A weekend in Minsk (without children…)

To bypass my chatter and get straight to the main content for a weekend in Minsk (tips, advice etc) keep scrolling…

Oh, you’re still here… well, it’s time for me to be embarrassingly honest.  [Deep breath…]  ….no children participated in the making of this Minsk family travel blog. Not a single one. Not even a baby.

Ok, ok calm down and let me explain…

Sometimes, exhausted, frazzled and worn-down parents of two toddlers need a short break. We wanted to remember that we too are human beings with a relationship of our own. And sometimes they desire a Saturday night out somewhere exotic instead of asleep on the living room sofa. Perhaps most of all, they need to still be asleep at 6.30am on a Sunday morning! We NEEDED this weekend in Minsk.

So is this a Minsk Family Travel Blog?

So why wasn’t I just up front in the first place and call this post ’11 romantic things to do in Minsk’ or ’48 hours boozing it up Minsk’?  Again, it’s time to be unashamedly honest… Even ‘off-duty’, my brain is so addled by the daily demands of parenthood that I spent the whole childfree weekend in Minsk checking off stroller-friendly footpaths, highchair availability and the location of playparks (hey, don’t judge! it’s not that easy to unwind!). As well as wining and dining, of course!

Luckily, unlike our previous child-free trips, to Berlin and Paris, this time I wasn’t pregnant and had this family travel blog to use as an excuse. So there was a purpose to me boring Rhino with yet another ‘these underpasses are so convenient for families with strollers!’ comment. Suffice to say Rhino ignored much of this and focussed on more fun things like the local beers – not just because he could but because I was a very boring companion (wow, look this café even has baby-change facilities!)

If you want to want to do a bit of background research into gender equality issues in Belarusian society, don’t do what I did and just google ‘Belarusian women’ because you probably don’t want to see what comes up. It’s exactly the kind of search results that this blog is about challenging. Result after result of how to ‘attract’ Belarusian women, why they ‘love foreign boyfriends’, how hot they are etc. After some time, I did uncover some useful English-language articles in the Belarus Digest on feminism and gender equality if you’re interested.

Off we go to Minsk!

So this summer, Rhino and I packed the kids off to my parents and borrowed the only Belarus guidebook in the whole of Southwark Libraries. This proved an inspired (only?) choice as the book contained incredibly detailed local knowledge and personal experience, which really brought Belarus to life and aided our weekend in Minsk. With it in hand, Rhino and I flew off on Belavia Airways to Minsk, Europe’s forgotten frontier and a land of dumplings and buckwheat.

Finding this interesting? Need a guidebook? We used this guidebook throughout our weekend in Minsk, which included the Minsk highlights below.  If you are thinking about a weekend in Minsk or different holiday in Belarus then CLICK THROUGH to purchase (note – I am an Amazon affiliate member and will receive a small commission if you do buy, but it won’t cost you any extra. Thanks!)

Welcome to Minsk!

We landed in Minsk late one Friday evening knowing that every minute of our trip was precious. With Minsk being visa-free for short trips and us knowing we had our health insurance ready (see tips below) we thought we would soon be in a taxi into town. However, it took an hour and a half to leave the small Minsk International Airport… After a slow queue, the immigration officer spent around 20 minutes inspecting both our (admittedly rather full) passports with a magnifying glass, ultraviolet lights and tweezers. Wow!! By the time, she had finished we were struggling to hold back our giggles any longer! A slow start to our weekend in Minsk, but it got much better from there.

After reaching the city centre, we honestly did make the most of our weekend in Minsk. Despite my pleading, Rhino didn’t let me have any lie-ins as our schedule was packed. I’m glad we fitted so much in though.

Belarus ranks as 30 out of 144 countries on the UN’s Global Gender Gap Report 2016 so it’s certainly a country that takes the move towards gender equality seriously. Next year in 2018, they will celebrate 100 years of women having the vote. A fantastic achievement in comparison to some pint-sized Western European Countries (ahem!)

Minsk accommodation and transport

Accommodation Type/s:  The hotels in Minsk looked over-priced vs the quality and we found that AirBnb offered much more interesting accommodation and value for money.  So, we booked 3 nights via AirBnB in a central apartment and everything was perfect.

Transport used:  The city centre is very walkable with the wide streets offering light-filled skylines. When we went a bit further, like to the airport and back, we used Uber. Many of the conversations with our Uber drivers were eye-opening, amusing or both; particularly when the conversation was via an app that translated all our speech!

Day 1 of our weekend in Minsk – Morning

We didn’t have much time but we fitted as much into our weekend in Minsk as possible.

Day 1: The start of our weekend in Minsk was an education in Soviet history, Belarusian culture and some extremely harrowing history. We began at the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War (that’s World War II to you and me) ogling eerily realistic battlefield dioramas and trying to absorb unimaginable statistics. Startingly for a little-known country, Belarus had the highest percentage of casualties per population in World War II – more than any other country in the entire world. Over a quarter of its population perished under Nazi Occupation, over 2 million soldiers and civilians.

The imposing, modern architecture of the museum does its best to give dignity and strength to many of these tragic victims of war and most signs are in English too. Hundreds of thousands of women supported the war effort in the Armed Forces as well as brave nurses and courageous resistance fighters. Many of these inspiring Belarusian women are rightly commemorated in the exhibitions, making this an excellent place to take daughters of the right age. Whilst the museum is very educational and Belarusians were happily taking their toddlers around, I’m not sure in retrospect that I would. Some exhibits were visually chilling so you may want to research it first before planning a family outing there.

Hidden in a copse of trees just up the hill from the impressive museum is the Zaslavskya Memorial. Tucked away between tower after tower of Soviet highrise apartment blocks are a set of stairs descending into a dip in the land. Descending the stairs is one of the most moving and harrowing memorials to the Holocaust that I have ever encountered. The haunting sculpture depicts a line of terrified men, women and children entering the very pit where, on one single day in March 1942, over five thousand Jews from the Minsk Ghetto were rounded up and barbarically shot by the Nazi Occupiers. A must-see for those interested in history but again think carefully before taking very young children.

Emotionally drained by our morning in Minsk discovering the appalling history of Nazi-occupied Belarus, Rhino and I decided to take things slower and enjoyed a relaxing stroll along the Svislach River riverbank towards the Troitskoye Suburb. I couldn’t help remarking what a great riverside walk it would have been for the kids (yes, I wasn’t quite in the moment). There were enticing pedalos out on the water, a warm breeze in the air and the fascinating Island of Tears to look round. This tiny island, linked to the riverbank by a bridge, contains a memorial chapel commemorating the Afghanistan war campaign (1979-88) and next to it, a statue of a small angel ‘weeps’ tear of sadness for the lost soldiers. Another moving monument – Minsk seems to remember its fallen, respectfully.

Day 1 of our weekend in Minsk – Afternoon

To recoup after our wartorn morning, we treated ourselves to a slap-up lunch at the Grand Cafe. Grand in name, grand by nature! The kind of cafe you wouldn’t choose to go into with young children (white table clothes, need I say more!) but I did spot high-chairs!! The Rouble-Pound exchange rate was made the grandeur more affordable. Still not sure strawberries go well with salmon in a risotto though…

Before a traditional, rustic dinner, Rhino and I popped into Gorky Park (purely for research purposes, of course). Gorky Park, like it’s sister in Moscow, is a Soviet-era family amusement park. The rides might be dated but that makes them that bit more thrilling and cheap, yep really cheap. The atmosphere around the park is great. It’s free to enter and wander around so you’ll see dozens of local families just strolling around too. There are stalls (several selling toy guns and kids camouflage costumes) and a Big Wheel from which you can peer out over and above Minsk’s (not very impressive) skyline. The rides made Rhino feel a bit sick though – clearly, he’s not ready for Cosmonaut training yet!

Day 2 of our weekend in Minsk

Day 2: The final day of our weekend in Minsk didn’t quite go as expected. We jumped out of bed early (yep, no lie-ins) and headed for a large Soviet-era hotel. The plan was to pick up a hire car and do a quick tour of the Belarusian countryside. Our targets were the National Memorial Complex at Khatyn (in honour of a whole village horrifyingly destroyed by Nazis one day in 1943) and the beautiful looking 16th-century fortress at Mir.

After waiting in a deserted hotel lobby for over 45 minutes, we realised that the car hire company was not open and wasn’t going to open (despite their website promises). Whilst this threatened to spoil our weekend in Minsk, luckily we had a Plan B: a tasty breakfast at Cafe Milano and then on to Waterpark Lebyazhy! (It’s always a relief when things go wrong and you haven’t got two whining, restless toddlers with you!).

So this is how we can legitimately write a Minsk family travel blog. Even though our own children were at home with their grandparents in London, we took an Uber to a waterpark! And spent the entire day splashing around, sliding down flumes with twelve-year-old Belarusians! Then relaxing by laying on our backs in eucalyptus-infused steam rooms.

Minsk with children?

Yes, Rhino and I had a fantastic weekend in Minsk but here’s the big question…

Would we recommend a weekend in Minsk for a family travel destination? In other words, would we take our own two energetic, stubborn and slightly feral toddlers there?

Drumroll… the answer is…  YES.

Totally. As an unusual holiday destination on our (European) doorstep, Belarus is awesome. There are so many eye-opening experiences to encounter and just being an ex-Soviet nation means that even the small things like the good-old stodgy, creamy food and the dated fairground rides make it seem so much more exotic.

We were so grateful to my family for the chance to recharge and reconnect. Our adult-only weekend in Minsk was so great we’d love to return with the children. Note: we would return in the long, warm summer months (winter wouldn’t be as kid-friendly…brrr).

Minsk is a great alternative European destination for families. Its wide, mostly flat boulevards are perfect for strollers and scooters! Plus there are numerous spacious, well-maintained public parks, efficient transportation, well-stocked pharmacies and great apartment rental choices.

Our Minsk Family Travel Tips

• Visit Gorky Park – it’s right in the city centre and there’s a great mix of old-school and more modern rides. Also compared to British fairgrounds, the rides are very cheap!
• Get wet and go wild at Lebyazhy Waterpark. It’s a short taxi or Uber ride from the city centre and has some of the best flumes I’ve ever been on.

• Take a pedalo or rowboat along the river. You can float past the Island of Tears and the reconstructed traditional buildings of Trinity Suburb.
• If your kids are mature and interested enough, visit the superb Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War.  The building itself is an amazing sight but it’s the memorable World War II exhibits that make this worthwhile. All the signs are translated into English and there are numerous military vehicles on show. Plus some moving life-size dioramas and still-life scenes.

• If your children know some of the backgrounds of the Holocaust, the emotional Zaslavskya Memorial is a short walk away.  Very emotional, indeed…
• Playparks, playparks and more playparks. Mostly old Soviet ones so it’s a history lesson as well a quick run around.

• We didn’t make it here but the Dudutki Folk Museum is highly recommended for families. It’s 35km outside of Minsk so you will need a car. Within the open-air museum, you should find a collection of traditional Belarusian buildings, animal enclosures and kid-friendly activities, like horse-drawn cart rides.
• Whether you’re travelling with young children or not, make sure you stay in an Airbnb or similar apartment. It will (most probably) give you a taste of life in an old Soviet tower block. Awful on the outside, depressing in the stairwells and amazingly clean and cosy in the apartments themselves! Also, the hotels we visited in Minsk were all geared towards Russian speakers. They looked overpriced and furnished from a bygone era so private apartment rental seemed like a good idea.

Minsk entry and visas

• To enter Belarus, you will need proof that you have medical insurance covering up to 10,000 Euros. We took a paper copy of our travel insurance policy. If you forget, there is a booth at the airport before immigration where you can purchase insurance.
• As we were travelling on British passports, we were allowed (under a new agreement) to enter Belarus visa-free for up to 5 days. To be eligible you have to enter and leave through Minsk International Airport. This was perfect for our weekend in Minsk but could be tricky if you’re planning to travel around more. If you’re British, see the FCO website for more information.

Comments Welcome! Help other families have a great time in Minsk.

Welcome to the World for a Girl community. Please share your own ideas, comments and thoughts about Minsk family travel. Do you agree with our Minsk highlights or do you have others to add? Did you do a similar weekend in Minsk itinerary or could you recommend an alternative one? What tips do you have for Minsk family travel?