Kyiv Railway Station

The main train station (also know as Kiev Passazhirskiy) is located not far from the city centre and is easily accessible by bus, tram, taxi and the Vokzalna metro station. It’s the largest train station in Ukraine with connections to most cities within the country and some international destinations too.

The best place to buy tickets is online at the official Ukrainian Railways web site which is in English and you can pay by internation credit card without problem. You’ll then receive a PDF by email which you can show from your phone as you don’t need a printed ticket.

There is also a Google Play and Apple iPhone application for buying and storing e-tickets which works surprisingly well. Of course you can buy tickets in the ticket office too, but language may be an issue.

Most trains also travel through the Darnytsia railway station, but don’t be fooled by the name as it’s nowhere close to metro station with the same name.

Intercity Trains

When you think of trains in Ukraine, you automatically think of slow old soviet style trains, however with a little thanks to Euro 2012 they purchased 12 new high speed trains to help football fans travel between the host cities. The trains are large and modern with free wifi and a buffet car. They also have first class seating, but it’s not worth the extra price as it’s really just slightly larger seats and no extra service like on European trains.

These trains travel across the country at 160 km/h and can get to most places within 5 hours. Destinations from Kyiv include Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Ternopil and Kryvy Rih.

Long Distance Sleeper Trains

If you want to save on accommodation costs you can take sleeper trains to Lviv and beyond. These take around twice as long as the intercity trains, but have beds so you can try and sleep. There’s 3 different types of accommodation available:

• 1st Class – A private lockable compartment with only 2 beds
• 2nd Class – The same as 1st, but with bunk beds to sleep 4 people
• 3rd Class – Bunk beds arranged throughout the carriage with no privacy

If you are travelling alone you can buy all the beds in a compartment to get a private room. There is also an attendant in each carriage who will bring you chai (tea) in the morning to wake you up.

International Trains

There are internation trains to Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Austria. Given the introduction of low cost airlines in Ukraine in recent years, it’s often cheaper and quicker to fly and you can be where you want to go in a few hours rather than up to a day by train.

Apple in Kyiv?

You’ll find no official Apple Store in Kyiv, but they did film an Apple Watch advert in the station in 2017: