My Ordeal Travelling Overland from Romania to Moldova

Originally I was supposed to fly to Chisinau directly from London, however the ticket price for a one way trip to the city seemed way too expensive. Whilst looking for alternative options, I found the Wizzair flight to Cluj-Napoca, in Romania, to be the solution: it was very cheap and I had enough time in my hands to go a couple of days earlier to enjoy the city and travel by land to the Moldovan capital. I was really looking forward to go exploring Moldova – or at least the capital.

Initially I wanted to take the night bus that leaves the city’s Autogara Beta at 6pm, but then decided a day trip would be more interesting and chose the train.

Cluj train station is a 15-minute walk from the old town. The ladies at the ticket tills were “so well informed” that they didn’t know if there was a direct train to Chisinau or not. One thing to be careful, is that there’s a city in western Romania called Chisineu-Cris and I was almost sold a ticket there by mistake.

So here’s the bad news: since December 2012 there were no more direct trains between Cluj-Napoca and Chisinau (this trip took place in spring 2013!) – something I couldn’t find on the internet, and not even some of the station staff didn’t know. I had to buy a ticket to the border city of Iaşi and make other arrangements from there. I found out there was a train from Iaşi to Ungheni, on the Moldovan side of the border, at 6:20pm.

THE JOURNEY TO THE ROMANIA-MOLDOVA BORDER

My train left at 9:12am and the long journey takes nine hours, so I only had eight minutes to make my connection. The ticket for second class cost 85 Lei (around £16, €19, USD25). The second class seats are in cabins with six seats, which are quite comfortable. First class seats are in normal carriages with one and two seats on each side.

As I mentioned on this post, there was a heavy snowfall when I was there and the snowy landscape was breathtaking, just what we in the UK would love to have for Christmas day and rarely do. I was sharing the cabin with an elderly man and a young guy who was coming back to his town of Vaslui , after being tricked into semi-slave work in France by some Al Capone from his own town. Talking to him and learning of his ordeal was very touching and also helped the time go quicker. The train has no restaurant carriage, and although the ticket controllers got off at every single station to smoke a cigarette, the stops are not long enough for one to go out and buy something.

ARRIVING AT THE BORDER CITY OF IASI

We arrived in Iaşi at 6:15pm and I was informed by the station staff that I couldn’t board without a ticket, so I had to run to the till to buy my ticket. The lady at the till didn’t speak English and didn’t make any effort to help, but made me understand it was not possible to sell me the ticket, so I missed the train! She wrote on a piece of paper the time the next train would leave. 3:17am. “3:17am? No way, José!”.

Trying to find alternatives, I started walking at and around the station, until I found a timetable with all trains departing from Iaşi. There I saw there was a train leaving at 8:25 and when I spoke to another lady, she said that train didn’t run anymore. But wasn’t it on the new timetable? Yes, but it means nothing. What buffled me is that this one told me the next train would leave at 2:50am, not 3:17am. So, just like in Cluj-Napoca, the staff don’t really know what trains there are. This one even said there was a direct train from Iaşi to Chisinau, but then went back and corrected herself.

The next option was a bus. The bus station is just opposite the train station. There are several buses leaving for Chisinau, but the last one departs at 5:30pm. There are no shops at the station itself, but outside, to the left, there are many small shops and fast food stalls, and on the right there’s a McDonald’s with free wi-fi. Yay!

After using McDonald’s internet I decided to negotiate with a taxi driver to take me to the border.

I found one who spoke good English, who would drive me to the border at Sculeni, 20km away, for 90 Lei. Although steep, I agreed and there we went

ENTERING MOLDOVA

You can only cross the border between Romania and Moldova by car. Crossing on foot or by bike are out of question. The agreement was that the driver would stay with me until a bus or a good soul agreed to take me across the border or, even better, to Chisinau.

He spoke to the officers and they didn’t know what time buses would cross the border or even if there were any. No comments… After half an hour waiting, a car stopped, waiting for its time to go through immigration and my driver went to speak to the one crossing. He was going to Chisinau and agreed to take me. He spoke no English whatsoever and didn’t want to tell me how much he’d charge me. Between taking the risk of being advantage of and staying another eight hours in Iaşi, I chose the former.

There is a service leaving Cluj at 6pm, which arrives in Chisinau at 8am. For more details you may contact office@autogarabeta-cluj.ro or call the bus company directly on +40 740351748 or check out www.cluj-chisinau.ro. A one-way ticket costs 80 Romanian Lei.