With the van, at CurchiCurchi, Old Orhei and Cricova
Curchi monastery, Old Orhei, Butuceni lunch, Cricova cellars. Pickup in Chișinău, home by sunset.
from €260 / car Learn more →
Licensed private guide · Chișinău
Moldova, with someone who knows every village.
Private tours through wine country, ancient monasteries, and the borderlands. With Corneliu Scurtu, licensed guide. In your language.
5.0 378 Google reviews
4 Languages spoken fluently
6+ Years guiding full-time
30+ Countries hosted
Meet your guide
I drive. I tell the story. I speak your language.
I'm Corneliu, 46. Born in a village near Dondușeni in northern Moldova, based in Chișinău. Two decades working in business with regular trips abroad, that is where I picked up the languages. I started CarPoint, my car rental in Chișinău, and built private guiding on top of it. Now I bring travelers home with me.
What I do is simple. I drive (my own car, clean, comfortable). I tell the story, the one in the guidebook and the one that isn't. I translate what the menu says, what the priest tells you, what the bunica at the market is offering. I make sure you eat the right things in the right places.
Moldova is small, layered, and still half-undiscovered. I'd love to show you why.
More about Corneliu →
C.S.
Corneliu ScurtuLicensed since 2019 · License AB 283458
Cornel and the team
One person answers for the day. Several of us can drive it.
I organize every tour on this site.
The route, the timing, the winery we call ahead, the table we eat at, the guesthouse we sleep in: that part is mine, on every tour in the catalogue. When you write on WhatsApp, you reach me, and I answer for how the day turns out.
Most days I am also the one driving and telling the story. That is the job I like best.
Behind me, the CarPoint guides.
Private guiding grew out of CarPoint, my car rental in Chișinău, and the team there is where our guides come from: professional, licensed, working in English, German, Russian and Romanian.
If your date is one where I am already booked, a guide from my team takes the tour, on the same route and in the same car, with me still answering for the result. Either way the tour stays private: your party, your guide, nobody else in the car.
All the tours, four to start with
Pick the shape of your trip. We handle every detail underneath.
Every tour is private, just you, your party and your guide. No packed vans, no fixed schedules. We adapt the route on the road, and the price is for the car, not per person.
With the van, at Curchi
With the van, into the USSRTransnistria
Cross into the region that doesn't exist on most maps. Tiraspol on foot, Bender Fortress on the Dniester, Noul Neamț Monastery. One day, and you are back for dinner.
from €260 / car Learn more →
Saharna, above the DniesterTipova and Saharna
Two monasteries on the cliffs above the Dniester, forest paths to small waterfalls, and a countryside lunch at Lalova in between.
from €280 / car Learn more →
One day in Odesa
Across the Palanca border and back: Opera House, Potemkin Stairs, Deribasovskaya, then the Catacombs or the Black Sea. Home for dinner.
from €600 / car Learn more →
Trusted by travelers from 30+ countries
What guests actually say.
"By the end, it felt like we'd been traveling with old friends. Cornelio's deep knowledge of history turned each destination into a captivating adventure filled with hidden gems and delightful surprises."
"We were able to communicate with Corneliu in German, in English with other guests, in Romanian in Moldova, and in Russian in Transnistria. Truly the perfect travel companion."
"Corneliu was an expert guide and took advantage of the journey to Odesa to explain the fascinating history of the region. Five hours in town, all the highlights, with one or two 'local surprises' thrown in."
"For his erudition, his sense of humor, and the love for his homeland, literature, and history that he radiates. We travel a lot, and this trip is one of the best."
Routes I love most
Ten places I keep coming back to.
A small country has the advantage that nothing is far. Most of these fit into a single day. The ones that don't are worth two.
01Orheiul Vechi
Răut River, 60 km NE
02Cricova CellarsOrheiul Vechi
10 km N, Underground
03Soroca FortressCricova Cellars
Dniester, 160 km N
04TransnistriaSoroca Fortress
Tiraspol, 70 km E
05Odesa CatacombsTransnistria
Ukraine, 200 km SE
06Saharna MonasteryOdesa Catacombs
Dniester, 110 km N
07Țipova MonasterySaharna Monastery
Dniester, 95 km N
08GagauziaȚipova Monastery
Comrat, 100 km S
09Căușeni ChurchGagauzia
Căușeni, 75 minutes away
10Triumphal ArchCăușeni Church
Chișinău, Cathedral Park
Triumphal Arch
Ready to plan your Moldova?
Tell me your dates, your group, and your language, and I answer personally. For questions about the routes, ask the assistant right here on the site.
Peak season and every guide booked? We can still offer a car with a professional driver, English-speaking on request, for less than a guided day. Just ask on WhatsApp.
Message me on WhatsApp →