Romania Tours for Experienced Travelers

This was my first ever trip of this kind and I am so glad I did it! Being a solo female traveller, my prime concern was being safe when abroad. Explore went above and beyond this expectation. The trip to Romania covered a lot of ground and was full on, but my goodness do you see some amazing sights! Although not guaranteed, seeing bears in the wild was definitely a highlight of the tour and was remarkable. But for me, it was staying in a cute romanian guest house in the mountains that was the most enjoyable part. It was a truly authentic experience and we were made to feel very welcome. If I was to change anything about the trip, I think a bit longer for lunch / coffee breaks would be nice, however I am also aware that this is not the purpose behind it.

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.

A really enjoyable introduction to Romania and nice overview of the country, which has given me a much better appreciation of the culture, history and landscapes. We enjoyed a good mix of activities, mostly outside the main touristy areas, including walking, visiting monasteries, medieval cities, mountains, a ride on a wood-fired steam forest train and the Danube Delta - which was the biggest highlight for me. Plenty of birdlife to see, even outside of the peak season and a nice relaxing couple of days near the end of the trip. The guide was efficient but often seemed impatient with questions. Excellent, friendly driver. However, the minibus was cramped and uncomfortable to travel in, especially during the long drives - be prepared for a few of them - and we didn't have a full group; that was the only downside for me.

Very interesting and varied tour, scenery and towns visited were fabulous. Both Raz and Geo, the guides, were extremely personable, knowledgeable and helpful. Maybe an extra day or two of cycling would have been nice as you just wanted it to keep going :)

Enjoyable 4 days with excellent itinerary. The group leader was informative and was good at keeping the group together. The restaurants that she chose for the group to eat at were excellent. Explore use local people as group leaders who have good local knowledge. The guest house owner was very friendly and the dinner we had on arrival was an excellent example of Romanian home cooking. She cooked a memorable meal.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Transylvania. The itinerary was packed with interesting things to do, so the trip felt longer than the few days it actually was. The only downside was that, despite our tour leader's best efforts to contact the ranger, we were unable fit in a second bear visit. We were lucky to have a fantastic group who bonded really well, and Rux, our tour leader was outstanding. One point of feedback is that it would have been useful to know in advance (ie. in the pre-tour info) roughly how much local currency we needed to take for tips, splitting meal bills, etc. We did the tour after it being recommended by a friend and we'll definitely be recommending it to our friends too!