Bulgaria tours

A friend and I spent two weeks in Romania and Bulgaria, May 25-June 7, 2007, with Adventures Abroad Worldwide Travel (800/665-3998). The land-only cost was $3,720.

This was a great trip, with a nice survey of each country. There was an A.A. guide with us throughout, but I particularly want to recommend the travel agency which arranged the Bulgarian part of the tour for A.A. Owned by Nina Todorova, it is Select Tours BG (5A Triaditza Str., Office 517, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria; phone [+359 2] 981 21 14, fax 981 20 14).

Ms. Todorova took great care that we should enjoy her country and, indeed, acted as “hostess.” The tour arrangements went smoothly, but, in particular, she went out of her way to make us welcome by meeting our overnight train personally and by ending the tour at a charming café for sweets, her treat.

She also arranged for the two of us to return to Bucharest by train and overnight at an airport hotel before our flight home.

Ms. Todorova spent many years arranging travel for the “commissars” under the previous communist regime, so she is very experienced. If you are wanting to arrange a tour or independent travel in Bulgaria, I highly recommend her and her company.

HILARY WALLING
San Diego, CA

Sample prices (per person) with Select Tours BG — a 2-hour guided tour of Sofia, €19 (near $27); a one-day tour from Sofia, including Rila Monastery, Plovdiv and Kopriv­shtitza, €108 ($152) with lunch, and a 6-day/5-night wine tour in Bulgaria, including car, driver, guide, five dinners, folklore show, three wine tastings and museum entry fees, €870 ($1,224) (single supplement, €90).