Away With The Steiners

Crossing the border from Terespol, Poland to Brest, Belarus and the Visa-Free Tourist Region.

Sarah Steiner

We recently crossed the border from Terespol to Brest, Belarus in our own vehicle. 

Albeit the border crossing from Poland to Belarus is notorious for being a lengthy crossing.  There isn’t all too much information available online about the Visa-Free Region of Belarus and finding facts about entering overland is a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack. 

But we did it.  We entered Belarus at Brest from Terespol in Poland.  

Here is our experience and everything you need to know in advance about the border crossing from Terespol to Brest, Belarus. 

Visiting Belarus 

Citizens of 76 countries can take advantage of 30-Day visa-free travel to Belarus and foreign nationals may visit any place in Belarus within the 30 days of their visa-free stay. However, in this way foreigners must arrive and leave the country only by air to Minsk National Airport.

A tourist visa is required to stay more than 30 days, or if you enter or exit at a border crossing other than Minsk Airport. 

The other option to visit Belarus is to travel in the Brest-Grodno Visa-Free region where it is possible to enter and exit overland and travel is permitted only within the specific region.  

The Visa-Free Region of Brest-Grodno in Belarus

The Brest-Grodno region is a visa-free territory in Belarus that allows foreign citizens to stay for up to 15 days.  The region includes the cities of Brest, Grodno and Lida, as well as the surrounding districts. 

The Visa-Free region of Belarus from BezViz.by.
The Visa-Free region of Belarus from BezViz.by.

About the Belarusian borders and overland border crossings to enter Belarus

Belarus shares its border with five countries: Poland in the west, Lithuania in the northwest, Latvia and the Russian Federation in the north and east, and Ukraine in the south.

There are multiple border crossing points to enter Belarus overland.  However, there are currently only two border crossing points from the EU to enter the Visa-Free Brest Grodno region of Belarus. 

Lithuania has one further border crossing point at Medininkai.  Though this does not enter the Visa-Free Brest and Grodno Region of Belarus. 

Options for entering the Brest-Grodno Visa-Free Region of Belarus 

Two countries border Belarus along the Brest-Grodno Visa-Free Region: 

The Belarusian Polish border between Poland (EU member) and the Republic of Belarus (a Union State) is over 400km in length. However, only the Terespol-Brest border crossing point is currently open for passenger travel from Poland to Belarus. 

On the Lithuanian Belarusian border only two of the six border crossing points between Lithuania and Belarus are currently open: Medininkai and Salcininkai.  Though only the Salcininkai border crossing point is within the Visa-Free Region of Belarus. 

Note that it is not currently (2024) permitted to exit overland from Belarus to Poland as a non-EU citizen.  Exit overland from the Visa-Free region of Belarus to the EU is allowed from Benyakoni to Salcininkai, Lithuania. 

Applying for an e-Visa for the Visa Free Brest Grodno region of Belarus

Foreign visitors can enter Belarus visa-free to visit the Brest-Grodno Tourist Visa-Free zone for a period of up to 15 days. 

Although the area within Belarus is ‘Visa-Free’ there are documents required to enter the region overland. 

The simplest way to get pre-arranged documents for the Brest-Grodno region of Belarus is through BezViz; an online site for the visa-free documents. 

You can stay in Grodno, Brest and Lida within the Brest-Grodno Visa-Free region of Belarus for up to 15 days.

The documents – including medical insurance for Belarus – cost 35 EUR per person for the Visa-Free region of Belarus.

Taking a vehicle from Terespol to the Visa-Free Region of Brest-Grodno, Belarus 

It is possible to enter Belarus overland from Poland with your own vehicle.  We did it in our motorhome! And in fact, it is not permitted to cross the border from Terespol to Brest, Belarus on foot. 

If you are a pedestrian you will need to make the border crossing in a private vehicle traveling with others, or in a public passenger bus. 

How long does the border crossing take from Terespol to Brest, Belarus? 

Ah ha.  This is the question.  

Unfortunately, the border crossing that was historically simpler from Terespol, Poland to Brest, Belarus now takes a lot longer. 

I know it sounds like a ridiculous amount of time for a border crossing in Europe.  And albeit you’ve got to really want to go there.  (We did)!  But guess what?  The time it takes for the crossing from Poland to Brest, Belarus is nothing on how long it takes to exit the Visa-Free Region of Brest-Grodno crossing from Belarus to Lithuania.  That took us 31 HOURS! 

The contrastingly peaceful greenery of Brest after a length border crossing from Terespol.

About the Polish border town of Terespol near Brest

Terespol is a border town in eastern Poland on the border with Belarus.  It lies on the border River Bug, directly opposite the Belarusian city of Brest. 

The drive to the Terespol Brest border crossing

We started our journey to the border crossing from somewhere near Biala Podlaska on the Polish side having parked up for the night before to get an early start. 

As soon as we were within 30km of the border we started seeing trucks parked on the road and in roadside overnight truck parks.  There were trucks from Poland and Lithuania, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. (It’s a 63-hour drive from here to Almaty, Kazakhstan by the way!).  

There is a large Shell service station and truck stop area open 24/7 on the main road to the Terespol border crossing. 

We stopped here for an early coffee and toilet break before following what was at that hour of day a very calm and quiet road to the Terespol border crossing. 

Exiting Poland at Terespol – crossing the border to Brest, Belarus

Of border crossings to Georgia and Moldova or Morocco this is the most trucks we have ever seen.  There is a seemingly never-ending line of trucks until close to the border where a turn-off for trucks heads them towards Terespol and passenger vehicles towards the border crossing terminal.  

We arrived just before 07:00am and it seemed seriously quiet near the border.  The feeling of quiet for a border that is notorious for being timely and always queued had us questioning already if we were in the right place. 

There is a carpark to the right and straight ahead is the first lot of traffic light system vehicle lanes. 

We headed straight on through the automatic barrier arm first and then came to our first wait with a change of shift for the Polish border staff at 07:00am. 

Under the roofed area are two sets of traffic lights. 

Here you need: 

This part of exiting immigration for Poland to Belarus was very quick.  For us it took less than 20 minutes (as well as around 15 minutes wait while the shift change happened).  

The officer asked just a few questions and waved us forward to exit and drive on to customs. 

There were no further customs checks or vehicle search.  

Drive forward to exit the Polish side.  

One of many beautifully green and peaceful parks in Brest, Belarus.

Entering Belarus from Terespol – Step 1. Checkpoint 

From the Poland side, drive forward over the bridge to a first stop and checkpoint on the Belarusian side of the border.  

While in the vehicle lane at the far side of the bridge you will need to present: 

We were given an out-of-date printed flyer in English here for the Belarus e-Vignette.  The price quoted on the flyer states 14 EUR though it should be 18 EUR.  Our internet wasn’t working here though a vignette is easy to purchase once out the other side of customs on arrival to Brest.  

Entering Belarus from Terespol – Step 2. Insurance

Drive forward (only about 20 metres) and pull over to the side to park and enter the small kiosk to purchase insurance. 

The usual Green Card for European vehicles and EEA countries is currently suspended in Russia and Belarus due to the war in Ukraine.  Vehicles entering Belarus from the EEA or other Green Card countries require additional frontier insurance. 

Payment can be made by card in the kiosk.  

Entering Belarus from Terespol – Step 3. Immigration

Advance forward for immigration.  

Here you will need: 

Your photo will be taken for the visa (even for Visa-Free Travel Documents) and your passport processed for immigration. 

We were waved forward after photos and instructed to park again and wait to the side in the vehicle.  

The interview with the immigration officer asked questions of whether we know anyone in Belarus, our recent travel to Ukraine, where we were planning to travel in the country and how long we intended to stay for. 

The officers were friendly and while asking questions searched our phones including photos, WhatsApp and Apple ID which was photographed and recorded.

From here they waved us forward and wished us a good journey. 

Entering Belarus from Terespol – Step 4. Customs

This next step is the biggie.  The wait to enter customs for Belarus took three hours from the immigration checks.

There are four lines of vehicles parked in queues for the Red Channel (Goods to Declare) and one side with two lanes for Nothing to Declare. Even if you don’t have anything to declare you need to go through the Red Channel. 

Vehicles in the queue are called forward one at a time when the vehicle plate number is displayed on a large digital screen. 

Once underneath the covered checkpoints and parked in an assigned bay for customs, all documents – personal and vehicle – are required for checking.  

Here the entire interior of each vehicle is searched and checked thoroughly.  

For most cars and vans, everything is removed from inside and placed into piles outside on a table and on the ground for checking.  For us in a motorhome, we didn’t need to remove the contents, but the motorhome was thoroughly checked inside including under the bed, in every cupboard and bag (even our stored bags) and the food contents of our pantry and fridge were also checked.

The customs statement was tricky with no English translation though the officer helped us to go over the document.  

Entering Belarus from Terespol – Step 5. Vehicle Scanner 

Next, we were instructed to drive over to vehicle scanner, leaving our passports and vehicle registration documents with the assigned customs officer from our checkpoint bay.  

At the vehicle scanner, the driver and passengers need to disembark while the vehicle is scanned. 

Park and walk back over to customs.  We had around a 20-minute wait from there to receive our passports and vehicle documents back.  

Finally, it was time to exit to the last stop for one final (quick) check inside the vehicle and we were free to enter Belarus. 

Buying a Vignette for the Visa-Free Brest-Grodno region of Belarus

After the final check, continue forward to enter Belarus.  

Drive about 500m (past a zillion buses heading the other way) to the yellow BelToll booth and park to buy a vignette for Belarus travel. 

The cost of an electronic vignette for Belarus with BelToll depends on the length of the vignette’s validity:

The vignette can be paid for with a card at the BelToll kiosk.  

Arriving from Terespol to Brest, Belarus

For us, the border crossing from Terespol to Brest, Belarus took 6.5 hours.  Overall, it was straightforward despite the waiting times and easy with our motorhome to wait in the parked queues. 

From there we headed straight to see the impressive Brest Fortress. 

Where we stayed in Brest, Belarus

We parked for the night at the InTourist Hotel in Brest.  

The hotel is easy to find and has a large, guarded carpark out the back and toilets that are available to use inside the hotel.

Checked in and parked up at the InTourist Hotel in Brest, Belarus with our motorhome.

Read more about travel in Europe by motorhome

Useful links for your travels in Eastern Europe and beyond

These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel. 

Exit mobile version