I visited what can be described as Moldova's best tWHS (much better than its sole WHS Struve location for sure!) in 2023. The Archaeological Landscape of Old Orhei or Orheiul Vechi in Romanian is a perfect half day trip from Moldova's capital Chisinau, approximately 60 kilometres away.

The ancient city of Orheiul Vechi is a natural and historical complex located on a narrow bend of the Raut River. It is best visited by car as the different components are quite far from each other on foot. The natural landscape of limestone rock, eroded by the river, is combined with archaeological vestiges of the ancient Trypillian civilization. As a result of archaeological excavations, cultural layers were discovered from different epochs, such as the Paleolithic, Eneolithic, and Iron Age, so it really has potential as a Cultural Landscape. In theory, a ticket must be paid once you approach Orheiul Vechi, but this is only applied for its main component, the Orthodox monastery and the several caves with inscriptions. Upon getting close to the area at the base of the valley, you'll be asked to park your car, pay the entrance ticket and walk quite uphill for a couple of hundred metres. I visited all the other components at leisure without having paid any ticket, namely the remains of the Tatar Baths, the remains of the Governor's Palace and Medieval Fortress, the Medieval and Geto-Dacian Walls, and the remains of a mosque and a church.

The cave hermitages and/or chapels, and the Orthodox monastery are the main components for which you'll definitely have to pay. They really are set in a picture-perfect natural landscape. The Orthodox monastery is still inhabited by a handful of Orthodox monks who maintain the church at the top of the hill. Some of the caves are still functional as chapels and they contain an array of historical artifacts and Old Church Slavonic inscriptions dating from the 1690s, which testify that the Hajduk took shelter in the caves, while hiding from the Ottoman Empire.

Orheiul Vechi contains traces of different civilizations, including the remnants of earthen and wooden walls of a Geto–Dacian fortress (6th to 1st centuries BC), the 14th century Golden Horde Fort of Shehr al-Jedid, a Moldavian fort and citadel dating from the 14th-16th centuries. The visitor centre needs to invest more in information boards in English and better signage at the trails but on the whole I'm glad I put more effort into visiting more of what Moldova has to offer apart from the Struve WHS.