We would like to acknowledge and send our sincerest gratitude to our private tour guide, Claudiu Sorin. We were originally scheduled for a group tour but Viator cancelled it the day before because there were not enough people joining the tour so they gave us an option to do a private tour which we did. We have traveled all over Europe for many, many years and very often join tour groups, but no one can surpass Claudiu’s kindness, honesty, sincerity, care, respectfulness as well as his vast knowledge of Romania and Bulgaria’s history. He was a very dedicated and hardworking tour guide. He went over and above to make our tour comfortable and safe. There was so much traffic going to Bulgaria but we enjoyed talking to him during the long road trip and learning about Romania and Bulgaria’s cultures. He also told us that even after the tour and we have any questions, to feel free to reach out to him, which we did and he was absolutely very responsive. Claudiu, thank you so very much for making our private tour so memorable and special. We will be recommending to our friends in the U.S to book a private tour with Viator and specifically request for Claudiu Sorin as their tour guide.
Such an unpleasant experience that I’m not even sure where to begin. As we neared the Bulagarian border, our guide, Valerica, “needed to share something” and said he “is not our guide, only our driver and friend.” This seemed weird but the reasons became obvious through the the day. First, this was a lie he wanted us to all join in on so he didn’t have to pay entrance fees as the sites. Second, he had never been to 2 of the 3 sites we visited, which means he did not know where to park or where to enter/exit. This was most disturbing at Tsarnavets, where he became very frustrated about the parking situation—at one point he very aggressively told me “now I have to find a god$&@% exchange shop,” which means not only did he not know where to park initially, but also came to another country with no local currency. We ended up offering to give ourselves a walking tour while he resolved the parking situation, only to return ready to leave and be told “I need to find some nonalcoholic beer,” and then have to sit and wait for him while he drank them in a park. The rest of the driver back, about 3 hours, were tense and quiet, as his bad mood totally torpedoed the day. Finally, we didn’t really miss him in the last tour because it was already obvious he knew nothing about Bulgaria. All of his information was about Romania. He couldn’t answer any of our questions, about the sites we visited or otherwise.
At the airport drop off, which we had prearranged with both the company and with him via text, he demanded another $20, which I refused to pay. He insisted this was the price for the extra dropoff, which I was never told in text or throughout the day, when we talked about airport dropoff numerous times. He tried very hard to pressure me and my friend, both younger women, into paying him. He cussed at me under his breath as I walked away.
Stay away from this company. Not worth it.