トランシルバニアウィーク

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

One of the best experiences ever. The Trandafir brothers left nothing to chance: from airport pick up to hotel reservations, entertainment, entrance fees.

WOW! My husband and I just returned from a week long Transylvania tour with Gelu, and I can not say enough good things about him or the tour! We had the most amazing week and explored some of the most amazing places in the world! Corvin Castle, Bran Castle, Peles Castle, many fortifications and churches…we saw so many incredible things! Gelu was the absolute best tour guide we could have asked for. He is so knowledgeable on all Romanian history and has such a love for his Country! His enthusiasm is contagious and it made exploring the country so much more fun for us! Visiting in December was absolutely perfect! The Christmas Markets in Sibiu, Cluj, and Brasov were all amazing, and added to the magic of our vacation. This was our first international trip and Gelu made it so easy from start to finish, and we were completely comfortable for the entire trip. If you are thinking about a trip to Romania, just DO IT! And use Gelu as your tour guide! You will be glad you did! Romania is an absolutely beautiful country with so many incredible things to see! This was a vacation for our 10 year anniversary, and I couldn’t have imagined a more amazing way to celebrate! Thank you Gelu for the absolute trip of a lifetime!

+9

Transylvanian Private Tour 5 days / 4 nights I arranged a private group tour with SC Best Transylvanian Tours SRL. Our guide, Gelu Trandafir and his brother George who run the tour company were extremely helpful from start to finish, recommending an itinerary and hotels to fit in with our Transylvanian travel plans. On arrival in Bucharest we were met by Gelu and driver to start our walking tour of the capital. We then drove to Sinala to visit Peles Castle, an imposing historic building built by the first King of Romania, finishing off in Braşov and walking tour of the old town. Day 2. A mountain drive to visit Bran (Dracula) Castle, which has a very interesting history. Then onto Viscri, one of a handful remaining former ethnic German Transylvanian Saxon villages. King Charles 111, purchased and restored a beautiful home here in 2006, known as the King’s House which is now a training centre and open to the public. Then onto Sighisoara and walking tour of the citadel. Day 3. Visits to Mălâncrav village, where time almost stood still. Onto Biertan and stop at Alma Vii for a traditional lunch in this interesting remote village and stay at Sibiu for 2 nights. Day 4. A lovely drive along the foothills of the Carpathian Mountain to visit Bâlea lake, with a cable car ride to 2,034 m altitude, chalet lunch stop and then a short mountain path walk via the 1 km tunnel built for the former President Nicolae Ceausescu. Once through the tunnel, amazing Mountain View’s and the Transfagarasan Highway. This tunnel and highway featured in the Top Gear, Romanian Road Trip. On the way back to Sibiu we stopped off to visit the spectacular ruins of Carta Abbey, finishing off the day stopping off at a lovely country refreshment stop. Day 5. Before returning to Bucharest we drove through the Oltului Valley to Curtea de Arges “Royal Town” to visit this impressive monastery, the burial places of several Kings and Queens. Finally, whether you’re staying on in Bucharest or if you have a departing evening flight, plan a visit to Therme Spa. Spend a few hours relaxing, have fun and well-being in the in/out door thermal water pools with 5 international cuisine areas. Situated 15 minutes from the airport. Dougie Skilbeck.

No words to describe how beautiful Romania is. Everything was wonderful! Our guide Gelu provided us an amazing experience. An high qualified and cultivated guide, with great capacity to adapt, that took care of all the details. If you want to discover a surprising country Gelu is the right person to show you all its beauties

+4

Transylvania was a fantastic experience. Geru did everything he could to ensure that our experience was memorable. He went above and above. One instance was when we wanted to go to a shopping mall and he took us there and after shopping he came back to show us the bus stop we needed to take even though this was not on our itinerary. A very down-to-earth person. Keep your excellent work. Thanks