TRANSNISTRIA / MOLDOVA

*One of us do speak russian so experience might differ

Traveled overland from ODESA in Ukraine. There is a direct bus from ODESA to TIRASPOL, but not very regular. We got a minibus from Pryvoz bus station in Odesa to KUCHURCHAN at the border - every hour or so, 60UAH.

Border crossing at the Ukrainian side was very straight forward.

At the entry to Transnistria we were asked for how long and where we would be staying (all in russian.) Not sure if the officer did speak English and they might and might not ask the same questions. They issued a paper printout with all arrival details for Transnistria. I did ask if a stamp is required and I was told that no stamp is needed as the print out has all required information.

After the border crossing we changed some money at the bus station of PERVOMAISC to Transnistrian ruble. Bought a ticket for the minibus to Tiraspol (19 Transnistrian ruble).

We stayed in a private apartment in Tiraspol (booked on Booking.com). There are hotels also but we went in the end for the apartment for a more local experience. Plenty of cafes, bars, restaurants around the town. We thought it was a very nice place and plenty to occupy you for a couple of days. No foreign credit cards can be used, so you do need cash. There are a lot of currency exchange points so no issue with this at all, using whatever currency you have to hand.

Took a half day trip to BENDER on public city transport (Trolleybus No.19) and visited the fortress, which was well worth the trip.
Just to note that we never felt unsafe at any time, walked everywhere day and night and took plenty of pictures. It was over the festive period so there were a lot of people out and about enjoying the Christmans lights and festivities.

From TIRASPOL we took a minibus from the main bus station to CHISINAU. They were very regular and no need to book in advance (running two/three times an hour). You can pay in Tiraspol ruble or Moldovan leu. There was a trolleybus to the train/bus station but we were told by locals just to walk (about 1km and 15 mins.)

There was a border control area leaving Transnistria and entering Moldova proper (just after the BENDER town area). The officer got on the minibus and checked everyone's passports. Had our border printout in our passports, but he didn’t bother to check anything and no stamps were given at this point.

Not many tourist attractions as such in CHISINAU, but enjoyed wandering the streets and tasting the Moldovan wine. Some museums might be worth checking out but they were closed over the new year. Again we were there during the festivities and plenty of people were out and about, and the city was decorated in fantistics lights. It was nice to experience real winter 🙂

We left Moldova via air from CHISINAU airport. We knew that there might be some issues with the imigration officers as we did not have an official ‘entry’ stamp to Moldova. One of us went first, the officer asked how he entered Moldova and went with his passport to check with her senior. Came back, stamped with an exit stamp and let him go. Then it was my turn and I did say I was the same case as I entered from ODESA also (in russian for my stupidity). She said that I need to have an entry stamp to Moldova. I explained that the officer did nothing when entering Moldova and I only had the paper issued by the Transnistrian border officer (did not use the Transnistria word as this probably would have caused issues). Played stupid and she said that ‘next time’ I needed to have an entry stamp. Gave me an exit stamp and let me go. Wasn’t a big deal really, just flexing their muscles a bit!