Moldova
About Chisinau
Chisinau is the capital of Moldova, a green, low-rise city of parks and wide Soviet avenues between Romania and Ukraine, and one of the least-visited capitals in Europe.
Its landmarks are mostly Soviet modernist: the twin tower blocks of the Gates of the City on the road from the airport and the Hotel Cosmos. Around them stand the 19th-century cathedral in its park, a triumphal arch and the Central Market, where the whole city shops, and on summer evenings people head to the lake in Valea Morilor park.
It's cheap, quiet and easy, with little to tick off, so most people come for the food and wine: the country lives on its vineyards, and its largest cellars lie on the edge of town.
Eat mămăligă, cornmeal porridge with brânză cheese and sour cream, plăcinte pies and sarmale, and drink wines from local grapes like Fetească Neagră.
Get to Chisinau
Round trip from Prague, any dates in November 2026.
Day trips from Chisinau
- Half day
Cricova
~25 min
An underground wine city of some 120 km of limestone tunnels with street names, where tours ride an electric train past cellars of millions of bottles and a collection that once held Göring's wines.
- Day trip
Orheiul Vechi
~1 h, ~1 h 30 min 
A cave monastery cut into a limestone cliff above a loop of the Răut river, with a church on the ridge, the ruins of a Golden Horde town and a village of blue-painted houses below.
About Moldova
Wine cities under the ground
Cellars running for kilometres beneath the hills, a cave monastery above a river gorge, and a capital of Soviet modernism that few tourists have seen.
Explore MoldovaRegions, highlights and when to go