What I see on the days I drive guests around Moldova: places, roads, wine, and the practical details nobody writes down.
A delegation flies in for three days, with meetings in Chișinău and in Bălți. Here is how my team puts together transport for a programme like that, and what to put in your first email.
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A name board in the arrivals hall, a day around Moldova with a driver, and a clear answer: when is a driver enough, and when do you need a guide?
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Which winery should you pick for a day trip from Chișinău? Here is how the Cricova and Milestii Mici cellars differ, and why you might go to Purcari, Castel MIMI, Château Vartely or Mircesti instead.
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You can only get into Cricova on a guided tour. Here is how to book one, which tasting to choose and how to go there with just your own group.
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From September to November Moldova changes colour almost every week. Here is where I take guests to find autumn: the Codrii forest, the cliffs above the Dniester, Old Orhei and a long village table.
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In the morning we walk down to cells cut into the limestone above the Dniester and climb back up, then a village lunch with a family in Lalova and a winery in Orhei. Here is how the day works and who it suits.
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Ten hours, roughly 320 kilometres and one town on the Dniester at the end of the road. Here is how my longest day out works and who it suits.
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An hour and a half under oaks and hornbeams in the morning, then a wine tasting with lunch overlooking the vineyards. How the day works and who it suits best.
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The day I suggest to people who want to walk in Moldova and can leave the cellars for later. A forest trail to the Saharna waterfall in the morning, then down and back up at Tipova, the Dniester far below.
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The Gagauz are a Turkic-speaking Christian people in southern Moldova, and they have their own capital. One day from Chișinău: a museum in Besalma, a long lunch in Comrat and a palace on the way.
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In the morning, a gallery where one man put together over twenty-five collections, then the Manuc Bey mansion, then more than 1.7 million bottles underground. Almost all of it indoors, back in Chișinău before evening.
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The shortest of my trips: an hour at the palace in Hincesti, then the galleries of Milestii Mici, with or without a tasting. By mid-afternoon I have you back in town, and the evening stays free.
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My day trips go no further southeast than this: a church with Ottoman-era frescoes in Căușeni, the Purcari winery and a long home-cooked lunch, all in one day. Here is why those 248 kilometres are worth driving.
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The border crossing takes a few minutes, and past the bridge over the Dniester you'll see different number plates, different money and Lenin in front of the House of Soviets. Here is how the day goes and what to know before you book.
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The most local of my day trips: a walk through the centre, a wooden church and a castle winery just outside town. Here is how the day works and who it suits.
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First weekend of October: winemakers from all over the country set up on Chișinău's main square. Here is how the festival works and where to go from the city if you have one more day or a whole week.
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A baroque monastery in a pine forest, a 13th-century cave church above a river bend, and a wine city carved 120 kilometers underground. One day, one car, three very different Moldovas.
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