I have recently returned from Bulgaria, having walked Penguin Travel's Transbalkan self-guided tour (solo). I have had excellent customer support in the leadup, answering my questions, and accommodating my special requests with generic questions that didn't directly concern the actual tour (ie finding my way back to Istanbul via coach). During my week in Bulgaria I had contact with three guides, and can't speak highly enough about all of them. They were informative, helpful and so very hospitable. There were some language barriers with the driver, but with a bit of gesturing, good will and humour we overcame all of that and I had a wonderful time. Generally I found the Bulgarian people to be warm and friendly, and I felt so welcomed. The tour itself was simply wonderful. I should perhaps point out I have reasonable walking and mountain fitness, and would highly recommend to anyone considering this walk to get a bit of hill walking in beforehand. The first two days were quite easy, and served as a pretty good warm up. The next three nights, spent in alpine huts, were my absolute highlight. Living in Tasmania, I'm quite spoiled for views and serenity, but those three days up there were really quite special. The meals in the morning and evening helped with the planning and carrying of gear, and there were plenty of opportunities to stop for food supplies beforehand. I felt also very comfortable up there, always having the valley and townships in sight. The actual Balkan Nationalpark bit is also quite well signposted (something that worried me beforehand). I could not speak more highly of my holiday there, and perhaps a small selection of the many photos I took will reflect this. I walked in July, the wildflowers were at times up to my armpits, horses grazing, the weather was perfect and staff and hosts at the various places did their utmost to make my stay more pleasant. I can't wait to do another walk, and would not hesitate going with Penguin again.
I just came home from a trip to the Pirin and Rodopi mountains. We had the best guide ever! and the trip was amazing! It was much more than I had expected and I will definitely go to Bulgaria again and also use Peguin for future travels. Our guide was called Anton and he is really nice. You can just feel how passionate he is about his job and is really concerned about your wishes and well-being. I was on a trekking trip and we were only three in total, but he told us a little about the cycling tours and it sounding very tempting. All the communication before the travel was also smooth and the staff has always been very kind and collaborative.
This year we went for a hiking tour in Rila - and Pirin - mountains. Our tour was perfect not the least because of our guide Anna Maria Markova. The tour full fulfilled our expectations which we had from the programme on the internet. Anna Maria was a perfect guide for us. She was a perfect leader, she was enthusiastic about the mountains, and showed great awareness to her customers and flexibility in the way things were planned due to weather and practical circumstances. She was very well orientated about the mountain history and environment and could tell us a lot about Bulgarian history and culture. We are sure that we will come back to Bulgaria. We will book the tour via Pinguin Travel and we will ask for Anne Maria to be our guide again. So we give our absolute best recommendations to this wonderful guide.
Our guide was very nice, pleasant guy, knew all the answers; he was a great leader; all very good indeed.
Det var en fantastisk tur. Vi var super tilfreds med vores guide Anna Marie. Hun var bare sød, hjælpsom og kompetent. Bjergene og området var fantastisk – og det var en lidt hård tur, men det kan vi godt lide….:)