Late trains in Vilnius and Minsk

kerry4sam

What has been the experience of readers and posters in here about:
~ leaving and travelling from Minsk by train between 6pm onward &
~ arriving into Vilnius at approx 11pm by train please?

I am honestly between minds now about the train journey into Belarus (would only have to be day-trips as accommodation already paid for in Vilnius so essentially Vilnius as our base):

Just had the life frightened out of us in Prague on a night-train when encountering two guys who thought it'd be pleasant to inform us repeatedly that they had guns in their pockets; and eventhough we out-numbered them 4 to 2 :mad:

Just curious if anyone encountered any problems; anything remotely untoward whilst travelling between those hours in and from either city.

I'd appreciate any feedback please,
Many Thanks in advance,
kerry4sam

ardmacha

5 Years ago I travelled in the opposite direction in the evening, perhaps not quite as late. This was a long haul train going from Kaliningrad to Moscow, with lots of ethnic Russian families, and was fine. I had a chat with some student age guys from one family who had good English. The border police come on the train pretty close to Vilnius, not a good leg to rob someone. A sample of one is not much help, but I didn't see anything very alarming.

kerry4sam

Thanks for that ardmacha

I was speaking with a lad from Slovakia who warned me to sit at the front of train near driver as that's where the police normally stay when on train. Those seats mostly sell first though and we don't yet know which day we can travel to Minsk so can't pre-book our seats.

I'll keep asking around. Another lad from Lithuania informed me of some stories involving Irish he had met over there and all signs as of now are saying to stay out of Belarus, especially after the encounter in Prague.

Thanks though for your reply. I appreciate it.

ardmacha

The best plan is to check out Thorntree or other travel forums, there probably isn't a huge number of people that have travelled on an evening train from Minsk to Vilnius on Boards, you wouldn't get a good picture.

I think there are buses as well.

Your encounter in Prague was unfortunate, but it doesn't actually say a great deal about Belarus, you might as well draw conclusions about an evening train from Dublin to Tralee.

spurious

Believe me, we have a much higher idiot quotient on Irish public transport any time of the day or night than they have in former Soviet states in the evening.

mimihops

I was thinking of possibly doing the same trip to Minsk from Vilnius by train this summer, didn't think it would be that rough or dodge to be honest, but I haven't looked into it too much as it is just an idea at the moment. Your experience in Prague was unfortunate but it was bad luck more than anything I'd say, obviously it would make you a bit wary alright! Did your Lithuanian friends reckon that you shouldn't bother at all with Belarus so??

Matt_Trakker

I live in Poland and from what been goin on recently in Belarus I'd avoid it like the plague, Polish govt has even told Poles to move the fuk outta there and back to Poland. Lukashenko has really lost his marbles in the last 12 months and foreigners are not welcomed by his regime. I'm sure the normal joe soaps are decent people but from what I've heard you may get some hassle for being foreign.

Info from the Irish embassy's page regarding travelling to Belarus.

http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=397

You must have travel insurance under Belarusian law & they won't fly you home if you get sick. Never drink the drinking water, if you stay more than 3 days you must register at a local Police station (I take this to mean you need to bribe somebody). No taking photos of govt buildings.


The British embassy's info is a bit shorter, but no less scarys:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/europe/belarus

Belarus is only about 3 hours drive from me and in its current state I would not dream of going there. Sorry to be raining on the parade, but it's not a safe place at the moment.

kerry4sam

Thanks so much for the advice and info provided. In Vilnius now and after speaking with hotel staff, they're pretty much saying the same - best stay out. Tbh, don't need much convincing after an incident in Prague lastweek where we ended up on out knees actually praying to God we'd make it to Berlin. Two very lovely armed locals made themselves known to us. Still getting flashbacks and don't need a similar scenario, or worse! Our travelling party has even been cut in half after Prague. Getting more info so may travel get, have few days here.

Thanks again though.