Copy My Trip: Moldova and Transnistria

18.10.2024 - 18:17 / lonelyplanet.com

Oct 18, 2024 • 5 min read

Lonely Planet Destination Editor for Central & Eastern Europe Sandie Kestel l recently traveled to Moldova and Transnistria. Here, she shares some tips and insights for anyone planning a similar trip.

When I told people I was planning a trip to Moldova, responses were mixed, ranging from “Amazing!” to “Why?”, right through to “Where is that?”. This little country between Romania and Ukraine might not be on many travelers' radars, but once it made its way onto mine, I couldn’t shake it. 

My sister and I like to get off the beaten track and we share an interest in the history and architecture of the former Soviet Union. A friend of hers had toured Moldova and the unrecognized republic of Transnistria over New Year with Young Pioneer Tours (YPT) and returned with stories and photos we couldn’t get enough of. We booked onto the YPT Transnistria National Day & Gagauzia Tour right away, adding some extra time in Chişinău to explore the city on our own. 

Touring around brought us to several different hotels, but one stands out: Hotel Chişinău. This Soviet-style behemoth is an impressive building with a grand entrance and great character. Rooms are very basic and yes, a little shabby in places, but staying here is more about traveling back in time to the Soviet era than living in the lap of luxury, so it fits right in with the focus of our YPT tour. [And there is hot water, you just need to run the taps a little longer than you normally would…]

If this doesn’t sound like your thing, I recommend the more modern Bristol Central Park Hotel, where we spent our first night in Chişinău before joining our YPT group. The location right in the city center is excellent, and rooms are spacious with all mod cons. 

We spent a lot of our time in Chişinău seeking out relics from bygone times and oddities. 

We headed to leafy Valea Morilor Park to seek out the tiny Little Prince Statue and the even tinier Little Prince’s Rose – two moments of whimsy along the railing by the lake. 

Mosaics from the Communist era are few and far between, but we did find some including one small one on Strada Tighina and another much larger one on Strada Vasile Lupu. Our biggest finds were not hidden, but forgotten. 

The gigantic Chişinău State Circus in the city center has been abandoned since 2004 and sits as a reminder of a time long past. Despite the decay, the building itself is fascinating. We were especially taken with the dancing clown emblem above the former entrance, with the one headless clown giving the structure a haunting edge. We also got to explore the abandoned National Hotel across the road from Hotel Chişinău from the inside. Our YPT guide Ravi took us into the Soviet-era hotel, now in an advanced state of