A one-day wine tour from Chișinău, the way I run it, pairs one winery with a monastery, a palace or a walk in the forest: a guided tour and tasting at the winery, plus one or two places nearby. I pick your group up in Chișinău and bring you back the same day. The winery programme is chosen in advance and paid for on site, at the winery's own prices.
Which winery, then? It depends on what matters most to you: an underground city, a castle with a tasting designed by a chef, or lunch at a small winery. First a short answer for each situation, then each winery on its own.
The price of a private day covers the guide, the car with fuel, the tour in your language, pick-up and drop-off in Chișinău and water. The winery tour and tasting, entrance tickets and lunch are paid on site at each place's own prices; at Cricova you can also pay through me, at the winery's own prices, with no mark-up. I pick you up anywhere in Chișinău: a hotel, a flat or the airport.
I agree the winery tour time in advance and build the day around it; at weekends and in season the convenient slots go first. On the Cricova and Château Vartely days the tasting closes the programme, and after it the only place left to go is the hotel. At Purcari and Milestii Mici an optional lunch follows the tasting.
Cricova lies 10 kilometres north of Chișinău, about half an hour by car. Below ground there are more than 120 kilometres of galleries, part of the tour is done by car, and for most guests that is the most unexpected minute of the day. On my day trips, the tasting is usually three wines and one sparkling, and sparkling wine is what Cricova is proudest of. The basic tour is accessible for wheelchair users, which is rare for an underground site. Booking, tastings and private visits have their own article: How to visit Cricova.
Cricova comes late in the day on Curchi, Old Orhei and Cricova: a monastery in a pine forest, a cave monastery above the Răut, an optional lunch in Butuceni and the cellars at the end. Nine and a half hours, all year round.
The country's second great underground cellar. I bring guests here for the galleries and the collection. The galleries stretch for around 250 kilometres, with 120 in use. Here too, we cover part of the route by car. The collection holds more than 1.7 million bottles and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The programme is chosen in advance: the basic one, the shortest, without a tasting but with the story of the cellar, or a programme with a tasting. Lunch with live folk music is booked ahead. The menu is fixed: soup, a main course and dessert. There is no separate restaurant, but there is a wine bar at the exit from the cellars. It is cool underground, so bring something warm even in summer.
Choose between these day trips. Manuc Bey Palace and Milestii Mici: six hours, the shortest of my routes. Or Costin Gallery, Manuc Bey and Milestii Mici, which adds a gallery in Ialoveni where one man has gathered more than 25 collections under one roof; about seven hours.
The longest of my wine trips, around 250 kilometres in a day, and people come here for the wine itself. The winery was founded in 1827, its Negru de Purcari was served at European royal courts, and the British Queen ordered it. The vineyard is right on the estate and you can walk up to it; the tasting is three wines. On the way there is the Church of the Dormition in Căușeni, 18th century, half sunk into the ground, with frescoes in Balkan and Ottoman style. After the winery, an optional lunch at the family-run Cobza restaurant: starters, soup, a main, desserts and house wine with everything, one menu for all.
The Căușeni frescoes and Purcari winery day takes nine and a half hours.
At Castel MIMI I combine a late 19th-century castle in Bulboaca with the Iconiq tasting: five wines, each paired with a small dish chosen by the chef. The tour and tasting take two to two and a half hours. The winery appears on lists of the most beautiful in the world, and I am not going to argue with that. It is also the shortest drive of my day tours, 81 kilometres for the whole day.
On Chișinău city tour and Castel MIMI we walk the centre of the capital in the morning, stop at the wooden church of 1642 in the Village Museum and reach the castle after midday. Seven and a half hours. A good choice if you have a day or two in Moldova and want both the capital and the wine.
At Château Vartely we take the tour and tasting after the Tipova cave monastery. The brand dates from 2004. Today, Château Vartely is one of the country's leading modern wineries. At Tipova, the walk down to the cells takes about half an hour, and the climb back takes just as long. Then there's an optional lunch with a family in Lalova, with dishes from the menu or whatever they've cooked that day. We visit the winery in the late afternoon. I like this order: first the cliff and the cells, then the glass.
The Tipova Cave Monastery and Chateau Vartely day runs a little over nine hours, and sturdy shoes are a must. More in Tipova in the morning, Chateau Vartely by evening.
At Mircesti we go for a tasting with lunch after a walk in the Codrii reserve. It is a small estate in the Ungheni district with sweeping views over the vineyards, and two hours are set aside for the winery. We spend the morning at Codrii, Moldova's oldest scientific reserve: the museum and an easy forest walk of an hour to an hour and a half. The day is about nature and wine, with no monasteries or towns, and I recommend it to people who have already seen the cellars and want an unhurried lunch at a winery.
The Codrii Reserve and Mircesti winery day takes a little over eight hours. More about the walk and the lunch in A walk in the Codrii forest and lunch at Mircesti winery.
The format is chosen when you book, not at the counter: standard or extended, with lunch or without. On the Cricova trip it is three wines and one sparkling, at Purcari three wines, at Castel MIMI five wines with dishes, and Milestii Mici also has a programme without a tasting. The extended programme I recommend to those who came for the wine and are happy to go to the hotel afterwards rather than on to the next monastery. Bottles to take home are bought right there at the winery.
Two practical tips. Bring a jumper: the cellars stay at around +12 °C all year, and in July that surprises people most. And don't drive yourself, or someone in your group will spend the evening watching the others drink.
All year round. The underground cellars do not depend on the weather, so in winter I take guests to Cricova and Milestii Mici exactly as in summer, only with fewer tourists and longer lunches. The vineyards look their best from April to October. And on the first weekend of October Chișinău celebrates Wine Day, which has its own article: Wine Day in Chișinău.
Most of the day trips I run are private: just your group, a car and a guide for the whole day, with the pace and stops tailored to your group. The car depends on the group size: a Toyota Prius+ for up to four, an Opel Vivaro for up to six, a Mercedes Sprinter for up to twenty. I lead the day in English, German, Russian or Romanian; for Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Bulgarian or French a guide from my team comes with you. There is also a group format, where I bring guests together on one route; ask about it when you book.
If none of the ready-made routes fits, we build your own: you tell me which wineries and what else you want to see, and I send you an hour-by-hour plan and the exact price for the car with guide before you book. That is One day in Moldova, build your own day. If you are coming for a week, we usually spend a day or two visiting wineries and plan the rest around your interests: The full journey.
Guests rarely remember exactly which wine they drank. They remember the tunnel the car drove into, or the glass after the climb up from the caves. Write to me with your dates in Chișinău and the size of your group, and we will sort out the rest together.
Send me a WhatsApp message with your dates in Chișinău and the size of your group. Name your winery if you have one in mind, or I will help you choose. You get a plan for the day and the exact price for the car with guide before you book.
A private day trip in Moldova, built around you.Book on WhatsApp
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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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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