We simulate the space-time dynamics of high-energy collisions based on a microscopic kinetic description in the conformal relaxation time approximation, in order to determine the range of applicability of an effective description in relativistic viscous hydrodynamics. We find that hydrodynamics provides a quantitatively accurate description of collective flow when the average inverse Reynolds number ${\mathrm{Re}}^{-1}$ is sufficiently small and the early preequilibrium stage is properly accounted for. We further discuss the implications of our findings for the (in)applicability of hydrodynamics in proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and light nucleus collisions.