Cricova Winery
Cricova Winery
4.5
Tuesday
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Wednesday
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Thursday
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Friday
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Saturday
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Sunday
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
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See what travellers are saying
  • Aljoša G
    2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Only from you from Slovenia
    Really enjoyed the tour with the best sommelier, Michael, who guided us through the unforgettable experience of exploring the underground city of Cricova Winery. We highly recommend this tasting for anyone interested in learning about the history of Moldovan wines and their production. Only for you, only for today my friend. Best regards, Aljoša
    Visited November 2023
    Travelled with friends
    Written November 14, 2023
  • Tomas Lulovic
    Bratislava, Slovakia4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Top professional wine tour
    Wine tasting Tour was very interesting with best guide Galina who makes our tour unforgetable and provided us all info about Cricova. This was great experience travelling 10km in underground city and see cinema, church, museum, sparkling wine production, wine collections and then enjoying and making the new friends during wines tasting (incl cheese platter). Thank you Galina!
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled with friends
    Written December 14, 2023
  • Cat T
    Peterborough, United Kingdom45 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Do not miss if you drink wine
    Would definitely recommend the visit, with the wine tasting of some very special wines. The history was fascinating as was the view behind the scenes. We lucked out at the right time of year with only 4 of us on the tour. Special thanks to Natalia who showed us round the caves and the wines - and as we said, our kettle is always on. Bring a coat as the caves are the same temperature all year round.
    Visited February 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written March 2, 2024
  • Paul B
    Exeter, United Kingdom77 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Decadence in the former Soviet Socialist Republic
    With Moldova apparently being the poorest country in Europe it was a bit unexpected to find this symbol of the good life. I guess it's not visited by many Moldovans; mainly foreign tourists (of whom there are not that many). I suspect that the tours are a minor part of the business and most of it is distribution of the wine globally. The scale of the "underground city" was impressive as was the the food and drink at the end of tour tasting.
    Visited August 2024
    Travelled solo
    Written September 7, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles525 reviews
Excellent
365
Very good
103
Average
28
Poor
16
Terrible
13

TheLush101
Cardiff, UK2,472 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2019
We came here as part of an organised day trip and got here early in the morning so that we were on one of the first tours before it got too busy.

You are taken around on motorised golf carts and are grouped together by language. The guides are really knowledgeable - you head to a theatre within the underground complex first for a video of the history, before tasting one wine. We then saw the bottling and where they store the bottles and turn them.

Next we saw the private collections of some of the celebrities who store their wine there - Angela Merkel and Putin for example. They then showed us the different rooms they have, which you wouldn't know are underground. The included wine tasting at the end had some Crisecco (like prosecco), a red and a white, plus some nibbles.

Overall, we really enjoyed the visit - the guide was very knowledgeable and spoke really good English.
Written August 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ViaceslavGuzun
Timisoara, Romania470 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2021
I booked a tour on the Internet. There are many choices, but the main ones are with or without wine tasting at the end of the tour. The temperature inside is a constant one about +12 degrees so a warm close is really needed because an electric open car will bring from one-stop point to the other one till the end of the tour. It is COVID time so the temperature will be measured before starting the tour. There is also a short film about the history of the Cricova winery, a very interesting one I would say. Tours can be in Romania, English, Russian. We had a very nice and competent guide who told a lot of very interesting information concerning winemaking at the Cricova winery. If you are in Chisinau I would recommend making a visit to the Cricova winery. I enjoyed the time spent there.
Written October 7, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Hon
Vadul lui Voda, Moldova21 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
Awesome place, a must see for every tourist who visits Chisinau and Moldova. Cricova winery is a series of limestone labyrinthic roadways are astonishing, and the wines are incredible. History, culture and spirit, gathered in the same roof, served with sparkling wine.
Written May 3, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mladost_ph
Neuchâtel, Switzerland18 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022
Of low interest, way below expectations (same valid for Milestii Mici), not worth the visit fee. Supposed 75min visit cut to 60' by guide eager to pack it for the day and go home.

Only a tiny portion of the caves stands for wine storage, the rest being just dark empty galleries.

Wines quality: low average. From fair to good, by no means outstanding. A celebrity collection as well as the kitch degustation halls give a sentiment of fakeness, of pretentious marketing.

Moldava and Chisinau fortunately offer many other attractive sites worth seeing. Time spent at Cricova and Milestii Mici caves is lost time for exegerated entry fee. A big desillusion.
Written February 13, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ekaterina E
77 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2021 • Friends
Transport:
You can get from Chisinau to Cricova by bus nr 2. The cost of the trip is 4.50 lei. For those who do not know the city well, you can sit at the bus stop opposite the circus. In about half an hour we got to Cricova and another 15 minutes walk. It is better to arrive in advance, as there are problems with public transport, it runs poorly, multiple traffic jams. We booked the tour for 11am, got there quickly, on an old bus that almost fell apart in half. If you go in the summer, then keep in mind that these buses are not equipped with air conditioning, it will be stuffy and stink.

Cricova:
There are different tours on the site. We took a tour for 450 lei. This includes a tasting of 4 wines. I was left disappointed. You will be given the cheapest wines to taste. Many visitors like sparkling wine.

Tour:
The tour itself is very fast. You can buy a bottle of wine from your year of birth. If you like older wines then take the non-tasting tour!
Written October 2, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

JM
New York City, NY8 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2021
TOURIST TRAP from the moment you arrive. A cursory "tour" of a vast wine cellar where most of the time is spent telling you what wines you need to buy in the souvenir shop. An added charge for the wine "tasting," where they will offer a sip of four of their cheapest wines, less than a handful of soggy peanuts and a few stale crackers. We made the mistake of having lunch at the adjoining restaurant where they screwed up my order. They would not remove from the bill a duck dish we did not ask for because I had taken ONE bite, literally, before realizing what it was. Since it was the most expensive item on the menu, I am suspicious as to just how much of an "accident" it really was. You can definitely do better. If I had to do it all over again, I would simply have wine with dinner at any of the better restaurants in the city.
Written November 20, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Daniela A
1 contribution
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021
When you open the official webpage of cricova, you are welcomed by a statement “Cricova is the biggest and one of the most impressive wine cellar from Europe”
Impressive maybe, but definitely not the biggest as by Guiness world records the largest wine cellar is Milestii Mici, which is also located in Moldova.
And I am really disappointed as on their website you can see a morning tour at a price of 185 lei and when making the booking I crosschecked the price, they confirmed, it is 185 lei. But when we came the price was 350 lei saying that the price 185 lei is just for the morning tour at 9 am. When making the booking at 11am I was very specific about the price and time. This is not an experience that make people to come back .
Written June 25, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lydia
Santa Barbara, CA13 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020 • Couples
We called this morning to book a higher end tour (National Tour) with wine and food for two people and were told we needed a minimum of 4 people despite their website not listing a minimum amount of persons needed for this tour. My husband mentioned this to the woman on the phone, she said she would call us back. When she called back, she said we could only do the tour their basic tour with three wines because otherwise they would need to open up too many bottles.

It seems like they are turning away tourists. We booked a tour with another winery instead. Taking our dollars elsewhere. 💸💸💸
Written March 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

barrera
Dublin, Ireland887 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022 • Friends
We visited Cricova for its Sunset Party on 2nd July, and took the opportunity to do a heavily discounted tour whilst there. Christina was an excellent, good-humoured guide, and the whole tour was really interesting. The gift shop is great value too.

Back outside, we had a fantastic night at the party, incredible value and really sociable. A must-do!
Written July 11, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

MandNKyiv
Gorlitz, Germany30 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
One of the most impressive Vinyards I have ever seen. We booked the last Tour, which was in Russian, but this was okay. It was a small group of about 15 people and we took the trolly in the underground which has a space of 125 km. We got a view of the production, visit the wine cellar where famous people store their wine collection and we booked the tour with wine tasting and got a lesson in wine philosophy. This tour took around 2 hours and at the end, you had the opportunity to buy some of their wines and champagnes at their store. We highly recommend taking this tour, if you are a wine lover.
Written August 13, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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CRICOVA WINERY - All You MUST Know Before You Go (2024)

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