Transnistria travel - day tour
Transnistria travel - day tour
I do postcards with my drawings and budget tours to top attractions and hidden gems of Transnistria. Honestly, I can’t make Maldives of my country, because it is not Maldives. But i can make an unforgettable journey through all contrasts of what it really is - beautiful panoramas and impressive soviet lost places, curious history and nowadays life in the country that doesn't exist, combining classic walk with forays for true explorers and adventurers.
Day tour takes 5-7 hours, though Transnistria deserves at least a week. It is not Stalinism, we are very volatile where to go and what to do, but default route covers must-see USSR era and modern bits of Tiraspol, Bendery and optionallly Kitskany, and my favorite nooks and crannies that I discovered doing my sketches. The trip won’t be exhausting, not boring at all, we will have time to talk about all peculiarities of past and present of Transnistria, you won’t be meeting a guide, you will be meeting a friend ☭ - Anton Dendemarchenko -
Book This ExperienceA glimpse of the journey
Your Itinerary
A curated journey through the experience
House of Soviets
This is a day journey with a volatile route that combines classic walk and forays for true adventurers. No moving between monuments with boring lectures. In some parts it will be just like all tours go - “Look to the left, there is a building, look to the right, there is a monument”, but I will minimize that. My ideology is to show real country and hidden gems that travelers wouldn’t find themselves. That’s why most places where we may actually go are not listed here. I can’t reveal them without risk that tourist industry will take them and spoil them. Also please check out brutal version of the tour. Transnistria is urbex paradise, low-cost radiationless version of Chernobyl before 1986 and after all-in-one, and most important - without crowds of people. Eerie lost place so from ussr era will satisfy any lover of exclusion zone and Tarkovsky cinematography. Anyway, first step - we will definitely stop by DOM SOVIETOV, impressive Stalin ampire from 1950es.
The Christmas Cathedral
Optional loop through 100 rouble back side.
5 minutesGreen Market Center
Surprisingly modern veggie market. What they call eco products - for my country is just products.
10 minutesThe Suvorov Monument
Day trip will include highlights, top attractions and my favorite hidden gems that I won’t display here. But probably it will be exactly them making the journey unique and unforgettable. One the known attractions will be Alexander Suvorov monument on the central square.
5 minutesEternal Flame
Eternal flame and memorial for fallen in Great Patriotic war.
5 minutesThe Tank Monument
T-34 is one the most significant memorials in Transnistria. Real combat tank which krew was killed in Hungary when soviet troops were already going to Berlin.
5 minutesPalacio Presidencial
Palace of pioneers, Supreme Soviet with comrade Lenin in front.
5 minutesChitcani Monastery (Noul Neamt)
Optional throw to Kitskany village and Noul Neamt Monastery.
1 hour 30 minutesBendery Fortress
Bendery - second largest town of nowhereland has soviet and medieval sightseeings, on demand we may visit old Turkish fortress on the bank of Dniester river. I loved it when it was abandoned but now while reconstruction it got some significant bonuses.
1 hourMig-19 Monument
Pridnestrovie is rumored to be “back to USSR” but actually it is more complicated than that, you need to be at the right time, at the right place and frame your look to get that impression. One of my favorite gems to catch that is Aviators memorial at Balka dst. commemorating 30 years of victory in the Great Patriotic war.
5 minutesСтоловка "СССР" Бендеры
My favorite lunch place is Soviet canteen - Stolovka USSR. Super tasty, super atmospheric, authentic place with nice interior - perfect lunchbox stop
1 hourKvint
I discovered many curious nooks and crannies doing my drawings, they are not listed in trip advisor but will make the day unforgettable and the tour unique. We will have time to talk about all peculiarities of life in the country that doesn’t exist, this is my native land and I lived in Pridnestrovie from the foundation of the state. It is totally safe, intriguing and hospitable, mount up, comrades! You won’t be meeting a guide, you will be meeting a friend!
45 minutesTiraspol
One of the options where to get lunch is reincarnated Soviet canteen, the place is amazing and still awfully underrated. Well, maybe it’s even better that it’s not discovered and overfilled by tourists
30 minutesTransnistria
For lovers of Tarkovsky cinematography, post-apocalyptic movies and USSR legacy there is a brutal version of the tour. Impressive soviet lost places and Chernobyl style cityscapes of Transnistria will make your heart beat faster and leave you speechless, I can’t reveal where we go without the risk of subsequent demolition of these eerie gems, but I guarantee unforgettable trip. It is also important to keep these urban wastelands a secret for keeping melancholic atmosphere of solitude, you know, the best and only way to explore such things is to do it alone, let’s keep it this way. No one can predict how long these communism remains will be accessible so the whole idea is to discover everything while it still exists and do it without overcrowd of people. In a way, this journey is a chance to explore a version of Chernobyl “exclusion zone” without crowds of tourists that overfill real Pripyat and actual Chernobyl exclusion zone. There is no radiation here luckily, it’s not radiation that killed the place, it’s perestroika. We can do a combo of beautiful hidden views of Tiraspol and views of abandoned beauty of decay.
3 hoursIncluded
- Transport - walking and private car. There is an option to try authentic trolley bus, made in USSR.
- Postcard with my sketch of Transnistria
- Entry/Admission - Kvint
- Entry/Admission - Bendery Fortress
Not Included
- Lunch - Menu depends on appetite so the lunch price is excluded. We pick the cafee upon agreement but I ll sketch best options
- Fridge magnet with my drawing 2,5€
- Set of plastic roubles or Pridnestrovie, these are rare jobs to find - 10€
- More postcards from Transnistria 50 cent per card
- Transnistria art set. Prints of my drawings on craft paper and rare hq photos, under the cover - 20€
- Soviet pins and badge so with Lenin, cosmos, WW2, Olympic 80 and more - 2€
Good to Know
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- There will be minimum restrictions. Some parts might be a challenge - climbing the tank or going up bell tower of the monastery but it is not obligatory
- Most travelers can participate
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
- This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Tickets & Cancellation
You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience.