Moldova🇲🇩 | attractionsCricova Winery Underground Citysubterranean tunnels, limestone galleries, sparkling wine collections | things to do and best time to go

The Underground Labyrinth: 120 Kilometers of Wine-Soaked Tunnels
Forget the Instagram shots of a single arched cellar. Cricova is a literal underground city—over 120 kilometers of limestone tunnels, some wide enough to drive a car through. It’s not just the scale that hits you; it’s the sense of being in a subterranean world built entirely for wine. The air is cool, the walls sweat minerals, and the silence is broken only by the echo of your footsteps and the occasional clink of bottles. This isn’t a tourist gimmick—it’s a working, breathing wine metropolis, and you feel it in your bones.





The National Wine Collection: Bottles With Stories
Cricova’s cellars hold more than a million bottles, but it’s the stories behind them that matter. You’ll see dusty bottles confiscated from Nazis, rare … read more 👉

The Underground Labyrinth: 120 Kilometers of Wine-Soaked Tunnels
Forget the Instagram shots of a single arched cellar. Cricova is a literal underground city—over 120 kilometers of limestone tunnels, some wide enough to drive a car through. It’s not just the scale that hits you; it’s the sense of being in a subterranean world built entirely for wine. The air is cool, the walls sweat minerals, and the silence is broken only by the echo of your footsteps and the occasional clink of bottles. This isn’t a tourist gimmick—it’s a working, breathing wine metropolis, and you feel it in your bones.





The National Wine Collection: Bottles With Stories
Cricova’s cellars hold more than a million bottles, but it’s the stories behind them that matter. You’ll see dusty bottles confiscated from Nazis, rare vintages gifted by world leaders, and private collections belonging to people like Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin. This isn’t just a museum of wine; it’s a living archive of 20th-century history, with labels as faded as the politics that brought them here. You don’t need to be a wine nerd to feel the weight of it.





The Sparkling Wine Cathedral: Moldova’s Champagne Underground
Cricova is Moldova’s sparkling wine powerhouse. The “cathedral” chamber is where the méthode champenoise magic happens—racks of bottles tilted at precise angles, riddled by hand, and turned with monk-like discipline. The scale is industrial, but the vibe is almost sacred. You’re not just looking at a production line; you’re witnessing a ritual that’s been perfected underground, away from the world’s eyes.





The Tasting Halls: Soviet-Era Surrealism Meets Wine Country Opulence
The tasting rooms are a fever dream of Soviet kitsch and old-world grandeur—think marble columns, stained glass, and chandeliers that wouldn’t look out of place in a czar’s palace. It’s over-the-top, but in a way that’s so committed, you can’t help but love it. Drinking wine here feels like you’ve crashed a secret party thrown by Moldova’s eccentric aristocracy. The pours are generous, the stories are wild, and the atmosphere is pure theater.





The Underground Cinema: Wine and Film, Moldovan-Style
Yes, there’s a cinema carved into the rock. It’s not just a novelty—Cricova hosts film screenings and private events in a space that feels like a Bond villain’s lair. The acoustics are eerie, the seats are plush, and the wine flows freely. It’s the kind of place you brag about for years, because where else can you watch a movie surrounded by millions of bottles, 80 feet below ground?





The Electric Train Ride: Disneyland for Wine Adults
You don’t walk the tunnels—you ride them. Cricova’s electric mini-train is part practical transport, part theme park ride. It’s a little cheesy, but after your third glass, you’ll be grinning like a kid. The train zips past endless racks of bottles, through chambers named after French wine regions, and into the heart of Moldova’s wine obsession. It’s fun, it’s weird, and it’s a reminder that wine tourism doesn’t have to take itself too seriously.