Balkan Trails Reviews 127

A recent tour of Romania and Bulgaria with Balkan Trails for our group of friends was a trip that certainly exceeded all expectations. From the first contact with Vlad it was clear that he was going to provide a trip to remember. We had fantastic guides, Gelu in Romania and Dilyan in Bulgaria who were both extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their respective countries. We had a history lesson at every turn that made us understand the checkered past of these wonderful places. Our transfers, transport, and hotels were all first class. This was a very enjoyable holiday made all the more special by the "over and above" extras provided by our private guides. For anyone considering booking a trip with Vlad, feel sure the experience you will receive will leave you with long lasting memories.
Kerry, Joan, Geoff, Jann, Michael and Jean - Australia

Am avut o experiență foarte plăcută cu Balkan Trails. Am ales un tur privat în Bulgaria și România, iar totul a fost organizat impecabil. De la cazare până la transport și intrări la obiectivele turistice, totul a fost bine planificat. Ghidul nostru a fost foarte profesionist, prietenos și bine informat, oferindu-ne detalii interesante despre istoria și cultura locurilor vizitate. Am apreciat flexibilitatea turului și faptul că fiecare detaliu a fost gândit pentru confortul nostru. Singurul regret este că nu am avut mai mult timp pentru a explora mai pe îndelete. Recomand cu încredere Balkan Trails pentru o experiență autentică și lipsită de griji! Dau 4 stele.

Balkans Trails has to be 1 of the best travel companies I have ever traveled with. I would give them a 6 stars out of 5 if possible. We decided to take the Romania and Bulgaria Revealed 17 day tour. We chose this tour as we wanted to see as much as we could and after flying from the USA. This company is family owned and they pay attention to every detail. From pick up from the airport to drop off they were at our side.

The guides are amazing, knowledgeable and real people. When they tell you the 1st day this trip is all about you, what you want to see, what you want to do, they 110% mean it. The guides check the weather, the traffic, the accommodation, the sites we were visiting to make sure everything is a go and what you want. We switched a few things due to rain.

The accommodations are top notch, the included dinners were amazing. The guides will feel your rhythm and vibe.

Now,where this company went above and beyond, my husband had chest pain, our guide went into “ambulance drive” mode immediately, finding the nearest hospital, checking the time, distance and getting there as fast as possible while making me feel safe. He was amazing talking to the doctors, he sat with me, held my hand if you will. We had to cut the trip in the mountains short and return to Bucharest for my husband to get cleared to fly home. All our reservations were changed and rebooked, they got us a suite since we were going to be in 1 place for 4 days. The guide came everyday to check on us, took us to appointments and offered to take me shopping or to see whatever I wanted. We had his personal number to call if anything happened during the night.

Our 2 guides, Toma and Bulgaria and Bogdan in Romania are now in our hearts forever. If possible ask for these 2 guides, but I am sure they are all wonderful.

I cannot recommend this tour enough. The wine in Bulgaria is amazing, the food in both countries amazing and the views breathtaking.

I’m a travelholic and love to travel. I've been to 107 countries around the globe. I've worked with a goodly number of tour companies over the years. A few of them weren’t very good. Some of them were good. A couple of them were really good. Balkan Trails was OUTSTANDING!
I knew that I was in good hands from my first email with Vlad the owner back in 2020. I told him that I was going to be doing a group WWII military history tour of central Europe with a US tour company and that I wanted to arrange a private tour of Bulgaria and Romania for myself with Balkan Trails before I started the group tour. I asked him to incorporate a large number of very specific WWII, Cold War and Communism era sights that I was interested in visiting into my tour itinerary.
We exchanged a large number of emails over the course of a few months in which he flawlessly customized the perfect itinerary of things for me to see and do.
I explained to Vlad that I wasn't certain as to my ending date with the US tour company because I didn't know for sure which of their tours I would be on. My US tour company kept flip flopping on my travel dates with them. He said that was no problem and that he was very flexible. I paid a 10% deposit after we finished wrapping up the itinerary. When the corona virus pandemic hit in 2020 I sadly had to cancel both the central Europe group tour and the Bulgaria and Romania private tour with Vlad and Balkan Trails. The US tour company was difficult to deal with in the cancellation process and in trying to get a refund. Vlad responded almost immediately when I emailed him my cancellation. He wrote "I fully understand your decision, let’s hope things return to normal soon. I processed the refund of the deposit last night, the money should make it back to your card soon." I received my refund from him within a few hours of my cancellation email. He was always very responsive, helpful, courteous and professional in all of my emails and phone conversations with him. He had the patience of a saint in helping me cope with all the problems from the US tour company. I think the other tour companies could learn some valuable lessons from Vlad and Balkan Trails.
Fast forward to 2024. I was finally able to do both my group tour and my private tour. I spent two delightful weeks touring throughout Bulgaria and Romania in June. I had a different guide/driver for each country. Both of them were very knowledgeable and eager to share their love of these two very beautiful countries. I encourage you to visit both countries before they are discovered and get overrun with tourists.
I was also very happy with my accommodations. The pricing was very reasonable.
I had the good fortune to meet Vlad and his charming wife Zoe in person when I was in Bulgaria. They were very solicitous. It was easy to tell that they really care about their clientele.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND VLAD AND BALKAN TRAILS!

I have recently returned from a three week private tour of Bulgaria and Romania arranged by the company Balkan Trails. I found the company in 2019 through the internet and then took a look at the reviews at Trust Pilot and TripAdvisor. At first I was skeptical as the reviews were universally giving the company a 5 star out of 5. I noticed that the reviews were of hundreds of people from different areas of the world, so i deduced it could not possibly be a scam or false reviews. I contacted the company and received an introduction to these countries via a series of 6 emails. I decided to make a deposit for a trip on May 2020 and then Covid hit. I contacted the company 60 days before the date of departure asking for a refund due to the unstable situation regarding Covid at the time. In two days I had the deposit back without any questions. This showed me that I could trust on this company! Moving forward, in the Fall of 2022 I decided to try it again and book a trip. All arrangements were made, including an addition of three days to the sample itinerary of 17 days found in their website and which can be adapted to your particular interests
.
This was a private tour of myself, my partner and the guides/drivers (one in Bulgaria and another in Romania), covering to a lesser extent Bulgaria and to a greater extent Romania. Here is what is included on the price (which will depend on the number of passengers, number of days, and what you wish to see):
• The possibility of having your itinerary customized at no extra charge
• Great flexibility regarding changes to the daily itinerary even after the start of the tour
• Private, licensed English-speaking guides/drivers, available throughout the tour
• All guides expenses (meals, accommodations, etc.)
• Private transportation in an air-conditioned car
• Complimentary wireless internet access in the car so that you can stay in touch with your loved ones even while
traveling
• All car expenses, such as gasoline, parking, and road tolls
• Entrance fees as per the itinerary, with guided visits. If you wish to add any sight on the go, the guide will always
be available with information during the visit
• In my case, accommodation in TWIN rooms (doubles where twins are not available), as per the hotels listed
• Breakfast every day
• In my case, one dinner with folklore show in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
• 3 home-cooked dinners
• Airport transfers
• All taxes

Everything proceeded as indicated, and even some "extras" were included during the trip; the guides were great, always taking care of our well-being, very knowledgeable about their country and proud of it, giving good suggestions for restaurants (since they live there and having eaten in most of them), inquiring of our experiences to ascertain that nothing was amiss regarding the meals and accommodations. The accommodations were in cities, towns and villages always clean, comfortable, with air conditioned when needed and never in hotel chains. This tour gave us the opportunity to see different facets of the countries and interact with locals. We decided to start our days with the guide at 9:00 am and end around 5:00 p.m. with the rest of the day to ourselves. The price was similar to what tour companies in groups offer for two week trips, when we spent three weeks with only ourselves and having full personal attention.

I have to add my thumbs up to Balkan Trails together with all those who had done so before. If you wish to visit these underrated countries, take a look at Balkan Trails. By the way, I loved Romania and all the pleasant surprises these two countries present.

Vlad has been extraordinarily helpful in planning our trip. His willingness to change the itinerary until we got exactly the trip we were after is something I have rarely experienced with other travel operators.
Once COVID arose he was very patient while we sorted out what we could do and what we were allowed to do. Ultimately he left the decision with us whether to continue the trip or not and allowed us to decide whether to put the deposit to another date or obtain a refund.
Due to travel restrictrictions we ultimately could not do the trip and have postponed until restrictions lift.
We will use Balkan Trails as soon as we are able and would not think of looking elsewhere. They are very professional and very easy to deal with.
I would recommend Vlad and Balkan Trails without hesitation

I have found Balkan Trails great to deal with. Vlad was most helpful in helping my husband and I work out our itinerary for a three week private tour of Romania and Bulgaria. All questions asked by us were promptly responded to.
Unfortunately due to Covid-19 we have had to cancel our holiday and within 24hours of notification Vlad returned our deposit. Hopefully we will re-book in the near future.

Wonderful people to deal with. Unfortunately, due to covid 19 we have had to postpone our tour. BUT the wonderful customer service from Vlad is amazing our booking deposit was refunded straight away without question. From the onset of communication with Vlad re our tour he would reply within 24 hrs to any of our questions or concerns, nothing was to much trouble, and now with the world at a stand still to get our deposit back without a second thought shows this is a tour company I want to deal with. It saddens me to have cancelled but we are looking forward to re- booking our tour as soon as it is safe to travel again. Thank you again Vlad, Balkan Trails you make booking a tour safe and sound...Looking forward to getting over there and enjoying our tour of Romania. (Christina from australia)

From the moment that we first made inquiries regarding our trip to Romania and Bulgaria last year, Vlad, from Balkan Trails has been incredibly reliable and easy to communicate with. Booking our holiday with Balkan Trails sounded like the right trip for us and we were so looking forward to it. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we had to cancel our trip as our flights were no longer operating from our country. On notifying Vlad of our circumstances, he was very understanding and organised for our deposit to be returned to us in full straight away. We do hope to go ahead with our planned trip one day in the future and we will definitely be booking it through Balkan Trails.

We are an Australian couple who booked a trip with Vlad at Balkan Trails for August this year when Covid 19 intervened and sadly we had to postpone it. Can't speak highly enough of Vlad, who was incredibly patient and courteous with all of our questions and itinerary changes, he also cheerfully and immediately refunded our deposit without question. We have traveled extensively over the years and have rarely encountered someone as genuine and honest as this bloke. Wish it was that easy with some of the airlines we're dealing with!
We will hopefully pick up our planned European odyssey next year and rebook a trip with Vlad and his company without hesitation.
Thanks again Vlad, with some luck we'll reconnect next year.
Warm regards,
Steve and Joanne Fisher

We were recommended to Balkan Trails by friends who gad used their services.
Zie and Vlad are true professionals in every sense always offering prompt replies and making suggestions to improve our itinerary.
After quite a bit of emailing we finally decided on a 20 day tour of Bulgaria and Romania. This was booked in October 2019 for travel September 2020.
At around the same time as the COVID-19 became an issue I was diagnosed with a health problem which would have prevented me from travelling this year. I contacted Vlad and within 24 hours the deposit had been refunded back to us. Such wonderful service followed by a beautiful letter from Zoe.
We would have no hesitation to recommend this company for what we believe would have been an amazing holiday.
We wish them every success as they resume operations following these unprecedented travel times.
Best wishes and kindest regards.
Lynette and Garry Puts

Over many years we have made use of travel companies based in the countries we are to travel to. I would have to say from day one our experience with Balkan Trails has been exceptional.
From the other side of the world we worked with Vlad to tailor make a tour of Bulgaria and Romania. Originally it was for my wife and myself but once my brother saw what we were planning they just had to join us.
The result was a well planned 16 day tour for the four of us, with our own driver/guide. Touring this way was a very cost effective method for our age group.
However with the impact of covid 19
we found ourselves in lockdown and unable to Travel.
Balkan Trails had no hesitation in refunding our deposit. We did ask them to take out of it any expenses incurred. They very generously refunded the full amount.
Thank you Vlad and Balkan Trails. We do hope that once a vaccine becomes available, that we will be able to take this venture in the next couple years.

I highly recommend Balkan Trails as a very efficient and customer oriented travel company. Nothing was too much trouble, communication and respect were evident and any requests by the client were handled with the utmost care and consideration.

I cannot say enough about how amazing they are. We were going to Romania/Bulgaria in late April and they planned an amazing trip. We wanted to go to two opera performances and they rearranged the trip so we could and got us wonderful seats as well. I could tell the trip was going to be special. Sadly, due to Covid-19 it was cancelled and instead of arguing, they returned every cent of our money. We will rebook the trip once it becomes safe to do so.

My husband and I had a trip to Bulgaria and Romania with Balkan Trails. It had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus and ravel restrictions. We certainly appreciated the companies cooperation both is designing the trip and in helping with the cancellation.

We are an Australian couple that had been planning a 1 month tour of Bulgaria, Romania & Moldova with Zoe and Vlad. The planing took several months, with a huge amount of work by Zoe going back and forth with different options and ideas to suit our needs. We paid the deposit in January 2020 and also a part payment at the end of February. Then COVID19 started to hit a lot of countries. We thought it may abate but alas to no avail. By the end of March with holiday travel banned, Vlad emailed us to offer an option of all our money back. Under such strained conditions we thought this absolutely admirable and highly ethical. The funds were returned within days. We cannot speak more highly of this couple and their travel company. If all goes well we intend to do the same planned trip next year and will recommend them to all our friends.

Florine Was well prepared and very adaptable on our five day trip in Romania. He is very proud of his country and gave us great insights into its history. We would recommend Baklan tours Stuart Engelberg O.D.

We travelled around Romania for nine days with our excellent guide, Stefan, who introduced us to the culture, landscapes, history and most of all, the wonderful people. Our only concern was that we had chosen the 9 day tour and not the 11 day. We basically covered the same territory but travelled long distances on two of the days, leaving early, and arriving late and very tired. I would recommend the 11 day tour to everyone. This would have given us a more leisurely and comfortable pace more suited to those approaching 70 years of age and beyond.

It was a most enjoyable and unforgettable trip within a marvellous country, which, before the tour, we knew very little about.

Thank you to Zoe at Balkan Trails and most importantly thank you to our wonderful "fountain of knowledge", our tour guide - Stefan.

The trip was well planned and our guide, Florin, made the journey smoother and even more enjoyable with his friendliness and hospitality. A private tour means that the trip is fully customisable to your liking and we were able to tell our guide what we would like each day, taking into consideration last minute concerns such as traffic and weather conditions. Romania is a beautiful country and our tour has managed to cover not only the lovely scenery but also the rich history, culture and local experiences. We couldn't ask for anything better!

We planned a 14 day tour of Bulgaria and Romania with Balkan Trails, and were very happy with the tour from start to finish. Vlad and Zoe were very helpful as we planned out an itinerary to suit our interests and pace of the tour.

The hotels were all but one excellent and the hotel staff friendly and helpful. The stay in Viscri in Romania was a highlight.

All our guides were wonderful, not only for their knowledge of the history and geography, but also for taking care of everything, and becoming more of a friend than a guide as we discussed many different topics as we travelled along each day. They gave us time to explore churches and monasteries, and where time permitted we sought out some places that were not on the planned itinerary. This is what made the tour so special, having flexibility and understanding.

The success of a tour like this depends a lot on the guides, and our two main guides (Stoyan in Bulgaria & Alex in Romania) were both exceptional. Their passion for their respective countries was quite evident, and their knowledge spanned not only the history, but also culture, food, geography,economics and politics.

We knew very little about either place and so it was wonderful to have guides who love their countries and were pleased to tell us about things. We appreciated their concern that tourists are treated well and respectfully and while people were mostly helpful, on the very few occasions where they felt that waiters or staff were not being helpful, he intervened quickly and well.

Romania is so different from Bulgaria - which North Americans are less aware of. Highlights of the trip were the painted monasteries of Bucovino, the village of Viscri and the visit to the Brick maker. We enjoyed the couple who showed us how to paint eggs and shared their hospitality with us. Alex's humour was a big part of our enjoyment of this part of the trip.

The scenery in Romania was unexpected: mountains, lakes, and meadows. Small villages, numerous churches and a mixture of the modern with that traditional horse and cart.

We appreciated being able to choose our own places and we know that there is still much more to see in both countries.