This post details taking the Chisinau Tiraspol bus, crossing the Moldova-Transnistria border at Bender.
You can get the marshrutka or bus from Chisinau to Tiraspol at the Gara Centrala, which is behind the Piata Centrala (central market). You’ll find the bus or marshrutkas at the end of Bay 17:
You don’t buy the ticket at the ticket office. You pay the driver or conductor. Fare as of 2019 from Chisinau to Tiraspol is 37 MDL.
The Chisinau Tiraspol bus is scheduled to depart at 11 am. Marshrutkas, the infamous minivans used across the former Soviet empire, run as and when.
Crossing the Moldova-Transnistria Border
The Moldova-Transnistria checkpoint/border is just before the town of Bender, which I stopped at on the way back. You must visit the immigration office, where you will present your passport. They will ask you how many days you will be staying and where you will be staying.
They have a list of the hotels in Tiraspol. I told them that I’d be staying 3 days at the ‘Like Home Hostel’.
They gave me 9 days. It was that easy. You no longer need to register at the MFA upon arrival in Tiraspol.
Below is my Transnistria migration card:
There are no further checks. You continue to Bender and then to Tiraspol. Door to door took me 1 hr 45 for the 77 km. Arrival in Tiraspol is at the Gara Centrala, which is right next to the train station.
It’s then a 10-minute walk to the main street, October 25th street, which runs east-west through town. There are a couple of exchange bureaus along the way.
I spent a wonderful couple of days backpacking Tiraspol. I was visiting Transnistria on a week’s vacation from work. I would have loved to have gone back. In fact, during the pandemic, I was looking at the possibility of relocating there, with Tiraspol as my base.
On my return journey, I stayed the night in Bender and then travelled back to Chisinau from there.