Day Trek to Romania's Rooftop

The tour guide never showed up. I was unable to contact the tour operator via Any means (email, phone, viator app). I spent 2 hrs online with Viator customer service. They were unable to contact the tour operator. The tour operator never contacted myself or viator to explain or rebook. Never the less viator refused to refund the money (again despite viator also being unable to contact the tour operator) forcing me to file a claim with my credit card company to get the refund (which my credit card company immediately refunded after I sent them the whatsapp chat with viator customer service.) .Don't take this tour or use this tour group . You should seriously reconsider using Viator/TripAdvisor at all due to the horrendous way they handled this.

Our guide was Stefan and he made the entire experience a memory we will treasure forever. Stefan picked us up promptly at 7am in a air conditioned car. We stopped for coffee and breakfast along our way to the mountain. He was very informative on the trip and conversation was easy with him. The trek was challenging but not overly difficult. It took us 3 hours to reach the summit. We were glad that we brought two bottles of water each, wore long pants but I wish I had brought actual trekking shoes. Along the way Stefan was very attentive to not only us but other trekkers too. Offering advice and encouragement to everyone. We stopped at a lake for a break and reached the summit in three hours. The feeling we had once we reached the peak was exhilarating. The decent down the mountain was very difficult but again Stefan was patient and told us exactly how to climb down the mountain. By the time we reached the car we had been on the mountain for 5 hours. I enjoyed driving on the famous Transfagarasan and enjoyed taking pictures of the actual fortress of Vlad the Impaler. We stopped for a well deserved dinner at a restaurant before heading back home. Stefan was great and made sure we were comfortable and happy throughout our experience. Although it is possible to do this trek on your own, I would not recommend doing it without a guide. There were so many times that I was glad we were with an expert and our experience could have been disappointing without a guide. If you only do 1 thing in Romania this should be it.

Because of the cold weather, our amazing guide Stefan took us on a canyon hike that turned out to be a better option for us. It was beautiful, exhilarating, and great fun. Viator should list this canyon hike as an option. We stopped for a great breakfast on the way because it was early. Stefan always made sure we were safe and comfortable. And he took great pictures we will treasure forever. Thank you!