Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria tour

Planet

Romania's countryside is not great at recycling and so our local agent endeavours to take rubbish generated by our groups back into the towns and cities where better recycling facilities are available. Our local tour leaders also encourage our customers to use their reusable water bottles and they provide 10 litre bottles on the buses for passengers to refill from when traveling in areas where accessing springs or safe tap water is more difficult. In most areas tap water is safe to drink.

As most of the accommodation that we use on this trip are small locally owned properties, our tour leader recommends to our customers to be conscious of their water use when showering and encourages them not to have towels changed on a daily basis.

To help reduce the level of pollution within the urban centers, the sightseeing tours we do in the main town and city centers are mostly done on foot, which is also a great way of seeing all they have to offer first hand. When coaches are used we keep the size of the coach to a minimum, so rather than using gas guzzling 40-50 seaters we opt for more environmental friendly 15-25 seat coaches that use less fuel and therefore admit less carbon.

On this trip we visit Devil’s Town, which is a national park and our entrance fee goes towards conserving the natural environment found here. We also go to Viminacium in Serbia and our entrance fee helps to preserve this ancient Roman site and to fund further archaeological digs. Whilst in Bulgaria we visit Rila Monastery and the entrance fee assists in the preservation of this historical building, and at Kaliakra Fortress the entrance fee goes towards conserving the natural environment found on the cape as well as preserving the fortress.

As a travel company we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key, and so all staff, Tour Leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage.

People

We use local Romanian tour leaders and local guides at the main sights in Serbia and Bulgaria, who know the country very well and who will help to give us a unique insight into its history, customs and culture and get us that bit closer to the local people. Our tour leaders are trained by us in the importance of responsible tourism with guidance given on how they can make a difference.

Most of the accommodation we use on this trip is locally owned. A favourite stop of passengers on this trip is our family run guesthouse in Moieciu, which has homely feel to it and is decorated with traditional wooden furniture and textiles. Here we enjoy an authentic and hearty home-cooked meal. Romanian cuisine is delicious and often includes things such pearl barley or polenta, fresh root vegetables and cabbage, stewed beef or pork, sour cream and home baked bread. On other nights our tour leaders will make recommendations to clients to use locally owned restaurants.

Most of our tour leaders are involved in a number of campaigns in Romania to help protect the country they love. Projects they have supported range from stopping the building of more forestry roads to anti-fracking campaigns, and also anti-gold mining campaigns in the Western Carpathian Mountains because of the cyanides left over in the process are not biodegradable and are highly toxic for the environment. Our tour leaders also regularly volunteer to help clean the rivers and mountain paths that we use on our programmes and they ensure that our customers leave no litter behind.

Our local agent employs local people that have often been sports guides such as white water rafting instructors and ski guides. They train them with the skills needed to become tour leaders and ensure they achieve a first aid qualification.

As a company we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of the UK travel industry body AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.