A trip to Kyrylivka, summer 2021: sea, sun, and jellyfish :)

As I mentioned earlier, this summer we finally decided to go somewhere, and in the end we chose the Ukrainian resort town of Kyrylivka.
Everything went more or less smoothly, so I decided to put together a short review of both the trip and the place where we stayed, and describe Kyrylivka from the perspective of someone with a fresh pair of eyes.


First, apologies for the photo quality. I hadn't originally planned to write a review; I just took the photos as keepsakes for myself using my smartphone. But somewhere along the way, while we were out walking, I got the idea of putting together a sort of photo report and review, so I took pictures of everything that seemed interesting to me.
I realize now that I should have brought either a camera or a different smartphone, but it is what it is.

As always, I'll have both praise and criticism in this article, both subjective and objective. But I'll say upfront that, in my personal opinion, the trip was a success, and my wife and I were happy with it because we came away with a ton of great memories.


So, as I already wrote, this was our first time traveling anywhere, so naturally we were a little nervous. We decided to take a bus from Kharkiv, especially since we happened to find out that it left from fairly close to home, so we didn't even need to take a taxi.
All our things fit into two convenient bags, plus a plastic bag with windbreakers (as it turned out, we were right to bring them), a bottle of water, a power bank, and a few odds and ends. We put the bags in the luggage compartment and took the plastic bag into the cabin.

This was probably our biggest disappointment: the bus seats clearly aren't designed for such a long trip, so I ended up rolling up my windbreaker and putting it behind my lower back.
And it really was a long trip: departure at 21:00, arrival at 6:00. The only thing that made it bearable was the price: just 600 UAH (about $22) for two people, one way. We booked and paid for the tickets online right away, and booked both directions at once. We decided to play it safe because the site said we had to print them out (we later found out that wasn't necessary).

A stop along the way, in Dnipro if I remember correctly. Time: 0:41.


We arrived at 5:40 at Kyrylivka's central bus station. Our first impression—and, as it turned out, our second one too—wasn't great... especially when we saw the nearby toilet with its “M” and “F” signs. Maybe the impression was colored by the discomfort of the trip and the practically sleepless night, but still, everything seemed a bit too basic.
The bus then continued on to Fedotova Spit.


Not far from the bus station there's a little lighthouse with a couple of cute figurines. It's charming in its own way.
And the air—after dusty Kharkiv, the air here is completely different. It's pleasant to breathe even far from the sea, especially early in the morning.


But what really surprised us was the almost complete lack of trees. Forget trees—even bushes are few and far between. It felt as if someone had built neat little houses in the middle of a vacant lot, put up fences around them, and simply forgotten about everything else. Coming from green Kharkiv, we really weren't used to it. I remember a Chinese woman once asking me after one of my video camera reviews, “Do you live in the forest?” No, it's just that our city has a lot of greenery.

There is, however, a neat, if narrow, path, with young trees planted along the right side. It starts right by the bus station and ends near the Transit grocery store (not bad, but expensive).

Here I'd like to call out the administration of the urban-type settlement of Kyrylivka. How can this be? You're a resort town, with more than a million visitors a year, yet you spend next to nothing on landscaping or improving the place in general...
We did find some greenery later, but more on that in a bit.


As soon as we got off the bus, people started offering us places to stay. But since this was our first time there, and we don't like “surprises” in general, we'd arranged our accommodation back in Kharkiv.
The place—I'm not sure whether to call it a guesthouse or a hotel—is fairly close to the bus station. We walked there at an easy pace, even with our bags, and turned down one of the side streets.

The street actually has the lovely name Lazurnaya (Azure), but when I hear a name like that and see what's shown in the photo below, I get a bit of cognitive dissonance...
And it's not just this street; the same goes for all the others. Some homeowners try to improve things themselves by putting in little sidewalks in front of their houses, but it doesn't make much difference overall.


Here we are, almost there: the Amira guesthouse. As I mentioned earlier, we'd booked a room there.
At the entrance there's an intercom panel from the very familiar Hikvision, along with a keypad. All the guests get the code, so they can come and go whenever they like, which is very convenient. But the fence could use a fresh coat of paint; at least then it wouldn't clash with the lovely flower garden inside.


Actually, no—maybe it would be better to sand the fence down and varnish it. Then it would look much more harmonious.
These and some other photos are from the hotel website and other public sources, since we didn't take photos of everything, and without them the picture would be incomplete.


The property consists of two buildings with a total of 14 (or 15—I never did figure that out) rooms. Our room was on the second floor. This is an old photo; it looks much more appealing now, with the terraces covered in plants and feeling cozier. I'll show you what it looks like now later.


If I understood correctly, the hotel is owned by a couple, Sergey and Natalia. I initially spoke with Sergey, who clearly and politely explained everything about the rooms, the location, the distance to the bus station, what to expect during our stay, and so on. He also warned us right away that the sea was relatively far away. I told him that my wife and I were used to walking, so that didn't worry us at all.
After that, I was in touch with Natalia. She met us in the morning and showed us to our room, where we left our bags and took a quick look around our home for the next few days.
After checking out the room, we went down to one of the gazebos, where we paid for our stay and asked about practical things like the route to the sea, shops, water, and so on. They immediately asked how many mobile devices we'd have and gave us a WiFi password for each one. In the end, though, I used Kyivstar mobile internet on my smartphone—it was blazing fast.
By the way, all the water at the property is fresh and technically even drinkable, but Natalia explained that it's better suited for cooking. For tea or coffee, for example, it's better to use different water. She also mentioned that we could buy proper drinking water from them, filtered by reverse osmosis, so that's what we did right away.

It turned out that the tap water really was a little different from our water at home. First, it was noticeably softer; second, it was slightly salty. It was fine for boiling vermicelli, for example, but definitely wouldn't have worked for coffee.


Back to the room: I want to describe it separately and in more detail, since I think it's a pretty important part of the whole vacation experience.

When I spoke with Sergey, he said we'd have a room “in wood,” but it turned out that it wasn't just the wood itself—the room also smelled of wood, which my wife and I really liked. The overall impression was genuinely pleasant, too: the room was spacious, everything was clean and tidy, and it matched the description perfectly—in some ways, it even exceeded it.

As soon as you walk in, you enter a kitchen combined with an entryway. There's a small table for four and a door to the bathroom.
The windows are metal-plastic, with mosquito screens (though we didn't see any mosquitoes in the room during our entire stay). The doors lock, although the window hardware could use a little adjustment—but that's a minor detail.
There are two double switches on the wall. The left one controls the terrace and kitchen lights; the right one controls the bathroom light and exhaust fan.


The kitchen is fully equipped, with a sink, an induction cooktop, an electric kettle, a microwave, and a large refrigerator. The only thing we didn't use was the microwave. Ours is quite different, and honestly, I couldn't be bothered to figure it out just for a couple of uses.


There was also a full set of dishes and cookware: pots, bowls, spoons, forks, and so on. In practice, we only needed one pot, a knife, and a couple of plates, but it was still nice that the owners had thought of what guests might need during their stay. Five stars.
There was one small thing missing: a little kitchen towel and a hook—or, better yet, a rail to hang it on. A rail would have been preferable, since the towel wouldn't touch the wall and leave marks. We thought ahead and brought a towel from home.


Each room is essentially a one-bedroom apartment, with a separate bedroom. The two of us booked a four-person room. A three-person room would have been cheaper; the only difference is the number of beds, but it was already occupied.
There's wood here too, on the walls and even the ceiling. And just like in the kitchen, it looks like it hasn't been treated with anything—or at least it definitely isn't varnished—so there's no chemical smell.

We had a double bed—if I remember correctly, a Lviv-made “Estella”—and a fairly modern sofa. There were also four sets of a large sheet, a pillowcase, and a towel, plus four pillows and even blankets in the bedside table.
But three towels, two sheets (one for the bed and one to cover ourselves with), and two pillowcases were enough for us.

Overall, everything was great, although by evening we realized the room could really use some low-level lighting, at least one wall sconce. The bright overhead light isn't always convenient, but that's just my personal opinion.


There was also a wardrobe with a large mirror and a clothes rail, along with five hangers. That wasn't quite enough for us, but we brought three more from home.

And of course, there was a big TV. I even watched something, though I do that very rarely, while my wife watched quite a bit more. I regretted not bringing an adapter to connect my tablet or smartphone to it, especially since I’d thought of it :)

I should mention the large number of outlets: there were easily enough for two chargers and a shaver and hair dryer, with some left over. The colors of the bed linen and curtains were also nicely coordinated, making the room look even tidier.


There’s an air conditioner. It’s a basic model, of course, but you don’t need anything more here. Even its location is reasonably well chosen, though personally I’d have put it between the beds, near the headboards. In any case, it wasn’t particularly hot, so we turned it off and didn’t use it again before we left.
By the way, it was even a little chilly toward morning with the window open, without the air conditioner.

The doorway to the room has a door, which is another big plus: you won’t have to listen to the refrigerator. I once saw a video review of a more expensive room at another hotel where the kitchen was basically in the bedroom, which would obviously be annoying—and that room cost more, too.

The doors are stiff to close; you can see they’ve swollen from the damp. They’ve swollen so much that even recessing the butterfly hinges didn’t help, though perhaps the doorway itself has narrowed a little, too. But it wasn’t a problem at all—just something I noticed. Either way, having doors is a plus.


I liked the bathroom, too: tiled floor, wooden ceiling, very clean and tidy, with a modern sink and toilet. When we checked in, they provided a roll of toilet paper, a bar of soap in a soap dish, and several trash bags (there were extra bags in the kitchen, too). There was also a small basin under the sink, in case anyone needs to wash something by hand.
I’d give it five stars as well, but I have a couple of suggestions. For example, a grab bar in the shower would be handy, as would a higher shower curb, because no matter how carefully we tried to use it, a little water sometimes got over the edge.
The taps are a little confusing, too: hot water is on the left in the kitchen and shower, but on the right at the sink. We got used to it after a day. The shower mixer has two handles and is very “sensitive”—even a small adjustment noticeably changes the water temperature.

And the water really is hot here—with a capital H—and it comes out hot almost as soon as you turn on the tap. Not like at home, where sometimes you have to wait half an hour for the cold water to “run off.” Kudos, that’s great!

I’d probably recommend that the owners replace the light fixture, though, since the one installed doesn’t meet safety standards for wet areas.


And of course, the terrace—it’s a great place to relax, and that’s where I went out to smoke. It’s comfortable, with clean, fresh air, comfortable chairs, a view of the pool, and a drying rack for clothes and towels. Yes, the drying rack matters: unlike in Kharkiv, things take noticeably longer to dry here, so you’ll use it all the time. I think a second one wouldn’t go amiss in a room for four, especially since towels were a particular problem and simply didn’t have time to dry.

We have a six-meter loggia at home, also clad in wood, by the way—though it’s attached with cladding clips rather than nails—but it doesn’t compare at all to a terrace like this. The terrace is shared by two rooms, but it’s quite long, so I don’t think that will bother anyone.
When we checked in, we were told that the room is handed over clean and isn’t cleaned again before checkout. That was fine with us, but it turned out that the terrace is swept at least once a day, so they keep on top of things.


All in all, everything I’ve mentioned above is more a list of suggestions and mostly a matter of personal opinion, not criticism in any way. Still, after the very first night, we discovered something that took the shine off an otherwise very positive impression.

The bed is good, and the mattress is basic, which was to be expected: circumstances vary, and replacing an expensive mattress in an “emergency” would be much more costly. We’re simply used to a pocket-spring mattress, so we noticed the difference.

But it turned out that the bed creaked a little. It was clearly the slat base that was creaking, not the bed itself. I knew about this issue, so I decided to just tighten the screws holding the slat frame a little.
And I was so surprised when I saw a very unusual technical solution inside: there was no frame at all, and the slats simply rested on side support rails. Naturally, the bed “squeaked”—it couldn’t do otherwise, since slats are supposed to fit into special rubber holders.

I don’t know how things are at other holiday resorts, but the furniture makers here clearly cut corners. There’s a video on my channel where I showed a completed renovation that a friend and I did together, with a description of the process. It also describes exactly this kind of bed, and I showed the slat base there too—link to the video. I recommend watching it if you haven’t already; there’s a lot of useful information.


The room and hotel are all well and good, but we did come here for the sea, after all, so that’s what I’ll talk about next.

I’ll start by describing the route. I took a screenshot of the map and marked the roads we walked along.
1. Red: the route from the bus station to the hotel. As you can see, it’s a very short walk.
2. In green is the route we took to the sea from the start. It’s a little longer, but the spot for sunbathing and swimming is excellent.
3. In yellow is an alternative route, a little shorter, with part of the way shaded by the park. We checked it out later.
4. In blue is the route most people take to the sea. It’s a little closer, but noticeably busier. This is the exit where the webcam is located.

To make our beach visits more comfortable, I had to change my routine quite a bit. I usually went to bed at 4 a.m. and got up at 9:30, but here we got up at 6 a.m., had a cup of coffee with something to eat, got ready, and were at the beach by about 7.
We sunbathed and swam until 11, then went back to our room, showered, had lunch, and rested until 3 p.m. Then it was time for another cup of coffee, and by 4 p.m. we were back at the beach, sunbathing until 6. After the beach, we went back to our room, dropped off our things, changed, and went for a walk.
Of course, we wanted to stay out longer, but mosquitoes got in the way. No, they weren’t even mosquitoes—they were some kind of dogs that attacked anything living... That’s why we were back in our room by around 9 p.m., had something light to eat, showered, and went to bed.


A few photos from the walk to the beach.
I decided to start with this photo not only because I took it right by the hotel, but also as a heads-up for car owners: sometimes your car may have to spend the night on the street. At the very beginning of our conversation, Sergey told me they had parking on the property, but since we don’t have a car yet, it wasn’t an issue for us.


You’ll see lots of beautiful flowers along the way. The homeowners do their best to spruce up the areas around their houses.


After that, it’s simple.
Walk up to the little fence, where a sign clearly tells you that if you’re heading to the sea, this is the way :)
Then follow the path. It’s hard to get lost, since it’s well worn.
The path goes through the park at the Kirillovka sanatorium, with lots of beautiful trees and, in general, a great place to relax.
Come out onto the paved walkway and follow it to the end.


We turned left here, but if you turn right, you can get to the beach faster. There are quite a few food stalls and other places along the way. By the way, right at the fork there’s a stall selling boiled corn. If you like it, buy it here—it costs twice as much on the beach.


There’s a cafeteria on the left. People seemed to come out happy, so I took a photo of the menu and prices just in case. Prices are in UAH; the exchange rate is about 27.5.


You can see the sea from a few spots along the way, but we go a little farther, turn right, reach the stairs, and head down.
There are trash bins by the stairs, so please don’t leave litter on the beach.


From here, you can go either left or right; it doesn’t make much difference. We spent our time on the right-hand side of the beach.
The beach is covered in fine shell fragments. Walking barefoot isn’t very comfortable, but it’s not as hot as sand.


Hooray, I finally made it to the sea :)
The seabed is nice, the slope is moderate, and there are no sudden changes in depth. You don’t have to trudge 50 m out to reach deep water. All in all, five stars.



There’s a cliff behind the beach, and birds have made themselves an apartment block in one section, so it’s best not to sunbathe right there. We started out sunbathing near that spot, though, and almost got away with it :)



The entertainment is pretty standard: parasailing, of course, the usual banana boat/dragon boat, tube rides, water slides, and inflatable water balls.


There’s also a floating amusement island right out at sea.
Huge respect to whoever put benches on the edge of the cliff. It’s genuinely one of the best places to relax: great views, a pleasant breeze coming in off the sea, and the sound of the surf.


You can also take a ride on a small motorboat. We saw it from time to time; I think it leaves from the start of Fedotova Spit.


Overall, there isn’t much in the way of entertainment, so some people bring their own. I should also mention the very upbeat guy calling people onto the “banana boat”—he really lifted the mood of the whole beach.


One view I really liked was the way the sun shines in the early morning.


A couple of times, we went for an evening walk along the beach, where the seagulls were feeding. We would have gone for more walks if it weren't for the mosquitoes everywhere :(


Of course, we were concerned about jellyfish and fleas. Well, there were no fleas, and there were a few "sea cockroaches," but they weren't scary and didn't bother us.
There were jellyfish, though—not the harmless Aurelia, but the quite "stinging" Rhizostoma. There were very few of them during the first two days, so we could swim freely, just glancing around from time to time. On the third day, there were relatively many of them, which was a bit unnerving.
After that, a small storm passed through and almost all the jellyfish were swept out to sea, leaving only a few dead companions behind, and swimming became great again. So it all depends on luck.


When it comes to design, everyone comes up with whatever they can. For example, the "Bagira" resort is designed like an old castle, though in my opinion it's a bit too ostentatious.


Or here's a little house like this. Better, but still not to everyone's taste.


But we liked the loft-style resorts more. They look more understated, and wood always looks beautiful anyway.


You also come across some rather strange places. For example, at the turnoff toward the sea, we saw a resort with some beautiful little houses, but it was odd that there was nobody around and the fence looked absolutely awful.


But from the other side, it turned out that the resort had been completely abandoned, and the doors were boarded up. You also come across resorts abandoned during construction.


On our second day there, we went for a walk and looked for a grocery store, and eventually found one. As I mentioned above, the "Transit" store is quite modern, but has "resort town" prices, though it offers a wider selection than the small shops along the street.
On the plus side, we ended up at the estuary. Yes, it's beautiful in its own way, though you can also feel a sense of neglect.


There was a water park on the other side from us. As it turned out, it's one of the largest in Europe. But be prepared for tickets costing over 500 UAH; for example, tickets to the Jungle year-round water park in Kharkiv start at 220 UAH.
But maybe we'll visit this one too.


After walking around for a while, we followed the navigator back to the hotel where we were staying. This is the modern-looking part of the building where we stayed.
You can see a wind turbine in the photo. I think it's the only one in Kyrylivka, so it made a good landmark.


We'd gotten used to a quiet, peaceful lifestyle—walks in the fields, away from the noise of the city—but we still wanted to see what life in Kyrylivka was like and what there was to see.
On our third day there, we went for a walk along Primorsky Boulevard, where visitors usually spend their time.

It's certainly more interesting here in its own way: a wide sidewalk, beautiful flowers and trees.


We soon reached the central square, decorated with a small fountain and an "I Love Kyrylivka" installation.


There's also a "Three Dolphins" sculpture with a bench, and a whole line of people had formed to take photos.
And that's pretty much all there is to see in the central square. By the way, if you want to take a photo in peace, I recommend going during the day; it's usually empty then.


You can also take a photo with a pair of beautiful pigeons by the fountain. We were a little surprised that there were no birds like these in Kyrylivka. Here in Kharkiv, they fly around in enormous flocks.


The city administration is also located here, and apparently they decided to spruce up the area a little, with some nice signs, for example.


Next comes an entire street of attractions. The street itself looks a little less impressive, of course, but practically everything is concentrated here.
For example, there's a "Petting Zoo" where they'll offer to take your photo with a boa constrictor, eagles, peacocks, and even dinosaurs and fantasy characters.
They also offer excursions here, but as far as I know, they're not particularly interesting. I took a photo of the routes and prices as an extra.


And then I got a slight sense of déjà vu. Anyone who's ever been to Barabashova Market will understand what I mean.
In the evening, there are people everywhere: everyone is going somewhere, eating something, taking photos, buying souvenirs, or taking their kids for a ride on a toy train.


Naturally, there's a lot of emphasis on stalls selling fish and seafood. We thought about buying some, but decided not to risk it, at least not on our first visit :)


There are also countless cafes here, along with stalls grilling all kinds of shashlik right out on the street—the smoke is so thick you can practically cut it with a knife. They also sell beer, wine, cider, and other drinks.
We probably would have tried some local wine, but we only found out by chance that the hotel owner sold it when we were checking out, and by then it was too late.


A little farther on, you'll come across one of the main places to spend your free time—the amusement park.
We went in just to have a look, since it's really aimed at kids.

There are lots of rides, but I think you've probably seen them in other cities too, so there's no point describing them.
The prices are such that if you want to take your child on the rides without being too frugal, it'll cost you around 1000-1500 UAH, not counting all the "treats" they'll inevitably ask you to buy.
Basically, it's a standard money-making machine, but I definitely think it's worth going in with your child.


In the evening, part of the central area is closed to cars, but they still manage to sneak through. You see plenty of convertibles, from a chopped-up "Volga" to fairly modern foreign cars.


We probably would have kept walking, but we were genuinely tired of the noise, the crowds, and the smoke, so we headed back. On the way, we came across a little shop like Kharkiv's ATB or Posad. And, of course, there were mosquitoes—they really did attack in swarms.

It turned out that the lighthouse near the bus station lights up at night, and the dolphin figures on the poles are illuminated too. It looked lovely, but we were already hurrying back to our room, trying to save the photos we'd taken from the hordes of mosquitoes. Even special repellent spray didn't help.


We tried to plan our trip carefully, but there was a small hitch on the last day. We had to check out of our room at 11, while our bus didn't leave until 19:00, and at first we thought we'd just spend the remaining time walking around Kyrylivka.
But it turned out there weren't that many interesting places for us in Kyrylivka, so we asked the owner if we could pay extra to keep the room until around 6 p.m. Unfortunately, they were already expecting new guests and couldn't extend our stay. They did offer to let us leave our bags in a separate room, which even had a fridge where we could put our food. We owe them a special thank-you for that.

So we thought it over and went for a walk in the park at the Kyrylivka sanatorium. I can say it turned out even better than waiting for our departure in the room, so perhaps it was actually a good thing we couldn't extend our stay.

The sanatorium is about 100 years old. Its grounds have a huge number of different paths, and we spent almost all our time walking along them, occasionally stopping to sit not far from the sea.


Most of the paths are paved with asphalt, but some are made of different kinds of paving tiles. The path on the right, by the way, leads from the beach—we explored it toward the end of our trip.


It leads to the sanatorium's dining hall. From there, you can turn left and come out onto the main avenue.
We didn't take photos of the sanatorium buildings, unfortunately, but they're just ordinary old buildings. Judging by their appearance, the most they've done is replace the windows with metal-plastic ones; otherwise, they're typical 1970s-80s Soviet-era buildings.


But the park is known for its many exotic plants and trees. We didn't see everything, but even what we came across was more than enough to make for a relaxing walk. Plus, the air there is very clean, which made the walk even more enjoyable.



An unusual tree with strange fruits. We took a small branch as a keepsake.



Unlike the rest of Kyrylivka, here they don't just mow the lawns; they also trim the bushes into various shapes.


Around 6 p.m. we went back for our things, changed, and slowly made our way to the bus station.


When we arrived, we'd wanted to see which buses left from this station, but it was early and the station was closed. That evening, just in case, I took a photo of the schedules for buses and minibuses, in case it might come in handy for someone.


And that was it: at 7:30 p.m. the bus took us back to Kharkiv. We arrived at 5:10 a.m., called a taxi, and were home by about 5:30.


We came home with lots of memories, a handful of shells, and, of course, a little souvenir—a snail :)


Of course, many people will be wondering how much it all cost.
1. Accommodation for 5 nights - 5000 UAH
2. Bus - 1200 UAH for two, round trip
3. Food - we brought some with us and bought some there; what we bought came to, let's say, 500 UAH.
Total: about 7000 UAH.

We spent quite a bit getting ready, since we had to buy bags, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, and so on.
After we got back, we realized there wasn't much point in bringing food along, except maybe a tasty stick of sausage and some cheese—that is, things that don't weigh much but cost a lot there.

And, as usual, some conclusions.
As I already mentioned, my wife and I had never been anywhere before, so it's hard for us to compare it with anything. But our overall impression was definitely positive, and we'd like to thank:
The Sea of Azov and its wonderful air.
Natalia and Sergey, and their Amira hotel.
PE Kolchak, for not only taking us to the sea but also getting us back safely.
The jellyfish and mosquitoes, which kept us "on our toes" :)

Unfortunately, in my subjective opinion, parts of the area look rather depressing. It could have been a great resort, with park areas, trees, and better-equipped beaches (for example, with changing booths and toilets), and the dead jellyfish could be cleared away. But none of that is there; when you arrive, you'll find a typical residential neighborhood.
Yes, the owners of the resorts do their best to make their properties as attractive and comfortable as possible, and there's a water park and a dolphinarium. But step outside the gates and you'll find almost no local infrastructure or decent roads. I think the Kyrylivka administration should give this some thought, though something tells me it won't be much better even in 10 years. The best hope is probably for the property owners to organize things themselves.

Would we go to the Sea of Azov again? Probably not, but not because it's bad—we'd just like to visit somewhere else.
If we did go, would we stay at Amira again? I'm almost certain we would. The hotel is genuinely great for a quiet family vacation, whether with kids or as a couple, as we did. I recommend it.

That's all from me. I hope my account of our trip will be useful to anyone else planning a vacation.