Belarus

Although Belarus has an open border with Russia, third country nationals are not permitted to cross the border between Russia and Belarus overland; they are required to fly to travel directly between the two countries.

The national currency is the New Belarusian Ruble, denoted as p (ISO code: BYN), also known as the "third ruble". The first post-Soviet ruble is debased by 1000 and basically worthless. The second (marked with series date 2000) is still exchangeable.

With an area of , travelling around Belarus should not take a lot of time. A car ride to Brest from Minsk should take you about 4 hours, depending on traffic conditions. ===By car=== Traffic in Belarus is reasonably quiet, but you should exercise caution when driving your own car. Particular attention should be paid to light traffic and pedestrians, most of whom use the roads without reflectors.

Belarusian and Russian are the two official languages, but Russian is more widely spoken. Although a majority of Belarusians (54% in 2019) consider Belarusian their native language, only 26% normally speak it at home. You will not hear much Belarusian in the street, except in rural villages. In rural areas, pure Belarusian tends to be spoken by the elderly, while younger people typically speak a mixture of Russian and Belarusian known as Trasianka (трасянка).

Belarus is generally a safe country, largely because crime is punished severely by the government. Street-level crime is rare and usually does not affect tourists. You should still apply common sense and be vigilant of your surroundings.

Medical care is generally poor and is well below western standards. Furthermore, the system is generally inaccessible to those who aren't proficient in Russian and/or Belarusian. Even if you have travel health insurance it might not be valid in Belarus.

There are 3 major GSM providers in Belarus, all of which offer prepaid SIM cards for Internet access and phone calls. You will need to show your passport at the point of purchase. All 3 service providers have plans geared for tourists that cost around 15 BYR and provide around 2GB of data, with more available for purchase at additional cost.

Belarusians tend to be more traditional than Western Europeans. Although Belarus has a close historical and cultural relationship with Russia, Belarusians are not Russians; they're a distinct ethnic group. Similarily, the Belarusian language is not a dialect of Russian.

The following festivals are national holidays: