Milestii Mici - underground wine village

In a camper van through the vineyards

Can you imagine the cellars so huge that you can drive over them by car? A collection of wines so enormous that impossible to comprehend? Moldova is famous for such attractions, namely Milestii Mici - a village whose Golden Collection has over 1.5 million bottles of wine . Its cellars extend 250 km underground and are carved in soft limestone at a depth of 40-85 meters.

To be able to see this amazing underground gallery, make a call in advance and make an appointment. Tourists must select the date, time and language for their tour when booking. The price of admission with tasting of 3 types of wine (white, red and muskatel) costs approx. 25 euros per person. The most important thing is the car - a car is a must, as is the free space for the guide. The height of the vehicle may not exceed 2.7 meters. It is quite cool in the cellars, the temperature fluctuates around 12-14 degrees, and the air humidity is 85-95%. You need to dress appropriately so as not to get cold during an hour-long trip.

The largest cellars in the world - Milesti Mici

You can get to the village from Chisinau - the capital and at the same time the largest city of Moldova. It is described as one of the greenest capitals in Europe, and is also in the group of the most fertile areas of the country. It is a bilingual city, the inhabitants speak Russian and Romanian, and the vast majority of information is in Romanian. Chisinau is located in the center of Moldova, in a lowland, while Milestii Mici is approximately 18 km south of it.

In front of the gate of the complex, there are two beautiful fountains, from which apparently white and red wine are flowing (there were tourists who tried it and discovered that it was ordinary water, although with an extremely tempting color). The famous cellars can easily be called an underground city, there are even streets bearing the names of grapevines. The tunnels are deep underground and the rows of wine barrels seem to be endless. The Golden Collection makes a huge impression on every tourist, in which thousands of bottles covered with a thick layer of mold lie in stone niches. The most valuable of them are protected by bars with padlocks. It is understandable, considering the prices of the drugs - the cost of buying a bottle from the Gorbachev Prohibition years can reach up to 2,000 euros. The plant owes the aforementioned Golden Collection and its size to being entered in the Guinness Book of Records in 2005.

There is a book in the large tasting room where you can read the opinions of visitors and their impressions of the cellars and wines of Milestii Mici. In addition to autographs of presidents (including Aleksander Kwasniewski) and ministers, there are thousands of entries by ordinary tourists in all languages of the world - from Japanese "bush" to Cyrillic and Arabic alphabet.

Milestii Mici and surroundings

Although the village is known primarily for its cellar complex, it also offers other attractions, including the beauty of the surrounding nature. Near the town, there is Crivoca , a small town also famous for its wine cellars with hundreds of thousands of hectoliters of Moldovan wine. The cellars are about 120 km long and are second only to the complex in Milestia Mici. During the tour (also on four wheels and with a guide) you can see the hall where sparkling wines are produced, which are the pride of the city, as well as long cellars where the collections of wines of famous people are stored, including Moscow Patriarch Cyril I and Vladimir Putin. There are also exclusive guest rooms and ballrooms deep underground where private parties are held. Anecdotes told by the guide and stories about wine production make the ride between the underground streets.

The entrance ticket to the Crivoca complex costs 250 MDL (about 65 zlotys), and visitors to the cellars can taste 4 types of wine as part of the tasting: 2 types of white and 2 red. The price also includes a small snack.

Old Orhei - Orchej Stary

When in this region, it is worth going a bit north and visiting Old Orhei . It is located approx. 42 km from the town of Cricova and is a major tourist attraction. It is a historical and archaeological complex with many strongholds, including Gothic ones from the 6th-1st century BC

Near the complex there is Vila Roz Camping , where one person costs 70 MDL (about 4.2 euro). Tourists who choose to stay should be sure to try the dishes served by the host from Trebujeni. Liuba Railean is pleased to introduce guests to the peculiarities of the region and delicious Moldavian dishes. Tourists have no problems with communicating - the owners speak Romanian and Russian, as well as English, French and Spanish.

The region is one of the most beautiful areas of Moldova and it is worth getting to know it. As some travelers describe it - so close and already exotic.