Arriving in Minsk

Border regulations have been relaxed in recent years and arriving in Belarus is a lot less bureaucratic than it used to be. All foreign visitors are still required to fill in an immigration card (see below) but the only questions relate to your name, passport details and destination. They’ll take one half for themselves, the other part you look after as you’ll need to show it when you leave the country. Another change has seen many of the growly middle-aged men in peaked caps on the border replaced by unexpectedly attractive female twenty-somethings. 

Arriving from the UK there are only two direct flights a week with Belavia so you may find it more convenient to fly via Warsaw or Vienna with Lot or Austrian Airlines. Be aware however that there will be a six hour wait for your connecting flight in Warsaw. Another popular route is to fly to Vilnius and take a train or bus from there.

Arriving from mainland Europe offers a lot more options including plenty of train services. Minsk’s main railway station is in the heart of the city and very user-friendly. Unfortunately the airport was strategically built 42 kilmometres to the north-east of the city in Soviet times. Aparently this was so that any advancing invading army from the west wouldn't get their hands on it if they reached the city. The Eurolines bus network covers Minsk and there are plenty of other services from Vilnius.

Immigration Cards

If you are crossing the board by train or bus it's possible that the immigration cards available will only be in Russian. So take a copy of the one below for reference. Although this is a Russian Federation immigration card the two are identical as there is an open border between Russia and Belarus.

Train       Plane       Bus       Car