Climate
When to visit
Highlights and itineraries
Climate
The climate is moderately continental, ranging from unforgiving winters when the mean January temperature is –6.25°C, to warm summers when the mean in July is 17.8°C. The annual level of precipitation is 550–650mm in the low country and 650–750mm at higher elevations. The average vegetation period is 184–208 days. Generally, the climate is favourable for growing cereal crops, vegetables, potatoes and fruit.
The harsh winters mean warm clothing is a necessity © Nataliya Evmenenko, Dreamstime
When to visit
The likely (and clichéd) assumption for the uninitiated is that because Belarus used to be part of the Soviet Union, the weather will always be grey, featureless and, in winter, bitingly cold. This is partly correct, though each of the four seasons is separate and distinct, and boasts its own features. Winter is certainly bitingly cold for the most part (with the first snows tending to fall in late November), but the temperature does not really plummet until the turn of the year. While December is often wet and slushy, come January, the thermometer can free fall to the –30°s, with long periods of snow accompanied by bitter winds. The scenery is often dramatic: clear blue skies, a watery sun, heavy frosts and thick, immovable, impenetrable ice. But these conditions tend to be the exception rather than the rule and for the most part the temperature averages around –7°C with consistent and regular snowfall. It is a time when most people remain indoors unless necessity drives them outside to work or study.
Spring is a period of intense activity in the fields. This is also the time to see storks on the wing and nesting atop the high poles that are erected in villages for this very purpose. The temperature is generally warm and welcoming. I reckon that late May is probably the best time to visit Belarus, with the everlengthening days affording maximum opportunity to be outdoors and exploring (whether your ambling is urban or rural). Summers can be extremely hot, with temperatures into the 30s, while biting insects are voracious in forests and near to water. Be sure to wear long trousers and clothing buttoned to the neck and wrists, accompanied by some form of insect repellent (particularly at dusk). But don’t be discouraged: this is a time of long days, balmy evenings, glorious sunrises and sunsets, with a verdant landscape and fresh produce in the markets and by the roadside. As if to store up reserves of fresh air and sunshine for those long winter nights, people spend as much time outdoors as they possibly can. In rural areas this means tending the fields, while in the town the promenade remains a favoured pastime.
Autumn is a glorious time to be in Belarus. Summers often last well into September, but come harvest time in October the colours of the fields and forests simply take your breath away. There is no real diversity of colour but almost everywhere as far as the eye can see, a golden scene stretches into the distance.
Highlights and itineraries
Highlights
Although heavily damaged in World War II, the exquisite Rumyantsev-Paskevich Palace in Gomel has been impressively reconstructed to its former glory © Lasko Dmitry, Shutterstock
Belarus offers much more to experience than a single visit will allow, but as a starting point, a one-week adventure makes for a fascinating, if intense, first trip. It is not possible to see all of the key centres of interest in that time, so be selective. The best advice is to visit Minsk and probably at least one other of the big towns, plus as much of the rural hinterland in-between as can be accommodated in the time available.
Minsk
The capital city and living monument to the grandeur of post-war Soviet urban planning, where expansive boulevards, stretches of water and vast green areas guard the last piece of the Old Town that the Nazis could not destroy.
National Memorial Complex at Khatyn
Just 54km from the capital, this complex commemorates the hundreds of villages that the Nazis razed to the ground in the Great Patriotic War.
Museum towns
Make time to visit the museums and sites of the historical towns of Mir, Njasvizh (both UNESCO World Heritage Sites), Novogrudok, Polotsk and Pinsk.
Brest
This frontier town in the southwest of Belarus, home to the hero-fortress, is where religious history was made in the 16th century and where eastern and western Europe meet, at the symbolic gateway to the old Soviet Union.
Grodno
Located near the Polish border on the banks of the Nieman River, Grodno has beautiful architecture (including the stunning Polish cathedral) and historic Lithuanian connections.
Komorovo
This village community, close to the Lithuanian border, has its own microeconomy and the administration is run strictly along sustainable development lines, based on traditional crafts and cottage industries.
Vitebsk
The birthplace of the painter Marc Chagall, with many summer arts festivals and rich artistic traditions.
Mogilev
With its historical centre and the beautifully restored Leninskaya Street, this is the city where the last tsar of Russia, Nikolai II, had his final residence.
Gomel
The country’s second-largest city, which is home to the impressive park, palace and cathedral complex founded by Prince Rumyantsev in the 18th century.
Vetka
This town and district, home to ‘Old Believers’, has a world-class museum of iconography, the traditional weaving school at Nyeglubka, historic churches and locations of considerable ecological interest.
National parks
Be sure to visit Byelovezhskaya Puscha (the third UNESCO World Heritage Site in Belarus), Narach, Braslav Lakes, Berezinsky,and Pripyatsky national parks, where the wilderness and biological diversity of the country can be enjoyed in a glorious celebration of the natural world and where ecological tourism is steadily beginning to take hold.
Suggested itineraries
Although the main tourist sites (identified in the previous section) form a good basis for the structure of a visit, the best way to get to the heart of the country and its greatest treasure, its people, is to strike out alone. This requires a degree of imagination and resilience, so do be sure it’s a task you feel confident about embarking upon. In particular, you will need to be comfortable with the challenges of communicating in circumstances where no English is spoken. Increasingly this is much less of an issue in Minsk, though outside the capital things are different. Further, one of the hang-ups from the days of the old Soviet Union is a complete lack of understanding of the concept of the independent traveller. It also says much for the hospitality of the Belarusians that they are keen to share their country’s riches by offering personal guides to everything that there is to experience. Guided tours will certainly show you a great deal, but the level of control over the structure and pace of arranged itineraries will not suit the traveller with an urge to explore. It’s all a matter of personal choice. If you want somebody else to take care of all the arrangements, use the main travel agencies. But if your own autonomy is paramount, there is plenty of information online to help you organise a bespoke visit. If you have personal contact within the country, so much the better.