Any recent rides thru Moldova to and from Romania to Ukraine?
Road condition... Cops etc...
RSVP

Going back a couple of years now, the main roads were OK but the smaller ones can deteriorate into very small - no more than a couple of deep parallel ruts. Some towns also don't have tarmac on the streets.

Didn't have any problems with cops, but I was only there for 2 days, and one of them was a Sunday. Cash machines can be hard to find, as can places that take cards.

Hope that helps!

Laura

Is last week good enough for you?


I just did from Russia into Ukraine, hen Transnistria then Moldova into Romania etc;..

For having a "view" of the roads, just go to my website: Wanderingsouls.be and go to the video's page and have fun watching!

Small roads in Ukraine:



E68 in Romania:



What kind of bike do you ride? As long as you stay on "normal" roads they are "ok-ish" I mean don't fall asleep while driving because you could get a surprise about the potholes etc. For me, with the light enduro bike, I was faster next to the road than on the road... It just depends how far from the "big" roads you go, the National or Highways are usually rather ok, if you venture to the smaller ones, then the fun starts...!

Cops; honestly, I just did almost 13000km in that region and Scandinavia, and I was only stopped once! In Transnistria. And when the guy saw that we were from Belgium, we could go on, not even showed our papers. Maybe I am just lucky, but 0 police stops. Only the borders ar a bit tricky, certainly if you want to go into Transnistria. I spent 5 hours to get a stupid paper to pay the roadtax which was the equivalent of 2,6€... Took the road from Odessa to Tiraspol, so yep that is the worst border of Transnistria, but then hey, I did it! I think that if you are there you have to see Tiraspol. Look it up in wikipedia or whatever suits you, but it's a special place I think. You are in a country without it being a country... and a Communist one!

If you're lucky, you can do this:





You know what happend? We just drove by, I saw them and I thought, well what the heck, just go and ask if I can take a picture of the beemer, as being a Communist country with a Beemer as cop bike, I thought it was rather interesting... I started to speak with them (ok, it will probably help that I am a copper too... ) and they said yes, no problem. They pulled over a guy for speeding, gave him a ticket and then ordered him to take the picture!!!!!!! This was just completely crazy for me... but it's one of my best memories from this trip.

If you have any more questions, just ask...

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O yes, Moldova NO ATM's... so have cash with you or you're screwed!!!!!
Even in the petrolstations you can't pay with plastic...

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It's not exactly recent (4 years ago), but travels to Moldova were included in a book I wrote (that is now out of print). You can download it for free if you're interested here.

Hi, travelled through a couple of years ago with no problems, border crossings were about 40 minutes each. Andy

Thanks folks ,,,, for great wealth of info ,,
I started from S.Korea on a Harley Road King,, over Siberia.
Sitting in Odessa ,, Tomorrow 5AM I start for Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Durres, Albania then to Bari, Italy by Ferry,, Final destination is Milano,,, which will give me the RTW.
Any more input here on latter mentioned countries,,would be much appreciated.
PS.. Hate Fxxxing ,, pot holes ,, Harley's worst enemy. Many unpleasant memories of Russia!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, much appreciated.
Cheers
Chris

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To danielsprague, I think bad experiences can be found everywhere we go on this earth. But how is it someone would set out on an adventure without a bit of research on such things as exchange rates? What did you pay for at the border? All airports and border crossings have outrageous prices, for the dumbasses that wait until the last minute to get something they need. It's the same in the US, UK, Western Europe. Restaurants have menus with prices, if they don't that is a sign to leave.

I am an American living in Romania and although my Romanian is pretty good now I can't think of any instance of a situation that would have led to me getting ripped off. I foresee the worst and expect that from people, scum, con artists and murderers are everywhere. So your opinion is completely misguided about Romania. Bucharest can be a bit crazy sometimes, but it's fun.

At the crossing from Ukraine to Moldova (direction Galati in Romania) we spent two additional hours with custom officers, because apparently pepper spray us illegal weapon in Ukraine...

Sent from my GT-I9100G

I loved Moldova; bucolic countryside, great wine and can be pretty beautiful in places. Feels a lot less seedy than Romania which is surprising given that they are basically the same people. A nasty reminder of Caucescu's legacy. I guess this is what Romania would be like if there wasn't someone trying to rob, cheat and rip you off all the time.

Pics here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1136194...d?noredirect=1

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I would say it really depends.... I was asked to pay a small fortune for a hotel in Chișinău in cash (euros), I refused, price was lowered, and that continue for a while, but still price was too high.... and I left.

I would say that it looks really nice, clean, reasonably good roads, but lack any infrastructure, ie. camping, hotels outside the capital (especially in the north), but otherwise I would say that I like it.

Border Crossing is a bit bureaucratic though.....

Casper

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That's a bit harsh Daniel, I've been to Romania several times over the years and haven't found it like that any more than anywhere else. I've found the people very nice and friendly, although I'm not a fan of the new 'jazzed up' Bucharest. And there are 'tourist traps' developing in some of the mountain areas. I've never been to the coast in Ro. so I don't know about it.

I feel its comments like that which give it (and Albania) a bad reputation. I still think large areas of western Europe and the USA are where your most likely to get robbed/ripped off/stabbed etc. Within reason, the rest of the world seems safer!

Have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog by the way, and I do understand you had a bad experience in Romania so I do see where your coming from. And EU membership and all the crap that goes with it hasn't helped the place at all.

Yes, it was a bit harsh! Hope I didn't offend anyone

BUT, it's not unfounded; I was ripped off at the border (my fault for not knowing the exchange rate, but still...), then had my tent slashed whilst I was sleeping in it, in a pretty out of the way National Park. I thought the country had a pretty seedy air in general too, overcharged in restaurants, all that kind of crap. Moldova was so nice in comparison, I couldn't really reconcile the two. Perhaps several more years of travel experience, and speaking some Russian made the difference.

If I hadn't had those bad experiences, I'd have liked Romania a whole lot more, but I did, and plenty of others have too. Bad reputations spread like wildfire, and I should have reigned in my comments, but they are generally based on truth!

Anyway, I thoroughly recommend Moldova, and Transdneister

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Ha honesty is a lot more valuable than a few ruffled feathers!

Personally I thought that 'air of seediness' was one of the appeals of Romania, in some ways it was one of its unique features! Its all getting the big bland EU treatment now. A far cry from the 90's!!

Would like to see Transdniester actually, how did you find bringing in your own truck?