Belarus Travel Forum

Hi,
I am planning a trip through Poland, Belarus and Russia and just have a few questions. I already have a visa for Russia so I was planning on getting the 48 hour transit visa for Belarus. With the visa for Belarus is it a total of 48 hours given from the time of entry or is it just one day to enter and one day to leave. for example if I arrived at 11pm on the 3rd of November would I have until 11pm on the 5th November or would I simply have the 3rd and 4th as days permitted.
I am getting the overnight train from Minsk to Moscow departing on the 4th November and it crosses the border from Belarus to Russia at 00:31 on the 5th. Does this mean that because I will be in Belarus territory on the 5th I will only be able to get the visa for the 4th and the 5th?
I want to get the Warsaw to Minsk Train which departs at 20:44 and arrives in Minsk at 8:01 the following morning. Does anyone know what time it will cross the border from Poland to Belarus? I am hoping it is after midnight, that way I can get on the train on the 3rd, arrive in Belarus on the 4th and I will be covered by the transit visa for the 4th and the 5th.
Does anyone know of a website where I can purchase a ticket for the train between Warsaw and Belarus, so far I have come across a number of sites which have the time table but not a booking facility.
Finally, if I require a tourist visa for my stay, does anyone know of any websites that will produce a tourist voucher for me?
Thanks.

A 48-hour transit visa is valid for (up to) 48 hours from entry into the country: so if your passport gets stamped to start it running on entry at 23:00 hrs on 3 November you are supposed to leave the country by 23:00 hrs on 5 November. However, you will find out when you apply for the visa to the local Belarus Embassy, because you have to produce your inward and outward tickets to get the transit visa, and they will soon tell you if they consider that you would be exceeding a 48-hour period. If you are lucky they will consider the time you catch the departing train as the time at which you "begin your departure" from Belarus - after all, when flying, it is when they stamp your passport on your way to the "airside" of the airport that counts, not when the plane actually flies over the border of the country! Although, I thought there were no passport controls between Belarus and Russia anyway: the two are in customs union but I don't know what this means with respect to controls on the train.
See http://www.belarustravel.by/en/belarusian_visas.html

There is 100% no passport control in normal situation between RU and BY.
Unless in the border area you yell out loudly "I am Osama bin Laden and I have a bomb". Than there will be a special control - just for you. ;)

There is no web site you can buy these tickets on-line, but given the train frequency there is rarely need for that. Keep in mind, return tickets cost barely more than one-way tickets. You also may save if you want to visit more, than one city in Russia.

Not sure, what is your journey but in some countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic) the tickets to Russia cost less, than in Poland or even in Russia.

www.jizdenka.cz does provide base tariff prices as seen from Czech Republic, but add sleeper upgrades for CIS countries. Prices in Poland are higher than on jizdenka.