RSD Travel
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What it says on the tin - but read it carefully!
Just returned from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro tour. First and foremost, you get what you pay for. The first week, for flights, half board accommodation and including the core 5/6 day tour package cost under £500 each. The second week is "free'', if you opt for bed only at the beach resort, so not bad, at that, in current times. We found the first week rather hectic and each visit will require further reflection on returning home but, for us, the hotels were of a decent standard and the food, while slightly variable in quality, more than adequate for the cost. I have read many complaints here about the carpet factory / leather/ jewellery visits and they were certainly of little interest to us - but they were part of the advertised package and the buses going there quite obviously contributes to keeping the overall cost down. Just don't buy if you don't want to - but the reality is that you may have to thole some pretty tough sales pitching. The optional Mostar trip, however, deserves specific mention. Describing a city that has been left out of the core Balkans tour as the " must see " in The Balkans is sharp practice, and for the courier to suggest that not paying to go was like " visiting Egypt and not going to the pyramids " was simply out of order, as was the 59 euro per head cost for a 30 mile round trip by bus and a half hour with a tour guide - however fascinating the town itself. Team up and get a taxi for four people! The visit to the religious shrine in Medjugorje seemed a bizarre and rather niche choice for a general tour but I suspect it was selected for its plentiful cheap hotels. As it turned out, the meal in our small, family pensione was probably the best of the tour. Week two was actually pretty good, despite the very variable weather. Our room in Hotel Otrant was tired but clean and the pool and sport facilities were of a better than average standard. There were a few choices for eating and plenty of small supermarkets within 15 minutes' walk, and the old town was a short taxi ride or pleasant 90 minute coastal walk away. These, however, are tours ( in our limited experience ) frequented, primarily, by older clients, and many felt forced - the tour courier undoubtedly played a part in this - to take the half board / all inclusive options in Week 2 for fear of walking distances and even the lack of anything being open. In terms of costs, our food and drink for the week were almost identical to the RSD price - 250 euro per head. Whatever the standard of the catering at the hotel, I suspect anyone would tire of 14 days' consecutive buffets. The language ability and manner of the courier were questioned by some in our group. His English wasn't great ( he normally takes German speaking groups ) and he tried hard to convey detailed historical and geographical background but he may have been better served simply restricting his information to housekeeping arrangements. It's worth pointing out that the few important problems that arose were solved by the RSD courier. The official tour guides on all visits were very good - but please don't give me that nonsense about Romans and the vomitoreum : it's just wrong! Altogether a decent experience and an opportunity to tour Balkan towns and cities that would take a considerable amount of time and effort to visit independently. As we were so near the Albanian border, we hired a car and went to Tirana for an overnight, which we really enjoyed. Driving in the city centre was simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying! The hotel did offer an optional bus tour to the old Albanian capital, and Kruje which many of our group enjoyed. The RSD Tour, in our opinion, delivered what it said on the tin.