Grand Tour of Romania, Serbia & Bulgaria

The tour was great, our tour leader was exceptional. The hotel accommodation was average, some hotels better than others.

Itinerary on the whole was excellent, in particular loved the boat trip on the Danube, excursion to Novi Sad and the Rila Monastery. There were however a few occasions, notably Corvin Castle and to a lesser degree, the Rila Monastery, where I would have loved more time. Possibly on those days, an earlier start might have been beneficial. Also not seeing the inside of Peles Castle was a huge disappointment. Effort needs to be put in, to ensure the problems getting tickets are not repeated for future travellers. Tudor our tour guide, however was amazing, very knowledgeable, couldn't have asked for better.

We could not have asked for a better group leader than Tudor Blaj. His knowledge of history and birds was phenomenal, he was always courteous, well organised and aware of everyone`s needs. His knowledge of English was better than many Brits and his sense of humour was never far away. Our driver, Dan, could not have been more helpful or cheerful, they worked well as a team and we all felt vey well looked after. An excellent trip, highly recommended.

It was a great trip. It was fast paced but considering that we had to cover three countries in 15 days, it certainly was well organized. Our trip leader, Tudor was very knowledgable and personable. He was also a good leader and added to the enjoyment of the trip. Most hotels were comfortable and well placed in the cities and places that we visited. Found that we had enough time to ourselves and were able to explore areas of interest on our own. It was my first trip with Explore and I would certainly recommend it to my friends.

Leader was very pleasant, friendly and helpful but needed to read a great deal from his phone regarding historical sites (castles etc) especially in Serbia and Bulgaria. Quite a contrast with our last brilliant tour in southwest Turkey in April. Our driver was really good - pleasant and helpful with good English language ability.