There are at least four ways to get to Vitebsk from Minsk right now:
- By train
- By minibus
- By bus
- And on various passing cars.
The last two options are the most delusional (therefore they should be considered only if your buttocks cannot live without adventures). But minibuses and trains are almost equal in my personal rating. Both options have their important advantages. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Trains . Brief information
Travel time: from 3 to 4.5 hours.
Advantages: comfortable and cheap.
How much does a train ticket from Minsk to Vitebsk cost? Most often from 17 to 25 BYN.
Where can I check my schedule? On the websiteRW.BY .
Trains . The same thing, but in more detail
5-9 trains run from Minsk to Vitebsk every day. There are cute «Business class Stadlers…
And there are economy class lines that are simple and familiar, like the smell of freshly brewed rollton in the morning.
In fact, they’re pretty good too. There are old, but quite comfortable chairs. The carriage has a toilet and vintage blinds on the windows. In fact, they differ from business class trains only in three things:
- Novelty
- Price
- And the presence of sockets (they usually don’t exist in old trains, so I always carried a charger with me).
In short, you can also ride on old trains. And the main disadvantage of cheap trains is only one thing – a longer journey time. Business Class trains take 3 hours to Vitebsk, and staraya Gvardiya takes one and a half times longer!
There are three ways to buy train tickets:
- On the website of the Belarusian Railway (RW.BY );
- In the mobile application “warhead. My train”;
- And also in the old–fashioned way – at the ticket offices of the railway station (at the Lenin Square metro station).
I like the first two options better. But if you’re an old Believer passenger, here’s some good advice. It is better to buy tickets not in the main station building, but in a small box office next door. It looks like this.
It has the same functionality. And it differs from the main building only in the shorter length of queues.
Minibus. About everything in short
Where can I find them? On websitesatlasbus.by , v-minsk.by and kit-express.by .
How much does a minibus from Minsk to Vitebsk cost? Usually 35 BYN. But carriers have promotions and discounts when the price drops to 30 or even 25 BYN. Therefore, I recommend checking all the sites I wrote about above one at a time. As a rule, the first (!) tickets on each flight are sold at a discount.
How long does a minibus travel from Minsk to Vitebsk? About 4 hours. There are flights that cover the distance between cities in 3 hours and 45 minutes. And there are those that travel 40 minutes longer.
Minibuses. A few words from myself
The main advantage of minibuses is that there are a lot of them. You can come even in the morning, even in the evening, even for the third round of the program “Field of Miracles”.
Yes, they are a bit more expensive than trains. And their salons are designed to test your knees for 3 hours on end.
But if you are not 2 meters tall (like me), then this option can also be considered. Often there are even sockets and a really working (!) WI-FI. And the road, as you know, flies faster if the gentle waves of the free Internet tickle you along the way.
Buses to Vitebsk and 3 reasons why you don’t need it
For the most part these are the same minibuses, only older and sadder. At the time of publication of the article, flights are operated on such excellent models as the Crafter Lubava and the Neman 28m.
And there are relatively few of them. And they are often even more expensive than private minibuses. Crafter Lubava, of course, sounds romantic. But personally, I’ve always considered the option of buses as the last thing.
A paragraph for those who still want to go to Vitebsk by bus
Where can I see the schedule? On sitesticketbus.by and infobus.by .
Travel time: about 4 hours.
How much does a bus ticket from Minsk to Vitebsk cost? From 34 to 37 BYN. It all depends on the specific flight. More detailed information can be found at the ticket offices of the Central Bus Station (near the Lenin Square metro station) and on the websites I mentioned above.
Hitchhiking in Vitebsk
They can be found on the website blablacar, as well as in various VKontakte groups. For example, vk.com/vitebsk_minsk and vk.com/poputchik_minsk_vitebsk . But personally, this option seems to me the most unreliable.
How do I find housing in Vitebsk now?
There is only one good hotel in Vitebsk – here it is. The rooms are cozy. And it is located in the very center. But the prices there are not the most pleasant. Therefore, I personally recommend that you pay attention to private apartments first of all.
Here, for example, is an inexpensive apartment with a view of the river and the Assumption Cathedral.
And here is a nice two-bedroom apartment right around the corner from the pedestrian street of the city. If you come to Vitebsk as a tourist, then choose something like this.
A very exotic way to find accommodation in Vitebsk is to look at the website of the Belarusian Railway again (RW.BY ). Click on the “Passenger services” tab. Open the “Railway stations” page and select the city of Vitebsk. After that, you will see prices and photos of local recreation rooms operating at the city railway station. The interiors are like in a Soviet sanatorium. But then you can tell everyone that you spent the night at the train station.
What to see in the city?
On the rights of self-promotion, I recommend you my big post about Vitebsk. There I talked about urban legends, haunted houses, and also about art galleries, cathedrals, and the best places in the city. If you came across this text, then consider yourself as lucky as a herring in the kitchen of the Titanic. The link to it will be below.
Excursions in Vitebsk
If you like to walk around the city with a guide, then check out the selection of excursions below. There are classic walks and author’s stories about the most mystical and mysterious places in the city.
I think you’ll have plenty to choose from. Well, all I have to do now is say goodbye. If my article helped you, you can share it with your friends or write a nice comment. It’s only a couple of seconds for you, but it will be a pleasure for me.
