Panda Tur Chișinău Centre

The Panda Tur office in central Chișinău is at 121 Vasile Alecsandri Street. The agency has been operating since 2010 and has grown into one of the best-known travel chains in Moldova, with several offices in the city.

Its website puts beach holidays with flights from Chișinău first — Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, the Emirates, Cyprus, Montenegro, Spain, Albania and Tunisia — along with exotic trips and cruises. Group coach tours of Europe, wellness and spa trips, pilgrimages, school trips, corporate programmes and business travel are listed separately, and you can subscribe to last-minute deals on the site.

There is a very large number of reviews; ratings are above average, but opinions are split. Group tours get the warmest words — Sighișoara and the Transfăgărășan road, Istanbul, a European capitals tour — and above all the guides, whom travellers name for their knowledge and care for the group; some families have booked with Panda Tur for years. Complaints concern paid transfers that never showed up, slow refunds for cancelled tours and messages left unanswered.

You can reach the agency by phone, through the website or at the office. It is worth getting the transfer and cancellation terms in writing before paying.