The time for vacation 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 flipped through the traffic rules just in case. To be sure, I checked the technical condition of the 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, therefore green card It is wiser to register 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 apply for it there. The minimum policy validity period is 15 days; it will not be possible to issue a policy for a shorter period of time. 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 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. Minskoye Highway is considered one of the best federal highways. Good road surface and several lanes in one direction. There are few such trails 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 installed 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.

Many travelers planning to travel to Belarus for the first time are wondering whether they need a foreign passport to enter. To travel to the Republic of Belarus, citizens Russian Federation No passport needed. You can enter Belarus by presenting a foreign passport, but no marks will be put on it. The Western European architecture of the cities of Belarus will allow even those travelers who do not have a foreign passport to plunge into the atmosphere of old Europe.

Typically, excursions around Belarus begin from the capital of the country, the city of Minsk. Trip to Minsk from Moscow by personal car will take approximately 12 hours. It is also possible to get from Moscow by train; the journey will take about 9–10 hours. The fastest way to travel from Moscow to Minsk is by plane. Direct flights are carried out daily by several airlines.
You can exchange Russian rubles for Belarusian rubles at any bank branch or currency exchange office. You will need to present the passport or international passport with which you entered the country. One Russian ruble is equal to 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. You can stay in a budget hotel 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.
• Church of St. Simeon and St. Helena, the Virgin Mary, St. Roch.
• Ensemble of former Bernardine and Bernardine monasteries, St. Elizabeth's Monastery.

• Trinity suburb.
• Churches of Peter and Paul, Alexander Nevsky, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and the chapel of all Belarusian saints.
• Pishchalovsky Castle.
• National Library Belarus.

Where to go in Minsk winter time, so this is the skating rink, which is poured in front of the Palace of the Republic, and also visit ski resort Silichi is 30 km from Minsk. In addition, 50 km north of Minsk there is the Khatyn memorial complex. The cost of visiting is 40,000 rubles for adults, 25,000 for students.

Mir Castle is one of those places where you should definitely go, 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 Gothic style. Since 2000 he has been part of cultural heritage UNESCO.

To enter 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 room rates starting from a million rubles, so those who want to save money should go here for one day, returning to the hotel in Minsk in the evening or continue the journey towards the city of Nesvizh.

The next place you should visit by car is Nesvizh Castle. This castle complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located 30 km from Mir Castle, so both castles can be visited in one day. When visiting Nesvizh Castle, you can stay in the city of Nesvizh. Small private hotel will cost from 180,000 rubles per single room. Nesvizh Castle also has a hotel on its territory.

The castle is open to visitors every day, in summer from 9.30 to 18.30, in 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 for free on the last Monday of any month. Nesvizh Castle is also famous for the oldest town hall in Belarus, the entrance to which is paid separately, and the Church of Corpus Christi.

If, while thinking about where to go next, you decide to move west, then you should visit Grodno. It’s quite easy to travel to Grodno by car from anywhere in Belarus; the roads here are good. There will be no problems finding a hotel. At the station there are many offers from private individuals, the prices offered there are very reasonable. A hotel will cost on average 350,000 rubles.

Where to go in Grodno is to the museums. There are seven of them, the average entrance ticket prices for adults are 15,000 - 30,000 rubles, for schoolchildren - 10,000 - 20,000. In general, the main attractions 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 historical center of Grodno is a pleasant place for walking. IN architectural ensembles The center of Grodno is intertwined with many different European styles, so a trip to Belarus can provide a unique opportunity to feel the atmosphere of old Europe, but you won’t even need a passport.

Brest is located on the border with Poland and is one of the top five oldest cities Belarus. If they have a Schengen visa and take their international passport with them, tourists have the opportunity to travel to Poland. Here are the most interesting things to see in Brest:

• Brest Hero Fortress. To view 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.
• Svyato-Simeonovsky cathedral.
• Church of the Exaltation of the Cross.

Budget hotels in Brest offer beds from 200,000 rubles. You can stay in an inexpensive hotel from 250,000 rubles per room.

Another place to go when visiting Brest is national park"Belovezhskaya Pushcha", which is an object world heritage UNESCO. On the territory of the reserve there are hotels and guest houses. Room prices start from 500,000 rubles on average. In winter, Father Frost's house is open for children.

In the north of Belarus, the city of Vitebsk is worth visiting - cultural capital countries. From what to see in Vitebsk and where to go, it is worth highlighting such objects as:

• City Hall.
• Governor's Palace.
• Art Museum.
• Chagall Museum and Exhibition Complex.
• The building of the regional executive committee, which previously housed the women's diocesan school.
• Victory Square is the largest in Belarus.
• Churches and cathedrals of the 18th – 19th centuries.

Renting a hotel in the city is quite easy, but prices in Vitebsk are somewhat inflated. When choosing a budget hotel, you should expect a bed from 180,000 rubles.

The closest junction of East and West to us attracts with amazing contrasts. The country to this day remains a kind of preserve of socialism with a coat of arms and flag that has changed little since Soviet times, monuments to Lenin in almost every city, street names unchanged since Soviet times and even... collective farms. At the same time, in Belarus there is very decent and inexpensive service, unusual cleanliness on the streets and even in courtyards, unpolluted nature, good roads in Western European style and polite drivers. And Belarus is a country of museums, with a variety of - sometimes unexpected for the uninitiated - directions and eras.

How to go and where to live

Russians don’t even need a foreign passport to travel to Belarus. The only thing you should add is car insurance - a green card, which you can buy just before the border. By the way, there is no border as such between Russia and Belarus. True, for some time now, when entering Russia, all cars are stopped to check the presence of Russian passports. Belarus has opened its borders to many countries. However, such control takes a minimum of time and nerves. You don't even need to get out of the car.

From Moscow to Minsk and Brest we go straight along the M-1 highway. We cross the border and feel a certain breath of Europe. On large sections of the highway on the territory of Belarus, unlike Russia, there is a wide dividing strip. The permissible speed for a passenger car is 120 km/h. You shouldn’t exceed too much, and behind the signs, especially in populated areas, you have to watch closely. There are plenty of cameras photographing the tail of the car, and even after a few days of traveling around the republic, you can be stopped, presented with a photo as proof of the violation and politely asked to pay a fine. But they won’t stop you without a reason. And Belarusian law enforcement officers do not take bribes. The roads - even local, narrow, provincial ones - are always in surprisingly good condition.

Gasoline costs approximately the same as in Russia. for a few days, you need to change some amount into local currency. The times when many places, especially gas stations, accepted our rubles, euros, and even dollars, are long gone. However, cards are accepted almost everywhere.

Finding a hotel in any city is not a problem. Often hotels have a certain touch of “Sovietness”, but everything is clean and not shabby. For some, there is a kind of thrill in such a return to the past.

A double room in a three-star hotel in large cities costs approximately 4,500 rubles per day, in four-star hotels - 5,500–6,000 rubles. There are paid parking lots near some hotels, but the prices are such that they won’t ruin anyone.

The food in Belarus is cheap, filling and tasty. A quite decent dinner in a quite decent restaurant will cost 700 rubles per person. By the way, local products are not only tasty, but also surprisingly cheap. I know an amateur who regularly travels around Belarus and invariably brings back dairy products and stewed meat, which costs half as much as in Moscow.

What to watch?

Belarus famous

Of course, even those who have never been to Belarus know: the country suffered enormously during the war and remembers it well. That's why historical monuments, associated with the Great Patriotic War, are especially numerous and revered here.

The most famous, of course, are the Brest Fortress, a memorial complex in the village of Khatyn that was burned during the Great Patriotic War, and Buynicheskoe Field on the outskirts of Mogilev, where the city’s defenders held back German tanks for more than three weeks in the summer of 1941. By the way, this is also a literary and cinematic place. It was these battles that were described in “The Living and the Dead” by Konstantin Simonov, and then reproduced in the film of the same name by Alexander Stolper.

Less known, oddly enough, is the wonderful, very interesting Minsk Museum of the Second World War. By the way, there is also a special, unusual exhibit. When you go up to the second floor and see it, at first you are surprised: how did they drag it in? And not everyone, and certainly not immediately, realizes that the tank is a beautifully made copy of... foam.

Among the museums in Minsk, there is a very good one, by the way, and an artistic one with an interesting collection of Russian and Western paintings.

To the delight of technology lovers from 5 to 60 years of age, near Minsk there is an extensive collection of Soviet aviation technology. By the way, those who wish will also be able to ride a sports Yak-52 here. True, only in good weather.

The well-known symbol of Belarus is Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Many people have heard about it, but not everyone has been there. This is the largest and one of the most ancient forests in modern Europe. In addition to the main “heroes” of the Pushcha, and also the symbols of the country - bison, there are many other interesting animals here. By the way, another “relic” lives near Belovezhskaya Pushcha - the Belarusian Grandfather Frost.

Belarus unknown

Belarus and war monuments - understandable. But not everyone associates the republic with palaces and castles. But on the territory of modern Belarus, five centuries ago, Lithuanian and Polish nobles, and then industrialists, built luxurious palaces and estates, surrounded them with regular parks in the Western European style, usually in the “Aglitz” style. Today, most castles, of course, have been turned into museums and centers of historical and cultural complexes. Here are just a few of the most interesting ones.

In the Grodno region, 100 km from Minsk in the village of Mir, there is a castle complex, the origins of which go back to the 1520s. They built it as a fortress to protect themselves from raids by the Tatars (and they even ran here!) and unfriendly neighbors. In addition, to receive the title of count of the Holy Roman Empire, one had to own a stone castle.

Nesvizh Palace and Park were created over two centuries, starting from the 16th century. Therefore, there is a bizarre combination of different architectural styles. All this wealth belonged not to just anyone, but to the famous Polish family of the Radziwills. Now here, 112 km from Minsk towards Brest, there is a national historical and cultural reserve with a museum, hotel and other tourist delights.

The huge Ruzhany Castle, which once belonged to the family of the Lithuanian Chancellor Lev Sapieha, is still mostly in ruins. The restoration, in fact, has just begun. The first fire happened during the First World War, when there was already a weaving factory here, and the Second World War destroyed the once luxurious palace. But such ruins in themselves are worth a look. Yes, and there is a museum here.

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. Belarusian direction extremely attractive for tourism, thanks to its well-developed infrastructure and 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 large historical center 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 Museum history

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;