The easiest excursion from Tiraspol crosses the Dniester to Tighina — known in Russian as Bender — about 15 km west. The town's 16th-century Ottoman fortress, built under Suleiman the Magnificent and still partly used by the military, is the most spectacular historical monument in Transnistria; the drive takes around 20 minutes by marshrutka or shared taxi.
For a quieter half-day, the Noul Neamț Monastery sits in the village of Chitcani, about 15 km south. Founded in 1864 by monks from the Neamț Monastery in Romania, it is an active complex of churches and a tall multi-storey bell tower, and a marshrutka from the city centre reaches it in roughly 30 minutes.