You may have heard of Minsk, the capital city of the European country of Belarus, but if you’re wondering where to go in Belarus, the western cities of Brest, (Брест) and Grodna, (Гродна), (often romanised as Grodno or Hrodna), are full of interesting and quirky sights.
Before we get into it, let’s address a few questions that you might have –
⭐ What are the best places to visit in Belarus?
Brest and Grodna are two of the best places to visit in Belarus to see some history, funfairs and endearing town centres.
⭐ What is Belarus famous for?
Being a poor dictatorship with low unemployment. But don’t let that stop you from checking it out!
⭐ Is Belarus cheap to visit?
Yup. All the daily necessities, including food and transport, are cheap in Belarus, owing to the fact that it is a relatively poor country.
⭐ Is Belarus a good holiday destination?
If you’re looking for somewhere cheap, with amazing landscapes, interesting towns and helpful locals, then yes! Belarus is a great holiday destination.
Where to Go in Belarus and How to Get There
Hot on the heels of exploring the northern Belarusian cities of Minsk and Barisov, I headed to the western Belarusian city of Brest.
There are overnight sleeper trains from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to both Brest and Grodna.
Tickets for both services can be purchased online using the Belarusian Railway website.
Once your payment goes through, you’ll receive a boarding pass. Just keep it on your phone to show the staff at the train station.
The standard ticket costs 19.58 Belarusian rubles (BYN), plus 2 BYN if you want linen.
That brings the ticket total to 21.58 BYN (€7.80) for an open sleeper cabin.
An open sleeper cabin is just like a normal sleeper cabin, except that there are no doors between cabins.
Making Friends on the Way to Brest Belarus
When I got to my assigned seat/bed on the train, someone was already there. Luckily a local named Andrei swooped in to help. Then he offered me cake.
He was very interested in chatting with me up to, and beyond, the train’s 22:49 departure time.
A little bit before midnight, the internal train lights were dimmed, so pretty much everyone went to sleep not soon after.
An Introduction to Brest Belarus
We arrived in Brest Belarus around 07:40.
It was still dark.
Andrei offered to drive me into town, but first, he had to scrape the ice and snow off his car.
He had a special implement to do that which looked like a spatula with a brush on its handle.
After the snow clearing, which took several minutes, Andrei drove me around the city and showed me where the main points of interest were.
I marked them on my map so I could visit them later.
As the sun doesn’t rise until after 9 am in winter in Belarus, not many places were open, so I found a warm cafe to wait in until 10 am when stuff started opening.
Where to Go in Belarus – Brest Fortress Complex AKA Hero Fortress
If you’re wondering, what is there to see in Brest Belarus, the most interesting attraction is probably the Brest Fortress Complex.
Also referred to as Hero Fortress, this is a huge (more than 4km2), open-air complex near the border with Poland.
You could easily spend a whole day discovering the area.
As daylight hours are shorter in the winter, you might want to set aside 2 or more days for it.
You’ll know the main entrance when you see it because it looks like a huge slab of concrete with a star punched out of it.
The star is lit to look red when it’s dark.
In front of the main entrance of the complex, there are several cafes and souvenir kiosks.
How to Get to the Brest Fortress Complex
The Brest Fortress Complex is around two kilometres from the town. It’s easy to walk there.
If you don’t feel like walking, you could get bus 17 or 41, (for 0.80 BYN) and get off at the Kreposti (Крэпасць) bus stop.
Both buses run less than once an hour: every 61 minutes for number 17 and every 90 minutes for number 41.
What to See in Belarus – Attractions at the Brest Fortress Complex
Within the complex, you’ll see ruins, churches, monuments, sculptures, museums, barracks, islands and even a river.
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By far, the most interesting monument/sculpture at the Brest Fortress Complex is the Courage monument.
At a staggering 33.5 metres tall, it towers over the Square of Ceremonies.
I guess the front of the sculpture depicts a man ready to kick some butt in battle.
You can see him in all his glory in the main picture of this article, at the top of the page.
If you walk around to the back of the sculpture, you can see some war scenes carved into the stone.
These scenes include men charging into certain death as well as other stuff that goes on during wartime.
It’s interesting, to say the least. If you ever wonder what to see in Belarus, consider checking this massive monument out!
Getting Around The Brest Fortress Complex
You can guide yourself around the complex pretty easily, but all the signs, except for some directional signs, are in Russian.
The three directional signs I saw were in Russian, English and Simplified Chinese.
The signs are few and far between, but you can just follow the well-defined paths and navigate by sight.
As the area is flat, most of the attractions in the complex are in your line of sight long before you’re near them
What to See in Belarus – Funfair, Lake and Miniatures in a Park
Back in town, there’s a huge park called May 1 Park of Culture and Leisure (Парк культуры и отдыха имени 1 мая) with a funfair, including a Ferris wheel, in it.
Also near the funfair was a lake, a grass horse and some totem sculptures. Apart from that, there were also some miniature buildings and a metal carriage.
Park staff were working hard to remove snow from the paths and the trees were looking kind of bare. I suppose they look greener in summer.
Places to Visit in Belarus – Lenin Square and Churches
From there, it was a short walk to Lenin Square, which is across the road from the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Костёл Воздвижения Святого Креста).
Then it was just a few blocks’ walk to a memorial dedicated to a sailor in front of the fenced-off, Russian Orthodox St Nicholas Fraternal Church (Братская Свято-Николаевская церковь).
There was a booth just inside the gate where I presume they were charging people to go inside.
Needless to say, I just kept moving to the bus station.
Where to Go in Belarus – Travelling From Brest to Grodno
Grodno is around 240 kilometres from Brest. There are no train connections between Grodno and Brest, so the best way to travel between the two cities is to take a marshrutka (minivan).
No pre-booking is necessary. You can buy tickets for the marshrutka at the intercity bus station, which is right next to the train station. The tickets are The bus station has a few souvenir shops and bakeries in case you need supplies.
If you need to use the facilities, you might want to do that before you get to the station as the toilets there cost money to use.
Between 05:00 and 19:00, there are several daily marshrutka departures from Brest to Grodna. It’s about a three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half-hour journey.
Fun Attractions and Things to Do in Grodno
Grodna (Гродна in Belarusian) is a beautiful town, Known for its unique architecture from many different historical periods.
It is quite different to other towns in Belarus.
There are a lot of sights to see within a relatively small and very walkable area.
Let’s start with some castles!
The Old Castle
The Old Castle in Grodna is also known as Grodno Upper Castle and Bathory’s Castle.
A wooden version was built in the 11th century but was rebuilt in stone in the 13th century. The Old Castle has been destroyed through various wars and restored again several times.
It now houses a museum. If you ever plan a trip here, do make visiting this historical site one of your things to do in Grodno!
The New Castle
Right across a 300-year-old arched bridge from the Old Castle is the New Castle.
To be honest, it’s not nearly as impressive as the Old Castle, but it was only constructed in the 18th century.
These days, the New Castle is home to museum exhibitions.
Things to Do in Grodno – See the Neman River and Gorodnichanka Rivers
Both the New and Old Castles are on the bank of the Neman River, which also runs through Lithuania.
A walk along the banks of this river is great for a view of the city.
Not far from there, is the confluence of the Neman River with the Gorodnichanka (Haradnichanka, Гараднічанка) River.
The banks of this river will give you more of a local view.
Explore Parks and Churches – Things to Do in Grodno
One of the cool things to do in Grodno is check out the parks.
Grodna has several parks to explore. The biggest one is the Kalozski Park on the other side of the confluence from the Old and New Castles.
Another large park is Park Zylibiera, about a 10-minute walk from the town centre.
Across the road from there is a smaller park with a little stream that meanders for 600 metres through a forest, past a sun clock to a little lake near Vilienskaja Vulica.
On Vulica Stefanan Batoryia you’ll find an unnamed park with fountains, lights and a night market.
This park also has a great view of the St Francis Xavier Cathedral and is right near the town centre.
Grodna Town Centre
The Grodna town centre feels very quaint.
During the day you can find locals selling their wares on the side of the main street.
The main pedestrian street of the city can be seen very easily from the sundial in the park in front of the St Francis Xavier Cathedral.
Grodna at Night – Where to Go in Belarus
What you might find surprising is that the little city of Grodna is quite lively at night.
First of all, there are lights. All kinds of pretty lights, all over town. It feels like you’ve unlocked a secret level in a video game.
Secondly, the park across the road from the St Francis Xavier Cathedral becomes a bit of a night street food market.
Complete with music and people selling balloons or hand-held flashing lights, for that funfair kind of feel.
The jovial atmosphere even somehow makes it seem less cold.
Answers to Questions About Belarus, Including Places to Visit in Belarus
So, to answer the question, What are the best places to visit in Belarus?
Grodna and Brest, in the west, are two of the best places to visit in Belarus for interesting and quirky sights, history, funfairs and endearing town centres.
Is Belarus cheap to visit?
Yup. All the daily necessities, including food and transport, are cheap in Belarus, owing to the fact that it is a relatively poor country. You can see some general prices in the summary below.
Is Belarus a good holiday destination?
Anywhere that has pretty lights and street food in parks at night is definitely worth a visit! The castles and funfairs are just a bonus.
🇧🇾 Belarus Summary 🇧🇾
In a few words – hospitable and affordable
Languages – Belarusian and Russian
Currency – Belarusian Rubles (BYN)
WiFi availability – 📶📶📶📶
WiFi can be found in cafes and shopping centres.
Transport – 🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗
It’s very easy to get around Belarus, even if you don’t speak Russian.
🚕 Taxis are available, but other forms of transport are more widely used.
🚐 Marshrutkas (minivans) are available for short trips around the city but may require some knowledge of Russian/Cyrillic to use.
🚍 Cheap and efficient buses and trolley buses cover many routes around the cities for 0.90 BYN
🚆 The metro in Minsk is cheap, (0.90 BYN), efficient and easy to navigate.
Intercity trains are comfortable and affordable. Tickets are 21 BYN (US$7) for an overnight train and 3 BYN (US$1.90) for a two-hour train ride.
Roads – 🛣🛣🛣🛣🛣
All roads seem fairly well maintained, but in the winter, sand is placed on the snow to make it less slippery. As you could imagine, that creates a bit of a muddy mess at some intersections which is not fun for pedestrians.
Scenery – 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Belarus doesn’t really have any mountains to speak of, but there are a lot of trees and I presume they’re green in summer.
Prices – 💰
Food and transport are super affordable in Belarus. 0.60/0.09 BYN (0.30/0.40 USD) for a bus/metro ride, 7 – 10 BYN (2.80 – 3.95 USD) for a meal.
Border efficiency – 🛂🛂🛂
It is possible that you may get extra questions as a foreigner entering via the airport, but the process and land borders is much quicker.
Overall – 👍👍👍👍👍
4 Replies to “Where to Go in Belarus – Things to Do in Grodno and Brest”
Grodna looks really interesting. It’s always fun to visit areas with different styles of architecture, but woooow for the the Courage monument in the Brest Fortress Complex. It’s not often you get to see statues so massive and unapologetically soviet! Amazing to see!
p.s. I laughed at your comment that you assume the trees are green. It must be sooo different in the summertime!
Yeah, it was certainly an interesting experience. I wasn’t completing sure what to expect of Belarus and it ended up being pretty amazing.
I’ve been wanting to visit Belarus and the surrounding area for awhile now. This gave me several more ideas for things to do and see when I finally make it there! Also, I’ve never stayed on an open sleeper car train, but for that price I’d be willing to give it a try. Andrei was so kind to help you and show you around town!
I first did the open sleeper thing from Armenia to Georgia, so it’s clearly an ex Soviet republic thing. I sometimes stay in hostels, so to me it was just like a moving hostel, hehe.