I have always used a visa agent in the UK for my visas and they sort out the invitation letter. Although my wife is Belorusan I take this as the prefered option rather than using her mothers address. because of the political situation there I prefer to try and distance myself administratively from her familly.
be advised the political situation is very difficult at the moment in Belarus. there are also problems getting any foreign currency in the country so you may not be able to change your rubbles back into anything else when you leave, so try not to overbuy
I'm off to Belarus and Ukraine at the end of june driving the support vehicle for 10 motorbikes visiting the Belorusan Orphanages. so far none of the bikers has had problems with visas, despite the governments dislike of charity trips.

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

The devaluation of the Belorusian Ruble whilst being a disaster for the locals and their savings ( although most had their savings in foreign currency ) is great for travellers. I think the official bank rate for the GBP is 8100 right now. However a note to British readers: not every bank will exchange pounds especially in the sticks. Therefore take Euros which have the best exchange rate on the black market too,hitting over 9000 according to friends in Minsk. Agree about not being able to buy back hard currency.

Moggy: I did'nt understand your comment about not using your mother-in-law's address because of the political situation. I'm sure you know belarus as well as I do,but do you mean because of your connection to a charity? I've used the mother-in-law's address for 5 years with no hint of a problem. No point paying for an invitation when there is no need to mate, the government don't worry about small fry like us, in fact I would say being foreign gives us a lot of leeway: I've been drunk on vodka with friends in Minsk's main square singing "Death to Lukashenko!" ( yeah it seemed a good idea at the time! )a policeman came over and said to my Belarusian friends "take the foreigner home lads" and sent us on our way. One thing those cops respect in the former USSR is a paralytic man

Hello,

we finally got our belarussian visa. So, we soon will do a motorcycle trip to Belarus!


It was not easy to get visa, because they changed the rules, perhaps only for germans. I don't know. For our purposes, they officially only grant visas for tourists (prereqs: book all nights in advance and get a voucher) or have a written and confirmed invitation of someone from belorus for private visum. It is not sufficient to have only an address of someone. There are exceptions. Our visa agent managed to get us private visas without an invitation.

Tannu_Tuva, moggy 1968, Declan or others: Can you give us perhaps few hints about Belarus. We are interested in border crossing, registration, special traffic rules, are there camping sites (found nothing in the internet), small accomodation in countrysite (i. e. "Turbasa"), cheap hotel in minsk, gps coords?

Thanks in advance!

Marc

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www.2ontravel.com

We rode to Belarus last summer. It was one of the most interesting bike-trips I've made! The people of Belarus are extremely polite and gentle (except for the border-control guys...).

Here are pictures from that trip (the text is in Swedish but the pictures pretty much speak for themselves):

Belarus Motorcycle Adventure, July 2010

If you need GPS waypoints, just let me know!

Enjoy Belarus!

Wow, cool photos. It looks like you really had fun there. :-) Can you recommend the hotel in Minsk (safe parking, how much for a night)?

I will try to translate your report with google.

We also plan to see Mir castle, Nesvizh castle, Vitebsk, Grodno, Brest, Stalins Line, have you been to Chatyn? I can not see it on your map screenshot.

I would love to have your GPS waypoint. I assume, you don't have camping coords. :-)

Marc

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www.2ontravel.com

Hi Marc,

The hotel Yubileinaya in Minsk was OK. It's a Soviet-era hotel but refurbished so it's pretty much up to western-european standard. It's centrally located with many restaurants close by. The Old Town is 10 minute walk away, across the river.

We paid 108 US dollar per night per twin room (incl. breakfast). The guarded parking at the back of the hotel was 3 dollars per bike per night if you paid at the reception. Paying directly to the guard was only half the price.

I'll PM you regarding the GPS waypoints. No camping coords though :-(

Crossing the border into Belarus is quite different, the least to say! The border control guys kept yelling at us in Russian for almost four hours! They were all very un-professional and rude… And no-one didn’t know a single word in English. All information and all documents to fill in are in Russian only. Luckily for us, we were helped by a Latvian guy that also was entering into Belarus.

The sign describing the procedure of getting through the border control. In Russian only…
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/13186016_QcHde#957047819_6Xcii-A-LB

Our Swedish motorcycle insurance is valid (unrestricted) in Belarus but as I understand, vehicle- insurances of other western-European countries may not be valid in Belarus or possibly limited to the third-party insurance. Please check with your insurance company. You may need to pay for vehicle insurance at the border, but obviously we didn’t have to.

However, despite that we all had supplementary medical insurance that was valid also in Belarus, we had to get an ”Obligatory Medical Insurance of Foreigners and Persons without Citizenship staying in the Republic of Belarus”
http://beemer-biker.smugmug.com/Okategoriseradebilder/Diverse-bilder/17419471_ZCZQdX#1324923519_K3K6hvm-A-LB
It cost 3 dollars (or Euro?) for the time we were to spend in Belarus. I’m not sure I would rely on this insurance in case of an illness or injury though…

Anyway, after four hours, I’m finally in Belarus!!! The adventure can begin!
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/13186016_QcHde#957047848_RZoS5-A-LB

PLEASE, don’t let the border crossing procedure discourage you from going to Belarus! Once in the country, we didn’t meet a single person that wasn’t genuinely nice and gentle! And we didn’t have any trouble with traffic police (most likely since we stayed away from the major highways and motorways)

Don't really understand the above. I have crossed the border many times at terespol on my own and had no real problems, typically takes 2 1/2 hours. there are translations of the various documents you need on the windows and walls of the border booths. to be honest 4 hours isn't too bad for a border, Ukraine to Poland took me 20hours, and that was with a bribe, otherwise it would have been 2 days!!!

you need insurance if you don't have a green card specifically for Belarus. it can be bought at the border and is quite cheap.

current advice from my brother in law who lives there is don't take money out at the bank as the exchange rate is poor. change euros at the change booths. you can usually pay for fuel and tourist hotels in euros but will need rubles for food and minor purchases or if staying in smaller hotels. changing rubles back into euros on exit is difficult so don't get too many.(my (Belorusan) wife has just corrected me, it's practically impossible!)

Health wise the UK has a reciprocal agreement with Belarus, but I wouldn't be inviting treatment in one of their hospitals. you can by many mediactions, including antibiotics, over the counter without prescription.

don't go through Brest without visiting the Fortress, held for about 6 weeks (from memory, not absolutely sure) against the Germans depite being hopelessly outgunned. a third of the population lost their lives in the war.

The political position there is currently difficult. As a tourist you are relatively secure but never underestimate the power of the police on the local population.

next friday we leave for our charity trip to belarus
see
Home - CHERNOBYL CHALLENGE 2011
any donations to our childrens charities gratefully received!!

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

Cider,

Spectacular pictures!

I would be most interested in visiting the ex CCCP air force and Missile base which look particularly interesting.

Could you please let me have the way points or perhaps there is no particular difficulty in finding these places?

Cheers

Hi Ntgizr,

The airforce-bases and missile bases are not very easily found. Please send me your email address and I´ll send you the waypoints (Garmin gdb-file).

And by the way, here are pictures from a previous trip to the Baltic countries, with other former CCCP-bases:

Baltikum, July 2009


Cider

Hi all,

I am currently on a motorcycle trip and am in L'viv in the Ukraine. I am a British citizen and didnt need a visa on the border to get in. My next stop was supposed to be Belarus, but I am now concerned that I will need a visa. Did all of you get your visa before leaving, or was anyone able to purchase one at the border post?

Thanks,

Jamie

You will need a visa and I doubt you would be able to get one at the border (though I have never tried) best bet would be at the embassy in kiev I would think.

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

Hi Moggy, which visa agency do you use ?

I used an agent based in Southsea. I lived there so it was a 5 minute walk from my house!!

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile%2...a%29_93388.htm

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014