MONEY

Money exchange.

   There are no complications to exchange money in Kiev. Exchange points are all over the city – in the airport, on the railway station, in hotels and in big supermarkets.

   Russian Rubles, American Dollars and Euro can be exchanged in every exchange point but if you need to exchange Swiss Franks or some other rare currency you need to go to a bank. It is prosecuted by law to pay in foreign currency on the territory of Ukraine since 1995. In crowded places (airport, railway station, night clubs etc)the exchange rate is unremunerative but the advantage is that they work 24 hours.

   First of all be attentive with the indicator board where you will see the exchange rate. There are no commissions while exchanging the currency, the receipt is given to the client with the date and the amount of currency that has been exchanged. But in no way to exchange money in the streets: it is illegal and there is a risk to be cheated.

Credit cards.

   Many institutions connected with tourism except credit cards. The most popular is “Visa”. But it is advisable to inquire what type of payment is acceptable for different services. Nowadays the number of street bankomat with multilingual menu grows.

Travel checks.

   Cash for travel checks can be received in several banks and hotels mostly dealing with foreign tourists.

Grivnas.

   The National currency is called “Grivna”, the abbreviation is UAH, 1 Grivna consists of 100 kopecks.

There are fakes like in every other currency and the most effective way to check the banknote to put it under a special detector. In case there is no possibility to check it in this way some pieces of advice would be useful for a traveller:

• there are banknotes with a value of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 UAH. Every banknote has a portrait of a famous Ukrainian on one side and architectural monuments on the other side;
• banknotes are issued on special paper with watermarks seen in the light;
• every banknote is protected by a metal stripe, portraits, letters and some decorated elements are tangible;
• the code sign is changed if to view it under different angles, if to view the signs through the light the elements must coincide;

Coins.

   There are coins in Ukraine of the following value: 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 и 50 kopecks.