Whether you are a foreigner staying in Kyiv, or a local who has lived here for years, when it comes to night life there are certain places considered as the best, the hottest and the coolest.
Kyiv gives you a rich variety of places to satisfy your needs, depending, of course, on the needs themselves.
If you’re a foreigner in Kyiv for a short visit, you may probably ask your cab driver to take you to the best nightclub in Kyiv.
You are most likely to end up at D’lux, Arena or Patipa – the unofficial cab drivers’ favorites.
Once we went to Patipa with my Dutch friends, but would have rather gone some other place. We were stuck in the entrance line for 30 minutes.
This is how it works here, no matter whether you have paid the cover charge or not.
Angry-looking face-control men in black will carefully look your group over before letting you in.
As for the dress code, officially you’re supposed to wear fashionably neat clothes and shoes, but that’s not always the case.
It’s like the face-control guys have gone blind. After an hour of pushing, kicking and people walking on your feet, you finally get to the dance floor and meet your friends.
Music in Patipa is always great. Professional DJs make the guests want to rock the dance floor.
But it is impossible to really enjoy the music while people are walking on you!
In order to dance for at least half an hour, it is reasonable to arrive earlier, by 11 p.m.
After midnight, the place will already be packed with regular Patipa fans – Turkish guys and Ukrainian girls, including those who don’t really care who they party with.
Western Europeans and Americans end up in Patipa almost by accident.
MCs with poor English and oil-covered girls in bikinis on ultra-high heels are waiting for you.
You might meet a lot of teens here who miraculously pass face control and enjoy countless drinks in the absence of parents.
However, there are some “parents” who occasionally enjoy Patipa fun, meaning older men in search of modernity.
Basically, you meet all kinds of people here, from 16 to 60.
My Dutch friends were a little stumped with all the pushing in Patipa, but had to admit the place looks nice.
Indeed, the flammeous lights, chic furniture and trendy decorations are fashionable enough. While every party has its theme, most center on sex and nudity.
Some party names: “SEX and SADO…”, “Rich Bitch,” “Topless Night” etc.
No matter which day you choose – Tuesday with a discounted bar, Wednesday with 20th century disco, Thursday/Sunday with R’n’B and Friday/Saturday with house music– MCs with poor English and oil-covered girls in bikinis on ultra-high heels are waiting for you.
I guess this is what people are most interested in nowadays.
When you finally feel like leaving this place, you will pass the packed bathroom, which has flooded onto the dance floor before.
So, rather than making its mark as a glamorous top club, Patipa has become the place people simply got used to.
And romances sometimes start there. One happy couple met in a Patipa’s unisex restroom and, one year later, the man proposed to his girl in the very same bathroom.
Weird or not, these people found each other here.
So you never know where you’re going to meet your significant other.
Now that you know what to expect, it’s your turn to decide whether a night of packed and noisy fun is for you.
Alina Chernysh works for the ISTIL Group since January 2010.
