About Minsk

Money

The Belarusian currency is called «rubel» though Russian variant of the name «ruble» and is used with relation to Belarusian money.

Currently there are notes ranging from 10 to 100,000 rubles (Br). No coins are used in Belarus for circulation. Only a small amount of commemorative coins is produced.

For the use in metro there are special plastic cards and tokens. Smart cards (plastic cards with microchips) are used for public payphones.

There are not many vending machines in Belarus and if there is one – it would accept paper money (as do coffee machines at many commercial centers) or tokens will be sold somewhere at a nearby newspaper stand or other small retailer.

There are numerous currency exchange offices in Belarusian cities to change foreign currency to Belarusian rubles and back. Normally there should be no problems with exchanging US dollars, euros and Russian rubles.

You can cash your credit card in ATMs situated in different parts of the city. For making payments you can use following credit cards: VISA, VISA Electron, MasterCard, Cirrus/Maestro.

Time

Minsk is situated in East-European time zone GMT+2. So when it is noon in Minsk, it is 10 a.m. in London; 5 a.m. in New-York; 7 p.m. in Tokyo; 8 p.m. in Canberra; 1 p.m. in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow.

Useful phone numbers

Urgent aid services:
101 – fire-brigade
102 - police
103 – emergency medical aid

104 – emergency gas-brigade

Information
114 – international bus-station information
105 – railway information
106 – airlines information
151 – railway tickets reservation
153 – information about international phone codes
171 – international phone talks order
185 - info line
188 – automatical exact time