will come back, but then also in Summer or at least in spring. (around End of April)

5 years ago

Great architecture and a really beautiful city center with many great malls. There are many cool restaurants where you get affordable food, which also has a good quality. Most people can speak English, if not you can easily use google translator. The city has a great, big park, many impressive buildings and beautiful churches. Overall I was really impressed how beautiful it is, and I even visited Kiev in the winter. In the summer I ll come back, because then I m sure it will be even more beautiful. Driving Uber is super cheap there. If you need a temporary mobile phone contract, this is very cheap, I payed approx. 3 Euros for a whole month (12GB data + call and SMS flatrate in the whole Ukraine). I can recommend everyone to visit Kiev for sure. Beautiful capital which is really affordable to live at.

5 years ago

The capital is getting more expensive, but it’s still relatively cheap. Many nice things to discover. I always enjoy my time in Ukraine.

5 years ago

I spent almost 4 months in Kiev. There are a few good things about it but there are more negatives than positives. I would say, check it out for a little but know you shouldn't stay long

6 years ago

The city center is interesting but Warsaw or Budapest are much nicer. Horrible for nomads or long-term due to visa restrictions and language. Almost nobody speaks English, not even young people, forget about social life. Most locals look at westerners as a cash cow.
Without knowing Ukrainian language its extremely difficult to build anything there longterm, lawyers, real estate agents, translators, banks and any service dedicated to expats is totally overpriced and even more expensive than in the UK! To say something good: At least food is tasty and cheap.

6 years ago

Great city. Came here from Warsaw, Poland and when people say Kiev is like what Warsaw was 5 years ago, it feels spot-on. A little behind development and cleanliness wise than Warsaw and other Eastern European cities, but you can truly see the potential and the upswing. Besides the resting b***** face from everyone, they are super friendly! Fun nightlife, good cafes, and cool places to see. I think this is a great 1-2 week trip tops but could see it getting boring for a month or few months.

6 years ago

Absolutely worth visiting. Kyiv has many wonderful, modern, cheap, interesting restaurants and areas to check out. Some amazing bars and Georgian food. A major city but still slowly becoming more English-speaking and international. Some great Airbnbs and some really hilariously bad ones. A city with many facets.

6 years ago

I’ve spent a lot of time in Kiev as both a nomad and an expat and absolutely love it. It does depend what you’re looking for though. Kiev has very cold winters, usually poor service in restaurants, high prices for western-standard goods like clothes, electronics and ‘ethnic’ foods. If you don’t speak any Russian it’s absolutely fine for a short stay of a few weeks in the centre, but for longer periods you’ll be very limited if you don’t have some language skills. Getting decently priced accommodation for longer periods is tricky if you don’t know how it works. That said, though, it’s a cheap place to be overall with cheap food, drinks, transport and entertainment. There are some very fun and cool local people and a small but nice expat community which is fairly active socially. It’s a beautiful city and there’s loads to do. It’s probably not your typical nomad destination though as the coworking scene is limited and not very ‘sociable’, it doesn’t have a beach or hot weather and many people don’t speak English. I’d recommend it if you like Eastern European food and culture, cheap prices and big city life with a twist.

6 years ago

I have lived in Kiev over 6 months in 2017/18. The city is getting more expensive quickly but quality lacks behind on all levels.
Kiev is really difficult to settle in if you don't speak Russian, the entire online marketsplaces are in Russian or even worse in Ukrainian language. In all facebook groups you will only encounter expensive attorneys, mafia-like real estate brokers and everybody is trying to rip you off.
Coworking spaces are mostly fully-booked out by large US IT companies and their Ukrainian teams, and coworking is either totally crappy or rather on the expensive side starting from 200USD per month per desk in the center.
AirBNB Quality is extremely poor value regarding that the prices are rising sharply, imagine a really old and outdated place with an old bed-sofa (hard to find a real bed).
Finding a normal apartment is impossible because of the language bareer and because locals don't want you to find a cheap place.
The only good thing are the women, but to be honest, they all look very similar, if you like real blondes stay away from Kiev.
One of the worst things is the pushing of the Government (and many people) to speak Ukrainean language. Although most people speak Russian on the streets, this is a mayor issue for foreigners. Since now many Facebook Events are anounced in Ukrainean language this is a total show-stopper for expats. Hint: Russian and Ukrainian are both very difficult languages.
I can recommend Kiev only for a weekend trip as a tourist, or if you speak Russian fluently. Otherwise you're wasting your time or investing in a place with an uncertain future and unnecessary high obstacles.

7 years ago

for real?4th city to live in europe? that s a bad joke- then kabul should be fifth

7 years ago

✅ Very affordable

✅ Good food scene

✅ Nice architecture

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to make friends

✅ Easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Freedom of speech

❌ Language barrier

❌ Poor quality apartments

❌ Unfriendly to foreigners

❌ Limited coworking options

❌ Cold winters

❌ Poor infrastructure

❌ Not very democratic

❌ Gets very cold in the winter

❌ Nomads.com members really didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not safe for women

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels

21 -6°
freezing

25 -4°
freezing

36 2°
cold

48 9°
cold

64 18°
cool

75 24°
warm

70 21°
mild

77 25°
warm

57 14°
cool

54 12°
cool

36 2°
cold

30 -1°
freezing

Real

26 -4°
freezing

30 -1°
freezing

39 4°
very cold

49 10°
cold

64 18°
cool

75 24°
warm

70 21°
mild

77 25°
warm

58 15°
cool

54 12°
cool

40 5°
very cold

34 1°
very cold

Humidity

damp
85%

damp
83%

nice
68%

nice
59%

nice
71%

nice
64%

nice
65%

nice
61%

nice
64%

damp
78%

damp
83%

Most common

Rain

dry
40mm

dry
23mm

dry
46mm

rainy
75mm

dry
42mm

rainy
53mm

rainy
62mm

rainy
69mm

dry
3mm

dry
29mm

dry
49mm

Cloud

cloudy
89%

cloudy
86%

cloudy
72%

cloudy
69%

cloudy
73%

pockets
39%

pockets
45%

pockets
49%

cloudy
60%

pockets
43%

cloudy
74%

cloudy
87%

Sun

safe
1 UVI

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
6 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

safe
2 UVI

safe
1 UVI

Remote workers

987 people

1,033 people

836 people

1,320 people

853 people

1,491 people

1,153 people

1,463 people

1,653 people

1,354 people

1,171 people

1,013 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Kyiv's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	3D Logo Designer @ Contra
	Tech Lead Data @ Zensurance
	Senior Software Engineer @ Emergent Software
	Senior Product Designer Europe @ Hostaway
	Full Stack Developer @ RainFocus
	Senior Experience Designer @ Age of Learning
	Head of Product Design @ Notabene
	Staff Full Stack Software Engineer @ Greenlight Financial Technology
	Web3 Digital Marketing Specialist @ Somnia
	Campaigns Director @ Indivisible
	Full Stack Developer Intern @ Portcast

Help pick the best photos for Kyiv and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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$7,700 / mo

🌇 Also went here144 people

400 remote workers in Kyiv now, of which 2+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	0.5/5 (Rank #1374) 531 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍3 liked it 👎4 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Bad
👶 Family score	Bad
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,093 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 24Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Nice: 19°C66°F (feels 19°C66°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 41%
👌 Safety	🧨 Conflict / political instability*
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	🧨 Conflict / political instability*
🤝 Lack of racism*	Okay
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $175 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Okay
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Good
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Bad
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Bad
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Ukraine
🗓️ Average trip length	14 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	24 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 19°C 66°F + 😊 Comfy (41%) = feels 19°C 66°F
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 100 UAH in USD	USD 2.42
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	UAH 10,000 = USD 242
💸 Tipping	Yes, 10%
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Chasopys
💻 Best alt. coworking space	KyivWorking
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍15% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	2,800,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$2,099 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 41% 👱‍♀️ 59%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 90% 👱‍♀️ 10%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Rozetka
🏠 Apartment listings	Slando
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	WizzAir
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	wizzair

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,093 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$822 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,434 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$410 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$517 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,467 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$339 / month
🏠 Median home price	$36,328
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$24 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$48 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$73 / month
🍛 Dinner	$3
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$0
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$1
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$2,500
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$5,000
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$12,500