Is it possible to get to Belarus? How and where to go to Belarus by car. Which road is better to go to Belarus?

Traveling and vacationing by car is becoming increasingly popular. In connection with the events in Ukraine, road trips around Belarus have reached the peak of popularity. The Belarusian destination is extremely attractive for tourism, thanks to its good 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 driving culture on highways, which differs from the Russian one for the better and the punishment for violating traffic rules is much more severe.

Route selection

1. Weekend in Belarus

If time is limited, you can organize an informative and eventful itinerary for 2-3 days. We invite you to visit Belarus with a detailed examination of two cities: ancient city Belarus - Polotsk and a large 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 there are a large number of medieval castles and palaces, fortresses from the times of the Principality of Lithuania, noble estates, churches and churches in varying degrees of preservation. The proposed trip plan will allow you to become deeply acquainted with the so-called “Castle Belt” of Belarus. Traveling by car around Belarus, you can plunge into the world of towns, where life was not always as calm and measured as it is now. The first part of the trip will take place along the Moscow-Minsk route 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

Gedimina Castle

Tyshkevich estate

National History Museum

Russian AutoMotoClub (RAMK) on the roads of Belarus

Overcoming a long road will be as pleasant and convenient for you as possible if you have a Russian AutoMotoClub (RAMK) card. By purchasing a member card of our club, you can always count on qualified and fast technical assistance, as well as evacuation services throughout almost all of Russia and Belarus, as well as in many European countries.

Traveling by car in Belarus can be ruined due to a breakdown on the road. However, as a member of RAMK, if problems arise with vehicles, assistance in eliminating which is provided to cardholders, you can always contact the RAMK contact center. Experienced mechanics will promptly go to the site and carry out urgent repairs or evacuation of vehicles.

Auto tourism in Belarus will leave you with extremely pleasant impressions, and no incidents on the road can ruin your vacation. The advantages of cooperation with RAMK are obvious:

Large coverage area;
Saving – money, time and nerves;
High quality work;
Efficiency of service provision.

Population: 9,498,700 people (2015);

Capital: Minsk;

Largest cities: Minsk, Gomel, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Grodno, Brest;

official languages: Belarusian, Russian;

DAY 1: MINSK
We arrived in Minsk on a rainy morning in May and immediately headed to the VIVA hotel to leave our things. A huge plus of the hostel is that it is within walking distance from the station, quite convenient location. We booked our seats in advance because... May holidays everything is usually busy. The cost is about 600 rubles per person in a four-bed room.

If you check-in before 12, you can leave your luggage in the luggage room.
The main disadvantage of the hostel is very little space. There is no separate kitchen, the refrigerator and microwave are located right in the hallway, and you have to have breakfast at low, uncomfortable coffee tables near the entrance and reception.

The bunk beds are very low, you can't sit on the ground floor, you can only lie down. There are only two showers combined with toilets in the entire hostel, so getting to the toilet in the morning is quite difficult. The pluses are very good comfortable mattresses and friendly staff.
Last year I was also in Minsk, but we stayed at the Jazz Hostel. In Jazz there is much more space, spacious cozy kitchen, the cost was about 350 rubles. per person in a 9-bed room (it was not the season and we lived in a 9-bed room alone). But there is one significant disadvantage that outweighs all the advantages - it is very far from the center. First you need to take a tram for 20-30 minutes to the end, then walk through the private sector for another 10-15 minutes.

Having left our things, we went for a walk around the city with Zmitser. He is simply a wonderful person and an excellent guide who knows almost everything about Belarus. Zmitser (or Dima in Russian) 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 those around him :-) 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 come back for this too. 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 would take place indoors as much as possible.
Coming out of railway station to the gates of Minsk and turning left, we found ourselves at the Belarusian State University at the Faculty of International Relations. Entrance to all Belarusian universities is free, and we calmly climbed to the very last floor (I think the 12th), where a wonderful panorama of the Station Square(on the right is the railway station, on the left is the Minsk gate):

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)

From the gate it is convenient to walk to the main square of the city - Nezalezhnosti (Independence) Square. On the square there is the Government House, the Belarusian State Pedagogical University, Lenin (what would we do 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 magazineTravel + Leisure library included in the list of the ugliest buildings in the world.

Books inside the library move in small train boxes under the ceiling. When you walk in, you can’t even believe that you’re in a library. Travelers need to obtain a one-time pass using their passport. The building hosts many exhibitions, excursions to observation deck. But there is nothing special to see there - the building is located on the outskirts (Vostok metro station), there are only gray residential areas around). But the exhibitions can be quite interesting. Now the year of frugality is underway in Belarus, so the following posters are hung everywhere:

In the evening, the library building looks quite unusual, like a large New Year's toy:

DAY 2: MINSK
It’s great to walk around the center of Minsk - no matter where you turn, you’ll find something interesting everywhere.

It is especially interesting to walk around the Trinity Suburb, the historical center of 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 the Trinity Suburb you can ride a catamaran on the Svisloch River, it’s inexpensive, however, there are restrictions on where you can sail and where you can’t. And when we began to explore the route, it turned out that it was practically impossible to sail anywhere except around the Island of Tears.

The ducks followed us in the hope that we would treat them with something.

And the fishermen were happy to be photographed

We arrived at Easter

In Minsk, Orthodox churches coexist with Catholic ones, it seems that Catholics and Orthodox are approximately equal, although according to official data in Belarus, 80% are Orthodox and 14% are Catholics

IN mall on Nemiga (Nemiga is an underground river) there is still a Soviet atmosphere, 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 of quite high quality (this is indeed true), the models are most often somehow outdated, as if from the Soviet Union, and it is quite difficult to find something truly beautiful (but if you set such a goal for yourself, it is possible) .

Russians are frequent guests in Belarus. According to statistics, this country remains the most popular tourist destination from citizens of the Russian Federation. In addition, many people come here to visit relatives or friends, on business trips regarding production issues, or to establish business partnerships.

Minsk, Belarus

Local sanatoriums and boarding houses are also popular among Russians. Here you can relax inexpensively, improve your health in almost untouched nature and eat plenty of famous Belarusian milk.

Do you need a visa to Belarus in 2020?

Citizens of the Russian Federation are attracted to Belarus not only by its territorial proximity, but also visa-free entry to Belarus for Russians. From the moment of entry, they can stay in the Republic of Belarus for 90 days without a visa as part of a temporary stay. At the same time, Russians, unlike other foreigners, do not even need to register at their place of stay.

A trip to Belarus for a period of 3 months to a year requires Russians to obtain a temporary residence permit. To do this, you need to contact the Belarusian Department of Citizenship and Migration of the Republic of Belarus.

When going on a trip, Russians do not have to have one. Within visa-free regime It is allowed to cross the border with Belarus even with a general passport. Citizens of the Russian Federation are also exempt from filling out a migration card.

Crossing the Russia-Belarus border

Border controls on the Russian-Belarusian border were abolished back in 1995 for citizens of both states. This was done after the signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.

When crossing the border, Russians are not required to have medical insurance for 10 thousand euros, which is mandatory for other foreigners. It should be taken into account that Belarus does not recognize Russian compulsory medical insurance policies. Russians can only count on emergency medical care free of charge in Belarusian hospitals.

By plane

At Minsk National Airport, flights from Russia are considered domestic. On this basis border control no passengers are carried out.

By train

Ride around railway takes place in comfortable conditions. Belarusian border guards do not disturb passengers, so they do not even notice how they got into a neighboring state. However, it is important to have your passport, birth certificates and other documents with you.

Crossing the border with Belarus by car

Those who choose a car to travel to Belarus usually do not even notice the moment of crossing the border. Cars are stopped for passport and customs control, only if their appearance or the driver’s behavior raises suspicion.

What documents are needed to travel by car?

When traveling by car, you must have a certificate of registration and a Green card (international insurance). The driver must be prepared to present a driver's license and passport; other passengers must present only foreign or Russian general passports.

Car insurance for a trip to Belarus - Green card

It is recommended to take out a Green Card international motor insurance policy in Russia. This is cheaper than buying it at the border, especially if you take coverage only for the CIS countries. A green card is required for all vehicles registered outside the Republic of Belarus. The absence of a Green card may result in a fine of 20 basic units (from January 2018 this is 20x24.5 = 490 Belarusian rubles).

Do you need medical insurance to travel to Belarus?

Medical insurance is not a mandatory document, but when traveling abroad, we always recommend purchasing it.

Documents for children

Children over 14 years old when traveling to Belarus must have their own passport. Until this age, a birth certificate is sufficient. When crossing the border, Russian border guards may also require permission from the parent who is not accompanying the child on the Belarusian voyage.

Customs regulations

Despite the fact that customs at the Russian-Belarusian border does not check tourists, you should still not violate customs regulations Belarus. In personal luggage you are allowed to bring up to 50 kg with a total value of up to 1.5 thousand euros.

It is allowed to import no more than:

3 liters of alcoholic drinks, including beer with a strength of 7%;
200 cigarettes or 250 g of tobacco or 50 cigars.

It is prohibited to import into Belarusian territory:

military equipment;
weapon;
drugs;
explosive and radioactive substances.

Plants and animals are allowed to be imported only if there are veterinary certificates.

Temporary residence in the Republic of Belarus for Russians

Vitebsk, Belarus

Legislation allows Russians who came here to study, work or engage in entrepreneurial activities to stay in Belarus for longer than 3 months. Also, those who have Belarusian real estate or a spouse or relative from among the citizens of the Republic of Belarus permanently residing here can stay longer than 90 days.

To obtain a temporary residence permit, you must provide the following to the local citizenship and migration department:

Statement;
Passport;
Employment contract/certificate from university/documents of relatives;
Confirmation of place of residence;
Receipt for payment of state duty.

Belarusian officials review documents for 2 weeks. If the decision is positive, the stamp “Dazvol on hourly knowledge” will be affixed to the passport insert. It allows you to live in Belarus legally for a year.

Finally, be sure to watch the video from the Inter TV channel about the capital of Belarus - Minsk:

The holiday season has come and many people want to go in their car not only to relax, but also to the sea or fishing, but we went to car trip in Belarus.

Traveling by car always excites me, it’s new experiences and adventures. In this post I will try to tell you about the trip. I like to travel by car. I can control the departure time, stops and route myself, I don’t worry about the number of things I take with me))

Preparation

Before the trip, I once again read all the reviews about the roads, about the situation in Belarus, and just in case, I leafed through the rules traffic. I checked to be sure technical condition car.

Then the question arose with insurance. To visit European countries by car, including the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova, you need a green card. This is an insurance policy (something like our MTPL). If you drive around the territory of Belarus in a car without a local compulsory motor liability insurance or a green card, this may entail administrative liability in the form of a fine. The cost of insurance on the territory of Belarus in Belarusian insurance companies is slightly higher than in Russia, so it is wiser to issue a green card for a car in advance before crossing the border.

Before, I always contacted the Soglasie insurance company, but this time there were no forms there, I had to go to Reso-Garantia and fill it out there. The minimum policy validity period is 15 days; it will not be possible to issue a policy for a shorter period. I purchased insurance for a period of one month. Since the cost of the Green Card in all Russian insurance companies is the same, it makes no sense to waste time stopping to study this issue. It cost me 940 rubles (in 2011, insurance cost 640 rubles).

Then the question arose with the children. How to entertain them while driving? They took a bunch of gadgets on the trip that brightened up their trip. For food on the road, we took juices, water, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, and smoked sausage. The products were in a car cooler bag.

I recommend taking it more water. For personal hygiene we needed wet wipes and napkins. The adult daughter was traveling with a seat belt (FEST), and the youngest was in a car seat.

Route

If before I drove 1,500 km without rest (you can read reports about trips to Belarus by car this year), this time we decided to stop for the night with relatives in the city of Zhukovsky. The children have grown up and I don’t see any point in driving from point “A” to point “B”. Along the way, you can stop and get to know new cities and their attractions. In Zhukovsky we even went on a boat ride and fed the ducks

We had to travel along the following route - Cheboksary-Yadrin-Vorotynets-Nizhny Novgorod-Vladimir-Vyazniki-Noginsk-Zhukovsky Kiy-Moscow (MKAD)-Kubinka-Vyazma-Safonovo-Yartsevo-Sm Olensk-Arkhipovka-Belarusian border-Vitebsk-Shumilino-Polotsk -Deep.

The road from Cheboksary to Zhukovsky took 10 hours. Having left on July 7 at 7.20 am, we were already there at 5.24 pm. There is nothing special to say about the road; in many places repairs are being made and from time to time you have to trail behind trucks. We drove 663 km, the total fuel consumption was 34 liters.

After spending the night, at 9.35 on July 8th we left Zhukovsky. We had to drive to the MKAD-SOUTH and get to the Mozhaisk highway (on the M1 highway). Before leaving, I specifically looked at Yandex traffic jams with the hope that there would be no traffic jams. Unfortunately, there were quite a lot of traffic jams ((I even had to drive in second gear at a speed of 12 km/h in some places

In general, we got to the Mozhaisk highway after two hours)) Then the Mozhaisk highway merges with the M1 highway, which is the fastest way to get to Minsk. We always keep the course straight.

The road to Minsk is easy; no one should have any difficulty in overcoming it. Minsk highway is considered one of the best federal highways. Good road surface and several lanes in one direction. There are few such tracks in Russia, and driving is a pleasure.

On such a road you want to “sink” to the fullest. But be careful, because... There are cameras everywhere on the highway. There are a lot of them there, the main concentration of cameras is in the Moscow region, in the Smolensk region there are much fewer of them. But there are such deceptions there, be careful.

There is no border between Russia and Belarus as such (after all Union State). You can guess that you are leaving Russia and entering the territory of Belarus by looking at the road signs.

Only cargo trucks are stopped for inspection. A foreign passport and/or visa is not required to enter the Republic of Belarus. You will only need to have a passport of a Russian citizen with you. The same goes for a driver's license.

We have to travel 320 km from the border with Russia. The roads are good, periodically I tried to speed up, not paying attention to the radars (I hope that they do not yet have a single traffic police base). If there were DAI ambushes (analogous to our traffic police), oncoming cars honked with their headlights. The last kilometers turned out to be the hardest.

Four hours later we were home.

Statistics

The total travel time was 20 hours. We drove 1493 km. Average fuel consumption is 5.4 liters. I only refueled at Lukoil gas stations. In Dzerzhinsk I filled up with 35 liters of diesel fuel "Ecto" for the amount of 1231.65 rubles. (a liter cost 35.19 rubles). The next gas station was in Smolensk, I filled up 45 liters for the amount of 1566.90 rubles. (a liter cost 34.82 rubles). The total consumption was 80 liters, which in monetary terms amounted to 2798.55 rubles.

Our journey to Belarus has finally begun. We were a little late with the trip and got ready to go only at the end of June 2018. I have long wanted to visit this country, about which I have heard so much. The funny thing is that the road to Belarus, or more precisely to Minsk from Moscow, turned out to be one of the easiest road trips we’ve ever been on. Was it worth it to wait so long? However, the road will be discussed in this article. Moreover, about the road with a baby under six months old, who is not even sitting yet - this is our first experience. Looking ahead, I will say that the Moscow-Minsk route by car is ideal for beginners.

The distance from Moscow to Minsk is only 717 kilometers according to Google maps, which we decided to use this year for the sake of experiment. Before this we used navigation from Novitel. Although I made my first route using paper maps – that was also a unique experience. However, I will return to the road to Belarus.

Google offers three routes from Moscow to Belarus to choose from, see the map below:

Fast route on M1(marked toll roads) with a distance from Moscow to Minsk 717 km. Travel time is just over 8 hours.
Average mileage on the A-130 highway via Mogilev
Long route along the M9 highway through Velikiye Luki and Vitebsk region with a duration of 841 km

In fact, we were leaving Kaluga region, through Protvino and Obolensk, so the navigator did not offer us the most long route- He is too aloof from us. Trusting the description and common sense, we chose the M1 highway, almost straight, almost free. The “toll road” tag didn’t bother us. We didn’t come across any toll sections on the Russian side (it’s at the exit from Moscow); in Belarus, for Russian citizens, using the roads is also free.

Travel time and the quality of the road played a big role in choosing the route, since, I repeat, we went to Minsk with our entire small family, including Timofey. And for him it was the first such a long move. I think in a separate article I’ll talk about what it’s like to drive a car with a baby. The experience of the Minsk trip turned out to be very interesting

I would like to especially note that this route is ideal for beginners in road travel. There are several reasons for this:

A short distance from Moscow to Minsk - only 717 kilometers
Short travel time. Without particularly straining, the entire journey can be completed in 9-10 hours.
Simple road. There are four lanes everywhere, no problems with overtaking

For comparison, you can see our no less interesting, but slightly more complex road trips in the following series of articles:

Road to the border with Belarus

As I said, we still had to get onto the M1 highway. In fact, we traveled almost from the M2 itself (whose fault is it that we spent several days in that area before the road) along the A108. I suspect that when leaving Podolsk we would even save a little travel time. And from Moscow to Minsk it would have been a couple of hours faster. The reason for this is the A108 highway with periodic passage through residential areas, where cameras and radars are installed all over the place, and the permissible speed is 40 km/h

Highway M1 Moscow - Minsk, police, cameras in Russia

Having reached the M1 highway, we hurried to a gas station. And gasoline has become more expensive in Russia! We refueled to a full tank for 1800 rubles, according to my calculations this should have been enough all the way to Minsk. By the way, gasoline is a little cheaper in Belarus, taking into account the latest May price increase in Russia and the change in the ruble exchange rate.

What caught my eye on the way to Minsk from Moscow by car was the abundance of patrols and cameras on the road. In addition to the stationary cameras with which almost all the villages located along the M1 highway on the way to Belarus are equipped, we also encountered probably about 7 patrols, and about a couple of dozen tripods. Moreover according to the good old tradition, the police are in the bushes, the tripod is covered by a civilian car- in general, a classic of the genre.

I, of course, tried to comply with the speed limit as much as possible. At one time I even got behind a Belarusian truck - a very useful life hack for those who don’t want to bring home fines. However, I’m almost sure that it won’t be possible without letters of happiness, our law enforcement officers are too good at hiding and putting up unexpected signs. In general, we advanced carefully, like sappers.

Road from Moscow to Belarus, description and reviews

The toll backup of the M1 highway begins in the area of the Molodogvardeyskaya transport interchange of the Moscow Ring Road and ends at the 33rd km of the Minsk highway. The road bypasses the city of Odintsovo. Length toll road is 18.535 km, the fare is 150 and 50 rubles day and night, respectively.

All highway M1 all the way from our exit to it, all the way to Minsk it turned out to be four-lane- a definite plus for any route. Taking into account the small load, it was a pleasure to drive like this - it’s not like following trucks for kilometers on a two-lane highway, waiting for the coveted permission to overtake. Perhaps it was my imagination, but the lanes of the road were slightly narrowed, at least compared to usual highways. Two trucks fit on the road without much comfort. And it wasn’t entirely convenient for me to overtake them on turns.

Please note that on the M1 highway Moscow - Minsk, from the Russian side almost everywhere the limit is 90 km/h, of course, not counting settlements. In addition, there were often signs with a limit of up to 70 km/h, and behind them there were portable cameras. By the way, it was these signs that made me doubt that the M1 is a motorway

I would like to note regarding high quality road surface. When driving at the permitted speed, there is no risk of losing the suspension - and this is already a good indicator for our roads. However last years I ride on paid sections of the M4 and on the free part of Leningradka, in both cases I’m also happy with the roads. This is what I mean by central region The issue of roads, although slowly, is being resolved.

Where to eat on the way to Belarus, stops along the way

Since we were traveling with a small child in the car, we had to make additional stops. After all, Timofey is not used to long trips by car, and the position in a car seat is not the most comfortable, although it is safe. I will return to it in a separate article, but I’ll probably describe our stops.

The first stop was at the Gazprom Neft gas station. We had lunch there at the local canteen next door. The prices turned out to be quite friendly - our lunch cost us 380 rubles (the first two, a side dish and one chicken Kiev for two). The food turned out to be tasty and nutritious. Portions are not large - expensive

Second stop at the source of the Moscow River. More with the goal of giving my son a little rest. However, in this place we found a dozen comfortable gazebos where you can stop and have a snack. Despite the sign “making fire is prohibited,” there were several barbecues and a large fireplace on the territory for nomadic motorists. In general, if you had a bucket of barbecue with you, you could sit and have a snack.

We made another stop in the village of Istomino. Just like that, without any particular reason. The village turned out to be exemplary. Just 300 meters from the Moscow-Belarus highway, the asphalt ends and the Russian outback begins. Besides, it’s not the most colorful. It should be noted that around this village the number of cameras on the road began to decline sharply.

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