I’m too lazy to come up with a beautiful introduction, so let’s start right off the bat. In this article, I will tell you where to go from Minsk for 1 day. And also:
- where to find “necromancer’s pyramid” and ghost villages,
- how close to the capital find huge “mechanical monsters” and little-known castles, which not even everyone knows about.
But I would like to emphasize right away: there will be only those places where you can go without spending the night. If you need ideas for a more thorough journey, then read another article at the link below.
Is this sorted out? Then let’s get started. Tourism in Belarus will not boost itself.
Mir and Nesvizh
I agree, this is a tourist pop song. But it was also wrong not to say anything about them.
I like Nesvizh more than the World. There is a beautiful park around the castle, the stunning Corpus Christi Church stands nearby, and the local Benedictine monastery (now converted into a teacher training college) is still covered with ghost legends.
Mir Castle also looks great, but it doesn’t have such an entourage. The urban village of Mir consists of one–story houses, apples hanging over fences, and a cafe called CAFE in the very center. Therefore, if you choose one of the two directions, I would recommend Nesvizh.
How to get there? On minibuses of various private companies (for 11-14 BYN). Tickets to Nesvizh can be viewed on websites7667.by and nesvizh-stolbcy-minsk.by . And look for flights to the World on the website atlasbus.by . You can visit both castles in one day along with various excursions. Here is one of them for example.
Three less pop locks
If the spirit of Fyodor Konyukhov lives in your heart, and difficult routes do not frighten you, then here are two more ideas for a short trip.
Photo source: dimon-porter.livejournal.com
At the junction of the Minsk and Grodno regions stands Lyubchansky Castle, which can be reached in 2 hours by minibus (atlasbus.by ). And in the Brest region, not far from each other, there are two ancient bastions at once – the Sapieha Palace in Ruzhany and the Puslovsky Palace in Kossovo.The first one is currently being actively restored. But Kossovsky Castle is already welcoming tourists.
Photos from social networks. The author is Denis Mordas.
There are brutal towers, stained glass windows, and the Kosciusko House Museum next door. How to get to Kossovo I wrote in detail here (spoiler: we will have to make a transfer in Ivatsevichi). Well, if you need a simpler option, here is a link to an excursion to Ruzhany and Kossovo.
Palaces of eastern Belarus
Eastern Belarus remains a true terra incognita. But in vain, because there are also a lot of interesting things here.
For example, “Belarusian Versailles” in the village of Zhilichi and “Belarusian Notre Dame” in the village of Krasny Bereg. The history of the Zhilichi Palace dates back almost 200 years. But during all this time, the complex has never been destroyed or rebuilt. Today, its interiors – with coffered ceilings and golden columns – are considered one of the most luxurious in Belarus.
Auto photo: Kasia Syramalot, @palasatka. The source 34travel.me
A similar story is connected with the Krasny Bereg estate. The local palace boasts pointed towers, gargoyles on drainpipes, and a rare combination of architectural styles in our country. Different parts of the interior are attributed to Gothic, Neo-Romanesque style and even Moorish classics.
As for getting there, it’s easiest to get to these places with a guided tour (for example, this one), or by arranging a large-scale trip by car. In the latter case, I also recommend that you stop by Mogilev to spend the night in this hotel. This is the only luxury hotel in Belarus with a free SPA and a price below 250 BYN.
Zaslavl
One of the oldest cities in Belarus is just half an hour’s drive from Minsk. Of course, looking for 12th-century buildings here is almost as pointless as Cointreau in the Kopeechka store. But for a 17,000-strong town, the list of attractions here is really impressive. The city has preserved:
- The Zaslavl castle with the beautiful Transfiguration Cathedral;
- Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (built in the 18th century);
There are several ethnographic museums in the city (with steam mills, blacksmiths and old barns). And more recently, a unique exhibition of Belarusian “malyavanki” (traditional painted carpets) was opened here. Put it all together and you get a great cocktail for a short trip.
Author Viktori@ smile.
How to get? From the central station on trains of urban and regional lines. The ticket price is from 1 to 1,7 BYN. See the schedule on the websiteRW.BY .
Zhodino and the BelAZ plant
The main star in the world of industrial tourism in Belarus. A factory where huge metal monsters the size of a three-story house are assembled. They also conduct popular excursions for tourists, show wheels taller than a man and give them rides in cars weighing 240 tons.
Over the years, the “graduates” of the Zhodinsky dump truck plant have been included in the Guinness Book of World Records several times as the largest cars in the world. You can see them with your own eyes during a separate trip to the BelAZ plant. All the details will be here at this link.
Where to go from Minsk for 1 day? Deepriz Park
If the BelAZ-75710 mining dump truck doesn’t seem pretty and cute enough to you, then pay attention to the Baranovichi Deepriz park. Today it is the coolest animal park in Belarus, known for the fact that many animals walk here absolutely freely. You can kiss a goat, feed the deer with your hands and tell the meerkat a sad story about how tired you are at work. Photo shoots with alpacas and ostriches are a matter of course.
Photo from the social networks of the Deep Breeze park by @mariya_delikatnaya.
Ticket price: 30 BYN.
How to get there? First, an hour and a half by train to the station “Baranovichi Polessky” (5-16 BYN), and then by bus No. 4 or No. 15 to the stop “Special depot”.
Baranovichi + Lyakhovichi
If you have a car, then a trip to the Deepriz Park can be combined with a tour of other interesting places located around the cities of Baranovichi and Lyakhovichi.
The author of the photo is Alexander Postalovsky, source postalovsky-a.livejournal.com
There is:
- The largest wooden temple in our country (in the village of Polonechka);
- The only triangular church (in the village of Bolshaya Svorotva);
- The old temple in the town of Ishkold (1472);
- And also the most beautiful “abandoned” of our country is the mystical Kotluba estate in the village of Yastrembel.
Photo from the website — planetabelarus.by .
Even by car, such a trip will last for a whole day. But not saying a word about them seemed wrong to me, too.
3 ideas on how to tickle your nerves
If the Gothic house in Yastrembel seems to you no scarier than the ghosts from the movie “Scooby-Doo”, then here are three more ideas for how you can tickle your nerves while traveling around Belarus. So…
To get started, you can go to Uzda (about an hour’s drive from Minsk). Here in the old cemetery stands a huge 10-meter (!) pyramid, built in 1800 as a tomb for the princes of the Zavish family
There are burials on the first floor of the pyramid. On the second floor there is a mysterious ritual room. The idea of its construction is attributed to Jan Kazimierz Zawis, a famous Belarusian antiquity seeker. Back in the 19th century, he was engaged in research of old graves and studied folk folklore. Some articles even call him a necromancer. Should I believe it? You already think for yourself. But the fact remains that the pyramid of Dependencies in Check looks extremely unusual.
Another popular destination for mystery lovers is Nalibokskaya Pushcha (80 kilometers from Minsk).
There, among the old pines and lost trails stands the abandoned sanatorium Lesnoye. It was closed back in 1996. And since then, the building has been slowly collapsing. Today, the sanatorium is mothballed, but the huge concrete skeleton of the Soviet giant has become popular among various kinds of stalkers. A number of major publications in Belarus published full-fledged reports about him, calling him either “Belarusian Pripyat” or “the most mysterious place in Minsk region.”
By the way… Belarus also has its own haunted hotel.
He works in the walls of the former Bernardine monastery and is known for the fact that during the renovation work a number of underground secret passages and rooms were found there. Since then, various ufologists and paranormal researchers have regularly appeared on it. And information about the ghosts living there is even posted on the official website of the hotel. If you are a fan of various kinds of mysticism, you can take a look at his page.
Ghost villages and the Polessky exclusion zone
Probably everyone has heard about the Ukrainian city of Pripyat. But our country also has its own exclusion zone. It is located in the south of Belarus – in a special Polessky radiation reserve. There are no cities there, but there are many villages and small towns with a former population of around 1,000 people. Even after many years, abandoned houses and deserted schools, cultural centers with posters of Soviet leaders and unique places with dozens of rare species of animals have been preserved here.
Photo zapovednik.by .
Bison roam freely through the forests there, so various travel companies regularly organize trips to these regions. They usually start from Mozyr or Gomel. But there are also day trips from Minsk.
You can view the details on the websites.originaltour.by , walktofolk.by and pripyat-tour.by .
Brest and Belovezhskaya Pushcha
If going to the radiation reserve for bison is too much for you, then you can go classicby the way and just go to Belovezhskaya Pushcha. One-day tours from Minsk are regularly taken to this region. Therefore, this direction is quite suitable for the topic of our article today.
The trip route usually includes Brest Fortress, Kamenetskaya Tower and Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Several similar excursions can be found here.The price of the tour usually includes transportation, meals and all entrance tickets to museums and parks.
Grodno
Ideally, it is better to set aside at least 2-3 days to explore this city. But if time is short, then this is also not a reason to completely abandon the trip. It is quite possible to go to Grodno in one day. And I’ve already tested this many times with my own experience.
You get up in the morning and run at the speed of a Forest Gump to the first minibus. Departure at seven, and you’ll be there at ten. And now you have a whole day to walk around the old town.
Walk along the pedestrian street and climb up to the Roof of the World observation deck (2 BYN)…
Take a selfie against the background of the Old Castle, and then go to brunch at the cute Sprava cafe.
I wrote in great detail about the most interesting places of the city in my separate article.
Read it if you decide to get thoroughly lost among the tiled roofs of Grodno. Well, if you need an easier option, pay attention to this one–day tour from Minsk. It is quite suitable for the first acquaintance with the royal Grodno.
How to get there? By minibus in 3.5 hours or by train in 4-5 hours. Find tickets and schedules on websitesminsk-grodno.by and RW.BY .
Blue lakes and Yelnya swamp
There are at least two amazing places worth seeing within a 2-3-hour drive from Minsk. These are:
- Blue Lakes Nature Park in Myadel district;
- And the Yelnya swamp in the Vitebsk region.
Both places boast beautiful ecotropics and are great for leisurely exploring the Belarusian nature. “Blue Lakes” is a simpler option. There are routes for 4 and 7 kilometers. Ecotropics are laid along beautiful lakes and you can walk them yourself – without a guide and without special training.
But the Yelnya swamp requires a more insinuating attitude.
As a rule, people travel here in small groups with a special guide. This way you can enjoy your trip to the fullest. After all, Yelnya is not only a fascinating place, but also a vast world, including 118 lakes and 130 species of birds, plantations of bright berries and 25,000 hectares of plants, some of which are found only here. Of course, you can just walk the 2-kilometer route “Ozeravki – Yelnya” and go home with a sense of accomplishment. Or you can read the marshes like an open book, listening to the guide’s stories, listening to the trills of gray cranes and watching the white-tailed eagles that circle in the sky.
How to get there: by car or as part of a tour group. Trips to both reserves are organized by companies such as yelnyatrip, walk to folk and many others.
The world of the Belarusian village
There are at least two ethnographic “skansens” near Minsk, where the life and atmosphere of a Belarusian village are recreated. These are:
- Notes
- The lines.
Ideologically, both museums are quite similar. There are wooden houses, old churches, mills and exhibitions of folk life everywhere. I liked Dudutki more, but getting there (without my own car) is noticeably more difficult.
The lines seemed to me a more academic place. The territory itself is noticeably larger, and the emphasis is on museum installations (with folk costumes, belt weaving and representations of different regions of Belarus).
Dudutki is a more sociable place that tries to entertain you rather than tell you something. There are straw weaving workshops, peasant cheese factories, leather shops, and a mill, against which you can take epic photos.… It’s a good option for a short trip. Especially if you are traveling with a child.
How to get there:
- Lines: from Petrovshchyna metro station by buses and minibuses (170E, 1277-TK, 297 and 357). Travel time is 15 minutes.
- Notes: along with the tour, by your own car or by bus No. 323 from the Central Bus Station. But this bus runs erratically. It is then canceled, then returned again. Therefore, before traveling, be sure to check the schedule on the website.minsktrans.by .
Sula Park
Another large ethnographic complex near Minsk. But if the Lines or Notes represent the way of life of peasants, then the Sula focuses on the way of life of the Belarusian nobility of the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Here you can ride a Varangian dragon and try on the armor of medieval knights, stroll through the “quarter of castles” and immerse yourself in the world of noble estates (19th and 20th centuries).
There are also herbal pharmacies and a distillery where they produce their own vodka, the witch’s house and the traditional Batleika puppet theater. In general, the place is very cool. I think both adults and children will really like it here.
Find the travel plan, ticket prices and all the details on the website.parksula.by . And I’ll say goodbye. Thank you for reading this article to the end. I hope she helped you decide where to go from Minsk for 1 day.
