Travel and vacation by car are becoming more and more popular. In connection with the events in Ukraine, auto travel in Belarus reached the peak of popularity. Belarusian direction extremely attractive for tourism, thanks to a well-developed infrastructure and a variety of attractions.
When planning a trip to Belarus by car, you need to take into account some features of the culture of driving on highways, which differs from the Russian for the better and significantly more severe punishment for traffic violation.
Route selection
1. Weekend in Belarus
With a time limit, you can organize an informative and rich route for 2-3 days. We propose to visit Belarus with a thorough examination of two cities: the most ancient city of Belarus - Polotsk and a major historical center of avant-garde art - Vitebsk.
Road: Moscow (Moscow region) - Vitebsk (Belarus) - Shumilino - Obol - Polotsk - Vitebsk (Belarus) - Moscow (Moscow region).
Duration: 2-3 days.
Monument to the letter Ў in Polotsk |
2. Castle belt of Belarus
On the territory of Belarus a large number of in varying degrees of preservation of medieval castles and palaces, fortresses from the times of the Lithuanian principality, noble estates, churches and churches. The proposed trip plan will allow you to deeply get acquainted with the so-called "Castle Belt" of Belarus. Traveling by car in Belarus, you can plunge into the world of small towns, where life has not always been as calm and measured as it is now. The first part of the trip will take the route Moscow-Minsk via Borisov.
Road: Moscow (Moscow region) - Borisov (Belarus) - Minsk - Zaslavl - Minsk - Rakov - Krevo - Boruny - Golshany - Desyatniki - Lida - Pruzhany - Kossovo - Synkovichi - Zhirovichi - Slonim - Novogrudok - Lyubcha - Lyubcha - Mir - Nesvizh - Dudutki - Orsha (Belarus) - Moscow (Moscow region).
Duration: 8 days.
Attractions to see
National Library |  Gedemina Castle |  Tyszkiewicz Manor | National Museum stories |
Russian AutoMotoClub (RAMK) on the roads of Belarus
Overcoming a long road will become as pleasant and convenient for you as possible if you have a card of the Russian AutoMotoClub (RAMK). Buying a card of a member of our club, you can always count on qualified and fast technical assistance, as well as evacuation services practically throughout Russia and Belarus, as well as in many European countries.
Traveling by car in Belarus can be darkened by a breakdown on the road. However, as a member of RAMK, in case of problems with vehicles, assistance in the elimination of which is provided to cardholders, you can always contact the RAMK contact center. Experienced mechanics will promptly go to the site and make urgent repairs or evacuation of vehicles.
Autotourism in Belarus will leave you an extremely pleasant experience, and no accidents on the road can spoil your vacation. The advantages of cooperation with RAMK are obvious - these are:
- Large coverage area;
- Saving money, time and nerves;
- High quality work;
- Efficiency in the provision of services.
Population: 9,498,700 (2015);
Capital: Minsk;
Largest cities: Minsk, Gomel, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Grodno, Brest;
official languages: Belarusian, Russian;
Belarus is famous for its forests, lakes and rivers, but not only they attract tourists. There are many ancient castles and monuments that are perfectly combined with modern buildings. To experience all the beauty of this country, it is worth going on a trip in the summer and by car.
What to see in Belarus?
Belarus is a small state located in the center of Europe, but which every year interests more and more more tourists... This is a great vacation option for residents of Russia, because no visas are needed, there is no language barrier.
For the convenience of travel, we will conduct an overview of what to see in Belarus by car in the summer. Let's highlight the most popular cities and places in this country:
- Minsk;
- Stalin's line;
- Khatyn;
- Brest Fortress;
- Grodno;
- Skidel;
- Polotsk.
Each of these points has its own characteristics, which makes them unique. Below we will take a closer look at each of them.
Minsk is the capital of Belarus
Usually a trip to Belarus starts from its capital - Minsk... This is a beautiful and amazing city, so every tourist will find here what he likes. Consider the places you definitely need to go to:
Highlighted most popular places Minsk, but that's not all. There are also many museums, theaters, shopping centers and much more.
Stalin's line
Historical complex dedicated to the victory of the people in the Great Patriotic War. This memorial was opened in 2005 on the site of fortifications that stretched along the western borders of the USSR.
It is quite easy to get there by car: along the P28 “Minsk - Molodechno” highway. The complex is located 28 kilometers from the capital.
On Stalin's lines it will be interesting for both adults and children. Here you can climb through the trenches, visit technical rooms built like those that were during the war, etc. You can also ride a real tank and shoot from a cannon or any other weapon.
Khatyn - a destroyed village
To honor the memory of those who fell during the Great Patriotic War, it is worth going to Khatyn... it memorial Complex, built on the site of a burned down village.
Khatyn is located 54 kilometers from Minsk. You must drive a car along the highway M3(Minsk-Vitebsk), having seen the sign, you should turn off and drive another 5 km.
The complex is exactly the same as the pre-war village. Obelisks with bells stand on the site of previously erected houses. There is a sculpture in the center "Rebellious Man"... Nearby there is a wall of sorrow, where all the villages burned by the Nazis are indicated.
V summer time you can go to the palace and park complex located in the city Nesvizh... This point of Belarus is truly mesmerizing and will not leave anyone indifferent.
To begin with, we note that the distance from Minsk will be 70 km. You need to drive along the highway M1(Minsk-Brest), as soon as we arrived in the city, there will be a pointer to the castle.
Here it is worth taking a walk in the park, which fascinates with lakes and alleys. But also go to the castle of the Radziwill princes showing us how they lived. Note that it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Another famous castle Belarus is Mirsky, which is also listed by UNESCO. The castle is located on a hill, so it is easy to see it from anywhere in the city.
Mir Castle is located 102 km from Minsk. You also need to go by car along the M1 highway (Minsk-Brest).
The castle is made of red and white bricks, it was built as a defensive structure, but, in fact, did not participate in wars. For tourists, there is a chapel and towers showing the life of the former owners of the castle. Near the castle there is a lake that keeps secrets and legends. To get to know them, book one of the excursions offered by local tour operators.
Brest Fortress
One of the famous sights of Belarus and the main monument of the Second World War is Brest Fortress... After all, she was the first to take the blow of the fascist invaders.
In memory of the fallen wars, this memorial complex was erected there, covering an area of almost 4 kilometers. Here you can walk through the ruins of the bastion, see the surviving buildings and monuments. Every visitor who has visited the fortress will feel all the pain experienced during the war.
65 km from Brest is another object marked by UNESCO -. It is a nature reserve, which has preserved trees and plants, untouched by man. Also, there are enclosures with animals, which are looked after by the holders of the reserve. If a vacation is planned with children, then this is one of the places that you definitely need to come to. To make it easier to walk and not get lost, it is better to book an excursion.
Royal Grodno
Grodno is often considered the European and royal city of the republic. For several centuries, the residences of various princes and kings were located here.
At the present time, it is considered regional city... It can be conditionally divided into old and new cities. The city center is an old part, in which the main attractions are located: several churches, the New Castle, the ruins of the Old Castle, a wonderful park, a theater and much more. Note that Grodno is famous for its zoo, which is the largest zoo in Belarus. Both an adult and a child will be interested in this city.
Skidel - a sweet town
30 km from Grodno on the river Discount the city is spread out Skidel... It was founded in 1508, so it has a huge history. He managed to visit the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian Empire. Of the historical places, only the Catholic church of the nineteenth century and the brama of the Antonovich-Chetvertinsky estate with a park have been preserved there.
Skidel is famous for its sugar mill, which is the first on the territory of Belarus. Note that in this small town with a population of about ten thousand people, fifteen enterprises function.
The first stone castle built on the territory of Belarus is Lidsky... It was erected in 1323 by order of Prince Gedemin, and performed a defensive function, and also held hostages and tortured there. The castle is open to viewing the instruments of torture of that time, and you can also visit the inside of the castle. In summer, knightly tournaments and festivals are often organized, in which any visitor can take part.
Polotsk - the oldest city in Belarus
Polotsk is the oldest city in Belarus, the first mention of the city dates back to 862. Going to Belarus, it is worth visiting this amazing city located not far from Vitebsk.
There is something to see here, because there are many ancient buildings and monuments on an area of almost 40 km 2. Among them stands out Sophia Cathedral- the first Orthodox stone church built in Belarus. Also located here Spaso-Euphrosyne monastery, which contains the relics of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk.
conclusions
Of course, these are not all places in Belarus that are worth visiting. Each city has monuments or architecture that preserves history. Traveling by car, especially in summer, you can fully enjoy the beauty of nature, and still see many new and interesting cities and places that have not yet been visited.
Many travelers planning to travel to Belarus for the first time wonder whether they need a passport to enter. To travel to the Republic of Belarus, citizens Russian Federation a passport is not needed. You can enter Belarus by presenting your passport, but no marks will be put on it. The Western European architecture of the cities of Belarus will allow you to plunge into the atmosphere of old Europe even for those travelers who have not issued a passport.
Usually, excursions in Belarus start from the capital of the country, the city of Minsk. A trip to Minsk from Moscow by private car will take about 12 hours. It is also possible to get from Moscow by train; the journey will take about 9-10 hours. The most fast way travel from Moscow to Minsk is by plane. Direct flights are carried out daily by several airlines.
The exchange of Russian rubles for Belarusian rubles can be made at any bank branch or currency exchange office. You will need to present your passport or passport with which you entered the country. One Russian ruble equals approximately 275 Belarusian rubles.
A trip by car to Belarus will be especially interesting. You can rent a car in Minsk. This will give you complete freedom of movement and the opportunity to travel to any part of Belarus. The cost of renting a car at the airport depends on the rental period and starts from 350,000 rubles per day.
Cheap hotels in most cities are located around railway station... In a budget hotel you can check in from 140,000 rubles per bed. Hotels offer private rooms from 350,000 rubles.
Most interesting objects Minsk are:
- Town hall.
- Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.
- Catholic church of St. Simeon and St. Helena, Virgin Mary, St. Roch.
- The ensemble of the former monasteries of the Bernardines and Bernardines, St. Elizabeth's Monastery.
- Trinity Suburb.
- The churches of Peter and Paul, Alexander Nevsky, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and the chapels of all Belarusian saints.
- Pishchalovsky castle.
- National Library of Belarus.
Where to go in Minsk in winter time, so this is the skating rink, which is poured in front of the Palace of the Republic, and also to visit ski resort Silichi 30 km from Minsk. In addition, the Khatyn memorial complex is located 50 km north of Minsk. The cost of the visit is 40,000 rubles for adults, 25,000 for students.
Mir Castle is one of those places that you should definitely go to, especially if you are traveling around Belarus by car. It is located 90 km from Minsk. Mir Castle is the easternmost in Europe architectural complex in the gothic style. Since 2000, it has been part of cultural heritage UNESCO.
To enter the Mir Castle you need a ticket, its cost is 200,000 rubles. On the territory of the castle there is a restaurant and a hotel with a room rate starting from a million rubles, so those who want to save money should go here for one day, returning to a hotel in Minsk in the evening or continue their journey towards the city of Nesvizh.
Next place, where you should stop by by car - Nesvizh castle. This castle complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located 30 km from the Mir Castle, so both castles can be viewed in one day. Visiting Nesvizh Castle, you can stay in the town of Nesvizh. A small private hotel will cost from 180,000 rubles for a single room. Nesvizh Castle also has a hotel on its territory.
The castle is open to visitors every day, in the summer from 9.30 to 18.30, in the winter from 9.00 to 18.00. You will also need a ticket, ticket prices: 50,000 rubles for children, 100,000 for adults. It is possible to visit Nesvizh Castle free of charge, on the last Monday of any month. Nesvizh Castle is also famous for the oldest town hall in Belarus, entrance to it is paid separately, and for the Church of the Corpus Christi.
If, thinking about where to go next, you decide to move west, then you should visit Grodno. It is quite easy to get to Grodno by car from anywhere in Belarus, the roads are good here. There will be no problems with finding a hotel. There are many offers from individuals at the station, the prices offered there are very loyal. The hotel will cost an average of 350,000 rubles.
Where to go in Grodno is museums. There are seven of them, the average entrance ticket price for adults is 15,000 - 30,000 rubles, for schoolchildren - 10,000 - 20,000. In general, the main sights of Grodno can be seen in one day. These include:
- The old castle is a medieval palace.
- New Castle - located opposite the Old Castle.
- The Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier is a Catholic church in the Baroque style.
The historic center of Grodno is a pleasant place for walking. V architectural ensembles the center of Grodno is intertwined with many different European styles, so a trip to Belarus can give you a unique opportunity to feel the atmosphere of old Europe, but you don't even need a passport.
Brest is located on the border with Poland and is one of the five oldest cities in Belarus. With a Schengen visa and taking with them a passport, tourists have the opportunity to travel to Poland. Here's what to see in Brest will be the most interesting:
- Brest Hero Fortress. To see it, you need a ticket, entrance ticket prices: 30,000 rubles for adults, 15,000 - for students.
- Archaeological Museum"Berestye". Entrance ticket for adults - 20,000 rubles, for schoolchildren - 10,000. Every second Wednesday of the month the museum is open to visitors free of charge.
- St. Simeon's Cathedral.
- Holy Cross Church.
Budget hotels in Brest offer beds from 200,000 rubles. V inexpensive hotel it is possible to move in from 250,000 rubles per room.
Another place worth going when visiting Brest is national park « Bialowieza Forest", Which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the territory of the reserve there are hotels and guest houses. The average cost of rooms is from 500,000 rubles. In winter, there is a Santa Claus house for children.
In the north of Belarus, it is worth visiting the city of Vitebsk - cultural capital country. From what to see in Vitebsk and where to go, it is worth highlighting such objects as:
- City Hall.
- Governor's Palace.
- Art Museum.
- Museum and Exhibition Complex Chagall.
- The building of the regional executive committee, which previously housed the female diocesan school.
- Victory Square is the largest in Belarus.
- Churches and cathedrals of the 18th - 19th centuries.
It is quite easy to rent a hotel in the city, but the prices in Vitebsk are somewhat overpriced. When choosing a budget hotel, you should count on a bed from 180,000 rubles.
DAY 1: MINSK
We arrived in Minsk on a rainy May morning and immediately went to the VIVA wanted to leave our things. A huge plus of the hostel is that it is within walking distance from the station, in a fairly convenient location. We booked the seats in advance, as on the May holidays everything is usually busy. At a cost - about 600 rubles per person in a four-bed room.
If you check in earlier than 12, you can leave your belongings in the luggage room.
The main disadvantage of the hostel is very little space. There is no separate kitchen, a refrigerator and a microwave oven are located right in the corridor, and breakfast has to be taken at low uncomfortable coffee tables near the entrance and reception.
The bunk beds are very low, the seat on the ground floor is not allowed, just lie down. The entire hostel has only two showers combined with toilets, so getting to the toilet in the morning is quite difficult. On the plus side, there are very good comfortable mattresses and friendly staff.
Last year I was in Minsk too, but we stayed at the Jazz hostel. There is much more space in Jazz, a spacious, cozy kitchen, at a cost we got about 350 rubles. per person in a 9-bed room (it was out of season and we lived in a 9-bed room alone). But there is one significant disadvantage that overrides all the advantages - it is very far from the center. First, you need to go 20-30 minutes by tram to the terminal, then go through the private sector for another 10-15 minutes.
Leaving our things, we went for a walk around the city with Zmitser. He is just a wonderful person and an excellent guide who knows almost everything about Belarus. Zmitser (and in Russian Dima) studies at the Belarusian State University with a degree in History of Belarus, knows all the most interesting places, can answer any question about Belarus and loves his country so much that he infects others with it :-) It was he who invited me to see Belarus last year (then we went along the route Minsk-Gomel-Polotsk-Vitebsk), and I liked it so much, that I wanted to return in this. Here is a link to his page: http://by.holiday.by/gid/111
Since it was raining on the first day of our trip, Dima suggested a route that goes as far as possible indoors.
Leaving the railway station at the gates of Minsk and turning left, we ended up at the Belarusian State University at the Faculty of International Relations. The entrance to all Belarusian universities is free, and we calmly climbed to the very last floor (it seems the 12th), where a wonderful panorama of Privokzalnaya Square opens (on the right, the railway station, on the left - the gates of Minsk):
And from below the gates of Minsk look like this:
The gate was built in 1954, on each tower there are 4 sculptures: a worker, a collective farmer, an engineer and a soldier (the sculptures were dismantled in the 70s)
It is convenient to walk from the gate to the main square of the city - Nezalezhnosti (Independence) Square. On the square are the Government House, the Belarusian State Pedagogical University, Lenin (and how can it be without him!), The Main Post Office, the Red Church, and underground the Stolitsa shopping center, very reminiscent of Okhotny Ryad in Moscow.
BSPU building:
One of unusual places Minsk is the National Library of Belarus. According to the Village of Joy website, which evaluates the most amazing, interesting, fantastic and incomprehensible things in the world, the National Library in Minsk entered the TOP 50 most unusual buildings in the world and took 24th place. And according to the American magazineThe Travel + Leisure Library has made it to the list of the ugliest buildings in the world.
Books inside the library move in small locomotive boxes under the ceiling. When you come in, you can't even believe that you are in the library. Travelers need to issue a one-time pass with a passport. The building hosts many exhibitions, guided tours to observation deck... But there is nothing special to see - the building is located on the outskirts (Vostok metro station), around only gray residential areas). But exhibitions can be quite interesting. Belarus goes year of frugality, so the following posters are posted everywhere:
In the evening, the library building looks rather unusual, like a large New Year's toy:
DAY 2: MINSK
It is great to walk in the center of Minsk - wherever you turn, you will find something interesting everywhere.
It is especially interesting to walk along the Trinity suburb, the historic center Minsk. And although all the houses here have been restored and do not give the impression of being old, the atmosphere is still somehow special, not the same as in other parts of the city:
Near Trinity Suburb, you can ride a catamaran on the Svisloch River, it is inexpensive, however, there are restrictions on where you can swim and where you can't. And when we began to explore the route, it turned out that it was impossible to swim anywhere except around the Island of Tears.
Ducks chased us in the hope that we would treat them with something
And the fishermen were happy to be photographed
We got to the Easter holiday
In Minsk, Orthodox churches coexist with Catholic ones, it seems that Catholics and Orthodox Christians are about the same, although according to official data in Belarus 80% are Orthodox and 14% are Catholics.
V mall on Nemiga (Nemiga is underground river) the Soviet atmosphere still remains, as if from childhood. But for shopping, in my opinion, Belarus is not the best place... And although it is generally accepted that Belarusian things are quite high quality (this is really so), but the models are often outdated, as if from the Soviet Union, and it is quite difficult to find something really beautiful (but if you set yourself such a goal, you can) ...
