Is Moldova worth visiting?
Travels in August 2015, written in May 2020
Moldova is the least visited country in Europe. In a YouTube-video viewed over 5 million times, called “Nobody Visits This Country...Find Out Why”, blogger “Bald and Bankrupt” shows an ugly, neglected Moldova. Other travel-bloggers write about the low prices, not mentioning other reasons to visit the country. Should Moldova really be avoided? I visited Moldova in August 2015.
No visitors?
In Moldova’s capital Chisinau people seemed surprised to see a tourist. Some started a conversation with me out of curiosity, or just to practice their English. Though the usual tourist doesn’t go here, I wasn’t the only visitor. There were other foreigners in my hostel, mostly backpackers and several voluntary workers. Having met some great people, I had a good time here. But for a city of over 600,000 people, Chisinau has few sights. It gets more interesting when you leave the city.
Nasterea Domnului Cathedral, in a nice part of Chisinau
Near the Orheiul Vechi Monastery
The world’s biggest wine cellar
Moldova has a big wine-industry, and you soon realise how big if you visit Milestii Mici. With 55 kilometers of tunnels and 2 million bottles, it’s the biggest wine cellar in the world. Due to the distances you have to drive around this wine cellar by car. Luckily I met a nice Dutch couple with a car in Chisinau. After doing a Milestii Mici wine tour, we headed onwards to a de facto independent state within Moldova named “Transnistria”.
Back to the USSR: Transnistria
Transnistria has its own government, currency and army, though none of the UN states recognise it as independent. It evolved after the fall of the USSR when ethnic clashes broke out between Moldova’s Roman and Slavic population. Transnistria refused to join an independent Moldova. While Moldova replaced Cyrillic writing with the Roman alphabet, Transnistria kept cultural and political ties with Russia.
Milestii Mici wine cellar
Driving around the huge Milestii Mici wine cellar
“House of Soviets”, Tiraspol
On the road from Chisinau to Transnistria’s capital Tiraspol we crossed the heavily militarised border, guarded by soldiers in Transnistrian and Russian uniforms. We then passed the Sheriff Stadium. Sheriff is the biggest company here, owning local supermarkets, petrol stations, car dealers, and the football club “Sheriff Tiraspol”. Its founder is a former K.G.B. agent, hence the name. After changing our Moldovan Leu for Transnistrian Rubles, we explored Tiraspol on foot. It’s an open air museum of the USSR, with Soviet symbols still everywhere. Visiting a country within a country is an interesting experience, but generally Tiraspol is a small and quiet town.
The verdict
It's worth noting I visited Moldova traveling from Georgia, via Ukraine, onwards to Romania. After Georgia, a country offering many sights and beautiful nature, Moldova was a bit underwhelming. Chisinau lacks things to do and is, to be honest, quite ugly. But the biggest wine cellar in the world is definitely worth visiting, and some might like the breakaway state of Transnistria. Moldova is not for people wanting an exciting citytrip or beautiful nature. If you’re however looking for wine, recent history and dark tourism, you might enjoy it here. And when visiting in summer, you probably won’t be the only one.
Further reading
I visited Moldova again in November 2021. Here are more recent tips about travel to Moldova: