Hrodna travel guide

Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus.

This is a very pleasant town, with a nice pedestrian area and central square worth a visit, but it may remind you more of western Europe than the former Soviet Union until you get out of the center. There are still some interesting remnants of the Soviet era which might be hard to find elsewhere, such as Lenin statues or some street names.

A good way to find cheap accommodation is to rent an apartment for a short period.

Getting in

Western parts of Grodno oblast form the so called “Grodno tourist region” foreigners from EU and some other western countries can visit without a visa for up to 15 days. Instead of a visa, a tourist voucher costing about €12 is needed. These can be obtained online from travel agencies like “Grodno Visa Free” or “Belarus visa free”. It is not necessary to book more tourist services than you need. For stays longer than five workdays (Saturday is a workday!) a registration at the migration office is needed. If you stay in a hotel, registration formalities are done by the hotel.

Getting around

There are plenty of buses and trolley buses going around town. In the evenings though, they get down to travelling on the outskirts once an hour or two. A ticket for a trip costs 0.13 rubles. Buy the tickets from kiosks near the bus stops. If you speak no Russian, just say "Talony," and hold up fingers to indicate how many. When you get on the bus, find a grey metal device that they have near the windows, put your ticket in and clamp down on it with a little lever next to it. This validates your ticket. Your ticket is invalid without it.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.