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.

The pace of the tour was graded full-on, travelling at a fast pace to pack in all that the countries had to offer. City and town explorations on foot were said to at times to last several hours. Unfortunately, this didn't put some people off. As a result I can confirm that our Romanian tour leader, Tudor Blaj, was not only steadfastly patient, but also kind, optimistic, upbeat, inclusive and diplomatic. He was an example to others of us. We certainly did travel at a fast, almost exhilarating pace, but Dan our experienced driver stuck to his permitted hours and got us back to Bulgaria without incident. We were fed a lot of historical facts. I felt that I needed to have some connection to the countries in order to help me to make sense of and cement some of the information. Personally I particularly enjoyed the swimming and bathing opportunities in hot springs alongside a river fed by higher rivulets from the Carpathian Mountains, a hotel swimming pool with spa bath and two beach locations alongside the Black Sea. Perhaps due to climate change and the onset of warmer summer weather, during the month of June I never needed that suggested fleece, or anything remotely wintery. We certainly enjoyed excellent and much appreciated ice creams though.

Been on a number of Explore tours and loved them all. This was one of the best. The itinerary was comprehensive and rewarding. Romania is a beautiful country and the towns were were surprisingly attractive. The tour guide "Tudor" was exemplary and pulled out all the stops so we got the most from the tour. Weather was brilliant. All in all....Fantastic

Tour Leader Razvan was new to this tour. He was a poor communicator -changed itinerary without discussion or advising us. Did not give us info about what was happening tomorrow or today. Did not know where he was going - kept looking at his phone/GPS. He couldn't give info on what was best to see in free time. Razvan was not a tour guide so was unable to give us information about places and sites we were visiting. He knew some about Romania, because he's Romanian but Explore must arrange to have local guides for Serbia and Bulgaria. We missed out on a lot of background info and what to look for when visiting sites. We would have missed seeing the gold of Varna if a group member hadn't done research. Razvan would come to dinner and just sit on his phone. At Kaliakra Fortress we were meant to have an easy walk along the coast. Razvan didn't know where he was going so we ended up walking in waist-deep shrubbery over uneven ground that was clearly untrodden ground. Luckily no-one fell over - but Razvan was leading and did not look back and did not give any apology. Itinerary was incorrect and needs re-think: Too much time wasted for entry to Peles Castle (1.5hrs) - too early for lunch and nothing to do. Homestay was too isolated - nowhere to walk and nothing to do; meal was bland. Group would have preferred to stay in Brasov and have more time here. Day 5: very tight timetable; brief walk around Herculane; no time for hot springs; got to accommodation at 6.40pm. Novi Sad: we went to the fortress and saw the view of Novi Sad but nothing of the fortress before walking into town. Day 8: itinerary too ambitious -can't fit all that in 1 day. Our "walking tour" of Nis consisted of the bus dropping us of and we walked 10min to the hotel - arriving after 6.30pm with dinner at 7.00. Minimal info given about Nis - need local guide. Day 11: Rose museum was of little interest - more interesting to see the factory. No info on the Tomb of Kazanlak - trip notes say there'll be a local guide. Fortunately, we had a great group, which has been my experience on all Explore tours. We were all feeling annoyed and angry about lack of leader and guide. Frankly, given the poor tour leader and lack of local tour guides and relevant information, I will hesitate to travel with Explore again.

Less Roman ruins, more galleries of local art and sculpture. Loved Peoplés Palace, think it should be in the itinerary.

The meals at the two guest houses were poor. The hotels were generally good and at least you could go for a town or city walk after dinner. We would have liked to have seen more of the communist icons and monuments and less of the religious sites and Roman ruins. The cliff walk was dangerous. The highlights for me were the the military museums at Bucharest, Belgrade and Varna, and the Museum of Socialist Art at Sofia. My wife was also impressed by the People's Palace tour in Bucharest - which was an optional tour but should be part of the Explore program.