We spent two days in the capital, Minsk on our Belarus road Trip, visiting some of the city’s top attractions. From Minsk, we continued to the spectacular castles of Mir and Nesvizh, which are 60 and 68 miles south west of Minsk respectively. If you don’t plan to travel further afield, I recommend staying an extra night in Minsk and visiting the castles as a day excursion.
How to get to Minsk
We flew from London to Minsk with Belavia Belarusian Airline, which is not currently an option. There are no direct connections between Belarus and Western Europe. Most flights are to Russia and Eastern Europe plus Turkey, Dubai, India and China.
National Airport Minsk is 25 miles to the east of the city centre. We took a taxi, which was relatively cheap (around £10). There is also an hourly bus service to Minsk Central Bus Station.
Getting around Minsk
Minsk is a fairly compact city, so we did all our sightseeing on foot.
Where to stay in Minsk
We stayed at the Hotel Minsk, the hotel of choice back in the day; built in 1959 in Stalinist classical style. The lobby is festooned with old photos – it’s rather like staying in a museum.
Minsk in 2 Days Itinerary
| Day 1 | Svabody Square Holy Spirit Cathedral Bolshoi Theatre Island of Tears KFC Hero City Museum of the Great Patriotic War Dinner at Marco Polo Accommodation – Hotel Minsk |
| Day 2 | City Gates Independence Square Dinamo Stadium National Art Museum Dinner at Troitsa |
Minsk Day 1
I had worried that with temperatures below zero, I would get cold in Minsk, so last week I purchased the world’s thickest (well, Primark’s thickest) pyjamas. But the Hotel Minsk isn’t skimping on the heating – last night was like one long hot flush.
Svabody Square
We get up and set off for some sightseeing – first stop, Svabody Square. One of the first things you notice about Belarus – jaywalking is not a thing. You stand and wait for the light to go green, even if this means waiting for hours when there isn’t a car in sight. Then, when the light finally does go green, still nobody moves. This is either because they’ve been there for so long they’ve forgotten where they’ve going, or because they’ve frozen to the spot and can no longer move. We finally make it across the road and into the pretty square decorated with flowers and silver sculptures.
Holy Spirit Cathedral
The focal point of the square is the Holy Spirit Cathedral. There aren’t many buildings of age in Minsk – the city was pretty much destroyed during WW2 and rebuilt according to Stalin’s taste in the 1950s. The white 17th Century cathedral is one of very few old buildings to have survived.
Bolshoi Theatre
We pass some interesting buildings, all very similar in style before entering the grounds of the grand National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus, aka the Bolshoi Theatre. This grand concert venue is in a park with fountains and statues.
Island of Tears
Onwards to the Island of Tears; an Afghan War Memorial on a small island. It depicts the sorrowful mothers and sisters of Belarusian soldiers who died in the war.
KFC
My absolute favourite of all the buildings we pass is KFC, which has a spectacularly carved communist façade – ironic juxtaposition at its finest.
Hero City
Our ultimate destination today is Hero City. The focal point of this complex, home to the war museum, is a 45 metre tall obelisk guarded by a trumpet wielding angel. Socialist realist art at its finest.
Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War
The succinctly named Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War documents World War II from a Belarusian perspective. It’s a fascinating place with plenty of original artifacts. It tells the story not only of the war in general, but with more personal stories – like a tank crewed by 3 Belarusian brothers who were all killed together.
You follow the exhibits up several floors until you reach a huge glass dome at the top; The Dome of Victory is designed to replicate the dome of Reichstag and remembers the almost 3 million Belarusians (a third of the population) who died during the war.
The museum is open daily except Monday from 10 am until 7 pm. Entry costs 11BYN (around £2.70).
Dinner at Marco Polo
In the evening we go for dinner in a nearby restaurant – Gostiny Dvor (now Marco Polo). The food is nice; the old man has borscht, potato pancakes and beer and I have mushrooms in cream, potato pancakes and wine. The restaurant is completely empty. We wonder vaguely why there are neither locals nor other tourists there. The bill arrives – it’s a lot more than expected. I have drunk 2 glasses of wine and been charged for 8 wines. When I query it, the waiter points out that the price on the menu is per 50 ml and he put 200 ml in each glass. The old man, being very British, tops this chicanery up with a good tip and then spends the rest of the evening telling anyone who’ll listen that his wife just drank 8 glasses of wine.
Accommodation – Hotel Minsk
The Hotel Minsk is a bit jaded, but very clean and the staff are friendly. We planned to go in search of a bar, but discover that the hotel is built on top of an underground shopping centre, which is useful. So we buy some beer and return to the hotel.
Minsk Day 2
Today, we are taking a walk along Independence Avenue; the wide Stalinist boulevard (obviously during Stalin’s time it wasn’t called Independence Avenue), which runs the length of the city and contains most of Minsk’s key buildings.
City Gates
We start at the very bottom (and strictly speaking, round the corner) at the City Gates. They’re not really gates, rather, identical tower blocks either side of the road. The only difference to their structure is that one houses a clock and the other a Coat of Arms. Also, one of them is now a KFC. Another of Stalin’s iconic buildings now home to a American fast food outlet – he must be turning in his grave!
Independence Square
Back round the corner, we start at the bottom of Independence Avenue at Independence Square, with its enormous Lenin statue, and work our way up.
Dinamo Stadium
Just off Independence Avenue is the home of football team Dinamo Minsk, Dinamo Stadium. The stadium is a strange building, which looks like someone dropped a spaceship on top of an amphitheatre.
National Art Museum
Next, a visit to the National Art Museum.
It’s not the best art I’ve ever seen. To be honest, it reminds me of the art display put on at school each summer ready for the GCSE examiner – and not all those kids passed!
The museum is open daily from 11 am until 7 pm ( 1 p m until 9 pm on Thursday). Entry costs 10BYN (around £2.50).
Dinner at Troitsa
We round off our visit to Minsk with dinner at a nearby restaurant called Troitsa (Trinity) – the trinity bring Belarusian, Jewish and Tartar. The old man surpasses himself with a trinity of his own and orders 3 courses; a meat platter, soup and potato pancakes. I opt for just potato pancakes. I love the Belarusian potato pancakes; patties of grated potato and onion, fried and served with onions and sour cream and at Troitsa they are particularly good!
- Trip taken: October 2019
- Updated: January 2025
I hope you found the above information useful. For guides to more destinations in the 50+ countries we have visited, check out my full list of Independent Travel Itineraries here.
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