Kharkiv - Useful Information

When is the Best Time to Come

Kharkiv is amazingly beautiful and in its way attractive in all seasons.

Winter is quite mild here, but it is still different from a European one - the temperature can be 15°C to 30°C below zero. The snow falls in December and lies all winter long. The coldest months of the year are January and February; the warmest ones are July and August.

Kharkiv is very pleasant in summer: there are beautiful parks, gardens, fountains, which bring out the unusual city architecture. It’s sometimes hot, but in that case there many stands with soft drinks and ice-cream.

Since the city is situated on the northern and southern air masses confrontation line, unstable weather conditions are characteristic of it, for example, abrupt temperature changes. You should take that into account when going on a trip.

Time

Ukrainian time is two hours ahead of Greenwich. From the end of March until the beginning of November the summer time is in action (the change is made on the last Sunday of March and November).

Safety Rules

Kharkiv is a relatively safe city but, naturally, as in any other city of the world, stealing and hooliganism acts occur. Most often such unpleasant things happen in overcrowded public transport and crowded places, for example, in the market places, and busy streets. To avoid such a situation:

• Do not carry on you any precious things and big sums of money in cash, do not show the contents of your wallet to people around;
• Do not keep all your money in one place; hide your wallet into the inner pocket or into a special belt bag.

Always have an identification on you (not obligatorily a passport - it can be any document with your photograph, identifying your person). It is advisable to have Xerox copies of your main documents at the place you live at (passport, driving license) - it will be easier to make new ones in case you lose them.

Emergency Situations

If you lose your documents, turn to the nearest militia station.

If you lose you’re your credit card, phone your bank or a hot line number of the corresponding paying system. The card will be blocked and no one to be able to use it.

If you lose your things, you will most probably have to accept it - it’s not easy to find a thing lost. But do not be upset: in case it happened in public transport, you can dial the corresponding phone number to clear the situation. If the thing lost has been insured, you won’t do without militia, as the insurance company will first of all require a certificate confirming the loss.

If you need a WC, in the downtown you should look for blue plastics booths - these are pay bio WCs. There are pay WCs in the tunnel between Radianska and Istorytchnyi Muzey underground stations (open until 19:30), near the Annunciation Cathedral (open until 23:30). There are both pay and free WCs in supermarkets, in the marketplaces, Railway and Bus Stations, in parks. The fee is UAH 0,50-1,00.

Holidays.

Institutions, offices, enterprises, banks, shops (but for food stores) do not work on:

If the holiday falls on the weekend, than the next Monday is usually a day off. The dates to celebrate Easter and Trinity are set separately every year.

Emergency Phone Numbers

Useful Phone Numbers

Militia