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Pretty much all roads in Moldova lead to its wine-and-food loving capital. While the city’s origins date back six centuries to 1420, much of Chişinău was levelled in WWII and a tragic earthquake that struck in 1940. The Soviets rebuilt it into what you see today: grandiose Stalinist architecture mixed with gloriously brutal modernism from the later Soviet period and a smattering of pre-WWII edifices.
Chişinău is a city of parks where retirees play chess in the shade of old-growth trees, of street festivals, and of sidewalk cafes where you can have a beverage and watch the world go by. A dozen superb wineries are within a 90-minute drive of Chişinău, and the super-central location puts the entire country within a day trip. Throw in a hip and happening nightlife, and Chisinau ticks off all the boxes for an effective weekend break.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Chişinău.
Cathedral
The main highlight of the Parcul Catedralei is the city's main Moldovan Orthodox church, dating from the 1830s, with rich interior frescoes. The bell tower was originally built in 1836, but was destroyed after WWII and rebuilt in 1997.
Museum
The highlight of this massive and wonderful exhibition is a life-sized reconstruction of the skeleton of a dinothere – an 8-tonne elephant-like mammal that lived during the Pliocene epoch – 5.3 million to 1.8 million years ago – discovered in the Rezine region in 1966. Sweeping dioramas depict national customs and dress, while other exhibits cover geology, botany and zoology (including bizarre deformed animals in jars).
Museum
Occupying one end of the Centre of Culture and Military History, this once-musty museum now hosts a moving exhibit on Soviet-era repression. Stories of Red Terror, forced famines, mass deportations and gulag slave labour are told through photographs, videos, newspaper clippings and dioramas. While little is in English, the museum nevertheless gives you a good sense of the horrific scale of the crimes perpetrated by Lenin and Stalin.
Museum
This impressive museum contains artefacts from the region of Orheiul Vechi, including Golden Horde coins and 14th-century ceramics; a rare, 2000-year-old Sarmatian fired-clay urn in the shape of a curly-coated ram; a beautiful amorpha (Greek jar) painted with anthropomorphic deities; and weapons dating from ancient times to the present. A huge late-Soviet-era diorama on the 1st floor depicts a battle near the village of Leuşeni on the Prut River during the pivotal WWII Iaşi-Chişinău Offensive.
Park
Dab in the middle of Chişinău, this park is popular with families and canoodling teenagers on benches, and makes for great strolling. The highlight is the Nativity of Christ Metropolitan Cathedral, dating from the 1830s, and its lovely bell tower (1836). Along B-dul Ştefan cel Mare the main entrance to the park is marked by the Holy Gates (1841), also known as Chişinău's own Arc de Triomphe. On the northwestern side of the park is a colourful 24-hour Flower Market.
Museum
A massive facelift was half-finished at the end of 2018, with the gorgeously restored main wing open to visitors. The focus is on contemporary Moldovan art, with a room or two of European works (mainly Dutch, Flemish and Italian) plus space for rotating exhibitions. The annex at the back contains a more extensive European collection, plus folk art and icons, but it remains closed indefinitely.
Park
Parcul Grădina Publică Ştefan cel Mare şi Sfînt is a first-rate people-watching area. Ştefan was Moldavia's greatest medieval prince and ubiquitous symbol of Moldova's brave past. His 1928 statue lords over the entrance.
Museum
This is where Russia's national poet Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) spent three years exiled between 1820 and 1823. You can view his tiny cottage, filled with original furnishings and personal items, including a portrait of his beloved Byron on his writing desk. There's also a three-room literary museum in the building facing the cottage, which documents Pushkin's dramatic life.
Library
A landmark, the neoclassical National Library is worth popping into both to check out the beautiful interior with its spiral staircases, and for the free rotating art exhibitions in the cavernous 2nd- and 3rd-floor hallways. Unlimited use of public computers costs 15 lei. Grab a drink afterwards in the stylish Biblioteque Cafe just outside.