WINE Festival Group Tour

Tour price from(€):

1159

About Tour

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An old tradition got its formal recognition: when the wine fermentation process is over, the wine producers invite everyone to appreciate the quality and taste of the new wine. It is a great opportunity to try different types of wine, enjoy barbeque, meet people, and to get an unforgettable Moldovan experience. Folk music and dance events are planned in an open-air area, and participants can even engage in the traditional dance “hora”, a group dance symbolizing unity. Nearly 100 wineries, thousands of visitors, including tourists from all around the world gather on this day in the central square of Chisinau. Remember - Wine Festival is an excellent opportunity to discover Moldova.

Highlights:

Taste the famous brandies from Transnistria
Visit the most awarded Eastern European Country at different International Wine Competitions in the last couple of years
Drive through an Underground Wine City
Attend the Wine Festival - the most important event dedicated to wine in Moldova
Get accommodated in the amazing Purcari Chateau and taste wines, which are listed on Her Majesty the Queen of England wine list
Discover new varieties of grapes that originated in Moldova: Feteasca Neagra, Feteasca Alba, Feteasca Regala, Rara Neagra, Viorica, etc.
Dine in the only Wine Castle from Moldova, which is currently listed among the most beautiful architectural masterpieces in the world of wine.

1 ^st Day

Arrival in Moldova

October 01 ^{^st}, 2021

Included highlights:

You’ll meet your local guide and driver at the airport. Free time. Accommodation in a 4* hotel.

2 ^nd Day

October 02 ^{^nd}, 2021

Included highlights:

After breakfast you’ll participate in the Wine Festival and enjoy a walking city tour of Chisinau. It includes: The Central Park and the Alley of Moldovan literature classics, the monument of Steven the Great and Saint, Great National Assembly Square, the Triumph Arch, the “Nativity” Cathedral, the Organ Hall, the Market of souvenirs, etc.

Independent lunch.

Afternoon, getting some action and visit the world famous Moldovan Cellars - Cricova, which is a real underground wine city with wide streets, warehouses, tasting rooms. The total length of its galleries is 120 km. The constant annual temperature of + 12ºC and 82–95 % humidity are perfect conditions for aging quality wines there. Cricova is also well known for brilliant sparkling-wines produced by the classic French method.

Independent dinner, same accommodation.

Included meals:

Breakfast

3 ^rd Day

October 03 ^{^rd}, 2021

Included highlights:

After breakfast you’ll visit one of the most visited sites of Moldova- Orheiul Vechi (Cave Monastery Complex), located 55 km from Chisinau. This Cave Monastery is "arguably Moldova's most fantastic sight". Here you’ll see an Orthodox cave monastery called “St. Maria Dormata” expanded and modified inside the cliffs by the monks over the centuries and preserved in a functional state nowadays. After touring about this fascinating complex, you’ll have lunch in a family-run Guesthouse located in the neighborhood village. Return to Chisinau and continue with the Wine Festival. Same accommodation.

Included meals:

Breakfast
Lunch

4 ^th Day

October 04 ^{^th}, 2021

Included highlights:

Today we invite you to discover Transnistria - the old USSR is still alive and well in this autonomous region. It is a breakaway territory within the internationally recognised borders of Moldova. First city to be discovered - Bender, where we will visit its Medieval Fortress. The fortress was built in one the most powerful of the medieval cities of Moldova – Tighina (old name of Bender), which was an important trade outpost. In 1538, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent conquered the town, and renamed it Bender. Its fortifications were developed into a full fortress under the same name under the supervision of the Turkish architect Koji Mimar Sinan. The Ottomans used it to keep the pressure on Moldavia.

In Tiraspol we set off on foot to view the numerous war memorials including those commemorating the 1992 Civil War and Trans-Dniester War, and the Supreme Court, Statue of Lenin, De Volan Park etc. On the opposite side of the central square, a monument plaza features a Soviet T-34 tank, commemorating the Soviet victory in World War II. The statue of Alexander Suvorov was erected in the central square in 1979 in commemoration of his 250th anniversary.

Continue with a brandy tasting at “Kvint”. This distillery is one of the oldest Moldovan enterprises established in 1897 which produces a large variety of divines for every day consumption (3-5 years old) to superior quality and collection divines (5-50 years old). City tour of Tiraspol and accommodation in 4* Hotel in Tiraspol, traditional dinner with a family nearby Tiraspol.

Included meals:

Breakfast
Dinner

5 ^th Day

October 05 ^{^th}, 2021

Included highlights:

In the morning we will start with a visit to Noul Neamt Monastery and then leaving Transnistria, heading to the South East of Moldova. First wine adventure for today - at Purcari winery. Centuries-old traditions in viticulture and winemaking of Purcari area formed the basis of a modern wine-making enterprise - Purcari, which is the only owner and keeper of Purcari zone elite wines production. The Purcari wine-making enterprise looks like a real chateau and it is the only place where people can get a notion of peculiar natural conditions along with the knowledge about the history, secrets and traditions of making legendary Purcari wines. You’ll be impressed by the combination of the chateau’s royal-like interiors and HI-Tech. Excursion and wine tasting.

An another adventure will be visiting the vineyards of "Et Cetera", that were planted in 2003 in the village of Crocmaz, Stefan Voda region, a unique micro-zone, ideal by its climatic condition for growing best vineyards. The winery was built in 2009 and at the moment it is surrounded by 50 ha of vineyards, giving a picturesque view to the visitors. The owners of the winery are two brothers - Alexandru and Igor Luchianov, professionals and real amateurs of their work. Accommodation in Etcetera or Purcari Chateau. Dinner in Etcetera.

Included meals:

Breakfast
Dinner

6 ^th Day

October 06 ^{^th}, 2021

Included highlights:

Morning at leisure. Next wine adventure to the Castle Mimi, which is currently listed among the most beautiful architectural masterpieces in the world of wine. The story of the castle begins in 1893 when Constantin Mimi, the last governor of Bessarabia, planted the first grape vines on the place that would become legend over the years. The area of Codru, where the winery is placed, has a unique microclimate and a very good terroir, as a result having intense and aromatic wines. Today the Castle Mimi winery produces classical wines like: Chardonnay, Pinot Gri, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, but also indigenous varieties as Feteasca Alba, Feteasca Neagra and Rara Neagra.

The biggest attraction of the winery is off course the chateau and its cellars, that are built in a very old technique, so that all year round the temperature is the same: 14 degrees C. Excursion, wine tasting and lunch in the castle. Arrival in Chisinau. Accommodation to a 4* Hotel. Special dinner in a local wine bar specialized in promoting quality Moldovan wines produced by small producers.

Included meals:

Breakfast
Dinner

7 ^th Day

October 07 ^{^th}, 2021

Included highlights:

Check-out. Transfer to the airport with your guide.

Prices and services :

All services as mentioned in the program
Van or minibus with A/C
Professional English speaking guide at your all days

Partner price:

Price in double room/twin: 1157 Eur
Single supplement: 218 Eur

Included meals:

Breakfast

What People Say

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Have you ever wanted to go on a culture-wine-food tour? In California? France? Italy? Please, have some imagination! Be a little adventurous and go on one in Romania and Moldova.

It was my good luck to participate in a tour organized by Ways Travel, during which i checked out the many wonders of Romania and Moldova.

Our group on the bus was an international gang of nine – a Belgian, a German, a Norwegian, an Australian, a few Americans of interesting ethnic alloys and me, dual Dutch and American citizen. What can I say, it was an experience just sitting on a bus with these people and hear their war stories and get initiated into the workings of the behind-the-scenes travel industry.

Leader of our tribe was the fabulous tour guide Victoria, who speaks four languages, English, German, Russian, Romanian, one of those people who makes a simple bilingual person such as myself feel humble and uneducated.

The trip was a symphony of history, food, drink, music and dance. Dancing with the Gypsies no less. I tell you, it was fabulous, it was intoxicating. We got history – a dizzying whirl of wars and battles and bloody strife. Of conquests and annexations, of armies rampaging through the countryside, raping, pillaging and impaling. We heard colorful tales about Dacian tribes, the Roman Empire, the Red Horde, the Saxons, the Ottoman Empire, the communist era under Ceausescu. And let’s not forget to mention good old Count Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, who hailed from Transylvania. Really, we deserved every drop of hootch we got along the way to recover from all the tragedies we vicariously suffered through.

In Romania we loved the beautiful towns of Sibiu and Sighisoara. In Sighisoara we missed seeing the house where Dracula was born because a movie was being filmed and they’d closed it off for visitors. Fortunately, we had a liqueur and brandy tasting to cheer us up. We hadn’t had lunch yet and our stomachs were empty, which helped raise the mood quickly.

A highlight was our visit to the home of a Roma family in Transylvania and learning more about their culture and lifestyle. (You can read a story about this on my blog here.) Not all Gypsies are beggars living in the streets of large cities. It’s always a good thing to be disabused of your prejudices and preconceived notions.

We stayed in excellent hotels and lodges, as well as in a humble hostel run by a monastery. We ate fancy restaurant food as well as simple village fare. We saw exquisite as well as cheery architecture, visited opulent cathedrals as well as the modest underground monastery chapel in Orhei Vechi, not far from Chisinau. The vino flowing across the miles was a charming mix of the good, the bad and the holy. The holy being the wine we tasted in a monastery, blessed by the priests. Unfortunately, the blessing did not transform it into nectar of the gods, but the dinner there was quite gourmet, all prepared from food grown by the monks without chemical assistance.

We also visited Transnistria, which is a rather unique place, as most of you will already know. It is also home to the famous Kvint brandy factory and would you believe, we went there for a brandy dégustation – seven varieties of brandy. It was very informative, interesting and intoxicating. It was also lunch time, but fortunately there was food. We eventually struggled out of there, back on the bus, across the border that is not a border, and traveled down to the Purcari wineries in the south of Moldova where we were treated to . . . you guessed it . . . a wine tasting. Of ten types of wine. Not just any old village plonk, either. No, we got to sip the wine of kings, queens and tsars. Our livers got a workout that day.

I’m going to stop here. There was more, much more, but I don’t want to give away everything, because what you should do, really, is check out Ways Travel’s website at www.ways.md .

What a wonderful holiday. Everything was well organised and went well.

The guide, Cristina, was excellent, good English and very knowledgeable and keen that we should see every cultural and characteristic aspect of Moldova.

The visit to the Roma "family" was fascinating-not a "family" visit but a meeting with the Roma head of family in his huge house ornate and wealthy and we had a delicious home make cherry juice and had a question and answer session with him. He,Robert, is a relative of the Roma king; This was very informative as I am very interested in everyone and everything but tourists need to be interested in the Roma people and way of life otherwise input wouldn't be so fascinating!!

The visit to the "old believers" village was just great-tea from a samovar and cakes and a very pleasant woman the librarian and museum custodian.

In Gaugazia we met the Museum curator and again a fascinating insight into Gaugazian history.

Much of our enjoyment and insights was enhances by Cristina who translated everything so well.

The visits to the wineries were an eye opener and the wine tasting too. I recommend tourists who go to the Cricova winery to to wear warm clothes and a scarf as we go deep down into the underground "city" to see the stored wine.

We loved the food (and all the wine).

I am very glad and thankful with the cooperation that we have had during these 3 years. All our tourists – groups and individuals – were satisfied with your work. One of the main things that I appreciate in you is the following: it does not matter what category clients are – tourists, VIP, government delegations or even international organizations (as OSCE) – you can find the best words, the best way, the best “direction” to each of them to make them interested in given information.

In each review which we had from our clients there were words of thankfulness to your services. Some of our partners even in advance ask us to choose you as a guide for their groups. Thank you for your professionalism and waiting for the future cooperation!