Travel question: What’s the best way to take out money in Ukraine?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

The capital Kiev is at its most cheerful in May (AP)

Q I am visiting Kyiv next weekend, but noticed I can’t exchange currency before I go. Would you recommend taking sterling and exchanging when I get there, or just withdrawing from a cash machine whilst there? I get free overseas withdrawals.

Name withheld

A An excellent choice to be in the fascinating Ukrainian capital in May, when the city will be looking at its freshest and loveliest. Kyiv (or Kiev as some still spell it) is a much-overlooked city that, thankfully, is much cheaper and easier to reach now that Ryanair flies from Manchester and Stansted, in competition with Wizz Air from Luton (not to mention British Airways from Heathrow and Ukraine International from Gatwick). All other things being equal, which they almost never are, I prefer Wizz Air because it serves the close-in Zhulyany airport rather than the more distant Borispol.

In Kyiv or anywhere else in Ukraine, organising money is easy. Because you enjoy fee-free withdrawals from ATMs, you might as well take out some hryvnia on arrival. With around 33 to the pound, I would suggest perhaps 6,000 – costing you roughly £60.

Prices are so pleasingly low that you may be surprised how far this goes in Ukraine. For your further spending needs, there are a spectacular number of bureaux de change, many of them tiny “hole in the wall” kiosks but all of them, in my experience, honest and legitimate (if someone offers to change money on the street, you can be fairly confident they are neither entirely honest nor legitimate). Just take clean £5, £10 and £20 notes and change little and often as you go along.

One more thought if you are planning any kind of holiday in the euro or dollar area later in the summer: rates are so keen in former Soviet republics such as Ukraine that, in my experience, it can be worth changing sterling via the local currency to euros or US dollars.

Certainly, if you have unused Ukrainian currency left at the end, I suggest you convert it to the appropriate funds for your next destination.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder