Comments on: Belarusian capital Minsk is Europe’s best value city break

By: Nige Burton

Nige Burton — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:13:45 +0000

Hi Aidan – you won’t find much of a language barrier in either St Petersburg or Moscow (especially St Petersburg, where English is widely spoken). Minsk is probably on a par with both these cities, but you might struggle a bit more in Arkhangelsk. I travelled across Siberia last year, and found places like Ekaterinburg and Irkutsk very Anglo-friendly, but once you get a little more off the well worn tracks (for example, Listvyanka, even though it’s a tourist resort) the use and understanding of English tends to peter out a little. Russian trains are a fantastic way to get around, and if you plan to do a fair bit of travelling you’ll probably end up catching overnight ones. If you want a two-berth, private cabin, you’ll need to book es veh (SV), which is first class. It doesn’t mean first class in the way we would in the UK, but simply a private, lockable berth. If you leave anything of value in your cabin while you go to the restaurant car or bar, you can securely lock it and get the attendant to unlock if for you on your return. Second class means you get a four-berth cabin (so you’re never quite sure who’ll you’ll be sharing with, but it can be fun if you’re the gregarious type!) or you can go standard class, which is a kind of dormitory.
I’d strongly recommend booking your tickets in the UK before you leave (you can do this up to 45 days in advance) as it can be very complicated to do this in Russia. You can do this through http://www.regent-holidays.co.uk or http://www.russiantrains.com.
Hope this helps and you enjoy your trip!

By: Aidan Semmens

Aidan Semmens — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:58:40 +0000

Nige – thank you very much for that very useful reply. The most encouraging thing is what you say about the (lack of) language barrier – that just might tip the balance in favour of me going. As a matter of interest, how would you say the ease of communication compares with Moscow, St Petersburg – or Arkhangelsk? It’s been a long-held ambition of mine to visit all these places, preferably by train.

By: Nige Burton

Nige Burton — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:51:10 +0000

Thanks for your comment Aidan – sorry you’re disappointed; World Travel Blog articles are aimed to be journalistic accounts rather than straightforward guides. We also can’t cover every eventuality as we have readers all over the world. However, in answer to your specific questions, you will need a visa, which can be obtained from the UK via http://www.belarussianvisa.com for just over £100. This can also be obtained from the Belarussian Embassy without the processing fee of around £30. You can fly with Czech Airlines from either Manchester or London via Prague, and I wouldn’t worry unduly about a language barrier – most people in Minsk can speak enough English to make a stay easy and pleasant. Hope this helps, and thanks again for taking the time to comment.

By: Aidan Semmens

Aidan Semmens — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:40:02 +0000

Interesting piece, Nige – I’m disappointed, though, that you don’t say anything about means of travel, visas etc, or how one might cope with the language difficulty. I’ve been keen for some time to visit Minsk, but I speak neither Belarusian nor Russian, and I don’t suppose English is much spoken there. Do you have any suggestions that might help?