Moldova’s Academy of Sciences founded the 104-hectare Botanical Garden, which has more than 10,000 species of plants, in 1950.
Although it includes the kind of carefully manicured areas that the term “botanical garden” brings to mind, nature has been allowed to run its own course in much of the park. In those areas, it resembles a forest instead of a park.
The garden’s specific-species display areas include sections for roses, flowering vines, alpine vegetation and conifers.
The complex includes several lakes and quiet meadows.
You can often spot interesting wildlife in the park, including long-tailed birds.

The spring water that flows into La Izvor Park’s Elena Fountain is so pure you can drink from it. What other park fountain in the world can you say that about? The centerpiece of the 150-hectare park, opened in 1972, is several lakes linked by canals. The lakes’ waters are clean because, like the Elena Fountain, they are spring-fed.

You can also cool off in a waterfall or sun-bathe in two sandy beaches. And the park has paths around the lakes where you can jog or ride a bicycle.
If you’re even more adventurous, you can take a boat or swim to an island with a cave in it.

One reason you should consider going to La Izvor during the summer high season is that it is often less crowded than other Chisinau parks with lakes because it is farther from the center.

Alunelul was built in the early 1960s on 11 hectares of ground that once was a section of a Jewish cemetery. The Soviets relocated the remains they displaced for the park to a new burial ground, while leaving some of the old cemetery intact. The park contains a monument called the 1903 Pogrom Memorial that commemorates the dozens of victims of anti-Jewish riots in 1903 and 1905. The pogroms, which injured hundreds and forced thousands from their home, prompted many of Chisinau’s Jews to leave.  Jews have begun returning to the city and elsewhere in Moldova since the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

This park is dedicated to the 301 Moldovans who died in the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistna’s anti-Communist mujahideen forces in the 1980s. The park’s centerpiece is a memorial to the fallen Moldovans, who were among 15,000 Soviet soldiers killed in the conflict. The memorial’s design is stark, consisting of four sloped sides – like the legs of a chair – converging in a level near the top from which a cross rises. Like the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., it contains the names of all the Moldovans who died in the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict.
The Soviet public’s dismay over the war a key cause of the fall of the Soviet Union, historians say. The promenade leading to the memorial is made up of patches of ground interspersed with walkway. On each side of the promenade are groves of trees. Near the memorial are trendy shops, restaurants and cafés.

Riscani is a double-tiered park. The high ground contains broad-leafed trees and the low ground firs. You will find great views of Chisinau from the high ground. The park is long and narrow, its 32 hectares stretching three kilometers along Dimo Street. One of its four lakes contains a boat dock and sandy beach. An unusual feature is a public archery range. Riscani also has water rides and a battery-powered walkway ride – a reindeer pulling a sleigh.

Dendrarium Park may be Chisinau’s most beautiful, with its trees, shrubs and flowers screaming with every hue imaginable in summer. Pinks, yellows, oranges, greens – you name it. Durlesti Creek runs through the 78-hectare (92-acre) grounds, which not only contain Moldovan flora, but vegetation from 50 other parts of the world. Those who love the park say it is even more spectacular when its colors change in the fall. The park oozes tranquility, from the white lilies in its ponds to its tiny rock waterfalls to its electric locomotives taking visitors for rides.
In addition to the trains, kids love a bronze statue collection in the park. It shows a father helping his daughter balance on a skateboard while her dachshund watches.

Valea Trandafirilor is an oasis near the center of Chisinau, with three natural lakes, rose gardens and lots of trees. Exercise enthusiasts love jogging or bicycling around the lakes, one of which has a swimming beach. Another enjoyable pastime is gliding across the water on paddleboats, including some that kids will love because they look like giant swans or locomotives. You’ll also find restaurants, Chisinau’s only large, permanent Ferris wheel, sand volleyball pits and playgrounds.

Ștefan cel Mare si Sfint, which opened in 1835, is Chisinau’s oldest park.  Its designers gave it a French look, with flower gardens, more than 1,000 acacia trees and two fountains.  If you love literature, you will appreciate the 28 busts of the Bessarabian Era’s most famous writers and poets lining the Avenue of Classics. Bessarabia was a region the Russians took from the Turks in the 1800s. About two-thirds of it lie in today’s Moldova. Ștefan cel Mare si Sfint Public Garden not only has free wifi, but also electricity outlets for charging your computers or cellphones.

Marii Adunari Naționale Square Cathedral Park, located in the heart of the city, is more than 180 years old.  All eight of its entrances lead to the Church of the Nativity. Another park landmark is Chisinau’s version of Paris’s Arch of Triumph. Nearby is the statue of Moldova’s most famous king, Stephan cel Mare.  The park is a relaxing place to walk, sit on a bench with an ice cream from a nearby vending stand, read or check your email – the park has free wifi.