... in response to Anyone Have Any Info On Travel To Belaru..., posted by RickM on Mar 7, 2004Yes, I went to Minsk a couple of years ago, and I also passed though Belarus en route from Latvia to Ukraine, on a transit visa, just before Christmas.
The visa requirements are very similar to Ukraine but a little more expensive. Business visa (single entry) is 140 USD, and for multiple entry, which I presume allows any number of entries within the validity dates of the visa, it goes up to 300 USD. They don't mention a double-entry option, which is available for Ukraine. The main advantage of the business visa is that although they require a letter of invitation from the company who "invites" you, which must bear the company's stamp and your name/passport details etc, they will accept a fax copy. So you can do what I've been doing in Ukraine for the past 6 years (same old letter, cut and paste the dates, they don't care as long as the money's real!)
For the private visa, for some reason I believe they need to see the original invitation, and tourist visas tend to be more restrictive regarding dates etc.
I flew with BA from Heathrow or Gatwick, forget which. If you book early and go for the restricted fare with overnight on Saturday you should be able to get it for around 400 USD.
As for Minsk, my immediate impression was how green it looked (in summer obviously) with parks, trees etc, and forests further out. The city itself was very quiet compared with Kiev, and much more modest looking. The girl I went to see had arranged an apartment for me, and a car (she drove it) so I wasn't exposed to the hotels and public transport system. I felt perfectly relaxed there the whole time. My only unpleasant experience was partly self inflicted; I had such a mixture of currency with me that I couldn;t be bothered counting it out and declaring it on the way out. The cops at the airport checked it, and took me into the sin bin where they suggested that to save a LOT of paperwork and a LONG LONG delay, we could just come to a little arrangement. I think it was $100.
Not sure if they told the girl afterwards (she was waiting outside) that they also found a wad of Ukrainian hryvnas on me; maybe that's why we are not together now! (No "streetwise" comments please!)
