I recommend it, it's interesting. A well-used day - Nice walk to Bulgaria, small group , Gabriel Guide very efficient and super entertaining. The mini bus very comfortable, several stops for a drink

Worth the time and money if you’re goal is the visit new countries - I decided to make the most of my time in Eastern Europe and take this day trip to Bulgaria. I’m glad I went because it was worth the time and money to visit another country that I wouldn’t otherwise have seen. The main roads are one lane, so it takes a very long time to get anywhere, but it was cool visiting the monastery in the hillside and the fortress.

Terrificlpp pop Tour - This was a very good itinerary. I enjoyed all of the places we visited. I highly recommend the tour to everyone. I do want to point out two areas fir improvement: 1. After boarding the bus and on the long drive to the Bulgarian border, take the opportunity to let each member of the group introduce themselves. 2. Please consider assigning a guide who has fluent oral English articulation skills. Again, I enjoyed this trip immensely.

No stamps at the border - 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.

Worst experience ... but refunded. - 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).

All I wanted to do was go to Veliko Tranovo so next time I will be careful with my selection. - 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!

Spectacular views of medieval Bulgaria but subpar service! - Spectacular views of medieval Bulgaria but subpar service. Our tour guide was disengaged and not particularly helpful e.g. not assisting when issues arose due to language barriers. Our driver recklessly drove to and from the locations, consistently getting up to 150km/h (over double the speed limit) whilst also texting/scrolling on his phone and not looking at the road. Additionally, he would recklessly overtake, including when going around corners and roundabouts. This caused a lot of distress for ourselves and the rest of our tour group. When these concerns were raised, our tour guide dismissed them and refused to address the dangerous driving. We also did not visit all the listed locations on the programme, as they wasted time with numerous smoking breaks. Would highly recommend visiting Bulgaria and the locations listed, but NOT with this tour company.

Great sights marred by terrible border crossing delays - 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.

Too much driving, and not worth it - 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.

Not a good choice - Nope. Don’t do this one. It’s a time waster because they include a trip to a monetary in the cliff. Silly. And some merchant house. I had almost no time to visit Veliko Tranovo which I wanted. There is another tour company that offers tour of Veliko Tranovo And Ruse. Should have done that one. Also, the guide was awful with a halting monotone voice that no one could understand.