Balkans small group tour

Planet

On this trip we have a balance of time spent in the towns and cities and also out exploring the beautiful scenery on foot, such as walking in the Durmitor National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During our walk our Tour Leader will explain about the local fauna and flora and about the importance of safeguarding it for future generations.

We will visit the 13th century Mileseva Monastery, which is one of the country's most important spiritual centres where we will be guided round by a local priest. By visiting here we’re assisting in funding the ongoing conservation of this historic building.

We’ll also take a ride on the historic Sargan Eight Railway, which was once admired as a piece of world-class construction, for it allows the train to make the steep climb through the mountains in a figure of eight weaving through 22 tunnels and covering just over 15 kilometres. By visiting this attraction we’re helping to support the ongoing maintenance needed to the steam train and rail track.

The walled city of Dubrovnik is an extremely iconic site, but it was almost entirely destroyed in the Siege of Dubrovnik in the early 1990s. After the shelling had stopped UNESCO stepped in and fully restored the city to its former glory. During our guided walking tour we’ll learn all about this tragic point in its history.

To help reduce the level of pollution within the urban centres, the sightseeing tours we operate are mostly done on foot, which is also a great way of seeing all they have to offer first hand. When coaches are being used for these small group trips we keep the size of the coach to a minimum, so rather than using gas guzzling 40-50 seaters we opt for more environmental friendly 15-25 seat coaches that use less fuel and therefore admit less carbon.

In addition to the above, we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key and so all staff, Tour leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our UK Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage. As well as this, we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of UK travel industry bodies Tourism Concern and AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.

As a company we support Cool Earth. Protecting rainforest is one of the most effective actions to tackle climate breakdown. CoolEarth work with indigenous communities empowering them to conserve their forest; keeping CO2 locked in.

People

On this trip through the Balkans we aim to see the highlights and also less visited areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. The majority of the hotels we use are family run and our hoteliers work actively with the local community to source traditional locally produced foods– something we are sure you’ll enjoy!

We have chosen to stay in the town of Dobrota instead of its more famous neighbour of Kotor. This allows us to still enjoy the medieval city and fjord in Kotor, but also to help benefit the hoteliers and restaurants in Dobrata, which sees far few tourists. Similarly we’ve also decided to stay in Cavtat instead of Dubrovnik, as again we can experience Dubrovnik’s highlights, but then retreat to the quieter picturesque fishing village of Cavtat where we will spend the night in one of number of unique pensions and in the morning we’ll have breakfast in local bakery.

We’ll spend a night in Sirogojno – a remarkable open air museum that was declared a Serbian national monument back in 1983. Here we can see a collection of traditional 19th century wooden buildings including a bakery, an inn and a dairy. Sirogojno is also known for its authentic high quality and handmade knitted sweaters and we will be shown how these are made and have the chance to try our hand at knitting.

Our knowledgeable Serbian Tour Leaders have a strong love for the Balkans and its traditions and they also have a love of nature, which they will share with you along the way. In fact, all of our suppliers are local, from our ground agents to transport providers, hotels and tour crew so you can be confident that your money is benefitting the local community in the areas we visit.

Our local agent in Serbia also feels passionately about operating responsibly and they have their own responsible tourism policy, which includes ways that they minimise the amount of waste and plastic used and the importance of using local suppliers, they also have an animal welfare policy and support a number of local projects that benefit the communities where they operate trips.