Our 3 days in Moldova, Europe’s least visited country

We recently visited Moldova, mainly because we are Americans currently living in The Netherlands and are trying to visit every country in Europe. And the least visited country of Moldova was next on our list (#36 out of the 46).

We did a bit of research ahead of time so we kind of knew what to expect but it never really lives up to the experience of actually being there. We took an overnight train from Bucharest, Romania to the capital of Chișinău, which was an adventure in itself. We visited the first week in April (Easter weekend) but since they celebrate Orthodox Easter in Moldova, everything was open and business went on as usual.

We spent two days in Chișinău and a third day exploring the surrounding area. The first thing we noticed that this city did not feel touristy at all. We definitely stood out as Americans and we definitely got stared at just walking around, but that’s to be expected. It probably didn’t help that we had a big camera, but still.

Even though there aren’t many touristic things to do in Chișinău, we started at the central market, which was huge and very local. This place has everything from phone chargers to fresh produce to pickled EVERYTHING. Then we wandered around to some of the main spots like the cathedral and parks. It’s not one of those cities where you’re constantly like “wow,” but it kind of grows on you the longer you’re there. It’s a fairly walkable city and we checked out their Triumphal Arch and a water tower that has a small museum in it and you can climb all the way to the top for a decent view of the city.

The food was great, though. We kept eating this tasty stuffed fried dough food called plăcintă, the traditional mici (meat sausages), tried the polenta, and somehow every meal was like €10–15 total, even with wine. Everything is SUPER affordable in Moldova.
The day before we flew back to our home in Amsterdam, we rented a car and drove out into the countryside, and that’s where it got more interesting. Rolling hills, vineyards everywhere, even if they were still pretty bare in April, and not many people. We stopped at the Căpriana Monastery out in the forest that was super quiet. It was a Monday, but even still, we only saw three or four other people while we were there.

Then we made a completely unnecessary detour to see what’s apparently the biggest wine barrel in the world, just sitting in a random village. No real explanation. But we like weird things like this, so the detour was worth it for us.

The main thing we wanted to see was Mileștii Mici Winery with massive underground tunnels and holds the Guinness World Record for largest wine cellar in the entire world. You can book a wine tour where they take you around these tunnels that are anywhere from 30-80km below ground. It felt like a Disneyland ride while they drive you around the cool and humid tunnels. This was definitely the highlight of our trip to Moldova. We didn’t know what a big player Moldova is in the wine world.

We ended the trip at a traditional-looking restaurant where we had more Moldovan wine, mici, and the best chicken noodle soup that we’ve had in a long time.

Overall it’s definitely rougher around the edges than most places in Europe and tourism isn’t as built up, but that’s kind of what made it interesting. It felt much more "real" than a lot of the other countries we have visited. We enjoy exploring places that not everybody frequents.

Curious if anyone else has been because we had no idea what to expect going in and wonder what other tourists thought about visiting this country.