Moldova: tours, wine, and food — without the marketing fluff.

Six regions

Pick the region that matches the trip you want. Each page has the sights, the transport, the food, and the practical-on-the-ground note that's missing from the operator brochure.

All regions index →

Must-do across Moldova

Globally famous, uniquely Moldovan, accessible to a standard visitor. If you only do eight things here, do these.

1. 1 · Orheiul Vechi cave monastery

   UNESCO-tentative landscape with an active cliff-cave monastery and a rural eco-village. 45 minutes from Chișinău. /orhei

2. 2 · Mileștii Mici winery

   Guinness-record-holding world's-largest wine collection: 200 km of limestone tunnels, 85 m below ground, 2 million bottles. /wine-tours

3. 3 · Cricova winery

   Moldova's most famous underground wine city — 80 m below ground, named cellar streets, the National Oenoteca with 1.3+ million bottles. /wine-tours

4. 4 · Château Purcari

   Oldest commercial winery in Moldova (1827); the country's first wine castle; 1878 Paris Expo medal. /southern-moldova

5. 5 · Soroca: fortress + Roma Hill + Candle

   Perfectly circular Moldavian fortress overlooking the Dniester, Roma mansions on the next hill, 29.5 m candle monument honouring Moldova's anonymous cultural heroes. /soroca

6. 6 · Tiraspol day-trip

   Soviet time-capsule city in a breakaway state with its own currency, Lenin statues, and the KVINT brandy factory. /transnistria

7. 7 · National Wine Day in Chișinău

   First weekend of October — Bulevardul Ștefan cel Mare closes into an open-air winery fair. /events

8. 8 · Kara Gani winery + Gagauz cuisine

   Christian-Orthodox Turkic culture, antique-textile museum, family winery serving the country's only proper Gagauz cuisine. /gagauzia

Upcoming festivals

The five fixtures the calendar runs on. Full programme on /events.