Tour Testimonials 2013

Dear Lenka

Thank you so much for all your arrangement. With a very good work of Lucia, we really enjoyed the tour around Slovakia. I believe my clients are also satisfied with Slovakia. They all said that Slovakian people are so kind and nice and country is lovely. However, next year I would like to put the departure date earlier something like the beginning of October. This time, most of leaves have already fallen...and it was pitty!

MORITA MAKI from Japan

Photos of the trip:

Dear Lenka,

Yes, we arrived home safely Tuesday night. We had a magnificent journey to central Europe!! Travel Slovakia truly surpassed our highest expectations. The hotel accommodations in all four cities (3 countries) were superb. Everything we asked for was delivered without any difficulties whatsoever.

All three of our guides were wonderful. Each guide arrived promptly each day and couldn't have been more helpful to us. Their translation skills were invaluable in enabling us to appreciate/integrate the various geographies, cultures, religions of these diverse countries. Ilona (our guide in the Czech Republic) was a tremendous source of information and enlightenment, particularly in her incredible knowledge of Judaism, its historic sites, and cultural contributions to the area. Ilona utilized our time in a most efficient manner. As a finishing touch, Ilona accompanied us to the Prague train station and refused to leave until she was certain that we were safely on board with all our belongings.

As you know, our trip to Slovakia (in particular, Ladmovce) was the most sensitive part of our journey, because we were fulfilling our lifelong ambition of visiting our father's village where our family was murdered by the Nazi regime. Adam (our guide in Slovakia) not withstanding that he is only 25 years old, exhibited a maturity, knowledge and sensitivity that was truly appreciated by both of us. Adam was a great listener as well as a guide who lent a great deal of insight from the Slovakian perspective, which we personally have never heard before. Adam's participation during our "Slovakian quest" is one that we will never forget as long as we live. We are very grateful to Adam for helping us to see that Slovakia is truly a beautiful country, regardless of the tragic events which occurred in its past. By Adam's own initiative, he helped us to track down the sole Jewish survivor from Ladmovce, now living in Kosice. The 90 year old woman cared for one of my cousins in Munich after the war. It was truly one of those unforgettable life experiences.

As for Budapest, we could not have chosen a more professional, competent and sophisticated guide. Having Hungarian family members ourselves, Aniko's love for Hungary resonated within us in a beautiful way. Aniko clearly is a woman with high integrity. She could have assigned this tour to one of her younger and more inexperienced colleagues, but when she was informed that we requested a "Jewish heritage tour" and grasped the reason for our visit, she decided to conduct the tour herself to ensure a more enriching experience. The Budapest tour truly an amazing experience, due to Aniko's efforts and high level of expertise and professionalism.

Lenka- Thank you for coordinating this wonderful trip, and please feel free to give our contact information to any potential clients in the future.

Kind regards,

Dear Lenka,

We enjoyed a wonderful trip through Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, etc. Our accommodations were first class and I would not hesitate to recommend your services to others who may wish to travel to these cities. The highlight was certainly our time through Slovakia with Lucia as our guide. "Small country with a big heart" says it all. You have breathtaking scenery, so much history and everyone we met was very pleasant. The itinerary you arranged was excellent. Perhaps one day we will go back with our adult children to show them what your country has to offer.

Words cannot describe the beauty of Slovakia and its people. Our tour guide, Adam, was extremely knowledgeable in the history of his country and he made it come to life for us. We went to Slovakia seeking our family roots and actually found the church in the small village where my husband's great-grandparents were married. We were very impressed with the care and restoration of the historic castles and other structures of Slovakia. The beauty of the Tatras Mountains rivals any other mountain range we have ever seen. My congratulations to Travelslovakia, s.k. for this wonderful travel experience. I suspect we shall return to Slovakia as it is worth a repeat visit.

Hello Lenka

The group thoroughly enjoyed their trip. There was absolutely no negative feedback from them. They enjoyed their time with Adam and with all of the staff at Stary Hostinec.
Thank you for all of your patience with all of my emails. I hope to work with you again in the future.

Lenka;

I had a very wonderful experience using your services. My request may have seemed a bit "unusual" in the sense that I was looking to have a guide to help me find villages of my ancestors as well as guide me on a hike in the High Tatras.
You found the perfect guide for me; Marian is a certified mountain guide and he knew the High Tatras like the "back of his hand". I was successful in meeting new and distant relatives in two different villages and was able to initiate genealogical searches at the archives in Levoca.
Thank you again for arranging a wonderful visit for my first trip to the land of my ancestors !

Lenka:

I talked to my brother and sister-in-law over the weekend and they showed me their pictures. Slovakia is incredibly beautiful. The Holingas are now in England for their son's wedding and won't be back until Thursday but surprisingly they called me last Thursday when they got into Salisbury, England and Mike said that your tour company was "top notch" and Slovakia was the most beautiful country he has every been in. They had wonderful things to say about Lucia and was so grateful for her guidance. My sister in law and the Holingas were so grateful for everything you did to make their visit to their villages and their families happen. The warmth and hospitality was just over whelming - they were so happy!!! They really enjoyed the tours that were set up for them in addition to the family visits. Mike wasn't even upset that he didn't get to the family "farm". My sister in law told the story that when they all got out of the van in Mike's village his relative went up to him and said "you are a Holinga". The family resemblance was unmistakable. My sister in law took 700 pictures! Lenka, I can't tell you how wonderful you have been to work with and Lucia was outstanding!!! A million thank you's to your company and everyone involved that made their trip so special!!!!!

Hi Lenka,

Thank you very much for the excellent holiday we really enjoyed the bike tour and the weather was very good. We were glad that it was not too hot for the cycling but was very nice when we had time to relax and to visit some of the beautiful towns in your country. You have a beautiful country and I hope that you will have an increase in the number of tourists that are visiting.
It was always spotlessly clean and everyone was very welcoming and helpful. The transport of the luggage worked well and all the gps information made it easy to find the route and to find the accommodation.
The following more detailed feedback is given as suggestions that you may wish to consider that we would ask for if we were to do the trip again. Some of the suggestions are therefore individual to us and we understand that other people may have different views. I hope you will find them helpful but please remember that overall we had a great time and were very happy with your service.

Day 1 Budapest - Szentendre
No problems getting out of Budapest route worked well and was mainly on cycle paths. Advise it is best to stick to GPS route – we took the trail through the forest (waymarked) and found it to be muddy, unpleasant and we got bitten by flies.
Hotel Mathias Rex
Found hotel without too much problem nice comfortable room, good amenities, welcoming. Gave us a voucher to go to a restaurant for half board meal – it was OK but could have been better. Breakfast was in hotel and was very good.

Day 2 Szentendre - Esztergom
Route was mainly on main road – we had cycled in this area before and choose to take a different route. We did about 72 km.
We took a bridge just after Tahitotfalu then cycled along a quite road to Vác (short ferry trip 1600 huf for 2 people). Vác is very pretty and we had a lunch stop there in the lovely square and visited a market selling local produce.
We then cycled along the north side of the Danube – excellent cycle path all the way to Nagymaros. We took the ferry to Visegrad (short ferry trip 1600 huf for 2). We visited the castle at Visegrad and then cycled on the main route to Esztergom.
Accommodation was easy to find and half board was very nice.

Day 3 Esztergom-Dudince
The road was quite busy and not very pretty – perhaps you could look to see if there is an alternative route for this day. We did find a nice café (Honey restaurant and shop where we took refuge from the rain).
Park Hotel – we had a nice room but felt it was quite isolated and we had a cycle up to Dudince and thought that it would be much better to be in one of the hotels in the centre where there were more activities and more to see. Food was basic and fixed times.

Day 4 and Day 5 Dudince-Banska Stiavnica
Much better cycle route this day – it was great to be on quieter roads with less traffic. Hotel Grand Matej – this was a lovely hotel with a lovely restaurant and we enjoyed staying for 2 nights. We did the cycle route for the day 5 and enjoyed it very much. Got back to hotel by 2pm so had plenty of time to enjoy the local town and visit the castle and market square.

Day 6 Banska Stiavnica-Banska Bystrica
Easy cycle this day and roads were nice and quite (perhaps because it was Sunday?). We missed the castle in Kremnica but found the wooden church in Hronsek. The route through Banska Bystrica to the accommodation was not so nice and when we explored the old town on foot we thought that it would have been quite easy to find a cycle route through the old town to the accommodation. Accommodation was nice and food was very good on half board.

Day 7 Banska Bystrica-Liptovsky Mikulas
The main road when it was dual carriage way was not too bad but it was busy when it became a single carriage way – I don’t think there is an alternative route for this day so it is just necessary to cope with the busy road. Through the second mountain pass the roads were somewhat quieter. Just after the first mountain pass there was a ski resort where there were cafes and restaurants that were very good for a stop. Pension Fontana this was a nice place to stay and the food was also good here.

Day 8 Liptovsky Mikulas-Habovka
Route was fine this day and pension Milka the lady was very kind and the room was nice and the lady made a lot of effort to give us a nice meal in the evening – There was nothing to do in the evening. When we cycled the next day through Oravice we thought it would have been much better to stay there on Day 8 as there was more to do and see.

Day 9 Habovka-Zakopane
The route was fine this day – it was very busy in Zakopane and it was difficult to find the hotel as the GPS took us to a different hotel. hotel Skalny was lovely and had great spa facilities. We had a lovely room and the food was very good.

Day 10 Zakopane-Krakow
We choose to cycle to Krakow and you very kindly gave us the route on the GPS. It was a busy road and we did feel a bit vulnerable at times on the road. We had to cycle on the motorway for about 4 kms towards Myslenice we don’t think this was legal. We also found a quieter road through Wiatrowice where the roads were much nicer and quieter to cycle. Coming into Krakow we did manage to find some cycle paths but it was difficult and the roads were busy. Perhaps there would be a better alternative route with more cycle paths. We were glad we had cycled all the way to Krakow but I am not sure we would want to do it again.

Dear Lenka
the nicest thing you did for us was to make Lucia our guide; she was marvelous.
thanks very much for a wonderful vacation. We are telling 2 couples about the trip and they may contact you. WE greatly appreciate all your efforts on our behalf.
Kuria pension was very nice but the mirror over the sink in the bathroom was placed too high. That was strange. The location was very good, near the center.
The hotel in Brataslava was a gem and except for the fact that we had to walk quite a way to the hotel because there was no parking near the hotel it was fine. We totally enjoyed our stay in Slovakia and the tour of Brataslava was just terrific.

Thanks for making such good arrangements for us.

Dear Lenka

Many thanks for your email. We had a great holiday and it exceeded our expectations.

I realise that feedback is useful and I am setting out a few points below but these should not be seen in anyway as criticisms and just suggestions or comments.

In no particular order:

1. We all thought the choice of hotels was good. They were very central and entirely adequate. The only thing we sometimes missed was that it seems Slovakian hotels don’t always have a kettle in their rooms.

2. The itinerary was well thought out and thank you very much for including the extra time in Piesteney. We had a very good time there and Lucia was extremely helpful with the hunt for my family house. Having the three nights in the one place in the middle of the holiday was very successful and did make life easier.

3. Lucia was an excellent guide. She has a very good sense of humour and got the pace of the day exactly right and was very receptive to our needs. Her English is excellent and she is also a very good driver. Finally, all the recommendations she gave to us for restaurants were very good indeed, which in our experience, is unusual!

4. Slovakia is a lovely country with a lot to see and do. As you will know, the history is complex and just by way of suggestion I wonder:

a) Whether it would be sensible for you to produce a photocopied fact sheet just giving a synopsis of the old history and perhaps a summary of more modern history.
b) Alternatively, may be a short reading list could be provided of which guide books and other literature you would recommend. We found it very difficult to get decent guide books in England and the few books we got from Amazon were pretty dreadful!
c) I think you and Lucia organised the ice hockey game that we went to. This was a real highlight and thank you very much for the very efficient arrangements that were put in place. I would strongly recommend that you offer this as a regular option to your clients and perhaps you could also, if it is possible, add in the opportunity to go to a concert in the evenings as well.

5. The day with “authentic Slovakia” including the "post socialist" tour was tremendous and again thank you very much for arranging that. I recommend them highly and we had a very good time.

6. Fortunately, we are very keen on castles and old buildings but I suspect not everyone is as keen as we are. You do seem to have a very good alternative because of your vast number of spas and a number of hotels offering "wellness" packages. Maybe this is something you could also offer as a specific thing, if you don't already. I do know that my fellow travellers will concur with my best wishes to you all.
Yours sincerely

My wife and I want you to know that we had a superb trip through Slovakia, made much more pleasurable because of the great talents of Adam Kmet. He is a very knowledgeable and proud guide to his country. He went out of his way to make each tour day interesting and enjoyable. He guided us to excellent restaurants. He is a very safe driver and a pleasure to converse with. We will be recommending him and your company to any of our friends interested in a trip to your country.