Romania: Mountains to Monasteries

The first Blue-Roads tour we have done and we were not disappointed. Small group, wonderful guide and bus driver and all activities were timed well and suitable for the age group. A couple of people had different mobility problems but the guide accomodate their needs with ease. Guide was knowledgeable and approachable at all times and was extremely passionate about Romania

Great tour. Good guide and only 6 of us!

An excellent tour itinerary. We stayed in the town centers which made access to all the lovely historical buildings easy. The variety of activities was good too. Staying 2 nights at each place was important. Our tour guide is great and she was willing to talk about the positives and negatives of living in Romania.

Overall, this was an excellent tour. The guide was calm, friendly and knowledgeable. The driver was cautious and friendly. We had a larger bus so there was plenty of room to spread out. I enjoyed the later starts in the mornings. Castle Peles was the top attraction, pity there wasn’t time to visit the other on site. Castle Bran was a great stop. Considering the age of the travellers, the stairs at the Braşov accommodation were difficult. The location, however, was perfect. The visit to the local house could have been organised differently, there was too much waiting around and not enough time in Sibiu itself.

The places we visited were interesting and the countryside was really nice. Unfortunately a couple of things marred the trip - the bus was too big which meant that we were unable to go to certain places including one hotel. One of the hotels was not up to Blue-Roads standard- my room was in the loft and could only be accessed by spiral stairs which were really steep! Our bags were not taken to our rooms and there was no way I could get it up the stairs- thankfully our guide took my bag for me and even he struggled. Most of the group were 60+ hence expecting people to climb steep stairs carrying bags was ridiculous! The guide and driver were both fantastic.

I enjoyed Romania very much and am seriously considering a return visit. However, it will not be with Back Roads. Whilst being generally pleased with some aspects of the tour - hotels, driver and guide, most parts of the itinerary - overall, I feel that Back Roads failed to deliver in too many ways for me to give them any more than a very average rating. The tour is sold as "Mountains to Monasteries". We certainly saw the mountains - though an eight hour drive through them on one day with only comfort stops, lunch and a 20 minute stop (with no explanation of where we were and its significance) at the only monastery we visited on the tour hardly delivered the promise of the name. This was not the only unmet promise. The tour was sold as a small group in a small bus that would allow access to back road sights in inclusive companionship. 18 people in a 46 seat coach saw everyone spread out and seated in isolation in their own space with none of the interaction and sense of being a group I have experienced on other small bus tours. A "cooking lesson" that entailed no more than a few of the group chopping up vegetables - no explanation of recipe or technique; a "traditional" Hungarian lunch of grilled chicken and chips; a "stroll around the picturesque streets of the village of Viscri" that was more of a route-march with no suggestion of visiting either an interesting nearby fortified church or Prince Charles' village house, both of which allow visitors - it seems every day brought missed opportunities. My final assessment? Romania: Showing real promise Back Roads: Could do better

The fact that the itinerary was only released to our travel agent a couple of weeks prior to travel did not give us enough time fully research and evaluate. The 46 seater bus contradicted the message that Back Roads gave us about a small, close knit group in a smaller bus able to negotiate back roads. We had lunch in a traditional Hungarian restaurant and what was that ? Chicken and chips !!!!!!! Yet the food being served to others looked really good . The initial get together dinner was equally bad. Chicken and boiled rice with again, other food being served in the restaurant looked really good. Back Roads attitude to others with problems was contemptuous. Several people had suitcases irreparably damaged and had to buy new ones. BR gave them 35 euros. Insulting. Despite that we enjoyed Romania, saw a lot that we would not normally see. We saw lots of mountains but only one monastery. Perhaps the tour should be renamed.

My trip to Romania - Mountains to Monasteries - was very good. We were fortunate to have a very knowledgeable guide, Bonta Stelian, who was passionate about his country. We learned about the history of Romania from the time of the Ottoman invasions and subsequent wars, the Communist era to the present time. The drive through Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains was memorable. Our driver, Andrew, was very competent which was important due to the very winding roads. He did have trouble getting us to a couple of the hotels because of the size of the bus. Shouldn't have been booked at these because we then had to walk.

Tour was mostly good though some hotels left much to be desired. The trip to the salt mine was disappointing as there was nothing to see in relation to the actual mining of salt, just a large cave. The day making ghoulish was a waste of time as only 4 of the 18 in the group got to participate. The time spent in the small villages with entertainment and cafes was good. We were not impressed with Romanian food, too much potato and polenta. Some hotels had very poor breakfasts.

I enjoyed this tour very much, but strongly recommend the itinerary gets some tweeking. There is only one monastery in the tour, so the tour's title is a bit misleading, and the monastery is not especially interesting. The majority of the sites visited are Saxon - and what a fascinating history!! I don't understand why you would not include (and market in your advertising) the ancient Dacian civilization??? They were the first settlers of Romania !! Their artefacts are few but amazing, they are held in only two locations, one where the tour starts and ends in Bucharest, the other close to one of our overnight stays. Ditto not mentioning Dracula and Bram Stoker....??? So not a tour called Romania - Mountains and Monasteries, but perhaps Romania - Transylvania's Mountains and Saxon Heritage....? The tour guide and driver were excellent. Accommodation was good, noting that Romania is still developing its tourism infrastructure.