Tour Testimonials 2015
Read what customers say about usCentral Europe tour
I am at airport waiting to fly back to New York.
I know I have been repeating myself - thank you so much again for the seamless and perfect arrangement throughout the trip. I really appreciate it. I have enjoyed a lot and vote of thanks to the local guides and drivers as well; everyone has been very nice and helpful.
I will recommend this trip and your company to my family and friends if they want to visit Central Europe.
Thank you and all the best in 2015!
Best regards,
Dorothy from the USA
- rating 5
Family history tour
I wanted to say thank you for putting together the family history travel package for my cousin's Joan Hargrove, Cathy Meakes, Danny Seedhouse and I (Cathy Garay) travelling from Canada. Lucia was a terrific guide, very friendly, pleasant and helpful. She introduced us to some of the Slovakia treats....Kofola being one of them. She took us to so many beautiful and interesting sites. I liked the accommodations and meals at the Janosikov dvor. The drive through the country side was also very beautiful.
It was a wonderful experience. I am truly grateful and feel blessed to have had the opportunity to meet some of our relatives in Podbiel and Dolny Kubin thank you to you. I only wish we had more time to spend with them all. I have attached a few pictures of our travels.
Some of my other siblings in Canada would really like to go to Slovakia. I think I will be returning one day soon.
Take care and have a great day!
Cathy from Canada
- rating 5
Central Europe tour
cc Lucia, Anikó, Ewa
Thank you so much for your excellent and thoughtful organization in planning on memorable trip to Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow and Prague; and, all the interesting stops and tours along the way. Your careful attention to detail and all aspects including the drivers, accommodation, tours and tour guides was very much appreciated, and allowed us to focus on learning and delighting in the local history, culture and environment.
I would like to express our particular appreciation in meeting Lucia, Anicó and Ewa. Their pride and knowledge of their countries was evident, and instilled in us a further interest to learn more about their particular cities.
It would be our pleasure to recommend your services to all clients, and I will broadcast the use of your services while travelling abroad.
Warmest regards,
Shauneen from Canada
- rating 5
Grand tour of Slovakia
Jane from the USA
- rating 4
Day Trip to Vlkolinec
We had a fantastic time. It was incredibly informative. I am on the road now but will be back in Virginia in one week. I will sit down and try to write a great review that really does justice to your fine service. I do not want to rush!
Thank you so much for all your help. Please pass on our best regards to Martin.
Best to You,
Bob from the USA
- rating 5
Discover Three Slovak National Parks in One Week
we liked it very much indeed! Thank you for organising this tour for us. Please also give Martin our best regards and thanks again for the good introduction.
All hotels were okay and were very well located for starting the hiking tours. The taxi service also worked out very well including the changes we asked to be made to the pick up times. Just the weather was not perfect :-( We had to stop both of our Tatra tours due to hale, thunderstorm and then thick fog with less than 20m of sighting distance and temperatures round about 2°C with cold winds... It was still very good hikes because of the beautiful nature in the Tatras! Anyway, we will definitely come back to Slovakia. It was really great!
Again thank you so much for organising all of that for us!
Best regards
Barbara from the UK
- rating 4
From hut to hut self-guided tour in the High Tatras
Yes, we successfully made it through the trails and finished our trip in Slovakia. Thank you for arranging all of the accommodation. The weather was perfect while we were in the mountains and it only rained after we made it to the hut. We enjoyed our time both in the high Tatras and in Poprad. Thanks,
Kendrick from the USA
- rating 5
Grand tour of Slovakia
Thanks for asking. Yes, we have returned safe and sound.
I would like to thank you for the assistance and arrangement of this trip. Slovakia is a beautiful country with much to offer and many potentials. Special thanks to Jane, our guide, who went all the way to help and accommodate our needs (eg seeing Bojnice Castle not on the itnerary and had to drive long to reach, and going with us to the chinese embassy and the police station to file a report on the missing wallet). If it hadn't been for her, our trip would not be the same. The accommodations were nice, Crowne Plaza, City Resident and Hviezdoslav in particular. As only 2 had air-conditioning though we had specially requested air-conditioned accommodation before, we had a time to adjust because of the unusual heat. But the hotels were nice enough to supply us with fans, so not too much a problem. Nevertheless had we known that would be the case, we would pick another time to visit Slovakia.
Your country's nature is awesome. I had difficulty in climbing up rocky paths or slopes leading to streams and castles because some roads were laden with rocks of different sizes, sometimes loose. For people not used to hiking (like me), it could be dangerous. Again I have to thank Jane for giving me a hand to go up and down (since my knees wobbled).
Amy from China
- rating 5
From hut to hut self-guided tour in the High Tatras
Yes we are all home safely. I can say that we had a very very good holiday. Just the right balance of challenge and reward. The mountains, the paths and the huts were ideal and thank you for your excellent organisation. We were very pleased with the Pension Atrium. Also please thank Martina for her excellent briefing.
Very best wishes
Chas from the UK
- rating 5
Central Europe tour
Thank you for organizing our wonderful vacation. The accommodations, transfers and guides couldn't have been better. Everything went so smoothly, and everyone was so nice. We can't thank you enough for doing such a spectacular job.
Blessings,
Pam and family from the USA
- rating 5
Best of High Tatras
Yes we all made it home safely and we did enjoy very much our stay in Slovakia. We liked the hikes in the Tatras and they were as challenging as we wished. Most of the participants went to Slovakia for the first time and I think they might come back again. The hotel is ok and the staff is very friendly. We appreciate that. Our guide too is very professional and we were satisfied with her services.
Overall, it was a nice vacation. Thank you.
Victor from France
- rating 5
From hut to hut self-guided tour in the High Tatras
We had a wonderful time and the trip you organized was beyond perfect – we do not have any complaints and the huts were really clean, nice and friendly. I already phoned Martina on the day when we had finished our hike and asked to send you and you team a big Thank You. I / we will definitely recommend Travel Slovakia to anyone planning a hiking trip and will leave you a very positive review and the highest rating.
Thank again and kindest regards
Jonas from the UK
- rating 5
Central Europe tour
We just got back to Michigan yesterday and would like to thank you for your thoughtful arrangement of the Central Europe trip that was very much enjoyable. The places we visited are just wonderful. Here are a few highlights of the trip that you helped that made the trip a memorable experience for us:
The itinerary included very detailed information about everything we needed, from the pick-up and drop-off location/time for airport/train/port/hotel to local guides. You are flexible when we were planning the trip. Since we have relatives in Prague so we did not need a tour of Prague, and you considered this in the itinerary. After the trip, we wanted to go to Warsaw on our own, so you even helped purchase Krakow-Warsaw train tickets for us.
The drivers and guides are very friendly, professional, and knowledgeable. They introduced their countries to us with great pride and we learned quite a bit from them about the culture, history, tradition, struggle, and challenges of their countries and cities. A great learning experience!
The hotels picked by you are very good, particularly the ones in Bratislava and Kosice. In Bratislava, the Crowne Plaza (that was planned) had some technique problems (due to heavy thunderstorm the night before) so they could not accommodate us, so they transferred us to Grand Hotel River Park (a 5-star hotel). You immediately rearranged the pick-up of tour guide next day to the changed hotel. In Kosice, the City Residence Apartment Hotel is the best, not only it is very near the old town square, but also the rooms/service of the hotel are excellent. We had a 2-bedroom apartment with large living room, kitchen and bathroom. There are 4 TVs and even a sauna room.
We would like particularly mention the guide Jon Bukovcak who drove us from Kosice to Krakow. He is a young college student, working in the summer months after studying in regular semester. He was very easy going, telling us a lot of stories about his family in a village in central Slovakia. We also went to the Salt Mine on our way to Krakow that was not planned in the itinerary. This delayed his return to Slovakia several hours but he said don't worry. The visit to the Mine was a wonderful experience.
All things went well and we enjoyed a lot!
The only thing we regretted was that we did not have a chance to go to the Mozart concert in the Opera House in Vienna. We went to a Strauss & Mozart concert in Kursalon on the day of arrival in Vienna without knowing that there was no performance in the Opera House the next day. Well, we should do the homework earlier.
Again, thank you for providing us the opportunity to visit the beautiful places in central Europe.
Best regards,
Gongzhu & Shu from the USA
- rating 5
Family History tour
Linda met us as soon as we got off the train in Bratislava. She was very informative as to Slovak customs and what we might expect during our visit. During our drive, she gave us a great history of Slovakia and pointed out several items of interest. She was quite flexible in scheduling which made our trip even more effective and enjoyable.
Just a few notes on the hotel you recommended and arranged. It was GREAT! We enjoyed being in the mountains and the view from the room was very relaxing. I did not know that it was not customary for a coffeemaker to be in the rooms in Slovakia but when I asked for one, the hotel, though surprised at the request, placed a machine in the room with a lot of coffee. They made every attempt to make sure that our visit was comfortable. A great stay. While we were there, it was the mating season for the deer (we call them elk here). They were grunting and were quite loud very close to the hotel. The first night, the sound was mistakenly taken as grunts from bears. It really was quite funny. You should ask Linda about it.
We went to Kalameny the following day and Linda was extremely helpful in helping us try to locate more of the history of the Mras (Mraz) family. She talked with the local priest in a nearby town and went to city halls in two villages. Her determination to be successful, led to our identifying a gentleman that very well could be a relative. We found the address for him and she went and knocked on their door. After explaining who we were and what we were looking for, the gentleman came out to visit. The more we talked, with Linda serving as the interpreter, the more it was realized that there was a connection going back about three generations. I had found a cousin. We left for a bit and did some more exploring in the area and Linda was pointing out how some of the homes in the area were what people lived in back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. We returned to visit with more with my new found cousin, and Linda provided transportation while he took us around showing us places of interest. After a visit at his house, we returned to Bratislava.
It was rainy, windy and very nasty out when we got to Bratislava. The hotel was located in an area that was undergoing construction, but Linda guided us through the construction area and stayed right with us until she was sure we had successfully checked into the hotel we were staying at.
I am sure there is a lot of this trip that I am missing, but I can say that without your help, and the great job that Linda did, it would not have been as enjoyable and successful as it was. Linda represented your company very well and I would highly recommend your company and Linda to anyone.
I will provide a link to some pictures early in the week.
Thanks again for all the help.
Joe and Marilyn Mras (Mraz) from the USA
- rating 5
Banska Bystrica tour
The day tour of Banska Bystrica was wonderful. Janka was great and we truly loved her. I noticed after on your website that your are usually close on Sundays, so thank you very much for making an exception for us!
Once again, thank you! We had a great day!
Kind regards,
Alexandra Palconi from Romania
- rating 5
Hut to hut self-guided tour
Thanks for organising it all!
Sarah from the UK
- rating 5
Tailor made Vienna, Budapest Slovakia tour
Edward from the USA
- rating 4
Czech republic and Bratislava tour
Thanks for your message and we arrived home safely on Sunday night. So we are all feeling a bit jetlagged but will soon recover in no time.
Thank you very much for all the arrangements done and for quickly amending the Prague tours to be private. We very much appreciate the quick response to our concern.
Allow me to give feedback please. 1) Private car transfers - all drivers provided gave us excellent service with special mention to Mr Radeck who serviced us for 2 days. He is extremely friendly and gave a few highlights on the way to Brno from Prague. I would like to comment on Mr Jan's car condition which was quite dirty from the exterior and he had loud music playing which I asked him to tone down. I did appreciate his giving me advance notice that he will be late for pickup. I think it is equally important that the Drivers speak some English like Mr Radeck and Mr Tomas Frdyl, and have some interactions with the guests.
2) Tour guides - the best guides were Ms Sarka and Mrs Dagmar, with extra points to you of course. We like a guide who adds humor to the historical facts and who is also engaging and easy to talk with.
3) Hotel arrangements - Barcelo Brno was an excellent choice for its spacious rooms, exclusiveness and location. Crowne Plaza's rooms were too small especially for a family of 3 people, although the hotel's location was in a good neighborhood. After seeing the Radisson Blue hotel, this hotel is probably a better choice than Crowne Plaza.
Overall, we are satisfied with the service provided and thanks to Barbora for all her assistance too. We will continue our tours to other countries in Central Europe and will definitely keep you in mind for future trips. And I will highly recommend Travel Slovakia to my family and friends as well.
Thank you and best regards,
Cristina and her family from Thailand
- rating 4
Tour of wooden churhes
We regard our tour as one of the best travel experiences we have ever had. The guide/driver was very appropriate and helpful in every way. The vehicle provided was comfortable and given the locations, the accommodations were very good. The castles and towns visited in addition to the churches were an interesting bonus which which we did not expect. Our group included 3 architects who have designed churches and they were fascinated by the churches and had to be encouraged to leave some of them so the tour could continue. The priests and "key keepers" we met were substantial people whose stories and dedication were inspirational. The other couple on the tour are already thinking about doing another trip with your company.
We have found that when we have recounted our experience to others we have detected a genuine interest. Maybe we can organize another church tour some day.
We are grateful to all in your organization who contributed to our experience.
Rodger from Canada
- rating 5
Tour from Budapest to Krakow
The only thing that was extraneous was the transport from the hotel to the bus depot in Krakow. It's actually only a 10 minute walk. But the car seemed a good idea without knowing this beforehand.
Unfortunately, I think it would have been better if I had stayed in each city for another day each, but my schedule was fixed so I couldn't really help that.
Overall though, I was very satisfied with the experience. Thanks again for getting everything together in such short notice.
Derrick from the USA
- rating 5
Family History tour
If doors opened to us on our first visit, they were flung wide on our second one. We enjoyed home hospitality from people likely to be our relatives and from an expert in local history, who also accompanied us on an interpretive visit to the Jewish cemetery in which we found memorials to members of our family.
We came home with gifts of old photographs and copies of old pictures showing people and places important in our family history. One gentleman in Šaštín-Stráže with whom Ján had struck up a conversation on our first visit, proved to be very helpful in facilitating friendly contacts and in offering his own personalized tour of the neighborhood where our relatives lived and ran their businesses. His recollections of our family's various enterprises, and of the people and experiences connected with them, were extraordinarily useful. We had no idea that he was someone who could illuminate so much for us, and we would never have met him had it not been for Ján's friendly, outgoing manner and his willingness to talk to anyone to further our goals, which he made his own right from the start.
Thanks to Ján's outgoing personality and resourcefulness, we were also able to open some new lines of inquiry. When we met in Bratislava, we told him that in doing research we had found references to places beginning with different forms of what seemed to be the word "Peter:" Petroville, Petrovillae Oriunda, Peterhof, etc. And we said that, as one of our goals for the day, we would like to find out what this reference meant. He nodded to indicate his understanding, and off we went.
When we were driving to Šaštín-Stráže from Dojč, Ján happened to notice a small sign for "Petrova Ves" by the side of the road. We discussed it a bit, then decided to take off in that direction to see what we could find. We ended up in the local city office, where Ján's excellent interpersonal skills once again brought results. Not only did the several people working there confirm that the different place names all referred to Petrova Ves -- clearing up what had been a mystery for us -- but they gave us an impromptu talk on the town's history (along with some printed material to take home) and even spent time helping us to read several documents we had brought along. With their help, we were able to decipher some of the hand written notations that had eluded all of us, including Jan, because they used old vocabulary and were written in old script. In the end, we established that people with the same last name as our family lived in this town too. So we have new leads that we will be able to pursue.
We now have a good deal of information and many contacts to follow up. Because of what were accomplished on our two visits to Slovakia, we expect to make considerable progress in the next weeks and months.
Should we need to return for further research, we certainly will want to engage Ján Bukovčák to help us once again. His special qualities make him a great asset to anyone seeking to explore family roots in Slovakia. Because of him, we accomplished far more than we ever thought possible.
We thank you, too, for all you did to make this happen. We could not be happier with our personal family history tour arranged through Travel Slovakia.
Best wishes,
Fred and Carol from the USA
- rating 5
Family history tour
My wife and I want to use the occasion of this holiday season to send you and your colleagues our best wishes for Christmas and the new year, and to convey belated thanks for our visit in Krakow and our tour through Slovakia that you arranged in October. We were so impressed by the beauty and the historicity of the experience that, since returning, we have been recommending a visit to these parts to anyone who might be interested, and we hope to make a repeat visit ourselves someday so that we can explore more locations and spend more time there. For a serious traveler interested in culture, history and scenery, it’s a far more worthwhile experience than simply cruising around the Caribbean! In Slovakia, we did not know what we should plan on seeing and were overwhelmed by both the scenery and the total immersion in history. I hope you will be able to convey our greetings and thanks to our guides, Eva and Lucia. Thank them for their history lessons. We will ask for them when we make a return visit. Our thanks, also, for helping us to visit Jane’s ancestral sites in Poland and Slovakia. Eva is now well known to our family members from the pictures and videos of her translating in our meeting with the priest in Czermin.
Scotty and Jane from the USA
- rating 5
The great eastern European road trip part five: Slovakia
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/sep/05/great-eastern-europe-road-trip-slovakia-high-tatra
Kevin Rushby from UK
- rating 5