Moldova by campervan: costs and prices

Practical costs in Moldova: currency, cards, cash, fuel, groceries and budgeting for a campervan trip. What to know before you go.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 19 September 2026

Currency
Moldovan leu
MDL, not the euro. 20.11 lei to €1 on 18 September 2026
Language
Romanian
Russian is widely spoken
Driving
Right
No motorways. Open road limits run 80 to 110 km/h
Vignette
From €4
Every foreign vehicle. Seven days for a car or motorhome
Tap water
Do not drink it
UK health advice: bottled or boiled water only
Emergency
112
Operators may speak only Romanian or Russian

Money

Moldova uses the Moldovan leu and has not adopted the euro. The code is MDL. On the National Bank of Moldova's official rate for 18 September 2026 one euro bought 20.11 lei, the dollar 17.52 and the pound 23.49, which makes a 100 lei note a little under five euros. Romanian lei are a different currency and were worth 3.82 Moldovan lei each on the same sheet.

A man in a white shirt holding out a fan of banknotes — Leu, not euro, and not the same leu as Romania's

Practical prices for camper travel

Diesel, 1 litre: 36.11 lei
Campsite or camper area, 1 night: €8
Inexpensive restaurant meal: 160 lei
White bread, 500 g: 11.66 lei
Bottled water, 1.5 litres: 15.10 lei

Paying for things

Cards work in Chișinău and are patchier outside it. Carry lei in cash for villages, markets and small guesthouses.
Euros and dollars are the exchangeable foreign currencies. The notes have to be in perfect condition or an exchange office may refuse them.

Fuel

Maximum prices are regulated by the national energy agency and reset every few days, so the spread between stations is narrow.
Diesel is dearer than petrol here, which is the opposite of most of western Europe.

The exchange rates, the fuel prices and the vignette tariff on this page all come from named official sources with dates on them. The meal and beer figures under Food and wine do not: they are what Numbeo's contributors reported in September 2026, which is a crowd-sourced average and not an official one. No published figure for a cellar tour could be sourced at all, so there is not one here.