UA Beach Club is a great place to spend hot summer weekends, sunbathing, playing volley ball or just watching the Dnipro. Oleksiy Boyko Summers in Kyiv no longer seem to be as hot as they used to be. Still, Ukraine is not a northern country and 30 degrees Celsius in the shade is common weather from late May till late August. Summer in the city is always hard to endure.

Not only do you have to go to work in the morning when you’d much rather head to the beach, but steaming concrete and public transport, stuffy and full of sweaty people, adds to your suffering. To fight the heat, the most daring Kyivans jump in the fountains on Maidan, or at least dip their feet into its refreshing cold water. Personally, I wouldn’t do it for two reasons: It’s not my style and the water is definitely dirty. On the other hand, the water in the most popular swimming places in Kyiv is not much cleaner. So how do we get refreshed?


Down by the river

Even if you prefer to stay out of the water in Kyiv, the river banks are still alluring. There is an occasional breeze to cool you down and even the sight of water makes you feel a little less hot. Besides, you can enjoy the river in style at beach clubs and riverside restaurants.

The newest beach hangout in the city is named after the top popular summer cocktail – Mojito. Mojito Beach Bar (40 Trukhanivska), opened by the owners of Kyiv’s Heaven on Trukhaniv Island in a secluded spot on the bank of Desenka River, shares its location with the Breakwater wakeboarding station. It’s claimed to cater to the very select clientele only – but since that’s such a loose term in this city, just give it a go and try to get in. After all, the place just opened and surely needs guests. Club parties are promised to be regularly held here as well. Mojito provides a patch of clean sand for sunbathing, a lounge-zone placed on a platform floating on the waves and a restaurant serving appropriate summer food – light soups, salads, grilled dishes as well as sushi. And of course, there are Mojitos – 12 kinds of them, in fact, including the versions made with cranberry, basil, strawberry, peach, grapefruit, mandarin, raspberry and pineapple. In addition, you can also enjoy a Russian banya and a massage in the open air.

While there are plenty of free places to sunbath in Hydropark, if you seek clean sand free of cigarette butts, a sun bed and a normal toilet, UA Beach Club is your best choice. This beach club has been around for a number of years but almost every summer reopens under a different name. Once known as Opium Beach Club, last year it was UAM Beach Club and this June the name lost its “M.” The admission fee to the beach is Hr 30, which includes a sun bed and an umbrella. Guests are allowed to bring in regular water and fruit with them. The rest you’ll have to buy on the territory of the club. Some will also be pleased to know that overweight babushkas with their bras off and screaming naked children are not frequent sights here. They are certainly not forbidden from entering. It’s just that the cost and club atmosphere scares them off. As for the regular beach club clientele, mainly youngsters, who, apart from sunbathing and swimming, like to play Frisbee and volleyball to the sound of club music beats. Speaking of music, discos are held there Thursday through Sunday starting at about 11 p.m. The club with its four dance floors, five bars and restaurant offers plenty of options for entertainment. Unfortunately, admission to the beach is forbidden at late hours. While I agree that swimming when you’re drunk should be forbidden, a walk on the cold sand is a great way to cool down after some hot dancing.

Now if you want to dance right on the beach and with no restrictions, your place is Most Open Air, a.k.a. The Most, (metro Petrivka, 233-34-93, 559-10-34) located in Druzhby Narodiv Park, under the Moskovsky Bridge, on the bank of Dnipro. Unlike the two above-mentioned venues, this place is completely non-glamorous and rather free-spirited by nature. Every summer The Most becomes a real center of underground club culture: massive parties and festivals dedicated to techno, drum’n’bass, minimal and other non-mainstream electronic music are regularly held here attracting all the casual and unpretentious partiers. It has two dance floors, a skate park, a rock climbing wall, a bar and a cafe – everything to have fun from dusk till dawn.

While there are just a few open air clubs, there are a great many riverside restaurants in Kyiv. The most fruitful in this regard is the Dnipro quay – the stretch between the Dnipro metro station and Poshtova Ploshcha is lined with eateries of all kinds.

By the Dnipro metro, you can find almost any cuisine to your taste. There is Japanese at Murakami (metro Dnipro, 428-7219) served 24 hours a day; fancy Italian at dance restaurant Schastye Yest (former Rukkola, Naberezhne Shose, berth No. 6, 428-7717); Turkish specialties at Saray Babay (7 Naberezhne Shose, 428-8780), and traditionally tasty Ukrainian at Veranda (Naberezhne Shose, stairs No. 6-7, 428-7299) serving meat and fish cooked at an open grill. Further down the quay, between the bridge leading to Trukhaniv and river port on Poshtova Ploshcha there is Koleso (Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska, berth No. 14, 462-5596) offering traditional Russian cuisine and designed in rich and abundant Russian style with stuffed bears, samovars, hunter’s rifles and horse saddles. Side to side with is Dante (Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska, berth No. 14, 221-4433) – a patio -restaurant, offering an international selection of dishes – from French to Indian and hammocks for relaxing after dinner. Pullman, placed nearby, (Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska, Spasskiy berth No.1, 428-7-428) is a pricy stylish place for seafood gourmets and romantic dinners. Finally, on the other side of Poshtova Ploshcha, you’ll find it all in one – a complex of Chinese restaurant Mandarin, Yapona Khata sushi bar, La La Fa karaoke bar and Disco Radio Hall night club. There are more, smaller places in the area, complete with Dnipro boat tours offered by several companies – the ones offered after dark come with a disco on the deck.


On the rocks

Ice skating in summer sounds crazy. But if you like it, why not? After all, it’s definitely refreshing and while a part of the indoor skating rinks is closed for summer, some are open all year long. Just make sure to bring a jacket if you decide to go for a ride on the ice – it quite a bit colder inside the rink than it is in the summer street.

Unfortunately, some of the most popular Kyiv ice rinks, such as Ice Club Pioneer and Atek, close for the summer. But there are also those that are still open.

Karavan shopping mall (12 Luhova, 461-8206) is located off the beaten path, yet its extensive number of shops and boutiques complete with a movie theater and a skating rink, makes it an increasingly popular place. You can get there by car or by free marshrutkas departing from Petrivka metro. The rink is located right next to the food courts, including the ice cream kiosks, so you can enjoy a tasty meal right after an energetic workout on the ice. The cost of 45-minutes of skating is Hr 10-25 for kids, Hr 25-45 for adults and skates rental is included in the price. For an extra Hr 30 an hour you can hire an instructor who’ll teach you the basics of skating. For your convenience, there is a luggage office, where you can drop off your heavy shopping bags.

The ice arena at Bolshevik mall (6 Hetmana, 200-0750) is generous in size and therefore never crowded. Open from 8 a.m. till 3 a.m., it allows you plenty of time to skate. The price ranges from Hr 25 on the weekdays to Hr 55 on Friday nights and the weekends. Skate rental is included in the price, while the assistance of an instructor is Hr 50 per hour.

The skating rink at Aladdin shopping center (5 Hryshko, 206-4103) is not covered with artificial ice but with a slippery substance that resembles plastic. It’s certainly not the same experience as skating on ice, but still a fun pastime. 30 minutes of skating costs you about Hr 20-30 for half an hour. You can combine a skating session with a sushi dinner at Yapona Khata located right by or try yourself at rock climbing at the special wall placed next to the rink.


Mmm, gelato

Ice cream is one more typical summer attribute. Even though you can have it any time of year, in the hottest months it truly becomes a top favorite dessert. Ukrainian ice cream producers can satisfy almost any taste with the variety of popsicles, cones, glazed and fruity kinds they offer. In supermarkets you can find the most common vanilla ice cream sold per kilogram wrapped in plastic as well as fancy ice cream cakes from famous brands. But what Kyiv really lacks are small ice cream parlors offering a selection of colorful ice cream flavors in cones of brown crunchy waffles. So far, those can only be found in select places.

Gelato – authentic Italian ice cream made from milk, egg yolks and sugar differs from the regular ice cream in several aspects. Gelato ingredients are always fresh and are not homogenized – blended together, thus the ice cream contains less fat, is softer and melts faster. Gelato started coming to Ukraine only a few years ago. At the moment, it is mainly offered by three companies: La Gelateria Italiana, Gelateria Roma and Leonardo pizza and gelato chain.

La Gelateria Italiana (Globus, Maidan Nezalezhnosti; Karavan, 12 Luhova) has over 30 kinds of ice cream flavors, all of them Italian classics: chocolate, pistachio, hazelnut, almond, tiramisu, stracitella, and sorbets – green apple, strawberry, pineapple, wild berries and other. There are also combinations such as orange and bitter dark chocolate and chocolate and rum. Gelato will cost you Hr 13 for a scoop in a waffle cone, though you can also pick a cheaper plastic cup. You can also get a special container for carrying big amounts of ice cream. Get a milkshake made from you favorite gelato or try one of the cold ice cream desserts.

The ice cream from Gelateria Roma (Promenada, 17/21 Baggovut-ivska; Karavan, 12 Luhova) is less delicious to my taste, but I guess its many fans will disagree. Besides, it has some special flavors such as Torrone (Italian nougat) with nuts, Zabaglione (a traditional Italian dessert made from eggs, sugar and sweet wine) and neon-blue Azzurro. One scoop is Hr 10 and a milk shake of any gelato flavor is Hr 25.

Leonardo pizza and gelato chain (2 Bessarabska Ploshcha; 1 Lysenko; 11 Yaroslaviv Val) has several outfits in Kyiv. The most central of them is located inside Bessarabsky market – facing the entrance to Arena and PinchukArtCentre. You can either choose to enjoy your ice cream right there or get a cone and continue your promenade along Khreshchatyk. The selection of flavors (Hr 5 per slop) is quite impressive and at times includes some exotic flavors such as champagne, mint and grapes with grappa. You can also get a milkshake of any chosen gelato but it’s best to ask them not to spray any whipped cream on top – they always put way too much of it in the drinks. Also, make sure to taste Lenoardo’s specialty, semifreddo – Italian semi-frozen desserts, based on cold mousse rather than ice cream.