Guest Reviews

*Inspired by their trip in Bulgaria, our guests Jenny and Malcolm wrote an official letter to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in 2019.

‘Your Royal Highness

We have just returned to the UK from Bulgaria following a tour with Nvision Travel, a Bulgarian travel firm run by Albena Tsankova and her sister Betty in Sofia. What a wonderful country Bulgaria is, full of history, culture, dramatic scenery and very welcoming people.

We were rather surprised however that few English people visit the country other than to the skiing resort in the winter months or the Black Sea resorts in the summer. The country has so much more to offer.

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the small village of Kostandovo (SE of Sofia and near the town of Velingrad) and the small, locally-staffed carpet factory there. Here we watched local women tying hundreds of thousands of knots to produce carpets and rugs that land up in palaces, castles and private homes all over the world.

Their carpets can be found in The Palace of Versailles, Osborne House, Powis Castle, Alnwick Castle and many English Heritage properties. Among their private customers are Tony Blair, Antony Hopkins, Mick Jagger and, as we discovered, Your Royal Highness!

Perhaps Your Royal Highness could support these workers and witness Bulgaria’s treasures in 2019, marking 140 years of UK-Bulgaria relations.

Thank you for the opportunity to share some of our thoughts with you.

Yours sincerely,’

Jenny & Malcolm Gunter, Great Britain

Tour booked: Bulgaria round trip

Wunderbare Führung, toll auf die Kinder eingelassen! So macht eine Stadtführung als Familie wirklich Spaß, v.a. wenn auch Alternativen zu den gängigen Sehenswürdigkeiten gezeigt werden, wie z.B. die vielen, schönen Graffitis in der Stadt!! Tolles Mittagessen. Wir und v.a. auch die Kinder haben so viel Positives von Sofia mitgenommen – DANKE!!

Roderick, Germany

We enjoyed a great day tour to Prohodna Cave and Glozhene Monastery and then finished up at the interesting Saeva Dupka cave. Prohodna is truly different and very spectacular. Beni gave us great background information on all the sites we saw. I now wish I’d booked a couple of other trips with Nvision.

Ian, Australia

As I had the opportunity to have a week off and always wanted to see Bulgaria I have contacted Nvision Travel to ask if they could do a customized tour for me. They responded very quickly and gave me different choices. Organisation/payment via internet was very easy and Nvision Travel very helpful. As I was travelling alone I was a bit nervous how this trip would be. When I met Albena in Sofia I noticed immediately that she’s a very nice and competent person. Albena drove me to different sights including Rila monastery, Bansko, Plovdiv and Kazanlak. Albena is very knowledgeable, speaks perfect English and is fun too! All my concerns and requests were looked after immediately. Albena is a safe driver and every day I was provided with information about our day and a bottle of water. I very much appreciated Albena coming for dinner with me in the evenings. I had a great time with Albena and her furry friends. All of above made my trip unforgettable . Thanks again for this great tour and for the lovely pictures!

Eveline, Switzerland

Nowhere in the world will you find such a location as Staro Zhelezare to indulge your street art fetish. Here an art professor from Poznan came back to Bulgaria to convince villagers to allow students to decorate the exterior walls of their homes with political satire, random pop culture references, and even caricatures of themselves. Students they may be but the work is of stellar quality and ever-changing, as each summer the homes get a fresh coat of paint.

Tsveti was my guide and the perfect companion willing to enter the homes of more than one welcoming villager to translate their fascinating stories. The day included a visit to the Soviet-era Augusta Spa Hotel of Hissarya, where we enjoyed a “hydrotherapy” massage, salt room, dry sauna, and swimming pool.

Tsveti is very knowledgeable about the history of Bulgaria and will provide an in-depth take on the last century that makes you wish the drive was even longer. My Sofia experience would not have been complete without this extraordinary mash-up of street art, spa culture, and village life.

Beni is a fantastic guide, driver (!), and coordinator, and it was fun to travel around in the breathtaking mountains. She is listening to the traveler’s wishes and expectations, trying to realize as many of them as possible, and eventually, she’s super transparent when it comes to communication, costs, options and impossibilities.
The tailor-made trip was great in many ways: food, sightseeing, accommodation, etc. Even the music in the car was great, some retro Bulgarian popsongs from the 1950s, which I liked a lot. She helped me to find out the songs on the internet, so that I can listen to them back at home, bringing back memories of the Rhodopi!

“Way more than a Cooking Class…This is a must do for Sofia

“We spent two full days with Beni in July 2022: we visited Sofia (The communist tour) and we went to Pernik and Radomir. Both tours were very well organised and interesting.

Together we visited also the authentic Sofia, where there are not tourists and where you can find the daily life. We eat in a local restaurant and we did afternoon coffee break in a bar surrounded by socialist panel residential buildings – that I really like! – where we played with old communist cards!

Beni is not only a guide; she is a very good person, kind, polite, simple and calm. We really recommend Beni and we say again thank you for all. Grazie!”

Stefano Grassino, Italy

Tours booked: Sofia communism tour, Pernik day trip

“My first time in Bulgaria, I booked Beni and Tsveti for two days.

I was so impressed, I returned a couple of years later and booked them for a week in June 2022. They’re always well-prepared, well-informed, flexible, and accommodating, plus they’re great fun to be with. I can’t think of anything they don’t do well.”

Scott Meyers, USA

Tours booked: Buzludzha and Plovdiv, Sofia communism tour, Abandoned Bulgaria trip

“First things first: Beni and Betty are amazing! We took 2 tours with them in winter 2018 and they were both fantastic.
This particular tour worked out perfectly for us as they were flexible enough to drop us off in Plovdiv after the tour.
We had a very unique experience with them in Buzludzha as it had snowed heavily the night before and the road up to the monument was closed! So we had to hike our way up which was quite a workout but such a unique way to reach it. I honestly think the whole experience was enriched by having to hike up! We were joined by another fellow traveler and that just added to the experience. Making new friends is always fun. And the lunch afterwards was the BEST meal we had in Bulgaria!
Betty’s optimism and Beni’s outstanding driving skills are just some of the reasons we think this team is amazing. And the uniqueness and thoughtfulness of the tour planning made this trip one we will not forget.
We left Bulgaria feeling we made new friends and hope to be back in the not to far future.”

Barbara Corzo, USA

Tours booked: Buzludzha tour, Rila monastery tour

“In 2016, I went to Bulgaria to learn about communist history — and I used Nvision Communism Tours. With Tsveti, I got to see much more than I expected related to the communist past.
So I came back to Bulgaria for another vacation in 2017 and hired Nvision again. I asked them for suggestions and Tsveti and her sister Beni planned a trip for me and my friend to Belogradchik. Bulgaria was in the middle of an August heatwave, so Tsveti and Beni brought a case of bottled water for the trip. That type of preparation impressed me. Then in Belorgradchik, we got to see an outdoor performance of the Sofia Ballet and Opera Company – in the mountains. It was a great recommendation and one of my best vacation experiences of any trips I have taken. Also during this 2-day trip, we went to Vidin on the Danube River and visited a cave with pre-historic wall drawings. They even let us visit their grandmother’s house and I got to pick tomatoes in her garden. The vacation far-exceeded my expectations and the price was very reasonable. In addition, I must add that Beni and Tsveti are fun to be with. It felt like hanging out with 2 old friends, instead of just guides.
I have used Nvision twice, but I already know I will use Nvision again in the future. Thanks Beni and Tsveti!”

Tim French, USA

Tours booked: Sofia communism tour, Belogradchik and Vidin trip, Bulgaria off the beaten path, Hissarya and Plovdiv tour

“After my third great day trip to selected wineries at scenic locations in the Struma Valley and at the banks of the Danube in 2016 I highly recommend to everyone with an interest in local culture to follow suit. The program -competently assembled by the charming tour guides Betty & Beni – gives lots of information about sights on the way, history or local customs. At the winery one gets a behind the scene look into production facilities and vineyards followed by a tasting of the house specialties and a delicious meal. Even for seasoned wine-buffs, chatting with the owner or oenologist about the merits of local grape varieties like Mavrud, Gamza or Misket, is surely not an everyday experience.”

Herbert Crepaz, Austria

Tours booked: Small group wine-tasting tours off the beaten track

“In the year 2009 and 2010 the NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands decided to organise a fieldtrip to Bulgaria for a group of about 150 students from all over the world. We were looking for someone in Bulgaria to give us a hand.

We chose nvision travel, who organized a really valuable and interesting fieldtrip. The programme was rich. A lot of aspects like guest lectures, lunches at interesting sites and visits to impressive venues were included.

The managing director – Ms Tsvetelina Tsankova is experienced and good with students in the age of 18 – 22. She knows how to talk to them about their conduct and they listen to her full of admiration. She is professional, friendly and resourceful. To put it briefly she is a fantastic person to be in charge of your fieldtrip in Bulgaria and the Balkans. ”

Frederike van Ouwerkerk,

Senior Lecture

NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands