About
Money
The Belarusian currency is called «rubel» though Russian variant of the name «ruble» can be (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.
You can change currency to Belarusian rubles and vice versa in any bank branch or currency exchange office, which are situated in all the hotels, department stores and supermarkets. Banks also provide of traveller’s cheques’ service and credit cards maintenance. Bank branches work from 9:00 till 18:00 every day except Sunday, and working hours of currency exchange offices located in stores and supermarkets coincide with working hours of these stores. On the railway station and in the twenty-four-hour stores currency exchange offices also work twenty-four hours a day. Credit cards Visa, JCB, Eurocars/Mastercard, Cirrus/Maestro and BelKart are accepted for payment in Minsk. You can cash your credit card in any ATM set all over the city.
Time
Minsk is situated in East-European time zone GMT+2. So when it is noon in Minsk, it’s 10:00 in London, 17:00 in New York, 19:00 in Tokyo, 20:00 in Canberra and 13:00 in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg.
Arrival in Minsk
You can arrive in Minsk by three means:
By plane
The main airport of Belarus is the “Minsk National Airport”, located
In the airport there is a twenty-four-hour currency exchange office, shops located on the 2nd floor where you can buy everything you may need for city life (maps, telephone cards, tickets, newspapers etc.).
You may use a taxi, a fixed route taxi or a regular bus to get to the city from the airport.
By train
Recently a new railway station has been built in Minsk. A modern building made of glass and metal construction excellently blends with the Empire style of the old Privokzalnaya Square; and now it is considered to be not only an initial or end point of a journey but also a place for rest and entertainment. Spacious waiting rooms, tellers’ rooms, cafes, buffets, restaurant, shops, post office, telegraph office, cloakrooms, currency exchange offices, conference-hall for VIPs and many others are at passengers’ disposal. One of the best billiard halls in Minsk and a wonderful playground are located in the building of the railway station.
As the railway station is situated in the center of the city, you may use any means of transport to get to this or that part of Minsk.
By bus
The “Tsentralniy” coach terminal is located close to the railway station. “Vostochniy” and “Moskovsky” coach terminals are located not far from the center of the city; public transport stops and taxi ranks are located nearby. Coach terminals infrastructure includes booking offices, cafes, mini-hotels (mostly used by drivers, but can be accommodated by passengers if there are vacant rooms), hairdresser’s, trade outlets, waiting rooms, cloakrooms, drugstores, newsstand and souvenir shop.
There are public transport stops and taxi ranks close to coach terminals.
PHONE NUMBERS
Emergency services
101 – fire brigade
102 – police
103 – ambulance
104 – emergency gas brigade
Information services
114 – coach terminal inquiry service
105 – railway inquiry service
106 – airline inquiry service
151 – railway tickets booking
153 – dialing code inquiry service
171 –long-distance and international phone calls order
185 – information hotline
188 – exact time answering machine
Example:
The order of dialing a subscriber of Minsk within Belarus: 8-017 xxxxxxx
The order of dialing a subscriber of Minsk from abroad: +375 17 xxxxxxx