Romania Cultural, religious and historic sites Trips

A varied trip showcasing the best of the country - mountains, cities, history and nature. A full packed itinerary, mostly only one night in each location with long drives in between. But saying that every place we visited was worth the drive and the distance - especially the painted monasteries. 4 different days of the trip involved long walks and you were at a disadvantage if you were unable to do these as there were limited alternative activities. The Danube Delta was extraordinary. One of the highlights of the whole trip. The trip ended in Bucharest and with a morning trip to the Village Museum and a walking tour of the Old Town. However, we would have really liked to have had a driving tour passing by some of the other historic landmarks in the city. We feel that this was really an omission. It's a big city and you can't possible see much of it with only another half a day available. We probably should have stayed another day or arrived a day earlier. The accommodation was also varied. From a simple Romanian guesthouse which was lovely and cosy, to more upmarket city centre hotels. One of the hotels had rooms that were of a very poor standard, but most were fine. All of the hotels-except two did not have lifts for your luggage, so there was a lot of lugging your bags up and down staircases often with no assistance. The "floating hotel" in the Danube Delta, was simple and comfortable and we enjoyed that experience. Many of the hotels included breakfast, lunch and dinner. All of the meals were of good quality, with some traditional Romanian dishes served. We generally enjoyed the meals immensely. Our biggest criticism of this trip was the bus. From previous reviews discussing the cramped conditions, it seems that this has not changed one bit. The leg room is incredibly limited and several people really suffered. We all took turns in different seats to try to make it better, but it made it very uncomfortable for our long driving days - and we had many of these. We both think it's very poor that with all of the complaints regarding the bus, this has not been rectified. Lastly, we have only the highest praise for our Romanian Guide Horea - he was absolutely excellent, patient with our repeated questions, and lack of Romanian history knowledge. He is passionate about Romania, it showed every day in our trip. Nothing was too much trouble and he really seems to love showing and telling people about his extraordinary country. We generally enjoyed the trip. Romania is a country that has come so far since the revolution in 1989. It has vitality, pristine countryside, proud people, and an amazing history. I left with strong sense of appreciation and admiration.

Perfect holiday! Accommodation always clean but frequently things didn’t work! (Light fittings, plug sockets etc) Tour guide superb. Food excellent. Small boat trip on the Danube out of this world! Learned so much about the country and it was lovely to see horses carting loads of hay etc. So much still done in a traditional way.

Biggest issue: time spent on minibus, not bus as indicated and stated on site; baggage placed on seats, little room between rows. Other issues: accommodations, meals. Guide was good to excellent. Seems management decided to go cheap on this tour. (Think about a hotel where no soap, shampoo or hairdryer provided-only hand soap upon request). Unlikely to use Explore again. Would not recommend to hiking groups in LA area.

Horrible food and accommodation. Transport on cramped minibus for long 4 hour rides. Tour description shows full size bus not minibus w passengers and luggage. Too many monasteries!! Beautiful time on Danube Delta. Fun birding! Great guide that did beyond the expected.

I had a terrific holiday as I always do on my Explore trips. Everything about the holiday was enjoyable, the holiday included a nice mix of sights, scenery, towns, countryside and history. I enjoyed travelling with our group, everyone was good company, we had lots of chat and many good meals together. Our tour leader Horea was excellent, he is so knowledgeable about his wonderful country. He was always good humoured, he was always able to answer our many questions, he organised restaurants for us and he looked after us in a relaxed professional way ensuring everything went smoothly. Our driver, Stefan, was excellent too, we were in safe hands with his driving each day.

I was keen to book this as I follow the Rewilding Danube Delta Facebook page. I loved that part of the trip.