Transylvanian week

Romanian Private Van Family Tour

My family of 5 booked a private Romanian tour with Transylvanian Tours. Gelu was our guide. The main highlights are listed here - Bucharest, Slanic Salt mine (take warm clothes to the mine - although spectacular, it is cool down the mine) - Sinaia (Peles castle) - Brașov, Bran Castle (Dracula), Viscri Villiage, Sighisoara Fortress, Sibiu, Transfagarasan mountain road - up to Balea Lake Challet and back to Bucharest. This was a 5 day tailored tour to accommodate a family member with mobility issues who enjoyed the tour as much as all of us. This country and its cities and towns are breath taking and exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend Gelu, his driver and Transylvanian Tours to anyone who would like to experience this beautiful country. Love to come back to continue with other spectacular locations in the future! Thank you Gelu for your care, knowledge and humor as you took us through your beautiful country.

via Tripadvisor

A Side of Romania We'd Never Find on Our Own

For anyone hesitant to book a fully guided tour: just do it. This was one of our favorite trips, and Gelu is the reason we got so much out of it. We wanted to see rural areas like Maramureș and Transylvania beyond the typical tourist attractions. My husband convinced me to hire a guide and I cannot believe how much it changed the experience. As a former journalist, Gelu has contacts and friends in every corner of the country. Because of that, we experienced a side of Romania we could never have found on our own. We ate meals in family kitchens, drank palincă with locals, and had genuine conversations about their lives today and during communism. It was refreshing to spend days at a time without encountering another American, or even a native English speaker. We really wanted to see the place where the Ceaușescus were tried and executed, but it was closed the only day we could go. Gelu made a phone call, and two women opened the museum just for us! Gelu was incredibly flexible and tailored the trip to our interests and energy level as he got to know us. One day I was sick and Gelu consulted his pharmacist daughter, then showed up at our hotel room with medicine and instructions. He then spoke with the owner of the inn who let us stay in the room as long as I needed past checkout time. My husband and I are in our early 40s and travel internationally a few times a year, normally planning everything ourselves. We love the freedom and spontaneity of independent travel and I worried a fully guided trip would feel too structured, but it didn't. Instead, it made the trip. I encourage everyone to visit before tourism changes some of the places and traditions that make this country special. There is so much more of Romania we want to explore, and we plan to return. Next time, I'll give Gelu the dates and leave the rest up to him.

Response from the operator: What a wonderful week we spent! I only regret that I didn't have the inspiration to take some photos while we were carrying buckets of water to put out the small brush fire at the family of coppersmiths we visited. What an adventure! Warmest regards from Romania to you, Jane, and to Sanjay.

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Another great trip with Gelu

This was our second tour with Gelu, and once again, it was an absolutely wonderful experience. This time we explored the beautiful regions of Bukovina and the Danube Delta, and Gelu made the journey truly special. He is an exceptionally knowledgeable guide who has a wonderful way of bringing Romania’s history, culture, and traditions to life. He was always attentive to our needs and took us beyond the usual tourist sights, introducing us to hidden corners and special places we would never have discovered on our own. He also connected us with fascinating local people, which made our experience even more personal and memorable. Traveling with Gelu feels less like being on a tour and more like exploring Romania with a knowledgeable and caring friend. After two wonderful trips with him, we are already looking forward to discovering new parts of Romania together. We can’t recommend Gelu highly enough!

Response from the operator: Dear Russ, thank you so much for your kind words. The secluded location in Bucovina and the food there were truly wonderful. The days I spent in the Delta were a very pleasant surprise to me as well, especially that long trip through the villages, the Letea Forest, and then along the Delta’s canals to where the Danube flows into the Black Sea, at the eastern border of the European Union.

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The Transylvanian Dream Team!

Our group of 8 had a GREAT time in Transylvania! Gelu and Transylvania Tours put together a wonderful itinerary-- Beautiful mountain views, visit to Peles & Bran Castles, lunch in a local's home, cable car ride (Where we saw a bear), and excellent overnight accommodations in Brasov & Sibiu. Gelu, our guide each day, was fantastic-- personable, sense of humor, and he really knew his stuff. I couldn't recommend them more highly!

Response from the operator: Thank you, dear Joe, we spent such a wonderful week in Transylvania! Hope to meet you and the band soon in Bucovina and Maramures!

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Making Vacation Personal

Last year my wife and I decided to go on vacation to Romania. After doing research about private guided tours, I found three men with similar and consistent high scores. Being difficult to pick between the three, I read all the reviews and searched Google for other places where their names might appear. Gelu’s name appeared in quite a few places on the Internet…he was a journalist, a hiker and mountaineer, a philosopher, a scout leader, a lover of Democracy, a passionate lover of his country, and a student about anything that piqued his interest. And many reviews cited his compassion towards the clients that had mishaps and flexibility when something happened to challenge the trip. A week before vacation, the airline cancelled our flight. We finally booked with another airline at an increased cost. This required a change in our arrival from Cluj to Bucharest and Gelu tinkering with the order of our journey. After landing in Warsaw for our connecting flight, we were stuck in the Passport line for more than 2 hours. With assurances that our flight was waiting for us, we reached the gate only to find it didn’t wait for us. Instead of arriving at about 2pm, we got to Bucharest at 11pm. Gelu had to cancel one reservation and add a day to another. He moved some challenging activities to accommodate our recuperation from a 25-hour travel day. When he found out I had neuropathy that made walking up stairs or traversing unlevel ground an excuse for a hospital visit, he helped me up and down stairs and became my companion when the terrain got rough. Turning to the more traditional qualities of a guide, he brought us to the most wonderful sights, man made and natural, and put everything in perspective. We talked history, politics, religion, culture, and even the attributes of a fine brewed beer. We ate with people in their homes, had picnics by lazy bubbling streams, and dined at white tablecloth restaurants. Gelu helped make our vacation personal and we are very grateful.

Response from the operator: Dear Donna and Michael, it was a long tour, slow and wonderful tourism, I was so happy not to rush, to take time to enjoy, to talk politics and religion. My warmest regards

via Tripadvisor