These two Belarusian cities are separated by a distance of eighty-five kilometers. One of them - Vitebsk - is a city of regional significance, the second - Orsha - of district significance. However, Orsha is not an ordinary regional center, it is one of the ten largest cities in Belarus. Between the cities of Orsha, Vitebsk, there is a good railway and bus service.
On the banks of the Dnieper
Orsha is located in the south-east of the Vitebsk region on the banks of the Dnieper River (the third largest in Europe in terms of basin area), or rather, on the banks of two rivers. A tributary of the Dnieper, the Orshitsa River, also flows here.
The first mention of Orsha was found in The Tale of Bygone Years in connection with military events dating back to 1067.
Today Orsha is a major industrial center of the republic. Twenty-six enterprises operate here. The population of the city is about one hundred and forty thousand people.
The convenient location of Orsha allowed it to become a major railway junction not only in Belarus, but also in Europe. Through the citythere are trains to Warsaw, Berlin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv and many other cities. There is no doubt that more than one train passes through the segment of the route Orsha - Vitebsk.
City over the Dvina
That's how you can call Vitebsk, which was founded in the place where two rivers merge - the Western Dvina and Vitba. This is the northernmost regional center of Belarus.
As the legend says, the city was founded by Princess Olga in 974.
Today it is located on an area of almost 125 hectares. The population is 372 thousand people.
Vitebsk has 233 objects included in the state list of historical and cultural values. However, the world fame of the city is associated with the names of avant-garde artists Marc Chagall, Yudel Pan, Kazimir Malevich, and also with the Slavonic Bazaar.
Railway links Vitebsk with Minsk, Warsaw, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv and other cities. It will not be difficult to get from Vitebsk to Orsha.
From Vitebsk by rail by train
As they say, at any time of the day or night you can go on this route. Due to the proximity of the distance, it is not necessary to choose long-distance trains. So, the train "Vitebsk - Orsha" often runs. This train makes seven trips per day. The earliest is at 6:40. On the way, the train is 1 hour 54 minutes and arrives in Orsha at 8.34.
The fastest train from Vitebsk leaves at 17.05, at 18.28 it arrives at the terminal station.
Latesttrain - at 20.23, in Orsha it is at 22.10. There are also flights from Vitebsk at 8.25, 11.40, 14.56 and 17.20. Of course, there may be changes in the train schedule, so the departure time on a particular day should be specified.
In the opposite direction: Orsha – Vitebsk
Seven runs are made by an electric train in the direction of Vitebsk. The first train departs from Orsha at 5.30 am and arrives at the terminal station at 7.27 am. The last one is at 19.50 (arrival at 21.43). Intermediate - 9.20, 12.18, 15.00, 17.52 and 19.15.
The Orsha-Vitebsk electric train makes an average of eight stops on its way.
You can also rush by train
Here the choice is even more than on the train. You can choose between suburban and long-distance trains.
The suburban train "Vitebsk - Orsha" (diesel, as it is called in a simple way) also runs seven times a day. Its first flight leaves at 6.40, the last - at 20.23 (arrival at 8.34 and 22.10, respectively). Being on the road in time is almost the same as that of the Vitebsk-Orsha train. Diesel, however, does not make some of its flights daily, but only on weekends. Therefore, you need to call the help desk before the trip. In the opposite direction from Orsha to Vitebsk, the suburban train even makes eight trips on some days of the week.
From Vitebsk via Orsha
To date, there are twenty-seven trains running from Vitebsk through Orsha. Most of them are long distance. Most often, trains go from St. Petersburg to Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Chernivtsi, Chisinau, Prague, Vienna, Minsk, Soligorsk, Gomel … All of them pass part of their way along the Vitebsk - Orsha route. The train "St. Petersburg - Minsk" overcomes this distance faster - in just 1 hour 14 minutes. By the way, it follows at night, from 03.12 to 04.26.
The train "Vitebsk - Saratov" takes the longest of all this short section of the road - in 2 hours 5 minutes.
As a rule, on the route Vitebsk - Orsha, a train of any destination makes no more than one intermediate stop, most often it is Bogushevskaya. By the way, Vitebsk, like Orsha, is an intermediate station in the routes of most trains.
In the opposite direction, all trains again pass the segment of the route Orsha - Vitebsk, only some of them overcome it faster. For example, trains going to Murmansk from Brest, Gomel, Minsk and Kaliningrad do this in 1 hour 11 minutes.
Change to the bus
If you wish, you can also get from Orsha to Vitebsk by car. Intercity buses run there on the following routes: Dubrovno - Vitebsk, Gorki - Vitebsk, Bobruisk - Vitebsk and Orsha - Vitebsk. The bus covers a distance of eighty-five kilometers in almost the same time as the train.
If buses on the first three routes run once or twice a day, then on the last one there can be up to seven flights a day. To clarify the information before the trip, you should use the services of the information bus station.
Finally, the highway Orsha - Vitebsk, the distance alongwhich between these cities is estimated at eighty-four kilometers, allows you to overcome it in 1 hour 23 minutes by car.
Sights of Orsha and Vitebsk
Having been in Orsha, it is impossible not to see the outstanding monuments of architecture and history. First of all, tourists are attracted by the Jesuit College - an architectural monument of the seventeenth century, which is also located in the central part of the city. There is a clock on the collegium tower that plays beautiful melodies at certain times. By and large, Orsha can be called a city of monasteries. There were many of them in this city: Bernardine, Basilian, Franciscans, Trinitarians, Dominicans … Among the Orthodox, the most famous was the Holy Epiphany Kuteinsky Monastery (1623). All these architectural monuments are partially preserved. But there is also a water mill, a castle, the Katyusha memorial complex and others.
Arriving from Orsha by morning train, you can devote the whole day to the sights of Vitebsk. Although, of course, you cannot see them all in one day.
If Orsha was called the city of monasteries, then Vitebsk is the city of temples. And they are more beautiful than one another, as are the surroundings around them. What is the view from the Kirovsky bridge across the Dvina to the Assumption Cathedral! There is also the Pokrovsky Cathedral, the Assumption Church, the Church of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the Church of Merciful Jesus, the Holy Resurrection Church and many others.
A trip from Orsha to Vitebsk can be a wonderful tourist trip.
