Anyone taken the RS Bulgaria tour?

I have not, but did you check the reviews in the tour feedback section? (click on tours in the headline above, then "tour feedback" link on the right side of the page). People are pretty honest in their assessments so if it was a bad experience, you'll see it there.

CL - yes, I did. This comment under "Could our office have better oriented..." - "There was a bit of overkill on the quality of the accommodations at the Rila Monastery, but this did cut down on complaints about lack of comfort." - led me to ask for more details.

you can also find budget day trip to rila from sofia. it's about 60euro per car, so if you have 3 people then it's only 20 per person. i shared my car with 2 other brits and we were happy with it. the car took us to rila we see the monastery for 2-3 hrs (not big place), and then the driver took us to st.john's cave so we can hike a little bit to the actual cave and a small church up the hill. the whole trip is about a whole day from sofia. if you do stay in rila, there are multiple places to eat just next to the monastery, so you can get meat or fish.

Thanks David, but there's only one of me, which is one reason I'm thinking of doing Bulgaria with the tour.

you can get into sofia first and then call hostel mostel and tell them you're interested in joining their tour. they usually leave aournd 930am and come back around 5. they will pair you up with 2-3 other people to go together. hostel mostel is about 5lv taxi ride from the train station, or 5min walk from the grand sofia hotel or the sheraton.

Kathy, I haven't yet take the Bulgaria tour, but it's certainly one that I'm considering. I've had many interesting chats with the Guide for that tour, and I'm sure she will provide an incredible and memorable tour! Her enthusiasm for Bulgaria and the tour are the reasons I'm considering it. Cheers!

Ken, I called RS HQ and asked about the tour date I'm considering. I was told they haven't yet assigned the guide, although I would think it's almost certainly the same one as last year? The feedback was excellent on her. I'm planning on fitting the tour into a longer trip, and would really like a late date, but that looks unlikely.

Kathy, If the tour is later in the year, they may not have assigned the Guide yet. However, I don't believe there are too many Guides that work on that particular tour, so it will likely be the same one I was chatting with.

Well, I'm now confirmed on the last tour of the year. Yeah! I also have my long distance plane tickets - into Helsinki and out of Budapest ten weeks later. Time for some serious planning...