Some time ago, I already had an article about where to go from Minsk for 1 day. Read it. There I gathered a lot of good solutions for a short trip.
And today we’re going to talk about something else. There will be ideas for more substantial travel, for which you will have to set aside a whole weekend.
I will tell you about luxury hotels and nature reserves, where you can go with tents; about popular castles and ghost towns, which are very rarely talked about. I hope I can surprise you. So what? Shall we begin?
Spa weekend in Mogilev
You can come to Mogilev at least to feel like a rich man. There are inexpensive hotels, inexpensive coffee, inexpensive breakfasts, inexpensive cocktails in bars and many colorful places where you can try it all.
The weekend plan can be made like this. In the morning, take the high-speed train and leave for Mogilev at 6:55. Have breakfast at the nice coffee shop “Bake House” (for 9.99 BYN), and then go explore the city. You walk along the Dnieper River, see the Mogilev City Hall, take pictures of the brutal red brick Drama Theater and the Church of St. Svyatoslav, hidden in courtyards among simple high-rise buildings.
And at 15:00, check into the Atrium Hotel and go to the local SPA complex Nebo Lounge (included in the room rate) until the evening.
At the end of the day, you can go for desserts at the inexpensive coffee shop MERCI, have a nice dinner at the gastrobar “White Fox” or just stay in the room to drink wine while looking at evening city through panoramic windows. It seems to me that Mogilev is a great option for a weekend trip to Belarus.
You can read more about the most interesting places of this city here.
Yelnya swamp
If the soul is asking for unity with nature, then here’s another option for you from another part of the spectrum. Take a look at the websiteyelnyatrip.com . This is a tourist project that organizes tours to the Yelnya swamp.
They have overnight hard trips, two-day rafting trips, and very short tours to explore the swamp for the first time.
Yes, it doesn’t sound very romantic. But the places there are amazing. Yelnya is a field burning with scattered berries, the trills of gray cranes, and 118 large and small lakes, which have a history of 9 millennia!
Grodno
And now some travel-pop music. Grodno is the most beautiful city in Belarus. And you probably know about him without me. So let’s get straight to the specifics.
Take the train and travel to the west of the country at 7-10 a.m. Rent this apartment with a stunning view of the Orthodox Church, take a walk around the old town and try to count all the Grodno palaces and castles.
And when you get tired, go to the coffee shop “Strong White”, to drink coffee while looking at the panoramas of tiled roofs. Or in the small gastrobar “Sprava“, where delicious breakfasts are served until 16:00.
In the evening, when darkness falls on the city, I recommend going on a costume tour called “Secrets of the city“. In fact, this is not just a walk around Grodno, but a whole theatrical performance.
You will make your way behind the walls of the Brigitte Monastery, listen to stories about Belarusian knights and find out why fires were so frequent in Grodno. You can read all the details on this page. Personally, I really like this project.
A separate route can be drawn up in the vicinity of Grodno. Not far from the city is The Holy Palace and the knight’s castle in Lida, the Augustovsky Canal and the pretty Radziwilki manor, whose history dates back to the time of the Kamaldul monks.
Svyatsk. Photo by Lizaveta Varano, @lizztoday
If you are traveling with children, you can also go to the country complex “Korobchitsy” to look at ostriches and climb around Baba Yaga’s hut. It will make a great program for the whole weekend. Read more about these places at the link below. In the meantime, I’ll move on.
Polessky Nature reserve and exclusion zone
photo zapovednik.by
I think everyone has heard about the Ukrainian city of Pripyat. But Belarus also has territories that were completely depopulated after the Chernobyl accident. There are no cities in the Belarusian part of the exclusion zone – only villages and towns (where up to 1,000 people once lived). Now tour groups are regularly taken there.
You can view all the details on the website.zapovednik.by in the Tourism section. There are descriptions of routes and the main “attractions” of the Belarusian exclusion zone. Somewhere you will be shown abandoned schools and old cultural centers; somewhere rusted barges and wild bison.
Photo zapovednik.by
At the same time, the trips themselves are quite inexpensive (500 BYN for a group of 10 people). But they have one caveat: all tours start either from Gomel or from the city of Khoiniki. Therefore, you are unlikely to be able to go to the Polessky Radiation Reserve in one day. You’ll have to set aside a whole weekend for such a trip.
Braslav Lakes and Scandinavian aesthetics
Braslav is the capital of magical sunsets and mystical legends that have been passed down from mouth to mouth for many generations. There are more than 6 dozen lakes scattered around the city. Rare birds and animals live in the forests. And old churches rise above the water surface.
You can get here by bus or minibus in 3-5 hours. Look for the first ones on the website infobus.by . Others are on the private carrier’s website braslavminsk.by .
As for overnight stays, the most popular hotel in the city is the Braslav Lakes complex. In the “low season” you can rent a room here for 100 rubles per day. But starting in May, prices have been gradually creeping up (up to 200 BYN and above). Photos of the rooms and more detailed information can be viewed here.
Look for another good complex 3 kilometers from Braslav – on Lake Berezhe.
There is a cozy glamping Nomad House, which will surely appeal to connoisseurs of Scandinavian aesthetics.
You can view its prices on this page.
Slobodka. Photos from the website braslaw.by .
In general, Braslav is a good answer to the question of where to go in Belarus for the weekend. Sit by the water in the evening with a glass of beer. See the Church of the Nativity from the top of Castle Hill. And if you have a car, take a ride through neighboring towns and villages.
Many interesting routes in northern Belarus can be found here.
Green Wood Chalet
Photo from the website- mdash; chaletgreenwood.com
Another good option for relaxing by the water is the Greenwood Chalet, located in the Brest region in the village of Beloe Ozero. It has its own beach with sun loungers, a cozy restaurant and a small stage where musical evenings are regularly arranged for guests.
Photos from the website chaletgreenwood.com
The rooms themselves are also beautifully decorated. Accommodation and Full board cost from 186 BYN per day. See the exact prices here. I would go there myself, but it’s not so easy to get to this hotel without a car.
Royal Park
If the Brest Chalet Greenwood seems to you to be too expensive a destination, then again, turn your gaze in the direction of Mogilev. There is an eco-friendly Royal Park hotel near the city. The principle is the same, but the prices are noticeably lower. The current price list can be viewed here at this link.
Nesvizh and Nesvizh Castle
One of the most famous sights of our country. The castle itself is amazing. And next to it there is also a beautiful park with a lake, the Church of the Body of God, a pretty town hall with a museum and a Benedictine monastery with its ghost.
If you wish, you can go here in one day (combining the trip with a tour of the Mir Castle). But I will only talk about this option in passing today. If you are interested, you can see all the details on this page.
We usually come to Nesvizh for a whole weekend: we have picnics in the local park, eat eclairs in a coffee shop “Teplo”, and then go to the hotel. The last time we stayed at the Bialystok Hotel. She’s cute and inexpensive.
But if you wish, you can rent a room at the Palace Hotel and spend the night right in Nesvizh Castle. In my opinion, the rooms there are decorated tastelessly (and the same “Bialystok” is cheaper and better). But there’s no arguing about tastes.
Read more about the Radziwill city at the link below…
Pinsk
The capital of Polesie and the second city of Belarus in terms of the number of preserved ancient monuments. HereThe spires of the Franciscan Church rise above the tiled roofs, and next to the shore of the Pina stands a beautiful Jesuit College, built in the 17th century.
If you come to the city in the summer, be sure to take a boat ride along the river (it costs only 5 BYN). Also, go to wine evenings at the Bona Sforza cafe or to the local drama theater, where various horror performances are regularly staged.
You can choose a nice hotel as a place to stay.”Pinsky courtyard“. It is located in a historic building right in the city center. There is also a very cozy atrium. The hotel rooms cost 90-130 BYN (for a double room).
Photos from the website pinskidvorik.by
A more budget option is to rent an apartment for a day. For 70-80 BYN, you can rent a beautiful studio with a view of the river. Or you can choose a very inexpensive option and rent an apartment in one of the residential areas of Pinsk for 35 BYN.
As for restaurants and cafes, I can recommend several points of interest at once. Pinsk has:
- Children’s Cafe «Bembi»;
- Cozy burger joint «MYMO»;
- Good Paragraph coffee shop with lavender coffee and berry tartlets;
There’s also a submarine cafe called “Lighthouse“, standing right by the Pinskaya embankment.
In general… with the right approach, Pinsk can be a great destination for a short trip. He pleasantly surprised me. Read more about the capital of Polesie in the article at the link below.
Baranovichi + Lyakhovichi: a good idea for a road trip
I agree, the names of these cities don’t sound very romantic. But around them (in a relatively small area) there are a lot of interesting places that are worth a visit. There is a:
- One of the most beautiful “abandoned buildings” in our country is (Kotlubaev manor in the village of Yastrembel);
- The largest wooden church in Belarus (St. George’s Church in the village of Polonechka);
- Triangular church in the village of Bolshaya Svorotva;
- And one of the coolest nature parks in our country is Deepriz, where you can feed roe deer and deer directly from your hands.
Photo from the social networks of the Deep Breeze park by @mariya_delikatnaya.
If that’s not enough, you can also see the insanely colorful Reitan manor in Grushevka, with a noble house and a Gothic tomb of noble representatives of the family. And at the end of the day, go on vacation to this hotel.
There are beautiful rooms, a nice SPA center and a cozy restaurant. It seems to me that I would hardly be mistaken if I said that this is the best hotel in the suburbs of Baranovichi.
Brest and Belovezhskaya Pushcha
In one of my previous articles, I advised going to Brest with an excursion. For a one-day trip, this is a great option. Here… See for yourself. Lunch, tickets, travel – an all-inclusive tour at its best.
But this article is called “Where to go in Belarus for the WEEKEND.” Therefore, here I will try to show you Brest in a slightly different light. You already know about the local fortress and Belovezhskaya Pushcha. I’m sure you won’t miss them without my advice.
So here’s my plan for a great weekend.
- First, go on a tour of the old courtyards of Brest (you can sign up via Instagram @brest_gid, guided by a girl named Olga).
- Then check out the city’s pop attractions;
- And in the evening, go to the Nemtsevich estate in the village of Skokie. It is very easy to get to it – by minibus number 20t. The entire trip will take about half an hour.
Photo author Sergey Bond (sergeybond.livejournal.com )
You can book the Status Hotel for overnight stays. It’s nice, but quite expensive (230 BYN per room with breakfast).
A more budget option is to rent an apartment for a day. For a romantic weekend , this apartment is perfect. The price is 100 BYN per day.
The next morning, you can go to see the castle in Kossovo or discover the bar and restaurant culture of Brest. There are several dozen excellent gastronomic establishments in the city. I liked:
- “Coffee 1801” at the watch factory;
- So Cafe on the street Mickiewicz with lots of great bagels;
- And the burger bar “MOMOO”.
In the end, I want to recommend my great article about Brest.Scroll through it if you would like to understand this city better. And today, let’s say goodbye. See you soon. I hope my ideas were useful to you. And now you will decide for yourself where to go in Belarus for the weekend.
