Balkan Trails

We were very happy with our recent holiday in Romania in May 2016 which we organised entirely through Balkan Trails. All the arrangements and bookings they made for us worked out fluently. We were particularly pleased with our driver/guide, whose command of English, range of conversation, and delightful sense of humour were impressive - not to mention his punctuality, helpfulness and driving skills. We had a really good time and much enjoyed the interesting range of experiences that Romania has to offer - particularly in the countryside and up in the north.
One important point to add - Balkan Trails were very responsive when we were sorting out our itinerary with them and quite happy to discuss in detail the questions and alternative suggestions we put to them. It's nice not to be treated as a number!
Based on our good experience, we would have no hesitation in recommending the services of Balkan Trails to others.

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.

Just had a wonderful 11 day trip through Romania with Balkan Trails. We had a car with just the four of us and our own guide/driver. That alone was so much nicer than going on a regimented tour and huge bus with many other people. The tour could be also be adjusted to something we either did or didn't want to do/see. Romania is a beautiful country and the food was delicious. Balkan Trails provided an excellent tour for an extremely reasonable price. We were truly stunned at the great hotels, where they were located and all the extras that were included. Highly recommend this tour from Balkan Trails for everyone.

It has been a pleasure to travel in Romania with Balkan Trails in autumn.

From the wifi in the car that met our online needs to the varied sights, comfortable hotels, and excellent restaurants, we have found our 12-day Romanian tour a memorable and informative experience. As city folk, we very much enjoyed the quiet respite at Viscri, meeting and talking to Gheorghe, the brick maker, as well as the hospitality of Ileana Teleptean and her family at Vadu Izei at Maramures. The visit to the Museum of Victims of Communism at Sighetu-Marmatiel and a chat with a family of gypsies gave insights into other facets of Romanian life.


Catalin, our tour manager, is knowledgeable and keeps improving himself. He was able to engage us in daily discussions ranging from politics, history, education, and religion to animals, music and how to tell the alcohol content of double-distilled plum brandy.

Catalin is a problem-solver and actively seeks solutions. This tour was paced to suit our needs. It is evident that relationships matter to Catalin and he knows and cares about the people on his circuit. We felt safe in his hands and have experienced Romania from the inside out. Whether it was hunting for communist-era medals and paraphernalia, or getting a lint-remover, Catalin saw to our needs.

We would highly recommend Balkan Trails to the traveller who wants to go the path less travelled.

We booked through Balkan trails a four day trip.it was a great experience .our guide( don't feel like calling him a guide he became more of a friend) Valentino was superb,very helpful and full of information .the trip was well planned. Hotels booked by them were good. Missed many places because we visited during winters,next time we will plan a trip in summers.thanks Zoe and Vald

My daughter and I thank Balkan Trails for the wonderful tour of Bulgaria and Romania. We had two excellent guides-Toma for Bulgaria and Stefan for Romania. Each was knowledgeable about his country and we learned so much from them. Toma was so nice to show us his country house since my daughter was curious about the inside of the houses there. We did and seen so many sights that were just beautiful and wonderful. I would not hesitate to use Balkan Trails again. Just a wonderful trip!!!

Good times on my Balkan Trails managed adventure to Bulgaria/Romania 4/3-4/12/15.
The tour company(Vlad at Balkan Trails) and both guides(Stoyan for Bulgaria and Florin for Romania) were top notch professional in their knowledge,enthusiasm,and just plain ol' good people:)
I highly recommend not only the company and guides but also to all who never thought of an Eastern European vacation destination Bulgaria and Romania. very affordable,friendly people and way safer than the US of A.
thanks Balkan Trails(Vlad,Stoyan,Florin) dominic desantis.

My wife and I recently finished a two and a half week tour of Romania and Bulgaria that was organized and run by Balkan Trails. We're pretty seasoned travellers and have seen the good, the bad and the worse. I would gladly recomment Vlad and Zoe Trestian ( owners of Balkan Trails ) as a good choice to book your tour of Romania and/or Bulgaria.
Our tour went off without a hitch, everything was as advertised and often exceeded our expectations. The two guides hired by BT were absolutely excellent. We were well cared for the entire time.
Balkan Trails is a family run operation that I hope to see expand in the future.

Our guide Stefan picked us up from the airport at 2pm Sunday. We did a whirlwind car tour of Bucharest that afternoon and toured the "Peoples Palace" which was amazing. Over the next 4 days we went to - Targoviste, Curtea de Arges Monastary, Poienari Fortress, Sibiu, Biertan fortified church, Sighisoara, dinner with gypsies, Bran Castle, Brasov, Peles castle, Sinaia Monastery, Snagov Monastary and back to Bucharest. The next morning we had to ourselves to explore Bucharest before flying out that afternoon.
What an amazing tour and an amazing country. It surpassed all our expectations!
Our guide was excellent. Very knowledgeable about Dracula (what the tour was about) but also just about everything else we asked about as well. The car was spotless and comfortable (Stefan an excellent driver), all the hotels were top quality and very comfortable. The traditional restaurants recommended by Stefan were all excellent quality.
The whole tour was great value. The best way to visit an unfamiliar country for the first time. (Stefan smoothed out glitches like a pro, as well as adding in sites that interested us on the go, and we had no dramas for the whole trip)
The only problem was the tour was too short :( We could have easily spent 2 days in each city and still not seen everything!
It has given us a taste of Romania and one day we will be back to do even more. Booking with Balkan Trails again of course.

Balkan Trails organised our 15 day private tour of Romania that included the Danube Delta, Transylania, Maramures and Bucovina (the painted monasteries). The itinerary was an excellent combination of historic churches, cities, beautiful scenery and encounters with locals in each area. There is no way we could have organised this on our own.

We found Vlad from Balkan Trails to be very professional, well organised and easy to deal with - even though we organised everything via email.

We had a great guide called Alex who was very passionate about Romania and also very knowledgeable. He looked after us extremely well.

Thank you Balkan Trails for our fantastic holiday.

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 took a Balkan Trails tour in our own personal car with driver who was also our personal guide at all times. It was a wonderful experience - all 8 nights in Bulgaria and 4 nights in Macedonia. Both of our guides were knowledgeable, professional, personable, but more important, kind, helpful, and did their best to assure we had a memorable experience in their countries. Stoyan in Bulgaria and Ekaternia in Macedonia have become our friends. Their suggestions of sites to visit, what foods to try to experience traditional Bulgarian and later Macedonia cooking and spur of the moment ideas just made our journey so wonderfully special. Just loved being with each of them as they really showed us their love for family, country, and its rich 9000 years of history in Bulgaria.

We were so enthused by Balkan Trails and the driver/guide experience that now we are thinking of another Balkan Trails tour sometime in the future, such as to Romania.

Vlad (Balkan Trails), we thank you so much for the personal service you gave us in planning our visit to Bulgaria and arranging for us to also visit Macedonia with a driver/guide. We returned with fond memories of our adventures and our first driver/guide experience.

Spent five days in Translvania.Visited Sibiu,Sighisoria,Viscri and Brasow,including Bran Castle,Peles Castle and many other sights.
Balkan Trails were excellent-highly recommended.

I asked Balkan Trails to put together an itinerary for me in Romania and Bulgaria with very little lead time; my departure was roughly 14 days from the time I first contacted Zoe.
She worked her weekend to accommodate my requests, including some off-the-grid places (one to which no Balkan Trails guide had ever been before). She and Vlad did everything with speed and efficiency, including suggestions for bringing down the package price by having me arrange my own first and last nights and airport transfers. My guides (Adrian in Romania and Toma in Bulgaria) both spoke excellent English and were very experienced and knowledgeable. They were also flexible to my wishes for more walking/less riding and no interest at all in lunch stops or shopping sprees. They modified my itinerary based on traffic and weather conditions and had good suggestions for evening restaurants. I would recommend Balkan Trails wholeheartedly.

A few things worth noting:
1. most of the hotels and B & Bs chosen by Balkan Trails were wonderful, but not all.
2. tipping the guides was awkward. I would have preferred that tipping be included in the package so I did not have to deal with it separately. It was especially awkward because I had to tip halfway through the trip and again at the end, in two different currencies.
3. Adrian had some car problems that made one day problematic. It worked out, fortunately, but there should be a Plan B in place for such situations.
4. Toma is a consummate professional, generous with his time and enlightening with his knowledge. But he does smoke a lot. He never smoked in the car but I was always aware that he would be stopping to smoke here and there. Guests who don't smoke should be placed with guides who don't smoke.

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.

As a result of reading the reviews - but which were really only for day tours - plus looking carefully at the website, I decided to contact Balkan Trails about going on an 8 day/ 7 night tour of Transylvania and Bucovina with a car and driver.

I have seldom made a better travel decision. Vlad answered all my queries quickly and patiently, and the tour not only went to all the places I wanted to visit but was priced very reasonably.

So, it was no surprise when, from the time we were met at Bucharest airport until the time we were dropped off there at the end of the tour, everything went as smoothly as we could have hoped.

Adrian, our driver for the week, was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, conscientious and good company - and, for those who might be worried, had excellent English (as does Vlad, by the way). And, although
the sights to be seen were those i'd expected, he even threw in a few extras for us. The car, too, was roomy and comfortable, useful when some of the days were quite long and some of the roads VERY windy.

The choice of accommodation was excellent. The first and last nights were spent in the modern 4-star Hotel Berthelot in Bucharest, which is within walking distance of the Old Town area. The best accommodation while we were on the tour was the 4-star Casa Humor in Gura Humorului, gateway to the painted monasteries: a really nice place, and we sat on our balcony at night drinking the excellent Romanian beer. The other places were 3-star, but both pleasant - especially the one in Brasov - and beautifully located in the old town in each case.

Romania itself is a great destination: scenic, friendly, historic - and, for many of us, cheap. Go there, and with Balkan Trails.

We had a 21 day vacation planned in every detail through Bulgaria and Romania starting from Sofia on May 7 and ending in Bucharest. Unfortunately due to the virus issue when it was time to pay for the remaining amount (we had paid a percentage of the trip at the time of the reservation as stipulated on the contract), I could see that the virus was spreading and borders were closing. Thus, we requested a reimbursement of what we had paid, having cancelled within the time period allowed to do so.
Vlad and Zoe immediately responded to my request and arranged for the full reimbursement to be returned directly to my bank account in just a few days.
The professional way in which it was handled just confirmed that they are trustworthy and have the concerns of their clients as their priority.
Up to that point all our dealings with Balkan Trails had been good and without any problems. They responded to our queries promptly and kept us on the loop regarding the details of the trip. It has continued to be so as confirmed on the way the reimbursement was seamlessly and promptly handled. Therefore, I am reassured that whenever it will be possible to travel safely again, we can trust on Balkan Trails to provide us with a great experience while visiting the region. Once this happens we will be able to post a review of our trip experience.

We discovered a wealth of Information about Romania on this 12 -day journey through the Romanian countryside. The Balkan Trails itinerary, lodgings, and visits to historical sights and festivals exceeded our expectations. A highlight of the trip was a dinner at the home of a gypsy family. They were most hospitable and anxious to share their way of life and traditions with us. The visits to castles, monasteries and walled churches allowed us to trace Romania back in time to BC. We traced Vlad the Impaler's history (Dracula) and learned of his birthplace and the castle setting of the novel depicting his evil. The home stays were also very special with a traditional folk dance group performance at one. Our favorite lodging was at the remote village of Viscri, accessible only by rough road. However, it was worth it. The Viscri B & B was restored to include traditional furnishings with all the modern comforts of home and the food there was the best. We actually saw the cows coming home! They are herded down the street and return to their owner's home. We saw a gypsy blacksmith at work in Viscri as well. We were amazed by the cosmopolitan Bucharest as well as the spectacular countryside and mountains we traversed. We were also educated and saddened when visiting the Communist victims museum. That was offset by our visit to the "Merry Cemetery" where colorful grave markers described each individual and told of his/her life in often amusing tales. We were touched by the welcoming nature of the Romanian people. Our driver/guide Val was very knowledgeable about Romania's history and accommodated our needs very well. We might have shortened the trip to exclude some of the monasteries and churches, but that was just our observation. All in all we totally enjoyed this old world adventure.

We had a 19 day guided tour of Romania for two with the tour tailored to meet our interests. All arrangements worked smoothly. We stayed in both hotels and guest house with the guest houses in particular giving us a real experience of Romania. Highlights for us were painted monasteries and Danube Delta

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.