Winter trip to Minsk
Nov 2, 2018 | 1:53 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: DFW
Posts: 537
Winter trip to Minsk
I took this trip last December and had a pleasant experience. I'm a millennial budget traveler, so carrying a backpack, staying a hostels/AirBnBs, and taking public transportation everywhere is my specialty.
I started at LWO, which is probably the most pleasant airport experience I've ever had. Security and passport control was a breeze and it seemed like I was one of only a handful of people in the airport.
I was flying Belavia to MSQ on their 737-500. My flight was only about 1/3 full and the ticket one-way cost less than $100. I'm assuming this flight is popular with Lviv locals who are going to MSQ to connect to larger airports. On the flight, I was provided with a a free tea/coffee/water and a gas station level of quality sandwich. Hey, it's better than a bag of peanuts! The flight attendants were very nice and overall the experience was pleasant.
Flight time was just under an hour. Upon arrival at MSQ, passengers had to exit the plane on the tarmac and walk through an entrance about 25-50m away.
After entering the airport, directly on the left there was a counter for purchasing mandatory health insurance. If you already have the health insurance requirement, you can proceed straight through passport security. This area was very small and didn't have much other than health insurance desk or passport control windows.
Passport control was the most thorough I've ever experienced. The agent put it under some sort of light machine, looked at it with a magnifying glass, and entered everything in a computer before stamping it and handing it back to me. They also give you a registration card which you are required to use if you are staying more than a certain number of days (maybe 5 or 7). I was only staying for 4, so it didn't apply to me. However, you must still keep this card as you are required to give it to the passport control agent upon leaving Belarus.
MSQ is about 45km from the city center. You can either take a taxi (which I'm sure would cost at least $20) or take public transportation. I elected to take public transportation. In order to do this, you must first find bus 300Э. It didn't appear to be a city bus, but seemed like more of a privately run coach style bus. It was comfortable and relatively clean.
There are signs in the terminal showing where the bus comes, so it was easy enough to find. There are ticket machines outside (along with a schedule), but I couldn't get any of them to work (maybe it disliked my American credit card). Apparently you can now buy them online at Shop ticketbus, but for me it was easy enough to give the driver cash and get a ticket in hand. The ticket cost 4 rubles (about $2).
Buses depart every 45min - 1hr. The bus schedule is posted here: Regular-route buses Minsk National Airport
The bus makes two stops: at the Уручча metro station, then onto the main bus terminal. The easiest way to the city center is by getting off at the metro stop, then taking the metro the rest of the way, so that's exactly what I did. Although I suppose if you are going to somewhere near the bus station, that will be easiest. The bus takes about 20-30min to get from the airport to the Urucha metro stop.
To get on the metro, you must first buy a plastic token for 0,65 rubles or buy a reusable card. The token seemed easiest since I didn't plan on getting on the metro. You just go up to the cashier window, tell the worker how many you want, and give the money.
Once I had the token, I proceeded to the turnstiles (which aren't actually turnstiles, but some sort of sensors that will beep if you passed through but didn't pay).
When I got to the turnstile, I was approached by a man in a security uniform who said something in Russian and pointed to a security room. Apparently they do this to anyone carrying large bags. In the security room, I had to place my larger backpack into an x-ray machine. The entire process took 30sec. This seems to be the norm as I saw women with large handbags being x-rayed. They usually stopped at the security worker before he had a chance to say anything. Upon return trips into the metro with my bag, I simply walked up to the agent and pointed at my bag, then pointed to the security room. I believe all of this started after the Minsk metro bombing in 2011.
The metro was clean and efficient. It was an interesting feeling because this entire process felt like I was stepping back in time to the USSR.
I stayed at an AirBnB that was right off Praspyekt Nyezalyezhnastsi (try saying that word 5x in a row), a road which sort of had a Champs Elysees vibe.
The AirBnB was an interesting experience because the host spoke no English. I had trouble finding it at first because I didn't realize that the entrance was off the main road and through a courtyard in the back. After some Google Translate and chatting with a friend of the host who spoke broken English, we figured it out.
I think Minsk is a great city to visit if you are interested in Soviet architecture and history. The first thing I wanted to see was the Lenin statue in front of the Government House #1/Supreme Soviet building.
Next, I walked over to the Church of Simon and Helena. Sadly, it was having some repairs done during my trip, so the beautiful facade was mostly covered. But here's a photo from Wikipedia:
Another few minutes walk away is the Chernobyl disaster memorial.
Around this same area you can see a large post office and some buildings from Belarusian State University.
The Hammer and Sickle can still be seen all over the city.
One thing I found interesting is that there were very few advertisements in Belarus. I guess capitalism hasn't quite caught on yet. Most of the advertisements were somehow related to Belarus.
However, I did discover a shopping mall below Independence Square that felt somewhat Western. Apparently they love KFC because the place was packed.
The next day I went to Victory Square and saw the Victory Monument. While I was there, there were some young men in uniform doing some sort of ceremony. It was somewhat difficult to access because it's surrounded by busy roads and the only way to access it is through a tunnel.
I also saw the Palace of the Republic. There must have been some sort of military ceremony, because many soldiers showed up in uniform with their family members.
The Island of Tears is close to the older part of town and is worth visiting. It's a dedication to solders killed during the Afghan war. Besides a statue of crying mothers, there is also a crying angel.
Since it was right before Christmas, the Christmas markets were opened. You'll be pretty disappointed if you've ever gone to the markets in Munich, Nuremberg, Vienna, etc, but this one was way less touristy and was a good place to buy some souvenirs. There were only about 8 stalls total and the food options were almost non-existent.
Speaking of food, many of the restaurants in Minsk seemed catered towards business tourists and served things I could get at home. I was told that most people cook at home and that the non-touristy restaurants are outside of the city center. However, I did find a restaurant/pub called Restaurant U Ratushy that served local food. I ordered a Belarusian speciality called "machanka" that's basically pancakes topped with sausage links and a cream sauce. Very filling, cheap, and tasty. My other meals were at other cheap take-out style places or cooking at the AirBnB.
Overall, I think Minsk is a great place to visit for a few days, but only if you are the type of traveler who likes to get outside of your comfort zone. The tourism industry there is nearly non-existent and most signage will be in Russian, so it's certainly a challenging place to travel to. I'd imagine outside of Minsk will be even more challenging.
Belarus recently extended their visa-free policy to 30 days, so that gives travelers plenty of time to visit other cities. I plan on returning to Belarus next year so I can visit some other cities.
I started at LWO, which is probably the most pleasant airport experience I've ever had. Security and passport control was a breeze and it seemed like I was one of only a handful of people in the airport.
I was flying Belavia to MSQ on their 737-500. My flight was only about 1/3 full and the ticket one-way cost less than $100. I'm assuming this flight is popular with Lviv locals who are going to MSQ to connect to larger airports. On the flight, I was provided with a a free tea/coffee/water and a gas station level of quality sandwich. Hey, it's better than a bag of peanuts! The flight attendants were very nice and overall the experience was pleasant.
Flight time was just under an hour. Upon arrival at MSQ, passengers had to exit the plane on the tarmac and walk through an entrance about 25-50m away.
After entering the airport, directly on the left there was a counter for purchasing mandatory health insurance. If you already have the health insurance requirement, you can proceed straight through passport security. This area was very small and didn't have much other than health insurance desk or passport control windows.
Passport control was the most thorough I've ever experienced. The agent put it under some sort of light machine, looked at it with a magnifying glass, and entered everything in a computer before stamping it and handing it back to me. They also give you a registration card which you are required to use if you are staying more than a certain number of days (maybe 5 or 7). I was only staying for 4, so it didn't apply to me. However, you must still keep this card as you are required to give it to the passport control agent upon leaving Belarus.
MSQ is about 45km from the city center. You can either take a taxi (which I'm sure would cost at least $20) or take public transportation. I elected to take public transportation. In order to do this, you must first find bus 300Э. It didn't appear to be a city bus, but seemed like more of a privately run coach style bus. It was comfortable and relatively clean.
There are signs in the terminal showing where the bus comes, so it was easy enough to find. There are ticket machines outside (along with a schedule), but I couldn't get any of them to work (maybe it disliked my American credit card). Apparently you can now buy them online at Shop ticketbus, but for me it was easy enough to give the driver cash and get a ticket in hand. The ticket cost 4 rubles (about $2).
Buses depart every 45min - 1hr. The bus schedule is posted here: Regular-route buses Minsk National Airport
The bus makes two stops: at the Уручча metro station, then onto the main bus terminal. The easiest way to the city center is by getting off at the metro stop, then taking the metro the rest of the way, so that's exactly what I did. Although I suppose if you are going to somewhere near the bus station, that will be easiest. The bus takes about 20-30min to get from the airport to the Urucha metro stop.
To get on the metro, you must first buy a plastic token for 0,65 rubles or buy a reusable card. The token seemed easiest since I didn't plan on getting on the metro. You just go up to the cashier window, tell the worker how many you want, and give the money.
Once I had the token, I proceeded to the turnstiles (which aren't actually turnstiles, but some sort of sensors that will beep if you passed through but didn't pay).
When I got to the turnstile, I was approached by a man in a security uniform who said something in Russian and pointed to a security room. Apparently they do this to anyone carrying large bags. In the security room, I had to place my larger backpack into an x-ray machine. The entire process took 30sec. This seems to be the norm as I saw women with large handbags being x-rayed. They usually stopped at the security worker before he had a chance to say anything. Upon return trips into the metro with my bag, I simply walked up to the agent and pointed at my bag, then pointed to the security room. I believe all of this started after the Minsk metro bombing in 2011.
The metro was clean and efficient. It was an interesting feeling because this entire process felt like I was stepping back in time to the USSR.
I stayed at an AirBnB that was right off Praspyekt Nyezalyezhnastsi (try saying that word 5x in a row), a road which sort of had a Champs Elysees vibe.
The AirBnB was an interesting experience because the host spoke no English. I had trouble finding it at first because I didn't realize that the entrance was off the main road and through a courtyard in the back. After some Google Translate and chatting with a friend of the host who spoke broken English, we figured it out.
I think Minsk is a great city to visit if you are interested in Soviet architecture and history. The first thing I wanted to see was the Lenin statue in front of the Government House #1/Supreme Soviet building.
Next, I walked over to the Church of Simon and Helena. Sadly, it was having some repairs done during my trip, so the beautiful facade was mostly covered. But here's a photo from Wikipedia:
Another few minutes walk away is the Chernobyl disaster memorial.
Around this same area you can see a large post office and some buildings from Belarusian State University.
The Hammer and Sickle can still be seen all over the city.
One thing I found interesting is that there were very few advertisements in Belarus. I guess capitalism hasn't quite caught on yet. Most of the advertisements were somehow related to Belarus.
However, I did discover a shopping mall below Independence Square that felt somewhat Western. Apparently they love KFC because the place was packed.
The next day I went to Victory Square and saw the Victory Monument. While I was there, there were some young men in uniform doing some sort of ceremony. It was somewhat difficult to access because it's surrounded by busy roads and the only way to access it is through a tunnel.
I also saw the Palace of the Republic. There must have been some sort of military ceremony, because many soldiers showed up in uniform with their family members.
The Island of Tears is close to the older part of town and is worth visiting. It's a dedication to solders killed during the Afghan war. Besides a statue of crying mothers, there is also a crying angel.
Since it was right before Christmas, the Christmas markets were opened. You'll be pretty disappointed if you've ever gone to the markets in Munich, Nuremberg, Vienna, etc, but this one was way less touristy and was a good place to buy some souvenirs. There were only about 8 stalls total and the food options were almost non-existent.
Speaking of food, many of the restaurants in Minsk seemed catered towards business tourists and served things I could get at home. I was told that most people cook at home and that the non-touristy restaurants are outside of the city center. However, I did find a restaurant/pub called Restaurant U Ratushy that served local food. I ordered a Belarusian speciality called "machanka" that's basically pancakes topped with sausage links and a cream sauce. Very filling, cheap, and tasty. My other meals were at other cheap take-out style places or cooking at the AirBnB.
Overall, I think Minsk is a great place to visit for a few days, but only if you are the type of traveler who likes to get outside of your comfort zone. The tourism industry there is nearly non-existent and most signage will be in Russian, so it's certainly a challenging place to travel to. I'd imagine outside of Minsk will be even more challenging.
Belarus recently extended their visa-free policy to 30 days, so that gives travelers plenty of time to visit other cities. I plan on returning to Belarus next year so I can visit some other cities.
Last edited by poisson; Nov 2, 2018 at 2:21 pm
Nov 3, 2018 | 8:52 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: DFW
Posts: 537
Funny enough, I didn't have a lot of contact with other people. People under the age of 35 usually knew enough to help out. I went to a kebab place and the entire menu was in Russian. A 20-something customer was able to help me decipher. I spoke to another lady at the Christmas market (she was in her 40s) and she knew the basics.