The 5 Best Day Trips from Chisinau, Moldova

Most visitors to Moldova start with the capital, Chisinau, and its worthy of a day or two of your time, but the real highlights of Moldova lie outside the capital. Within a short drive or bus ride you can be exploring an ancient cave monastery, standing inside one of country’s most beautiful monasteries, or trying to get lots into endless tunnels of wine.   Then.  If you want to go further, there’s the Soviet-flavoured adventure of Transnistria, where you’ll find a world that feels somewhat alien and a wee bit frozen in time.  It’s relatively easy to explore once you know how transport works here in Moldova. You visit lots of places using the local buses and marshrutkas, join day tours, or even rent a car. From world-famous wineries to UNESCO-listed landscapes, here’s my guide to the best day trips from Chisinau.

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN COMPENSATED AND AFFILIATE LINKS MORE INFORMATION IN OUR DISCLAIMER

Chisinau’s 5 Best Day Trips

Whether you choose to use local transport – like the marshrutkas that are ubiquitous here, rent yourself a car, or join a small group tour, these places are all easy to get to (once you know how), and Moldova is surprisingly affordable too.

1. Visit Old Orhei (Orheiul Vechi)

If you only take one day trip from Chisinau, make it Old Orhei. The open-air archaeological complex sits in a dramatic limestone valley carved by the Răut River. Here you’ll find centuries of history all closely situated. There are Dacian fortresses, the remains of Tatar baths, medieval monasteries, and traditional Moldovan villages.  The easiest way to visit Old Orhei? That’s on a small group tour with a knowledgeable local guide.

The highlight of Old Orhei is the cave monastery dug into the cliff face, still active today. Descend into the monastery via the narrow, step stairs, and step into the candlelit chapel. It’s rather dark!  See the hand carved cells the monks slept in.  Then, walk out onto the balcony for glorious views over the valley. My guide to Old Orhei and what to see there is here.

Old Orhei is located close to the village of Butuceni – there’s a small village museum here, and a couple of fabulous places to eat (I recommend the Eco Resort Butuceni – you can see their menu and prices here). 

You can get here on a marshrutka from Chisinau’s Central Bus Station (there are two different routes you can take, I’ve fully detailed them here), join a guided tour or self-drive.

2. Explore Curchi Monastery

Just north of Chisinau in the glorious rural countryside of the Vatici Valley is Curchi Monastery. This Orthodox complex, it’s one of Bessarabia’s most important, dates back to the 18th century and has five churches, a hermitage, living quarters for monks, and an orchard. Each church is built in a different style, and having them close together makes it really easy to see and understand the differences.  My guide to visiting Curchi is here.

We visited on a private guided tour – our guide’s knowledge made it very easy to see and understand the differences between the churches.  You can book that tour (or a small group tour) here.

The red-and-white Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God dominates the site, and it’s really rather lovely. This is an active monastery, so you’ll need to work around any services that are ongoing. The grounds are peaceful though, and the view from the lake is beautiful.

Curchi can easily be combined with Old Orhei on the same day if you’re driving or in a small group tour.  If you’re travelling independently, marshrutkas from Chisinau stop nearby, from where it’s a short walk. You can read my guide on how to get to Curchi here.

3. Wine Tasting at Cricova – Underground City of Wine

Cricova is Moldova’s most famous winery and makes for an unforgettable day trip. Just 15 kilometres from Chisinau, it’s home to over 120 kilometres of underground wine tunnels carved into limestone. The tunnels are so big that – legend has it, Yuri Gagarin got lost in there for

2 days before reappearing – and today tours are done by electric carts, which whisk you through endless cellars stacked with casks, bottles and the entire wine making and bottling process.  My guide to tasting wine at Cricova is here.

You’ll learn how wine is made here, how the tunnels came about and which famous personages store their wine here.  Tastings are the highlight, of course — with Moldovan reds, whites, and sparkling wines all poured generously, along with some local snacks too.  Wine tasting isn’t cheap here in Moldova and its something of a surprise when everything else is very affordable.  But the wine is good, and you get the chance to try some indigenous grape varieties too.

You can take a marshrutka or a taxi to Cricova from Chisinau (I’ve covered the details on how exactly here).  However, you MUST book a tour or tasting, as they’re popular, and if you just turn up on spec, then you risk missing out.

Book yourself onto a Cricova wine tour and tasting here. 

4. Wine Tasting at Mileștii Mici – The World’s Largest Wine Cellar

If Cricova impresses you, then Mileștii Mici will blow your mind, although the people we spoke to in Chisinau preferred Cricova.  However, Mileștii Mici is officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest wine collection in the world.  There are more than 2 million bottles of wine, stored in more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) of underground tunnels! Take a tour here.

Tours here take you deep into the labyrinth of tunnels, past rows of bottles stacked like bricks, and into huge chambers used for tastings. And yes, you’ll get to taste a few (and probably want to take a couple home).

You can visit on a small group tour, take a marshrukta from Chisinau’s central station, or take a taxi (Yandex Go works here, so just load the app up and off you go).  You will, however, need to book your tasting and tour before you set off to guarantee a place.

5. A Trip to Transnistria – Tiraspol and Bender

For something completely different, head east to Transnistria, the breakaway region that declared independence from Moldova in the 1990’s but isn’t recognised internationally. You’ll go through passport control, have to change currency to buy anything and get a definite throw back to the old days of the USSR!

My guide to visiting Transnistria is here.

Tiraspol, the capital, has wide boulevards, Soviet monuments, and a very relaxed pace of life. You’ll see Lenin statues, at least one tank, and you can pay with the local Transnistrian ruble, a currency you won’t find anywhere else in the world.  I’d suggest visiting both Tiraspol and Bender on your visit – and that’s easiest with a small group tour from Chisinau

Bender, just across the river, has an impressive fortress,  evidence of the fighting that took place in the 1990s when independence was declared and a whole lot more Soviet-era architecture.

Travel here independently by bus or marshrutka from Chisinau, (my guide for the public transport options is here) but be prepared for border checks (you’ll get a paper slip you must keep until you leave). Local guides tend to be very knowledgeable and will take you through the history of Transnistria as well as how things are today and you’ll even get lunch at a restaurants that’s more museum than eatery!  Check it out here.

Final Words on the Best 5 Day Trips from Chisinau

Chisinau might not be the prettiest capital in Europe, but it’s one of the best bases for exploring a fascinating part of the continent. Within an hour or so you can be standing in a UNESCO valley, exploring a monastery, or descending into endless wine cellars. And with a slightly longer journey, you can step into another world entirely in Transnistria.  Whether you’re joining guided tours or braving Moldova’s marshrutka system, you won’t regret taking the time to explore outside the capital.

ASocialNomad is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, and amazon.ca. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.