Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christians, village museums made with love, sun-baked vineyards and a table that never empties — under two hours from Chișinău.
Gagauzia is a patchwork of three small towns and a couple of dozen villages scattered across the Budjak steppe of southern Moldova. Around 135,000 people live here, most of them Gagauz: a people who speak a Turkic language closely related to Turkish, yet have been Orthodox Christians for as long as anyone can trace.
Their ancestors came from the eastern Balkans two centuries ago, and they brought sheep, vines and a gift for hospitality. Gagauzia has been an autonomous territorial unit within the Republic of Moldova since 1994. For travellers it offers what the rest of Europe is running short of: places with no queues, museums where the curator knows every family in the photographs, and lunches that turn into afternoons.
Only a handful of bookable tours go to Gagauzia — we list every real one we found on GetYourGuide — alongside the best-reviewed wine and monastery day trips from Chișinău.
Day trip from €145 The most-reviewed Gagauzia tour on GetYourGuide. A full day from Chișinău that pairs the restored Manuc Bei Mansion with the Gagauz region, where a guide introduces the people, their culture and their traditions.
Day trip from €299 A guided day from Chișinău built around the table: you visit the Manuc Bei Mansion and the main Gagauz towns, meet local people, join a cooking class and sit down to a traditional feast. The highest price on this list, but the most is included.
Private day trip from €149 A private day trip that explores the autonomous region of Gagauzia — its heritage, its people and its traditions. It is a new listing with no reviews yet, so read the itinerary and the inclusions carefully before booking.
Day trip from €162 A tour of Gagauzia led by a local guide, presented as an invitation from the hospitable Gagauz themselves. The listing is short on detail and has no reviews yet — check the current itinerary, duration and meeting point on GetYourGuide.
Day trip from €90 Moldova’s three headline sights in a single day: the cave monastery and river bend of Orheiul Vechi, Curchi Monastery and — as an optional extra — the underground wine city of Cricova. The best-reviewed Moldova day trip on this list.
Half-day tour from €130 A half-day trip from Chișinău to Mileștii Mici, the vast limestone cellar famous for the largest wine collection in the world, with a tour of the galleries and a tasting.
Private tour from €210 A private guided tour that covers both of Moldova’s enormous underground wineries, Cricova and Mileștii Mici, with different wines tasted alongside typical Moldovan appetisers.
Walking tour from €60 A relaxed 2.5-hour walk through the central streets of Chișinău with an expert guide — a good way to get your bearings in the capital before heading south.
Live prices and availability from GetYourGuide for day trips to Gagauzia and around Moldova.
From the yellow cathedral of Comrat to a windmill above Beșalma and a cellar table in Congaz.
Gagauz towns 
Villages & museums 
Villages & museums 
Gagauz towns Horses, wine and a leafy town centre
Gagauzia’s second town, in the east of the region: the At-Prolin horse stud farm, local wineries and steppe ravines on its edge.
Wine & steppe Sun-baked vineyards under a very big sky
Wineries from Comrat to Vulcănești and the open, rolling landscapes of the Budjak steppe that give southern Moldovan reds their warmth.
Villages & museums Comrat has very few hotels, so most visitors sleep in Chișinău and travel south for the day. Here is how to choose.
One of the very few hotels in Comrat that can be booked online — a practical base if you want an evening and an early morning in the Gagauz capital.
A long-established international hotel in the very centre of Chișinău, a short walk from the cathedral park and the main boulevard.
Rooms at Moldova’s most famous wine estate, among the vineyards of Purcari in the south-east — a destination in its own right, a long drive from Gagauzia.
Who the Gagauz are, what they celebrate and what ends up on the table.
Marshrutkas, driving, private drivers and tours from Chișinău.
Seasons, festivals and the grape harvest, month by month.
Money, language, safety, itineraries and everything practical.
Every Gagauzia day trip compared, plus Moldova’s classics.
The few hotels in Comrat and the best bases in Chișinău.
Gagauzia is under two hours from Chișinău, but its museums and wineries are scattered across the steppe and village buses are thin. A guided day trip joins the dots and adds the stories.
In the south of the Republic of Moldova, in the Budjak steppe. Its capital, Comrat, is about 100 km south of Chișinău. The region is made up of several separate patches of land rather than one continuous territory.
A Turkic-speaking people of Orthodox Christian faith. Most Gagauz live in southern Moldova, with smaller communities in neighbouring Ukraine, in Bulgaria and elsewhere.
Yes. Comrat is roughly 1.5–2 hours from Chișinău by road, and guided day trips typically include Comrat, a village museum and a traditional meal.
No permit is needed: Gagauzia is part of Moldova and there are no internal checkpoints. Normal Moldovan entry rules apply — many nationalities can enter visa-free for short stays, but check official sources for your passport.
Gagauz, Russian and Romanian are official. Russian is the most widely used in daily life; English is limited outside tourism.
Gagauzia is a calm rural region and visits are generally trouble-free. As anywhere, check your government’s current travel advice for Moldova before you go.
