Minsk is a two-million megapolis, famous for its startups, green wide streets and atmosphere of a slight nostalgia for the times of USSR. You can find everything here: luxurious Stalin-style buildings and ultramodern architecture, shops and cafes in the Soviet style and noisy bar streets. For several years the city is filled with the waves of new start-ups, which are growing all over the world and are bought by the largest companies like Facebook and Microsoft.

Time zone: UTC+3.

Weather in October: +10°C

Electricity: European standart, 220 V.

Currency: BYN, belarusian ruble. Approximate rates of exchange - 1 USD = 1,95 BYN, 1 EUR = 2,3 BYN. Relevant rates of exchange can be found here.

Credit card payments are overall available in Minsk. Generally, you can use Visa, MasterCard, Belcart. But for instance we recommend to have some cash.
ATMs and exchange offices can be easily found in any part of the city. You can search for the nearest bank office here.

Language: Russian and Belarusian. Nevertheless, many citizens speak English, especially hotel and airport staff.

Unified emergency number — 112.

You can find more information about Belarus on the following sites:
Visit Belarus
Belarus.travel
Belarus.by

Public transport: There are 2 metro lines in Minsk, so it is easy to stay oriented. Metro scheme is available here.
It is also convenient to move around the city by buses, trolleybuses, trams and fixed-run taxi. You can find a stop or make a route here.
The cost of a public transport ride is 0,55 BYN. Metro — 0,6 BYN. It is about $0,3.

Taxi:

— Uber
— Yandex taxi
— Taxi "Friday" (+375 29 133 75 00)
— Taxi "135" (+375 29 333 30 01)

The cost of one kilometer in the city is about 0,6 BYN or $0,32.

It will take you about 40 minutes to get from the airport to the Minsk Marriott Hotel. The cost of the ride is about 40 BYN or 20$. The cost of the ride via Uber is about 30 BYN or 15$, but you can specify it in the official application before the ride.

A vise-free travel to Belarus is established for a number of countries including Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, etc. A full list of countries is published here.

Citizens of 80 countries, including all EU countries, can also stay in Belarus without visa for a period not longer than 5 days. The mandatory requirement is to come to Belarus via the Minsk National airport, but not by the planes, coming from the Russian Federation. In other cases you will need to open a short-term belarusian visa before your visit to the country. You can learn more information about the 5-days visa-free travel here.

To enter the Republic of Belarus in the visa-free regime via the checkpoint “Minsk National Airport”, foreign guests must have the following documents:
— a valid passport or another substituting document for traveling abroad;
— financial means: at least 25 EUR (or equal amount in dollars or belarusian rubles) for each day of stay;
— medical insurance with coverage for at least 10 000 EUR that covers the territory of Belarus (may be processed in the airport).

If you need a visa support, please, write to info@eednsforum.org. We will contact you for further details.