By mid-afternoon I pull up at your hotel, and my part of the day is done. Offices are still open, the sun is still high, and behind you are a palace, an hour underground and a lunch with live music. The evening is yours: a meeting, a flight, sleep after the night flight, or a walk around Chișinău without me.
Of all my trips from the capital, this is the shortest: six hours, two stops, under a hundred kilometres of driving. For a long time I wasn't sure we needed this route, because guests usually want everything at once, nine hours and four stops. Then I counted how often people wrote to me, "We only have half a day, what can we realistically see?", and the doubts went away.
I'll explain the geography once, so you don't think we're zigzagging. Hincesti is thirty-five kilometres from Chișinău, the farthest point of the day. Milestii Mici is closer to the city: forty kilometres from the palace, only twenty from your hotel. So the day is a loop: the farthest point first, so you see the palace while you're still fresh, then underground, lunch right there, and half an hour later we're back in town, never on the same road twice.
Most often it's people on business trips who choose this route: a free morning, a meeting at four, dinner with business partners, and the wish to take home something from Moldova besides the view from a meeting room. It also suits a second day in the country, when you've done the classic route with Cricova and Old Orhei and don't have another nine hours in you. Sometimes it's simply an honest "wine, yes, but not all day". And it works for couples where one loves wine and the other history: each gets an hour doing what they enjoy, without having to wait politely in the car. For some guests the tasting is only an excuse and the underground itself is the real event, for others it's the reverse, and this day suits both.
It barely depends on the weather either, because the palace has a roof, the cellar is underground and lunch is served indoors. Rain in November or heat in July won't change the plan, only the place where you wait for the car.
For the first forty minutes of the drive I tell you who Manuc Bey was: an Armenian merchant and diplomat of the 19th century, the man this complex was built for. In the car I deliberately stop there. The palace is a museum now, and they'll tell you more about its owner than I could on the highway. I'd rather show you the place itself. Those forty minutes also tell me what kind of day you want: dates and figures, or quiet and the view from the window, and I adjust.
The complex has four buildings: the Princely Palace, the Steward's House, the hunting lodge of Countess Cadir and the watchtower. You walk between them across the courtyard, a pleasure in itself after forty minutes in the car. The visit takes an hour, enough if nobody rushes. I walk with you, translate and add what the signs leave out. For some reason guests like the tower best, although we spend most of our time in the palace. The palace ticket is paid on site.
By noon we reach Milestii Mici. Outside it may be thirty-five degrees or minus ten, but inside it's always equally cool, so ten minutes in you're putting on the jumper I asked you to bring. This is the largest wine cellar in the world: 250 kilometres of galleries, 120 of them in use. I give the numbers once, because underground they soon stop meaning anything. You drive down one street, turn into another, then a third, each with its own name: the streets here are named after grape varieties. Somewhere around here you realise you could go on like this until evening.
Drive is the right word: part of the tour is on wheels, since nobody walks 120 kilometres and the galleries were built for vehicles. Then we stop and continue on foot over stone floors, past barrels and racks holding the Guinness Book of Records collection, more than 1.7 million bottles today. What exactly lies there and why, they'll tell you on site. My role in the galleries is modest: I make sure nobody falls behind at a turn and show you where the light is better for photos. By the third turn most phones go back into pockets anyway, because hands get cold.
You can choose any programme at the winery, and we decide on it in advance, while we're still messaging. The shortest is the basic one. It has no wine tasting, but you'll hear what this cellar is and how much wine it holds. The basic tour runs morning, afternoon and evening, so you don't have to plan the day around it.
There are also longer programmes with a tasting, and then the tour ends in the tasting room. The cost depends on the programme and is paid on site, by card or in cash. If you choose a tasting, don't hurry: I'm the one driving today, not you. After the cold galleries the room feels warm, the wine's aromas slowly develop, and the conversation at the table gradually livens up. The water from the car, a bottle each, comes in handy after the cellar.
At the end of the tour, on the way out of the cellars, there's a wine bar. You can have a glass of wine, a tea or a coffee there and sit for a while to recover from the chill of the galleries before deciding what comes next.
What comes next, if you ask me, is lunch. Lunch at the winery is a set meal: a first course, a main course and dessert. There's no ordering from a menu and no separate restaurant, so you won't have to choose. While you eat, musicians play live folk music a few steps from your table. Lunch takes an hour and a half, because the conversation that began in the cellar doesn't want to end. Some guests later call it the best part of the day, others remember the cold in the gallery, and either answer suits me.
Lunch is optional and paid on site. If you'd rather skip it, we leave straight after the tour and you're back in town an hour and a half earlier. Just tell me in advance, because I let the winery know how many of us will be at the table, and whether we're coming at all.
Bring something warm, even in July, in fact especially in July: it's hot outside, and five minutes in you're zipped up to the chin. Wear comfortable shoes: heels only get in the way underground. If someone in your party finds walking hard, write to me in advance: part of the way through the galleries is on wheels, but there's still walking, and I'll ask the winery what can be made easier.
This route runs in every season: both the palace and the cellar welcome visitors all year round. If you have a week ahead of you and want to see the second big cellar, I take guests to Cricova on another day. On that trip we also visit Curchi monastery and Old Orhei, and there's a separate article about that route. Two cellars in one day can be done too, but that's a different route and a different conversation.
I pick you up after breakfast wherever you like: hotel, apartment or airport. If you have a morning meeting, we can start a little later, and we can still visit the palace and cellar. If after the cellar you feel that's enough for today, say so and we'll head back earlier. On the twenty kilometres home I usually stop talking: after the underground and lunch people just want to look out of the window, and I understand. If I'm booked on your date, a guide from my team runs the same half day in the same car, but I remain responsible for how the day goes. And if your evening is free and you'd like to carry on, I'll tell you where to eat well in Chișinău, though that's no longer part of the route.
The route details and the price per car for your group are on the Manuc Bey Palace and Milestii Mici tour page, along with the booking form. And if it's easier to write to me directly, please do: I almost always have my phone with me and reply quickly.
If you only have half a day free in Chișinău, send me the date and how many of you are coming on WhatsApp, and I'll time the departure around your evening plans.
A palace, then the largest cellar in the world.Book on WhatsApp
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