Things to Do in Chisinau With Kids

For families, Chișinău's one dedicated animal attraction is Chișinău Zoo, the only zoo in Moldova, tucked into the leafy, most populous Botanica sector of the city. Since opening in 1978 it has built a collection of around 1,000 animals from every continent, across roughly 120 species, with a lake of swans, pelicans and mandarin ducks and a children's playground that make it an easy half-day out. If you're also weighing whether to come to Moldova at all, the UK government's safety guidance is worth reading before you book anything else.

What not to miss

Featured location Chișinău Zoo Chișinău, Moldova Enclosures sit in parkland, and an extensive central section holds many aviaries for further bird species. The zoo works closely with the Moldovan Academy of Sciences and the environment ministry.

Chișinău Zoo has been Moldova's only zoo of any scale since it opened in 1978. Its collection is grouped into large cats, bears and other predators; peacocks and other waterfowl; camels, ponies, deer and other hoofed animals; and monkeys, spread across a 24-hectare site of which about 13 hectares are open to visitors. One of the most popular stops is its lake, home to swans, pelicans and mandarin ducks. For younger children, there's an equipped playground, and the zoo runs an ecological education project for children called "Copiilor despre animale" (About Animals for Children).

The zoo is also internationally recognised: it belongs to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and the Eurasian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EARAZA), and it draws roughly 300,000 visitors a year.

There's a change worth knowing about. Moldova's Parliament passed a new law requiring every zoo in the country to hold an operating permit, keep official animal registers, and take part in educational and scientific programmes:

The law introduces norms on animal welfare, captive breeding programs and management of collections of wild species.

Chișinău Zoo, currently the only officially operating zoo in the country, already met the new requirements when the law passed.

Getting there

The zoo is at bd. Dacia 50/7, in Chișinău's Botanica sector. Botanica is the city's most populous district, home to about 220,000 people, and Dacia Boulevard itself is the widest boulevard in Chișinău.

With kids and accessibility

The clearest family-facing facility on record is the zoo's equipped children's playground, alongside its lake of swans, pelicans and mandarin ducks, which is one of the most popular spots for visitors of any age. The zoo also runs "Copiilor despre animale" (About Animals for Children), an ecological education project aimed at younger visitors.

Best time to visit

Chișinău's spring and autumn temperatures typically run between 16 and 24°C (61–75°F), milder than the city's summer heat. Most of the year's rain falls in summer, in storms that are infrequent but heavy, so a spring or autumn visit gives you the steadier weather for a morning or afternoon walking the zoo's grounds.

Other wildlife nearby

If your family's interest runs to wildlife beyond the zoo, Codru Reserve is worth knowing about. It's a strict scientific nature reserve in Strășeni District, established in 1971, protecting 5,177 hectares of forest in Moldova's Codri area. As a scientific reserve, treat it as context for the kind of landscape Moldova is working to protect, not a day-trip destination on the same footing as the zoo.