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Hitchhiking in Belarus is very easy and rarely your waiting time will exceed 15 Minutesminutes, at least on the main road M1 from [[Brest ]] via [[Minsk ]] to [[Moscow]]. As it is very common in Belarus, often the driver will drivers may pick you up without being curious about you or what you are doing, sometimes no communication at all. Belarusian people can seem gloomy at first sight, but in the end they are mostly very nice and helpful and drop you on a good spot. In rare cases a small number of older drivers might ask for some money when giving you a ride – to avoid that, tell the driver about your intention to travel for free before you sit into the car (''"Ja puteshestvuju avtostopom, bez deneg"'' [''"u"'' is pronounced as ''"oo"'' in English] – ''"I travel by hitch-hiking, not paying any money"''). Usually, just saying 'no money' works just fine too. It might be more difficult if you are more than 2 persons travelling together – in such case it would be smart to split up for some time.

When hitchhiking in Belarus, it is very likely you will to find some other people standing next to the road, waiting for a car to pick them up. Although most people do not speak English well, it is nice to try and to make some contact. Most of them might look angry, but it's just on the outside and once you start talking to them they're just very friendly and warm people. Some Belarusians will even wait for an hour with you in a snowstorm, waiting for another car to stop :)

Russian and Baltic truck drivers are reluctant to stop for hitchhikers in Belarus while Belarusian and Polish trucks are happy to have a company of some traveller(s). Hitchhiking at night is difficult but if you make yourself very visible you can get a ride even at two o'clock in the at night (some cars might stop just because the a driver thinks you are a police – light reflectors might give such an impression).

[[File:IMG 20170717 154059.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Light-returning reflectinve band. This little thing can save you about 10€ when you meet the policy at the road]] '''Note''': In Belarus you must obligatory have to wear a flicker (light-returning elementor reflective band) when you are on the road after sunset. The [[police]] have a plan to get some amount of violators each month, so the possibility of penalty (about EUR € 10) is quite high. It's better to buy a flicker (it costs from EUR € 1), and it's not a problem – now they are sold in any shop in Belarus. And it's [[hitchhiker's safety|a good idea]] to use them anyway when [[hitchhiking at night]]. 

Belarusian number plates end with a number of the region the car is registered in. For example, cars from * 1 - Brest* 2 - Viciebsk* 3 - Homiel* 4 - Hrodna* 5 - Minsk end with number (region)* 6 - Mahiliov* 7. - Minsk (city)See Wikipedia article on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Belarus Belarussian vehicle registration plates]for more info. == Visa ==Most countries' citizens need a visa to visit Belarus. If so, try to find someone on Couchsurfing/BeWelcome/TrustRoots who'd be willing to "invite" you to Belarus(thus you could apply for a "private visit" visa), as this would save you a lot of money in the visa application process - the only way to get a regular tourist visa is through an overpriced agency, which would be eager to book hotels on your behalf. Some embassies may be satisfied with a confirmed hotel booking, without an agency letter, but that would be up to their discretion. ''However'', most Belarussian embassies will issue a "private visit" visa without a letter of invitation or other supporting documents where only the personal info of the inviting person would suffice if the visa duration is less than 30 days. In some cases, they may however ask for a copy of the inviting person's passport but again that would be up to the discretion of the embassy personnel. ''[[user:uncle_sam01|uncle_sam01]] applied for a private visit visa at the embassy in Warsaw in July 2016 and was asked to provide a copy of the inviting person's passport. Other than that the process was a mere formality.''

When travelling on a 'private' visa to Belarus, you have to register be registered with the authorities as a "temporary resident" if you stay in a migration department when staying the country for longer than 5 working business days (weekends not included'''including Saturday!''') in . Registration consists of a Soviet-style blue stamp on the back of your "Migration Card" (you'll get this at the countryborder). You get a private visa when someone invites How this is done will vary depending on where you to stay with them in Belarus, e: '''1.gHotels only'''Easiest option - they'll do it for you automatically and you won't have to worry about it. friendsIn some rare instances, couchsurfers or other acquantaincesthey may charge extra for registration, so do ask if registration is included. When entering Belarus, you will get a so-called ''Migration-card'2. It is a little piece of paper which is very important if you want Couchsurfing/squatting/camping'''You'll have to stay out of trouble. Visit a migration department in visit the first local "Migration Department" within 5 business days of your stay in Belarus with this card, and be sure to take your ('''including Saturday!''') '''and with your as well as your host's passport''' with you (your host does not they don't have to be there in person , but if you don't speak Russian, it could be a lot easier as people in the office hardly speak English's best that they are). They will require 'll ask you to fill out a form and to make pay a fee at a payment twicelocal bank branch(!the fee is around EUR 10). It might sound scary, but it 's relatively straightforward. It is not much. The total amount advisable that you register with your first host upon arrival to Belarus for the entire duration of your stay(until your visa expires) - youwon'll t have to worry about/pay for registration again. Legally, you should re-register if you stay somewhere else for more than 5 days, but no one will (most probablybother you about this and you can always say "I got here yesterday" :) be about 5 Euro '''3. Couchsurfing+hotels'''After This is the most complicated option. Hotels will only register you for the duration of your booking. Once you check out, you've done all thisre no longer considered registered and the 5 day period does not apply any more. Therefore, if you then stayed with someone working through couchsurfing, you'd need to register immediately, in person, as is described in option 2. If you register with a host first (regardless for how long) and '''then''' stay at a hotel, your previous registration becomes void and the hotel registration applies, so the office will moment you check out you need to re-register somewhere else (either stay in another hotel or register with a host - again the 5 day period won't apply). You could ask the hotel to not stamp your migration card, so that your previous registration is still valid during and after your hotel stay but this is technically illegal and up to the receptionist's discretion. You need ([[user:uncle_sam01|uncle_sam01]] got his hotel stamp on a sticky note with a migration card to be stamped to show it at "you-naughty-boy" gesture from the border while leaving the countryreceptionist... So )  '''be sure Lack of and/or incorrect registration will lead to have this card fines for you and your host, sometimes even deportation!!! (if your host had a previous guest who also screwed up their registration, they'd be considered a repeat offender and would face a higher fine)'and have it stamped'' Basically, too'''plan your first night in Belarus with a CS host and register with them until your visa expires. If you did not do stay at a hotel afterwards, make sure they don't stamp your migration card any more. Registration sounds way scarier than it, is and shouldn't deter you and your host can get in troublefrom visiting Belarus. == Border crossing ==

=== Border Crossings With [[Latvia]] === === With [[Lithuania]] ===You can walk across this border and it's probably best to do so as the lines of trucks and cars are really long. The border police is actually pretty nice! After you crossed the border to [[Lithuania]] it''With s only 33 kms to the capital [[Vilnius]]. After the border crossing the main road goes straight to [[PolandVilnius]]:but, as the border takes some time for cars, and even more for trucks, you'll probably won't see that much moving traffic while hitchhiking. Your bag might be searched at this bordercrossing. '''UPDATE (2015)'''It is not allowded to cross the border on foot anymore!!!

'''With [[Latvia]]:'''If you want to avoid the long waiting times at the Warsaw Bridge border crossing is to take a train from Terespol to Brest. It goes 3 times a day and costs 17 Zloty. You can only pay in zlotys but there is an exchange office in the train station. (July 2016) '''With [[Lithuania]]https:'''//www.openstreetmap.org/node/3456263616

You can walk across this border and it's probably best to do so as the lines of trucks and cars are really long. The border police is actually pretty nice! After you crossed the border to === With [[LithuaniaRussia]] it's only 33 kms to the capital [[Vilnius]]. After the border crossing the main road goes straight to [[Vilnius]] but, as the border takes some time for cars, and even more for trucks, you'll probably won't see that much moving traffic while hitchhiking. Your bag might be searched at this bordercrossing.===

Please note that while there is no border control between Belarus and Russia Belarusian transit visa is still required for foreigners when transiting through the country from Russia to Poland, or vice versa. You can'''With [[t get a visa at the border. If you go from Belarus to Russia make sure that you always keep your Belarusian migration card. The border is open, there is most likely no control and this means, that you will not recieve a Immigration card or an Entry stamp from Russia. Due to the Customs union between the countries, your card from Belarus also counts in Russia]]:'''and in case you lose it you will find yourself in unfriendly situation.

There '''UPDATE''' (2017): Third country nationals (ie. not [[CIS]]) are no official bordercrossings between longer allowed to cross the Belarus and /Russiaborder even with a valid visa for both countries, due to reciprocity measures undertaken by the Russian Government because of EU sanctions. It Non-CIS travelers are redirected to cross from Lithuania or Ukraine. There are checks at all major transit points. "Sneaking in" at a random village is not a good idea though to cross the border without the right visa! advised.

'''=== With [[Ukraine]]:'''===

When coming from [[Kyiv]] you'll probably cross the border *[[Skytok-Novaja Huta border crossing]]. It is possible to walk across this border but it will take a while as they search all your stuff on the Ukrainian side. After the Ukrainian border police there is approx. 1 km of No Man's land after which you'll reach the Belarusian side. Make sure you have a visa if you need one! Very little English is spoken. The road after the border goes straight to , near [[HomielGomel]]