This page explains how to travel by train from the UK via Munich and Bucharest to Chisinau in Moldova.

Train times, fares & how to buy tickets...

  London to Chisinau train times, fares, how to buy tickets

  What's Moldova like?

  Useful country information

  Hotels in Moldova

Useful country information

London to Chişinău (Kishinev)

You can travel to Chişinău, the capital of Moldova, via Bucharest.

London, Paris, Munich, Bucharest ► Chişinău

• Travel from London to Bucharest via Paris, Munich & Budapest, as shown on the London to Romania page.  The journey takes less than 48 hours by train.

• Travel overnight from Bucharest to Chişinău on the Prietenia sleeper train, leaving Bucharest Nord at 19:15, calling at Ungheni (the Moldovan frontier) from 05:02 until 06:49 and arriving at Chişinău at 09:06. The Prietenia has 4-berth 2nd class sleepers, and 1st class 2-berth sleepers.  There is a bar car selling snacks and drinks, but no restaurant, so take your own provisions along.  This train currently runs every day - you can check this at www.bahn.de/en.

Chişinău ► Bucharest, Munich, Paris, London

• Travel overnight from Chişinău to Bucharest on the Prietenia sleeper train, leaving Chişinău at 16:45, calling at Ungheni (Moldovan frontier) from 18:43 until 20:23, and arriving at Bucharest Nord at 06:04 next morning.  The Prietenia has 4-berth 2nd class sleepers and 1st class 2-berth sleepers.  This train is currently running every day - you can check this at www.bahn.de/en.

• Travel from Bucharest to London as shown on the London to Romania page.

How much does it cost?

• Bucharest to Chişinău costs only 131 Romanian Lei (around €25) one-way in 2nd class 4-berth sleeper or around 250 Lei (about €50) one-way in 2-berth sleeper. 

• Chişinău to Bucharest costs around 1120 Leu (around €50) per person in a 1st class 2-berth sleeper or around 560 Leu (around €25) per person in a 2nd class 4-berth sleeper.  For fares from London to Romania see the London to Romania page. 

How to buy tickets...

• For information on how to book the London to Bucharest journey, see the London to Romania page.

• To book the Bucharest to Chişinău train, either buy tickets at the international booking office at Bucharest Nord station as there are almost always plenty of places available even on the day, or (more expensively) use DB's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 who may be able to book this train, lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturdays & Sundays.

• The Bucharest-Chişinău train cannot be booked online, nor can it be booked through the normal computer reservation systems used by western European railways and ticketing agencies. 

The train from Bucharest arrived at Chişinău...  Photo courtesy of Malcolm B		A 1st class 2-berth compartment on the Prietenia.  Photo courtesy of Malcolm B.

The Prietenia sleeper train from Bucharest to Chişinău.  Photos above and right are courtesy of Pieter Beelen.		At the Romania-Moldovan frontier each sleeping-car is lifted on hydraulic jacks to have the bogies changed.  You remain on board.

2-bed sleeper		Destination board.  Photos courtesy of Peter Brogdale.

Travellers' reports:  On the train to Moldova...

Traveller Josy Spooner wrote this illustrated blog about a journey on this train in 2015:  https://happinessisthe.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/a-vintage-train-journey-to-chisinau-moldova/

Traveller Robert Hall reports:  "The Romanian boarder was reached at 0400ish where our passports were taken away and scanned.  The Moldovan’s are much more efficient and had a portable passport reading machine, although a second inspection resulted in ours being taken away again – I guess this is because our passports had a fair number of stamps and visa’s in them and they wanted to check them a bit more!  The train was comfortable enough and bedding was provided. A pillow case, basic towel and two sheets were supplied in a plastic bag.  In the space that went over the corridor from our compartment was a choice of either blankets or duvets.  We had to make up the beds ourselves – no seats had to be taken apart. Whilst the gauge change itself at Ungheli went without issue/notice some of the shunting does not encourage sleep!"

Traveller and group organiser Neil McDonald describes his party of sixty kilted Scotsmen knocking back the Moldovan champagne on the Prietenia :  "I would describe the comfort as typical Soviet type comfort, although I enjoyed my journey on this service and indeed I intend using this service again.  There were comments about bugs in some of the carriages but I never had any problems with my carriage.  The Staff were a mixture of personalities, and with a party of 65 people spread over 6 carriages I got mixed reports about the stewards.  Some (well most) were extremely friendly towards my group (almost all Kilted Scotsman) however some were grumpy and one steward seemed on the take.  Most were very good with dealing with lost documentation and some of my group ended up sleeping in completely the wrong carriage without any problems.  The train buffet was a very cheap and cheerful effort.  I managed a small plate of chicken from the train buffet for the grand sum of 70p (it was soon sold out as word spread of the price through the train) and we discovered bottles of Moldovan Champagne going for £2.50 (have a guess how long that lasted too).  Other items were going cheap as well."

Above:  The sleeper corridor on board the Prietenia.  Photo courtesy of Jon Ethridge.		Above:  Chişinău railway station, Moldova.   Photo courtesy of Jon Ethridge.

	On board the Chisinau to Odessa train.  Photo courtesy of Discoverbyrail.com

London to Moldova via Berlin, Warsaw, Kiev & Odessa...

There's another option.  Why not travel from London via Berlin and Warsaw to Kiev, sleeper to Odessa, then use the Odessa to Chisinau train?  This originally ran daily but is currently only running 3 times a week.

• See the Ukraine page for travel options between London and Odessa.

• Train 642 leaves Odessa at 16:48 on Saturdays & Sundays and arrives Chişinău at 21:58.  Buy tickets at the station.

• Train 642 leaves Chişinău at 07:34 on Saturdays & Sundays and arrives Odessa at 12:25.

What's Moldova like?

Travel David Keating reports from a visit back in summer 2006, still relevant although much has changed since then:  "I cannot foresee Chisinau becoming a tourist hotspot.  It was from what one can see from old photographs once a very attractive city, but it was mostly flattened in WW2.  There are one or two individual buildings of note still left, including a fine old station recently restored.  It is a very green city with plenty of trees and parks.  The central market is an excellent old fashioned food and general market which no longer exists in places like Poland.  No one hassles you in Moldova, it's cheap to eat and drink though accommodation can be more pricey.  At Orhei Vecchi there is an UNESCO heritage site comprising an unusual limestone cliff exposed by river erosion in which over the centuries mankind has burrowed, with many interesting remains.  There are also half a dozen attractive monasteries.  There is no where really to stay outside the capital, but the country can be reached usually on appalling roads in a day trip.  The countryside is unspectacular otherwise, rolling landscape, greatly impoverished villages.  There is a village by the river near Orhei, Trebushen, where an enterprising family provide pleasant accommodation with all meals and local wine at €30 per day per person.  People do stay from all over the world, for example stray Japanese, Scandinavians, Italians and French.  The village is not spoilt by modern buildings, there is walking to be done and otherwise pottering about. Some venture on the river.  The family arrange collection of guests from Chisinau, which is about 40 km away.  The place is desperately poor, and with the embargo placed on all imports by Russia the situation can only get worse.  Over 80% of agricultural produce, wine etc was exported to Russia.  Putin is putting the squeeze on to prevent Moldova following in the track of Ukraine.  Transnistria, the breakaway enclave supported by Putin is a difficult place to visit.  Tales come through of tourists having to pay for so-called visas etc.  The rail link from Ukraine and Russia passes through Transnistria, as does the Russian gas supply, and the main power station providing over 80% of the electricity comes from there.  When Stalin carved up the Romanian territory of Moldavia, he cut some off and gave it to Ukraine, in particular its coastal territory  and took a piece of Ukraine and stuck it on. The heavy industry, military base, power stations were located on the other side of the Dniestr river in what had not been part of Romania. It is that chunk which holds many assets which together with a slice seized on the Romanian side of the river that comprises the breakaway enclave. The EU has declared it illegal and none of its henchmen can visit or pass through EU territory. It is a major conduit of arms made there, drugs, people trafficking, etc.  This autumn the Russian embargo will really start to bite harder. More than a third of the population has left for greener pastures mostly as illegal workers in Portugal, Spain, Italy, the UK of course and here in Ireland.  The ones that go are the young fit ones.  In rural Moldova 80% of women between the ages of 16 and 36 are missing most of them forcibly taken into prostitution. It is a major scandal."

Hotels & accommodation in Moldova

The European Rail Timetable & maps

The European Rail Timetable (formerly the Thomas Cook European Timetable) has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency & climate information.  It is essential for regular European train travellers and an inspiration for armchair travellers.  Published since 1873, it had just celebrated 140 years of publication when Thomas Cook decided to pull the plug on their entire publishing department, but the dedicated ex-Thomas Cook team have set up a private venture and published the first edition of a reborn European Rail Timetable in March 2014.  You can buy it online with worldwide shipping at either www.stanfords.co.uk or www.europeanrailtimetable.eu.  More information on what the European Rail Timetable contains.

A Traveller's Railway Map of Europe covers the whole of Europe from Portugal in the west to Moscow & Istanbul in the east, Finland in the north to Sicily & Athens in the south.  On the back are detailed maps of Switzerland, Benelux & Germany, plus city plans showing stations in major cities.  Scenic & high-speed routes highlighted.  Buy it online for £14.50 + postage worldwide (UK addresses £2.80) at www.stanfords.co.uk/Continents/Europe-A-Travellers-Railway-Map_9789077899090.htm or (in the Netherlands) for €13 + €5.50 postage from www.treinreiswinkel.nl.

You should take a good guidebook.  For the independent traveller, this means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide.  Both series are excellent.  The Lonely Planet range offers an in-depth guide for Romania and Moldova or a guide covering all the countries in Eastern Europe.  You won't regret buying one!

Click the images to buy at Amazon...

Find hotels in Moldova...

Other hotel sites worth trying...

• www.tripadvisor.com is the place to find independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.

• www.booking.com is my own preferred hotel booking system (Hotels Combined being a search/comparison system).  It has a simple interface, a good selection in most countries worldwide, useful online customer reviews of each hotel, and decent prices, usually shown inclusive of unavoidable extras such as taxes (a pet hate of mine is systems that show one price, then charge you another!).

Backpacker hostels...

• www.hostelbookers.com:  If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about backpacker hostels.  Hostelbookers offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in most cities at rock-bottom prices.

Travel insurance & health card...

Take out decent travel insurance, it's essential...

Never travel without proper travel insurance from a reliable insurer with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover.  It should also cover loss of cash & belongings (up to a limit), and trip cancellation.  An annual multi-trip policy is usually cheapest even for just 2 or 3 trips a year - I have an annual policy myself.  However, don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed connection, see the advice on missed connections here.  Here are some suggested insurers, Seat61 gets a little commission if you buy through these links, and feedback from using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome.

In the UK, use www.confused.com to compare prices & policy features across major insurance companies.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition or are over 65, see www.JustTravelCover.com - 10% discount with code seat61.

        If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try Columbus Direct's other websites.

  If you live in the USA try Travel Guard USA.

Get an EU health card, it's free...

If you're a UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with the NHS.  This replaced the old E111 forms as from January 2006.  The EHIC card is available from www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx.  It doesn't remove the need for travel insurance, though.

Carry a spare credit card, designed for travel with no currency exchange loading & low/no ATM fees

Taking out an extra credit card costs nothing, but if you keep it in a different part of your luggage you won't be left stranded if your wallet gets stolen.  In addition, some credit cards are better for overseas travel than others.  Martin Lewis's www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which UK credit cards have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when you use an ATM abroad.