Leslie_S

Anyone have a recommendation? We'll have spent a few days in Transylvania on a tour but have one day free and there are other places I'd like to see north of Bucharest. Would rather not use public transportation for this nor rent a car. Has anyone used a driver that they'd recommend?

valtor

I can not recommend a private guide, but I found a company that has very good reviews for day tours:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...Bucharest.html

http://www.inyourpocket.com/romania/...elMaker_61070v

http://www.bucharestcitytour.com/regular_tours

Maybe this will help!

Leslie_S

Thanks! Travelmaker does have some great, seemingly credible reviews. I've emailed them with some questions. They seem pretty perfect, hope they respond. A couple of other companies I reached out to have not...yet anyway.

Thanks again!

JaneConnoly

They may be fine but when we checked them it was obvious they're the type to push for reviews on TA. Seems to me all others on that page try the same. One other issue was they don't include admissions. All companies on that particular TA day trip page only do day trips either in and around Bucharest or to Transylvania and back but nothing more.

Leslie_S

Hi Jane --yeah, when a reviewer leaves a single review and has no other tripadvisor activity I totally disregard it. But for Travelmaker there are also a lot of reviewers with a lot of tripadvisor activity so they seem credible. I understand why companies would suggest that their clients would give them a TA shout-out so I can see how that happens.

Also, they do offer trips you can customize - it's not just limited to what they show on their website. One of the reviewers mentioned their flexibility and the response I got by email today also said I can change a tour and add something, subtract something so I'm happy with that. And I did see some of their tours listed that are two days so it's not exclusively day trips in & out of Bucharest.

I like that they don't include admissions and you pay them yourself - -the sites I want to see have a very nominal admission and I'm happy to pay them and not have them included in the overall trip cost (which if they were lumped in they would include a bit of a mark-up or rounding up in most cases).

Anyway, I haven't used them yet so I don't mean to sound like I'm giving them a thumbs up but just responding to some of the negatives you mentioned.

Bobandco

I used a gentleman named Daniel Gheorghita a couple of years ago. Terrific guy. I have a couple of holiday apartments that I rent in Budapest and from time to time have recommended him to one of our guests. Every single person has written me afterwards to thank me for the recommending Daniel. His web page is http://covinnus.com/

I understand that he is also touring Bulgaria (wonderful country!) and parts of Hungary these days.

JaneConnoly

We too read about tour guide Daniel Gheorghita. Mixed reviews though. Two of his parties have mentioned his foul smelling breath making it hard for them to sit in the front of the vehicle. In checking his web site it's hard to understand how a tour guide can proclaim himself "the best guide in Romania after seeing all the others"? How strange is this?

Touring Bulgaria with a Romanian guide? Why not hire a Bulgarian guide for touring Romania? Sounds like touring Spain with a guide from Kazakhstan.

Leslie_S

Just returned from our trip and we did end up booking a one day tour with TravelMaker. It worked out great -- they customized one of their normal itineraries for me so we could see the exact places we wanted. It was just my husband and myself and the driver/guide. He was informative and easy to talk to and spend the day with.

Since our tour was just for the two of us the price was higher than if you used them for one of their regularly scheduled tours which would include other people and be in a mini-van instead of a car. But even so the price was not bad for a full, full day.

So I wouldn't hesitate to recommend TravelMaker and if anyone wants more info on them or our guide or the tour we did I'll check back here.

Trudeau

Truth it there is not much to customize on a day trip from Bucharest to Brasov. We've taken that one twice so far since we both teached in Bucharest. Did not use TravelMaker as their price was simply not including admissions while all other operators did. The choice they give you could not work for us, that was either packed with six other travelers in an eight seater van (and you may read a recent posting on Tripadvisor by Bob W) or a rather overpriced private tour with so-so guides that no one has ever heard of. I assume these are their office staff doubling as guides and getting a tour over the week end.

You may read the latest posting on TA about their service. Not quite encouraging. You were just lucky.

Leslie_S

Hmmm...you signed up just today and offered your single comment on fodors for this...I would conclude you have some definite interest in badmouthing TravelMaker.

I did go and read the two most recent TA reviews that were only 3 of 5 stars and then the many older ones below that which were all 4 or 5 stars. I think the 3 stars didn't really complain about things that could be helped: big crowds at the castles, or "then headed to Brasov, walked around a little, wasn't that impressed with what they called a medieval town", or "Just as we passed the airport, we were stopped by highway patrol to spot check the mini van thus pushing us back by 40 mins or more" --- those aren't really things within the control of the company.

I didn't mind about paying my own admissions as they were nominal -- a couple of dollars each time. Not a factor at all.

I didn't travel with one of their normal scheduled group tours so I don't know about how many people fit comfortably into the van.

But for what we did customize we would not have wanted to rent a car and do on our own so it worked out great for us to ask could we do these 3 things and TravelMaker said yes and we did them. I'm not sure about your point that their is not much to customize on a trip to Brasov, furthermore, we did not go to Brasov on our "customized" tour.

So again, I found the company to deliver everything they promised and we had a fun day with our guide Serban and the price was comparable to other companies I checked with (that did not allow as much freedom to customize) so I'd say again that I do recommend them.

The TA reviews that you mention (which are not especially discouraging if you ask me) don't seem to outweigh the remaining ones which give pretty good feedback also -- but all travelers will have to read through and weigh the reviews themselves.

Trudeau

No problem, your call. 15/20 tour companies offer the exact same tour, all customize it if needed. You used this one, fine. Am glad you are fair and admit to admissions not being included while most others have it in the price.

yo3ies

Call any companies and they will show you same offer. I am a Romanian and i know how things work here. I am not a guide but for any advice feel free to ask me free of charge.

LucyStanmore

Hello there,

I don't know any private driver, but I can offer you a recommendation. During my trip I used http://www.imarentals.ro/. They are indeed a rent a car company and I used it for this service, but they told me they can also provide transfers with their own drivers. I don't know exactly how this service works because I haven't used it, but if you are interested, you can contact them for more details. Best of luck!

Ion_Dima

For the ones that want to explore my beautiful country, Romania I recommend them to take a private tour. There are a few travel agency in Bucharest but there is one small travel agency called www.romaniatourstore.com Very affordable rates and transparent costs. They can organise for you day trips to Transylvania, Bucharest city tours, biking tours, Active tours in Carpathians. It seems that they are doing that for a while and they do it with passion.