I hate to write this review because the tour guide was kind of sweet but not a good guide. His monotone, halting voice made the entire trip painful.. I could not understand a word he said. I can only ask him to repeat so many times. And he’s been doing this for 28 years. How? It was not just me. All the passengers agreed. And the stops we made were silly. I could have spent the entire afternoon in Veliko Tarnova. Forget the monastery and the merchant’s house (although this was kinda cool). And for goodness sake, change the description to say where we are going precisely. Tell us in your description to bring cash because two places don’t take cards. Bulgarian money!

Great day, saw so much and our guide was fun and helpful. If you have a short visit to Romania but want to see as much as possible this is the perfect tour! My daughter really enjoyed it to, and teenagers are hard to please!

The drive to Bulgaria went by fast. The bridge between Romania and Bulgaria is still under construction but went by fast. September time may be faster because they said might take longer to cross the border during summer peak season. From our pick up point in Bucharest, an hours or so after, we had 1 stop by the gas station before crossing the border to use the bathroom and stretch our legs. Border control went by fast as well, no Romanian control going out but only Bulgarian immigration officer went up the bus to collect our passports and went back again after a few minutes to give back our passports. The Ivanovo rock hewn visit is interesting and had to pay a small fee (cash only). The Tsarevet Fortress hike is hot and nothing really interesting except for the church at the top of the hill. I would have liked to explore the town, Veliko Tarnovo more and can skip the Arbanassi house tour. Our tour guide is nice and courteous but had a hard time understanding what he was talking about.

The pre-tour information was lacking. Specifics on where to get bus were non-existent. A WhatsApp group was set up, but I only learned this after I finally found the group. I don't have WhatsApp. No message was ever sent from your company. Guide was monotone and pretty boring. If the tour wasn't so cheap, I'd say pass. I got picked up at 0800 and did not arrive back until 2100. Lots of tims on bus. Very little time to eat and explore.

Great trip! Bran and Peles castles are both beautiful. But what really made the trip for me was our tour guide, Ana. She gave us just enough of the history of the region to put the castles in context plus added enough amusing details to bring it to life. I would definitely recommend. Would recommend having What’s App installed as this was the primary way of communicating. She was very good about communicating times as well as names of foods, etc.

This tour was poorly managed. We were instructed to meet at one location without option when booking. However, the tour bus made up to 3 other stops to pick up passengers. The coach was out dated and the air conditioning was spotty. This is unacceptable when there are so many people on the bus and the windows are not tinted to repel sun. It should be noted that not only are both attractions on this tour an extra cost, the wait to get into them are long and dependent on the guides ability to organize a large group of people. We exhausted almost all of our time allotted time in Sinaia waiting to get into Peles Castle. The worst part of the tour was the sheer hostility of the guide, Vlad. We made multiple stops on this trip and at each stop a few people were late arriving back to the coach. This is understandable, as there were lines at every stop: bathrooms, check out counters, restaurants, etc. During the final stop in Brasov we were instructed to be at the coach at 1725. At 1727, I messaged the guide on WhatsApp that we were on our way. At 1730, I was called by Vlad, who began to yell that the coach had already left and would have to turn around. His communication unacceptable. I always use TripAdvisor to book my tours in multiple countries and have never been treated like this. There is always an extra wait when passengers are running behind. Two additional passengers got on the coach minutes after us. I wonder if Vlad called to yell at them too.

This tour has some grest points, and some not so good. The day is very long started at 7 am and we did not get back until 8.45 . I was knackered so full marks to the driver who was excellent. We visited 3 sires, Peles Castle, Bran Castle and Brasov. Some of the group, had paid the entrance fees in advance. Some wanted to pay cash and some wanted to pay by cards. Everyone on the tour wanted to visit the 2 castles, so why on earth don't they add the cost of entrance to the original price. Now taking each visit in turn. Peles Castle was a disappointment, it was covered in scaffolding and ruined any exterior photo shots, our guide was Vlad. Who took so long with his information we only had 15 mins of own time. Bran Castle was much better, once we were over the ticket fiasco, we were escorted to the door and given free time to explore the castle and the town below. ALthough our guide never mentioned the optional extras to visitvthe torture chamber which meant that we had to give this area a miss. As for Brasov, again it went well we had just over an hour of free time which was plenty of time to explore the old town.

A very good trip, Anna was very helpful, fast in responding any query. Shared history of those places. In my view the Bus need to be bit better.

My original review (16 Aug 2024): The worst tour ever! Everything went wrong with this tour. A few ours after the reservation (which guaranteed real time feedback on availability) the booking was cancelled and postponed two days. When finally we had the trip, we spent more than 3 h just to cross the border. Of course it is not the fault of the tour operator that the bridge is under repair, but while the bridge is being repaired it does not make sense to offer such tours. It took us 5 h to reach the first site (monastery on the rock). The worst element was the tour guide (Carmen). She definitely has no capability to be a tour guide. She didn't provide any useful information. During the 12 h tour, may be she spoke for 15 min. The tour was supposed to include a nice village near Veliko Turnovo but we just passed by at high speed without stopping. Then at Veliko she told us a few sentences at the entrance of the fortress and left! Why do you need such "guide"? The driving was very unsafe (but the driver apologized when we called his attention). On the contrary, the "guide" was arrogant. Obviously she does not like her job. So, never take this or any other tour with Carmen. We had other wonderful tours from Bucharest with other companies and great guides. This one destroyed our day. Being 9 h (out of 12) inside a minivan (without any information from the guide) was not pleasant at all!!!! ------------ 24 Aug 2024: After this review and my direct complaint, the company Eastern European Experience and the platform GetYourGuide apologized for the bad experience, promising to take measures. They also took the initiative to refund the cost of the tour (received today). This is appreciated as a positive gesture to fix the situation and a sign that they care about customers. While initially I classified them as 1 star (Terrible), for this gesture I could classify 5 star (thus 3 in average).

This would normally be a wonderful tour, and our guide Coca was terrific, both a good driver and very knowledgeable. The reason for the two-star review is the border crossing. The Bulgarians have decided to renovate the Danube bridge approach on their side of the river, reducing travel in both to just a single lane. Traffic alternates in both directions every three minutes. This had the effect of delaying our tour by one hour going to Bulgaria and by THREE hours returning to Bucharest. Our guide said this construction is planned to continue until mid 2026. The result for us was leaving Bucharest at 7am and returning at 11pm. If you're up for the added four hours sitting in traffic, the sights on this tour are well worth seeing, but I wouldn't do it again until the renovation is complete.

Carmen was such a lovely tour guide, and very informative about the history. Castles, old town and mountain scenery are definitely worth the drive! We took about 14 hours in total due to traffic, however the coach is very comfortable so honestly didn’t feel that long!

Knowledgeable tour guide, a very long day but rewarding. A must do tour, as too difficult to do it yourself, due to distance.

Everyone must go on this day trip! THE route was amazing in the Carpathian mountains, we saw very very beautiful villages, Peles castle in a big surprise, when you go inside you think that you are in a movie of the old times! Brasov is also a town that magnetises you! Of course the route on the bus is really good because our tour guide Vlad was telling us a lot of useful informations about the things we saw and generally for the country! Don't miss it!

Great trip with Vlad as a guide. I accidently booked wrong date, But they fixed it. All announcement are done on whats app, both before but also during the trip. The guide is relaxed, structured and has great knowledge.

It's a whole day's driving with a very early start to see a church in the rocks and the remains of a fort. Unless you're desparate to add Bulgaria to your country count, skip this tour.