Belarus

Capital City: Minsk

People: Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1%

Religion: Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20%

Language: Belarusian, Russian, other

Currency: Belarusian Rouble

Electrical Voltage: 220 volts

How to get there:
By plane: Several European airlines have flights to Minsk (operating at National airport Minsk situated appr. 40 km from capital Minsk). Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Lot Polish airlines, Air Baltic, Czech Airlines, and some other carriers offer this destination. The only national airline - Belavia - could be competitive due to attractive tickets prices.

By train: Some of the entry/exit points along the Poland/Belarus border include:
Kuźnica-Białostocka/Hrodna
Terespol/Brest
You can take a local train between the two corresponding border towns.

By car: At the Terespol/Brest crossing, there are six different controls, some sort of mix of anti-spam filter, passport control and customs control from the two sides. It would be nice to believe that there's a geiger counter to check for stuff which is radioactive from the Chernobyl accident, but it's unclear if this is used in practice - it's not done in any obvious way.
Expect to wait half an hour to an hour between the three controls on the Belarus side. The three Polish controls are typically faster. In reality, the border guards/customs officers from the two countries seem to be present together at many of the control lines, so it's not easy to know when you're still in Belarus and when you're in Poland.

By bus: Taking the bus from Vilnius to Minsk is a quick (3.5 h) and fairly comfortable ride, as long as you stick to western international carriers such as Eurolines. Buy your ticket in advance.

Weather: Belarusian climate is moderately continental, a transitional form from maritime to continental climate with mild and humid winters, warm summers and damp autumns. During last decades the continental component has become less pronounced with winters becoming warmer. The climate’s general properties are conditioned by the country’s location in middle latitudes, domination of flat relief and relative remoteness from the Atlantic Ocean.
Average July temperatures range from +17 C to +18.5 C, January temperatures vary from -8 C to -4.5 C. The period with temperatures above zero lasts about 230-263 days.

Travel Documentation and Custom Duty: Visas are required to enter Belarus. Exceptions are made for the citizens of the CIS, Cuba, Korea (the Democratic People's Republic), Macedonia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Serbia and Montenegro and holders of diplomatic passports from several states.
Belarusian visa is normally issued by a Belarusian embassy or consulate in 5 working days, there is also a possibility to get it urgently (in 48 hours) by paying a double fee.

Getting Around:  Bus, Train, Airplane, Car

Tourism Website: http://www.belarustourist.minsk.by/

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