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Visiting Minsk on the free 5-day visa for Belarus

September 21, 2017 By James Clark 11 Comments

Notes on Minsk

Borders have a magnetic pull for me, which gets stronger the closer I get. Belarus wasn’t in my travel plans until I looked at a map of the Baltic states. Minsk is practically just down the road from Vilnius, so it seemed logical to visit after my visit to Lithuania.

Initially I wasn’t going to go because of the visa rules. I recalled reading a blog post where a visa cost $420 plus a bunch of paperwork. I checked in case there is a different price for Australians, and it turns out that there is now a free 5-day visa for 80 countries. The visa is only available for arrivals and departures from Minsk airport, so I booked the appropriate flights.

There are no forms to submit before you arrive, just the immigration card that will be issued on the flight. When you arrive at the airport there is a obligatory medical insurance that you have to buy, which is payable at a desk before immigration. It works out at around 1 Euro per day, which can be paid in Euro. You will get an insurance form like this.

Belarus Insurance

Here are the full details of the five-day visa-free entry.

First impressions

I arrived in the evening and the pre-paid taxi booth was shut, and finding an official taxi was a challenge. There was the usual scrum of unofficial taxi touts, but I didn’t feel lucky on my first day in a new country. In the end I got the bus into town, which is about 45 minutes drive.

The bus stopped on the main street near where I was staying (yay for pre-loading Google Maps), so I jumped off and walked. I arrived to a city filled with young and beautiful people, modern shops, and clean and wide streets.

First night in Minsk

There are new malls here, and I even passed a YO! Sushi on the way to my hostel. It helped that I was a warm late-summer night and there were lots of people out and about. This was not what I was expecting.

Galleria Minsk

A model Soviet city

Most of Minsk was destroyed during World War II which gave town planners a blank slate to remodel the city into a model Soviet city. The Belarus House of Government is a big chunky block of a building with a statue of Lenin in front, and that sets the tone for the government buildings of the city.

Belarus House of Government

Nezavisimosti Ave (Independence Avenue) is the main street, and is lined with imposing commercial and government buildings.

Nezavisimosti Ave

The landmark I wanted to see the most was the “Solidarity” sculpture. This Soviet modernist piece features heavily-chiseled workers striving towards a glorious communist paradise. Or something like that. It sits above a KFC, which I am sure the Colonel never imagined such a work of political art sitting above one of his restaurants.

Solidarity

If you are arriving by train then you will be greeted by the City Gates, built in the Stalin Empire style.

The City Gates

There are World War II monuments everywhere, such as the Tank Memorial at Central Square.

Central Square tank memorial

And the monumental Victory Monument greets you as you enter the city on road from the airport.

Victory Monument

Look out for the old cinemas as well, such as the Moscow cinema.

Mockba

Beyond the central city area the suburbs are more of a Stalinist hellscape, with rows of apartment towers. I visited at the end of summer, and even then it was getting cold. It must be a bitterly freezing place to walk around in the winter.

Suburban Soviet

And not much of an old town

Trinity old town

No one comes to Minsk for old architecture, but if you want a taste of old Minsk there is a remnant of the old town at Trinity Hill. This little neighbourhood is an approximation of what the old town looked like. The houses are 19th-century style and the streets are of a walkable scale.

Wide streets

While I enjoyed the variety of post-war Soviet modernist buildings, I have a hard time getting onboard with the straight and wide streets. I have the same feeling as a pedestrian when I walk the wide streets of the USA. Everything feels further away than it needs to be. Having said that I did appreciate the wide footpaths without any motorbikes on them.

Wide streets

I saw an exhibition which was promoting the idea of turning one of the inner city streets into a reclaimed urban park, along the lines of the Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul. I hope they get to do it.

Cheonggyecheon in Minsk

Minsk Coat of arms

Just putting it on the record that Minsk has one of the coolest coat of arms in Europe.

Minsk coat of arms

Great Patriotic War Museum

Great Patriotic War Museum

It’s hard not to mention the war when talking about Minsk. The whole city feels like a war memorial with most of its buildings built after the war, and grand war monuments everywhere.

You rarely hear about Belarus in the general narrative of World War II as it’s filed under Operation Barbarossa and the Nazi’s drive towards Moscow.

Over 2 million Belarusians died during the war, which was over 25% of the population. Imagine living in a time when 1/4 of the people you know died in a war. You can understand why the city is one giant war memorial.

Museum items

The Great Patriotic War Museum was the first war museum I have visited from the Soviet perspective. The museum has information in Belarusian, Russian, and English (German being a notable absence). There are lots of war remnants, from personal articles to tanks and firearms, and it’s presented in a matter-of-fact way. No need for propaganda when Nazi atrocities speak for themselves.

Tanks

Having visited war museums around the world it was interesting to visit one that didn’t have any mention of allied activities. Not even a photo of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin at The Yalta Conference. This was the biggest battle in the history of mankind after all, and this is the story of Belarus in WWII.

Tanks for the warning

I assume this is a direction for the war museum and not pointing west for Russian tanks.

Tanks and bikes

Isle of Tears

Another moving war monument is the Isle of Tears. Before the current war in Afghanistan there was the Soviet–Afghan War, which was fought from December 1979 to February 1989. Growing up in the eighties this was a steady backdrop to the 6 o’clock news of that era.

The Isle of Tears is in the river that flows through the city. The monument features statues of the women of Belarus mourning the loss of loved ones.

Isle of Tears

The memorial features a weeping angel that actually weeps. It is rigged up with a pipe so tears are streaming from its face. It made me wonder what will the Afghanistan war memorial look like in Washington D.C, if/when the current war concludes.

Angel monument

Metro

There are two metro lines in the city which form a cross, with the junction in the historic centre. If you are just making a short visit you don’t need to use it. I wanted to see some of the stations, such as Lenin Square (Plošča Lienina).

Lenin Square

Coffee

Flat White coffee culture has arrived in Minsk so I was able to get a good coffee every day. I was staying near Stories Croissants and Coffee, which has fresh croissants daily. There isn’t a bakery culture here, only kiosks selling old pastries, so this was a good place to start the day.

Stories croissants and coffee

Another great cafe is at Manufaktura, which is centrally located off a street lined with other cafes and restaurants.

Manufaktura

Getting to Minsk

Minsk National Airport

With the 5-day visa only available as a visa on arrival, flying into Minsk is the easiest way. Belavia offer the most flights so I ended up flying in from Vilnius and out to Berlin. I booked flights with Yayama, which made booking tickets on Belavia much easier.

Vayama - Find cheap flights at Vayama.com

If you have a visa then getting a train from Vilnius would be a good option as it is just over 2 hours.

Where to stay

I based where to stay on the metro map, figuring that anywhere near the cross point of the main two lines will be suitable. I stayed at the Revolucion Hostel in a private room. This was within walking distance to the main sites and is near some bars and cafes. Search for more hotels in Minsk here.

Filed Under: Travel Blog Tagged With: belarus, minsk

Comments

  1. Kate says

    September 22, 2017 at 6:54 am

    Very interesting! I visited Minsk overnight five years ago en route from Russia to Poland, and have just vague memories of it. This post has definitely peaked my interest to revisit!

    Reply
  2. trevor says

    September 22, 2017 at 9:07 am

    nice post. very detailed.
    did they ask you for travel insurance documents ?

    Reply
    • James Clark says

      September 22, 2017 at 9:31 am

      Hi Trevor, thanks for reminding me that I forgot to add that detail. I just added insurance details.

      Reply
      • trevor says

        September 22, 2017 at 9:36 am

        welcome. great !!! cos i read that u must have before you go. which kindda sucked. written by some who never actually went there… no doubt. chuckle.

        Reply
  3. Dave Graham says

    September 23, 2017 at 6:42 am

    Hi James, thanks for that article. You mentioned “and it turns out that there is now a free 5-day visa for 80 countries”. Could you please explain that a bit more or provide a link / list of those countries.

    Reply
    • James Clark says

      September 23, 2017 at 7:29 am

      Hi Dave,

      no problem, the official government link is underneath that section.

      Reply
  4. owen oglala says

    September 23, 2017 at 9:46 am

    Thanks again for lots of interesting [non-alternate] facts about a place I’ve no plans to visit in this lifetime or in the next three.
    Not much blood was spilled in Russia itself by Germans [by Stalin is off-topic] during WW2, Belarus suffering much more.
    When will you take the tour of “nearby” Chernobyl?

    Reply
    • James Clark says

      September 23, 2017 at 2:00 pm

      My motto should be “I go so you don’t have to”.

      Reply
  5. Cindy says

    October 5, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    So….thanks for the information. I do have a few questions? We are going for the 5 days in November. Do they want to see that you have 25Euros for each day/per person? That’s about $300.00. Does it have to be in Euros? Or can it be in USD? Do they believe you when you say you do have adequate money? Also, as long as my medical insurance letter meets all requirement…does it have to be in their language? Thanks!

    Reply
    • James Clark says

      October 6, 2017 at 12:50 am

      You no longer need to show that you have x amount of money per day. And the insurance is compulsory even if you have insurance. It’s a bit dodgy that they make you pay this, but at least it is only a euro a day.

      Reply
  6. trevor says

    October 6, 2017 at 2:29 am

    Great answer!

    Reply

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James Clark from Nomadic Notes

Hi, I’m James Clark, and I've been travelling the world since 2003 while running a location independent travel business. Nomadic Notes is a travel blog featuring travel guides and notes from my travels.

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