Moldova on €22/Day: Chisinau, Transnistria & Monastery Loop
Moldova is the least visited country in Europe. Here’s what I spent:
DATA DASHBOARD
- Daily Rate (Per Person): €22.26
- Total Trip Cost (2 People): €222.60
- Trip Length: 5 Days
- Route: Chisinau – Tiraspol (Transnistria) – Capriana – Curchi – Saharna – Old Orhei
- Trip Date: August 2025
- Accommodation: Hostel
- Currency: Moldovan Leu (€1 = ~20 MDL as of 2026)
- Primary Tools: Booking.com, DiscoverCars, Cover4Rentals, Revolut
| ITEM | COST (2P) | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Stay | €90.00 (1,800 MDL) | 5 nights, 2 beds at Chisinau Chill Hostel 180 MDL (~€9) /night/bed via Booking.com |
| Car Rental | €31.50 | 1 day, Hertz via DiscoverCars €3/Day Rental Car Guide |
| Fuel | €20.00 (~400 MDL) | 1 day with Kia Picanto. Small fuel-friendly car. |
| Food | €57.50 (1,150 MDL) | €5.75/day per person Cooked at hostel + street food. |
| Transport | €13.20 (264 MDL) | Per trip: Airport bus – 6 MDL Chisinau-Tiraspol marshrutka – 60 MDL |
| eSIM | €1.90 | 3GB, 7 days. Chillaxsim (via eSIMDB) |
| Sights | €8.50 (170 MDL) | Per person: National Museum of History – 50 MDL Old Orhei – 20 MDL (+ 30 MDL parking) |
| TOTAL | €222.60 | 5 days at €22.26/day per person |
The Budget System
I consistently keep my daily budget under €20-€30 using two methods:
● €3/Day Rental Car Guide
● Sleeping in Rental Cars Guide
One week of travel cost me less than a day of work in Australia.
Getting There
We arrived via Pegasus Airlines into Chisinau International Airport (KIV), as a deliberate stopover on the way from Istanbul to Poland. Two separate tickets: Pegasus Istanbul–Chisinau, then Wizz Air Chisinau–Katowice – came out cheaper than flying Istanbul–Katowice direct. Worth checking if you’re traveling from Turkey into Europe.
Airport to center: Bus 30. Only 6 MDL (~€0.30) per person. It takes around 40 minutes.
Card tap is officially supported but unreliable – it was turned off when we arrived. A ticket seller boarded the bus. In practice – it was cash only. He spoke Romanian/Russian. We only had a €5 note, he took it, gave change, but we lost around €2 to the exchange. Withdraw cash before or at the airport if you can.
ATM: EuroCreditBank was the only ATM without commission we found.
Currency
Moldovan leu (MDL). Around 20 MDL to €1 as of 2026.
Revolut card worked well. Expenses ended up within 1% of the official rate for the whole trip. Note: Revolut applies a 1% markup on weekends.
Most supermarkets and larger places take card. Carry cash for street vendors, marshrutkas, and markets. Also, the hostel was cash only.
Accommodation
Chisinau Chill Hostel. 1,800 MDL (~€90) for 2 beds, 5 nights. 180 MLD (~€9) per night. One of the cheapest options in Chisinau. 4/5 – clean, homely atmosphere. Lots of Ukrainians staying there. Found and booked via Booking.com – they have the widest selection. Once on their website, sort by lowest price and filter by rating 7+ to get rid of bad listings.
eSIM
Use eSIMDB, an eSIM database site to find the right one for you. You can filter by GBs and duration. We got a 3GB, 7-day SIM from chillaxsim for €1.90, basically nothing.
Update: Moldova joined the EU’s Roam Like at Home zone in 2026. If you have a European SIM, you no longer pay roaming charges.
Car Rental (Monastery Loop)
- Cost: €31.50 for 1 day via DiscoverCars. That was the cheapest available option.
- Provider: Hertz. 4/5. Smooth return. Deposit was only €200 – low for a rental. Returned within a few days.
- Insurance: Covered externally by Cover4Rentals. Full process: €3/Day Rental Car Guide.
- One issue: Hertz wasn’t at the airport at 8am despite their listed operating hours. Had to call their WhatsApp number repeatedly. Someone picked up after a while, showed up 30 minutes late. Once you sign the contract, the shuttle takes you 5 minutes from the terminal.
- Fuel: 400 MDL (~€20) for the full loop around monasteries and Old Orhei.
- Car review: Kia Picanto. 5/5. Compact, fuel friendly, comfortable. Big enough for the two of us.
Monastery Loop (Day Trip by Car)
Around 200km. One full day.
- Capriana Monastery. Traditional Moldavian style – low key, quieter than the others. Some stray dogs at the parking, we shared our breakfast with them. When driving to the next spot, we noticed a new monastery being built nearby – looked like it was done by a group of locals, no construction company. They saw us watching and waved us over. The man in charge turned out to be a priest. They offered us homemade wine and cake.
- Curchi Monastery. The most elegant monastery on the route – baroque, very tall. It felt out of place in rural Moldova.
- Orhei town. We stopped briefly and moved on. Nothing worth staying for.
- Saharna Monastery. Best stop on the route. Traditional church complex with hiking, caves full of candles and Orthodox icons, streams, a small waterfall. Hike up to a viewpoint with a cross and views over the Dniester and Transnistria. On the way up to the cross viewpoint, we passed groups of older local women making the climb – a pilgrimage of sorts. Mostly local visitors, it feels undiscovered. Still very much an active religious site, not just a tourist attraction.
- Old Orhei (Orheiul Vechi). The most touristic stop. Open-air archaeological complex located in a canyon. There is a cave monastery with a very special atmosphere inside. Entry 20 MDL (~€1) per person + 30 MDL (~€1.50) to park. Visitor center and monasteries close around 5-6pm, depending on the season. The park area is accessible at any time.
When back in Chisinau, we parked overnight near the hostel, no issues finding a spot. Next morning we returned the car back to the airport.
Transnistria Day Trip
Chisinau to Tiraspol: 60 MDL (~€3) per person one way. €12 total for 2 people return.
Traditional marshrutka: a sort of a minibus/van. No advance booking, show up at Chisinau bus station, buy a ticket at the cashier. Buses run roughly every 30 minutes, from around 6am to 8pm, but confirm at the station. Journey takes 1.5-2 hours depending on the border crossing.
For the return, flag down the bus on the main street in Tiraspol (Strada Karl Liebknecht) and pay the driver in cash (the bus station itself is a bit further from the center).
The border: Everybody gets off the marshrutka and shows their passport or ID to border officers. They didn’t ask us any questions, barely looked at us. It took around 10-15 minutes total. Bring your passport – I tried going with my EU ID, and it worked (I had a passport with me just in case), but I’ve heard of people being turned away, so don’t risk it.
Transnistria itself: A breakaway region, Russian-speaking majority, de facto independent since the early 90s, locked between the Dniester river and the Ukrainian border.
It felt very different as soon as we crossed the Dniester river. Tall gray Soviet-era apartment blocks everywhere. A Lenin monument still stands in the city center. At the Dniester, locals were sunbathing and swimming – something I wouldn’t expect to see on a riverbank of a European city – most people wouldn’t risk it. We went for a swim ourselves and got chatting with a lovely lady in my broken Russian (picked up earlier on this trip in the Caucasus) – she told us about her grandfather, who was sent from Poland to Siberia. She was born in Russia. People were very helpful, an older man walked us for 20 minutes when we asked for directions.
A cup of kvass from a street vendor: 4 Transnistrian rubles, €0.20.
Cash only. Foreign cards not accepted anywhere due to sanctions. Bring euros, MDL, USD, or Russian rubles to exchange at a bank in Tiraspol when you arrive. The Transnistrian ruble (PRB) can’t be exchanged outside Transnistria – spend what you have before leaving or take it as a souvenir. It’s pegged to the USD, so the rate is stable.
Chisinau
We spent 3 days in the city. That was plenty of time, but we wanted to take it slow. Small, very walkable. It was so calm, that only one street in the whole city felt busy to me. Parks everywhere – and in some places, Soviet-era monuments.
Parks: Parcul Valea Morilor has a small beach where people actually swim – lots of locals exercising, running the paths. Parcul Valea Trandafirilor is a big walking park. All parks are free to enter.
Central Market: Gets busy. It’s made for locals, not tourists. Fresh produce, clothes, some souvenirs. Definitely worth visiting.
Safety: No issues. Felt safe throughout. As in most Eastern Europe.
Language: English is spoken by some (especially younger) people in Chisinau, but rarely outside it. Villages are mostly Romanian-speaking – though most older people across Moldova know some Russian, a legacy of Soviet-era education. In Transnistria it’s Russian throughout.
Food: Cooked at the hostel. Shopped at Nr. 1 supermarket – they also sell cheap hot food by weight. Plăcinte (traditional savory pastry) from street vendors: 15 MDL (€0.75).
Sights: We visited National Museum of History of Moldova – €2.50 each. We didn’t remember much about it a couple months later.
Tips Summary
- Airport bus: Carry 6 MDL cash per person. Card tap officially works but often doesn’t.
- ATM: EuroCreditBank – no commission.
- Revolut: Within 1% of official rate. 1% weekend markup applies.
- Tiraspol: Bring passport, not just ID. Cash only – exchange MDL, EUR, or USD at a bank there.
- Transnistrian rubles: Spend before leaving. Cannot be exchanged outside Transnistria. Pegged to USD.
- North of Chisinau: Old Orhei is the closest and most popular. Saharna was the best stop, a bit further though. Capriana and Curchi Monastery, both worth including in the loop.
- DiscoverCars: If you want to rent a car, use them to find the best rate, but get your insurance from an external provider.
- eSIM: Search on eSIMDB, filter by GB and duration. Moldova is now in EU Roam Like at Home zone.
- Booking.com: Lowest prices for Chisinau hostels, big selection. Sort by lowest price.
