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Hitchhiking is very easy in Moldova. You'll see many locals hitching rides between towns, who usually pay for it. Nevertheless, most travelers were never asked to pay.

Flag of Moldova Moldova
Information
Language: Moldovan, Russian, Ukrainian, Gagauz
Capital: Chişinău
Population: 4,128,047
Currency: Moldovan leu (MDL)
Hitchability: Verygood.png (very good)
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To hitchhike in Moldova is not prohibited or outlawed, so you can freely hitchhike everywhere without any restrictions. Even within the capital Chişinău it's possible to hitch rides.

Hitchhiking while standing on the side of the road and raising your hand (so that the hand is parallel with the ground) is used as the sign for locals hitching rides, mostly just some kilometres to the next village. Most drivers understand raising the thumb as autostopp and barely ever ask for money, if you're a foreign traveler it could be more common that drivers buy you food or drinks.

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Hitchhiker somewhere in Chişinău, August 2009

Language controversy

Though the official language of Moldova is called Moldovan, it is really Romanian, identical to the Romanian spoken in Romania. Most people understand and speak Russian as well.

Border Crossing

Since 2007 visitors from the US, EU, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Russia, Switzerland and Japan do not require a visa. More controversal is that Moldovans now need visa e.g. for Romania (since 04/09) and also have heavy regulations for entering Ukraine since August 2009.

While entering Moldova, you could face some problems when you entered from Ukraine via the autonomous Transnistria region. The Transnistrian border is not controlled by Moldovan authorities, which means you won't get an entry stamp when entering Moldova here. This can cause a lot of problems when leaving Moldova via other border checkpoint than Transnistrian.

From/Into Ukraine

  • South-East: If you are traveling e.g. from Odesa into Moldova, best option is to take the Ukrainian M-15 highway south-west and cross borders at the Palanca-Maiaky border crossing. From the border, you could already try to get rides directly to Chişinău or further. Walking over the border checkpoint is no problem, just keep in mind that you have to walk 3 km from the Ukrainian to the Moldovan side, so best is to hitch a ride just after the first checkpoint towards the next.
  • North-West: When traveling from Moldova towards Ivano-Frankivsk or Lviv, you have two border crossings to choose. Best option could be to hitchhike via Edinet, Briceni towards Lipcani and to take the Criva-Mamalyha border crossing. Walking over by foot is no problem here.

From/Into Romania

The Galaţi-Giugiuleşti border crossing is the southernmost border-crossing, located in the Danube Delta. It is only three kilometers from the nearest crossing into Ukraine.

Cities

Autonomous regions