Transylvanian Long Weekend

Brilliant long weekend, the highlight being seeing 3 brown bears ! Amazing experience! The pace was full on, with long days and lots of walking, but this was stated in the itinerary, so there were no surprises there. Our leader, Rux, was fantastic, booked us into lovely restaurants. Her knowledge of the Romanain Royal Family and the histories of all the castles we visited was amazing!! Top marks for retaining all that knowledge!!

Rux was a superb tour guide, so knowledgeable, entertaining, enthusiastic and caring. She really looked after us and went the extra mile to cater for everyone. She made the tour and is an excellent ambassador for Explore.

Trip overall was great and as expected. Tour guide was extremely professional, very knowledgeable and moved itinerary around to suit the weather conditions. Main hotel in the trip was average, where the bathroom could do with a revamp. Maybe another hotel would be more suitable for the trip!

Transylvania is a beautiful part of Europe and the sights on this trip are stunning. Unfortunately the awful traffic in the mountains did cause a lot of delays leading to both a shortening of time to visit the bear hide and long days (leaving at 8am and not returning to the homestay until 10pm), with no time for café stops on Days 2 & 3, just a quick lunch. I was caught out by how much colder it was in the mountains but the Homestay was warm and comfy - note that they don't supply shower gel. I really enjoyed the walk and found the poles supplied by the Homestay very useful as it was steep going up and down.

Unfortunately due to traffic problems we only had 45min in the bear hide, had intended a return the following day but again stuck in traffic. Apparently bears had plenty of beech nuts in the forest so were not approaching the hide at the time. It was very disappointing not to see them as that was the main attraction for everybody on the trip but obviously this can't be guaranteed however if this is usual for the time of year, (end September), then perhaps the tour shouldn't run on those dates. Tour leader was v accommodating when whole group requested we go to bear sanctuary the following day & re-scheduled Bran castle trip to accommodate. The accommodation in Transylvania was less than comfortable, our room had 2 narrow single beds & a couple of side tables plus 3 hooks on the wall, no shelves or wardrobe & as we had 3 nights there it would have been nice to be able to unpack, instead we had to walk around opened cases on the floor. The only area to sit was at the dining table. The food available for breakfast was plain & same each day, we did have a typical dinner when we arrived & that was fine. The guesthouse was remote & nowhere to walk unless along a busy road with no pavement so the other 2 nights we had to eat as a group. It would have been better to stay closer to the sights we were visiting & not have so much travelling so we didn't keep getting stuck in traffic & to also be able to walk around in the evening or go elsewhere for food or a drink. We spent far too much of our short trip in the minibus. The guide was knowledgeable & helpful but constrained by Explore expectations, I think he should have had more flexibility with the itinerary & perhaps we could then have avoided the long holdups.