Discovering Minsk: the Vibrant Capital of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus (B)

Belarus has long been known as the hardest country to get into as a tourist in Europe, even harder than Russia, with its complicated and expensive visa requirements. For that reason, the country has seen limited tourism over the years, but all that is about to change. In February this year, Belarus introduced a new visa-free regime, allowing citizens from 80 countries (including all EU countries) to enter the country visa-free for 5 days, if they arrive to and depart from Minsk National Airport.

When I was researching where to go for my Autumn holiday this year, I had originally thought of Azerbaijan, a country I’ve been dying to visit for a long time. But between school and work, I only had five days off to go somewhere, and given the strict visa requirements of Azerbaijan as well as the size of the country, I figured it wouldn’t be worth it for just five days, so I will go there some other time (hopefully in January!).

Instead, I stumbled upon these new visa rules for Belarus, and figured it would be the perfect time to go! Five days visa free, and five days was exactly what I had. I’ve also wanted to visit Belarus for ages, but I’d put it off because of the visa situaton. Now I had no excuse not to go! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).