Independence Square

Come up the stairs out of Maidan Nezalezhnosti metro and you're standing in it. Independence Square - Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or just the Maidan - is the middle of Kyiv in every sense, and everything else in the centre is within walking distance of it. If you do get turned around, any taxi driver in the city will know where you mean.

The square has been a public space since the 19th century, when the council and assembly sat here. What most people know it for came later: four political rallies took place here between 1990 and 2014, the last of them Euromaidan in 2013 and 2014. That one cost lives, and there's a memorial to those who died at one side of the square. It's worth knowing before you arrive that this isn't only a sightseeing spot - after Euromaidan the city moved most of its large entertainment events to other squares, so the Maidan is a quieter and more sober place than its size suggests.

What's Around the Square

The architecture around the edges is the reason most people get their cameras out, and it's a real mix - you can stand in one spot and photograph several different centuries. Khreshchatyk, the main street running along one side, closes to traffic at weekends for pedestrians and street musicians, which is the best time to be here with children. The water museum is ten minutes up the hill in Khreshchatyk Park, and it's the one to remember when it rains.

Underneath, the square connects straight into the metro and a large underground shopping centre, so you can get out of the weather without going far. There's everything from souvenirs to reasonably priced food and drink down there, including the Last Barricade, which you get into through a hidden shop and a password, and it's a useful thing to remember in winter or in a downpour.

Come at least twice if you can - once in daylight for the buildings and once after dark, when the fountains and the column are lit.