As I went through this area (albeit briefly) a couple of weeks ago I figure I'd share my experience in case anybody's looking for information.

I was travelling from Odessa (Ukraine) into Romania, and despite Ukraine/Romania sharing a border on the black sea side of Moldova I soon discovered there was in fact no crossing.

After a little bit of research I was rather put off by the stories of corruption, delays and harrasment people had experienced at the hands of Transnistrian border officials but decided to press on anyway.

I rolled up to the Transnistria border and was waved to the front of the queue where I spoke to some friendly guards who asked me where I was from, what Russian I knew and where I was going.
They whistled appreciatively at my Pakistani/Indian visas and promptly told me I'd have to go around Transnistria and that they wouldn't let me in.

This being blatantly an excuse for a bribe I played dumb and asked "Why? I was told I could get through Transnistria!"
I was summarily ignored for five minutes and then asked how much money I had on me.
I'd read about this, they're not asking for currency control, they're finding out how much you can afford to bribe.
I'd prepared for this by taking ten US dollars out of my 'emergency fund', putting that in my wallet and hiding the rest.
"Ten dollars"
They looked upset but persisted.
"Little present!"
"What's a little present?" I asked, continuing the dumb and innocent act.
They didn't seem to understand this and placed their hat in front of me on the table and then left the room.
When they returned the hat was (surprisingly) empty, they looked a bit disgusted but waved me on to passport control.

I filled out the form and went through to customs.
They did a cursory inspection of the insides of my panniers and asked me if I had any LSD/Guns (which caused me to burst out laughing much to their annoyance).
At this point I had a stroke of very good luck, an off duty Moldovan police officer (as he turned out later to be) rolled up behind me on his Suzuki, noticed my GB sticker and vigariously pumped my hand and whisked me through the rest of that border and the border from Transnistria into Moldova!

I'm very glad that he then took me to Chisinau, as if there's one thing they don't know how to do in Moldova, it is ROAD SIGNS.
I got lost following the M1 from Chisinau to the Romanian border the following morning and ended up spending three hours driving aimlessly the down horrendously potholed 10 metre wide gravel tracks that pass for roads in most of the country.


So, in summary.

1) Tell them you have **** all money, and even then you seem to be able to get away without giving it to them
2) Get a decent map (or a guide if you're lucky enough)
3) Just stay cool, as always, with borders, getting angry only ever makes things worse.
4) Try and get the guards chatting about the bike; the guys I spoke to seemed genuinely interested in my trip and I'm sure my experience would have been much less pleasent had I been driving a car!

Hope this helps some-one!

Ciao!

- Sam

can you clarify if they were Ukrainian officers or Transistrians officers?

If they were Ukrainian - being Ukrainian I want/can take some steps to make sure they will be sorry about this unless anybody against it. (where is that "angry" emoticon....)

Thanks for the helpful post, am hoping to head this way next spring and was wondering about this very crossing.

Transnistrian.
The Ukrainian guys were fine, big signs all over the place saying 'attempted bribery will be punished' etc...

Thanks Touka. Helpful stuff.

I went there last summer, from Moldova & back to MD, with some moldovian bikers. it was interesting, but if you travel with a local, there are no problems. I had to buy a 3.00 visa at the border, but had I been travelling alone, there may have been problems. I had several people warn me about going there, so of course I wanted to see it. It was like going back in time 20 years, they think they are still part of the soviet union. They still have the hammer & sickle, & a red star on their badges. They were facinated that an american was there on a bike, & I got many stares & many questions. I'm going back again next year, I'm curious to see if anything has changed.

Doug

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Thought I'd update this as of August 2009 (GB plates).

I could only cross out of Moldova at an 'international customs' point because of my non Moldovan plates.... anyhow I was politely redirected on to the R2 which was fine. This border is open 24 hours.

When I got there I went to the front of the quite long queue, and had the panniers glanced at. Filled in the surname/first name form and once I was on the other side I had to pay a US$17 'import' tax that gave me a certificate allowing me to come and go as I please with this vehicle for 60 days without further charges. They gave me the cert & a receipt for this US$17 too, so I'm unsure it was a bribe in the traditional sense. Took an hour in total going in to Trans.

Anyway I didn't have any problems crossing the border, nor being in that region apart from the eagle eyed cops that caught me breaking various traffic laws. 'Protocol' is to either pay a fine or they keep your driving licence - play for the latter (especially if you have many IDPs like me) and they will simply give you a stern telling off and give it back to you.

No problems going back into Moldova from there either. Quick check, they keep the white paper you got coming in, and you carry on. 10 mins tops.

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http://www.mongolbikers.com 125cc London -> Mongolia.

Hi, we travelled across Moldova from Romania to Ukraine with no problems and only about 15mins at each border about a month ago. Andy

Crossed today from Moldova to Ukraine at the border post down south which is outside Transdniestr and just 50km from Odessa. Very simple crossing and nothing to pay to get into Ukraine. Will be heading back to Moldova soon and might try the northern crossing for a change of scenery and will update accordingly. The southern route (Chisenau airport - Anenii - Causeni - Stefan Voda - Border) was very pleasant and the crossing point very quiet. My Michelin map of Romania does not show correctly the leg from Stefan Voda to the border - the map's wrong just in case you have the same map.

As a follow up to the last post, I did cross the border from Ukraine into Transdniestr and have to report a miserable and expensive crossing. I'm sure that this was not helped by the torrential rain that accompanied my transit of this troubled region but it really wasn't worth it.

On the Ukrainian exit point a couple of EU workers from Poland advising the Ukrainians on border procedures suggested that 90% of EU passport holders get turned back and that they need to pay lots of money to get in. Not fancying a 100km detour to get through the simple crossing I went on and got stung by the police, immigration and customs to the tune of $60 ouch. The customs is the only official looking charge. The police called it '/pivo money' and the immigration guy said simply 'if you do not give me 20euros you can go back to Ukraine'.

When the 'business' was concluded the immigration guy even had the nerve to try to be friendly. I advised him the bribes were just too high and he should take the little and often approach in future.

Would I do it again? Certainly not. Gets my vote for the most miserable 'country' on the face of planet Earth.