... in response to Would appreciate any tips on trip to Bel..., posted by RickB on Jan 5, 2002Hey Rick,
The 911 agency has an office in Minsk, Belarus and they can help you with renting a flat. They have a deal where a woman comes in and cooks you breakfast and they can arrange a translator and handle your visa to Belarus. A visa for me cost $100 USD but I don't know the current rate. You can click on "Russian" on the left and the find the link for the 911 agency.
The cheapest airline I found to Minsk was Polands LOT Airlines. The flight was through Warsaw and then connected to Minsk. When I was checking flights I found you had to book more than a month ahead of time and the rates go up a lot in the summer. I didn't find any good flight connections to Minsk from Gatwick but maybe you can find something. I think Lufthansa also flys to Belarus.
The nice thing about dealing with a local agency is that they will introduce you to other women if things don't work out. That can often happen.
I did not end up going to Belarus so this is about all I know. You might try Yahoo travel in Europe for hotel recommendations or use Google.com for searching for information.
I assumed you were going to Minsk and did a brief search. Here are the first sites that popped up:
http://www.belarustourist.minsk.by/
http://www.hotels-europe.com/belarus/minsk.htm
