What currency is used in Moldova?
In short: Moldova's currency is the Moldovan leu (MDL); one leu is 100 bani. Euros and dollars are not used in shops, but are easy to change at exchange offices and at the airport. Cards work in town; in villages, at markets and on minibuses you pay cash.
Lei and bani
The leu is issued by the National Bank of Moldova and has been in circulation since 29 November 1993. The national currency is the Moldovan leu (code MDL), divided into 100 bani. Since 2018 there are also 1, 2, 5 and 10 lei coins, circulating alongside banknotes of the same value; a note and a coin of the same value are used the same way.
Changing money
- Exchange offices (casa de schimb valutar) are everywhere in Chișinău and the larger towns, with the rate posted at the door. Euros, US dollars and Romanian lei are changed everywhere.
- Cash machines are common in town and at the airport. When a machine offers to convert into your home currency, choose to be charged in lei (MDL) — it is usually the cheaper option.
Card or cash?
- Cards work in hotels, restaurants, cafés, supermarkets, petrol stations and most of the large wineries.
- Cash is what you use at markets, on minibuses and intercity buses, in taxis without a terminal, at many village guesthouses and with small producers.
- For a day in the countryside, carry a few hundred lei in small notes.
Prices on moldova.travel
Every indicative price on this site is in Moldovan lei (MDL), as our partners publish it.
Transnistria
The Transnistrian region has its own currency, the Transnistrian ruble, and cards issued abroad usually do not work there. If you go to Tiraspol or Bender, take cash and change only what you need once there.