Kyiv's newest tourist attraction is Mezhyhirya, the estate that once 'belonged' to ex-president and wannabe Ukrainian dictator, Viktor Yanukovych, famously ousted in the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014. A wander through the opulent grounds – totalling 137 hectares and costing hundreds of millions of dollars to create – gives visitors an idea of just how corrupt the Yanukovych regime had become. Now a national park, the estate is centred around Yanukovych's personal dacha (country house), a 620 sq m pinewood behemoth.
Other shocking highlights include a zoo, horse stables, tennis courts, a golf course, a rare-breed dog kennel and a museum of exotic cars. A general admission ticket gets you access to most of the compound, including the zoo. Entering the dacha can only be done on a special pre-arranged tour – see the park's website for details.
The adult admission price is reduced to 50uah before 9am or after 7pm, and to 40uah all day on Tuesday.
Mezhyhirya is about 15km north of Kyiv. Bus 397 goes right to the park, via Vyshhorod centre, from either Petrivka (15uah, 50 minutes) or Heroyiv Dnipra (35 minutes) metro stations. Departures are every hour on the hour from Petrivka.
If you have spare time to wander around Vyshhorod, you'll find a few attractive churches and, south of Mezhyhirya, yachties and fishers frolicking on the the waters of the Kyiv Sea.
