Sometimes real miracles can be very close. It’s the same with Minsk – literally an hour’s drive from the capital, you can find old palaces, century-old churches, and interesting “skansens” with wooden churches and thatched roofs. At the same time, most of these places can be easily reached by public transport. All you need to do is just make up your mind. And I’ll help you with travel ideas.
Today we will figure out how to discover something new very close to Minsk? Where can I listen to silence, recharge my batteries, and how can I arrange a mental reboot? Are you ready to start? Then let’s go!
Option #1. Museum of Folk Architecture and Everyday Life
One of my favorite places near the capital. The huge territory of the museum recreates the life of Belarusian peasants from the 18th to the 20th century. Here you can see traditional houses with thatched roofs, wooden Uniate churches, windmills, and numerous outbuildings. A special feature of the museum is also the reconstruction of ancient rituals. Here you can see firsthand how our ancestors celebrated spring, wooed, arranged the feast of the first cenacos, held “Viachorki”, dressed up on the eve of the Christmas Yuletide and celebrated other important dates.
The authentic buildings of three regions of the country are presented on the territory of Skansen: Central Belarus, the Dnieper region and the Lake district. Horseradish is still served in the wooden tavern. And traditional songs are playing in full force on the recreated streets.
You can see all this in the village of Ozertso (5 kilometers from the MKAD). Buses No. 150 and No. 170s, as well as minibus No. 1111, which runs almost through the entire city, go from the Malinovka metro station to the museum. Skansen itself is open every day, but it is better to check the schedule of ritual reconstructions in advance (on the websiteetna.by or in social networks of the same name).
Option #2. Priluki
The nearest suburb of Minsk is famous not only for its cheap apartments, but also for the ancient Hutten-Chapsky Palace. There is a small park with a lake around the estate, and along it there are various outbuildings (a brewery, an outhouse, a barn and others). In the 19th century, Stanislav Monyushko and Napoleon Orda visited the palace; in Soviet times, films were often shot here; and during World War II, the building housed the headquarters of German troops and the personal office of Wilhelm Kube.
Currently, the Hutten-Chapsky Palace belongs to the Research Institute for Plant Protection. You can walk around it absolutely for free. But you can only get inside “on business” – for example, with a scientific paper on methods of protecting grain crops.
How to get there? By minibus No. 1131 from the Central Bus Station or by minibus No. 1545 from Petrovshchyna metro station.
Option #3. Zhodino
One of the satellites of Minsk is located about half an hour’s drive from the capital. There are several beautiful churches and churches preserved here, but that’s not why you should come to Zhodino. The main attraction of the city is the BelAZ factory, which produces huge cars that have already been included in the Guinness Book of Records several times. Just imagine what it would be like to stand next to a car with one wheel taller than a man? Recently, excursions here have become very popular.
How to get there? By minibus from the Vostok metro station. And you can read about excursions to the factory at this link. Everything is described in great detail there.
Option #4.Logoisk
Another interesting place is just north of Minsk. In winter, there is a large ski complex. And in summer, the local “mountains” turn into observation decks.
Here you can ride funiculars, climb rope towns, ride horses, have a beautiful picnic and even lie on the beach. Look for all the details on social networks @logoiskby. You can get to Logoisk in half an hour by bus No. 451 or minibus No. 2193 from the Vostok metro station.
Option #5. Zaslavl
One of the most ancient cities in Belarus still boasts a number of interesting sights. There are three main stars here. These are:
- Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior (1570);
- Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (1774);
- And the colorful malyavanki museum (Belarusian painted carpets).
The author of the photo is Viktori@ smile.
If you are traveling with a child, it is worth taking a look at the original The Museum of Mythology and Forests, where you can see how our ancestors imagined a variety of goblins, water, ghouls and other forest spirits. To be honest, the museum is quite small, but tickets here are inexpensive. That’s why I personally liked it here.
You can get to Zaslavl by City Line trains, which depart from the Central Station every half hour. See the schedule on the websiteRW.BY . The ticket price is 1.09 or 1.73 BYN (depending on the type of train).
Option No.6. Cancers
One of the largest and at the same time interesting villages in Belarus. In 1921, Rakov became part of Poland, and at that moment the most interesting chapter in its history began. The border with the BSSR was only one and a half kilometers away, and therefore the small town very quickly became a true paradise for smugglers of all stripes.
Illegal casinos worked here, spies were active in border restaurants, and there were 6 official and 14 unofficial brothels in local houses. Cocaine was being quietly sold in the city, and Rakov himself was actually under the control of the local mafia.
Today, of course, all this is no longer here, but the history of these places still makes Cancers a very interesting travel destination. The city has preserved:
- The huge Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (1906);
- The former Uniate Church (1793);
- And the ancient cemetery with the chapel of St. Anne (1862).
There are quite unusual sights in the place. For example, glacial stone, which is estimated to be 150 thousand years old, as well as an ancient spring, known since the 15th century. According to legend, he treats eye diseases. Today, a wooden church (1993) is located next to it.
How to get there? By minibus from the Central Bus Station or the Kamennaya Gorka metro station. See the schedule on the websiteticketbus.by . Travel time is 40 minutes. You can read more about Rakov in the article at the link below.
Afterword
For this article, I selected only those places that can be reached in less than an hour by public transport. But in this blog you can find routes for more thorough travel around Belarus. Here they are:
- Where to go from Minsk for 1 day?
- Where to go in Belarus for the weekend?
Read these articles if you want to learn about little-known castles and ghost villages, about inexpensive SPA hotels and beautiful natural locations. Well, now I just have to say goodbye. Goodbye, friends. If you liked the article, write something good in the comments.
