RSD Travel Reviews 

Just completed a magnificent eight day cultural tour of 4 of the Balkan countries with RSD Visting Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Overall cost for two of £1038 is exceptional value for money and included flights, accommodation and half board. Difficult to put into words how spectacular the countryside and mountain views are as you travel from country to country. So as not to mislead it was not perfection all the way as one or two of the hotels could have been better in particular the food and some of the lengths of staying areas could have been longer eg the wonderful Bay of Kotor. In conclusion however this is definitely tour I would recommend and we will definitely looking for other RSD tours to experience.

Currently on the second week of the 15 day Rhodes and Aegean Tour with my partner, fantastic experience and outstanding value for money. Excellent opportunity to visit heritage sites and access to local culture. Our our week one tour guide Gulchin (Rosie) was wonderful, informative and engaging and made it a trip to remember. We are now enjoying the second week in a lovely hotel. Highly recommend.

We are a married couple and have the same surname. We booked together on one booking. When we arrived to check in, we were given seats not together and not even in the same row. The airline said the seat allocation was the tour operator’s responsibility. So for the 7 hr flight to Dubai and then the 8 hour flight to Shanghai, we are not together. Maybe some married couples would be happy with that, we are not. This is not a good start to a long awaited holiday.
Although RSD replied and said that the allocation of seats was not in their power, we spoke to 2 Emirates employees who said that RSD could allocate seats and Emirates only do it if RSD don’t do it by the deadline they are given. This may seem like a small insignificant detail but it is important to customers and worth attention to such a detail. It is something that would be a deal breaker, especially for 4 long haul flights (2x7 hrs and 2x8 hrs).

The tours , accommodation and hotels were amazing.. our tour guide (Rosie) were amazing. Will definitely be using RDS again.

Our tour guide Barsac was always friendly and helpful. The itinerary was excellent and all the hotels were comfortable and served good food.

We had a great experience in our trip to Aegean and Rhodes with RSD. The tour was very well organised. Our tour guide Rosie was brilliant. The hotels and transport arrangements were first class. The sites we visited , were well chosen and we were given sufficient time at every spot along. Rosie was very knowledgeable too. We had a great time overall and would definitely want to travel again with them.

I’m giving 2 stars because the company actually exists and the holiday “technically” actually happened
BUT
I would NOT recommend booking a tour with RSD travel.

The majority of your time is spent in the bus and you hardly see anything authentic about the country you are visiting.
I booked the BALKANS tour since I wanted a nice trip for my partner and I to go on without worrying about organising accommodation and activities but I highly regret going on this tour.
I felt like all I did was get on a plane then on a bus, drive around for a few days and then fly home. We spent a very short amount of time actually doing anything tour related, the itinerary is VERY misleading and highly exaggerated.

Don’t be fooled into thinking the holiday is “Cheap” because you can very easily spend less than what they’re charging you (especially in the Balkans)

Also, be VERY careful when you are taken to any shops. We had a very scary experience where we were suckered into buying something only to realise we had been scammed and incredibly overcharged. We complained to our “local guide” who wasn’t a local and he begrudgingly told us that the company is paid by local businesses to take tourists to their shops.
Do NOT buy anything from the tanzanite jewellery store or the leather company in Montenegro. Overpriced and misleading!!! Plus excessive pressure tactics! We asked to leave and were kept there against our will.

Beware of “all inclusive” offer which is very disappointing and inconsistent in quality and isn’t “local cuisine” as advertised.
You will easily find local restaurants nearby and get better quality.

The accommodation is not up to standard and also very inconsistent. One day you will be in a half built 1 star accommodation with dirty towels and unmade beds, the next day you will be in a 3 star hotel but in a tourist area which is a cookie cutter replica of any other and nothing special.
The tour groups are very large and ours was divided up into 4 buses. Not all people went to the same hotels, so maybe you will get lucky and go to all the good hotels. Unfortunately we got a few bad hotels, plus we made friends on the tour and were unable to swap tour buses and kept separated.

Avoid!!!!
Tourist trap!!!!

My partner and my experience of the Balkans itinerary
Day 1:
you literally arrive, get on the bus and drive about an hour to get to a hotel. That is all you do.
Day 2:
no city tour of Skopje.
Drive 2 hours to the monastery and then spend only 30-40min there.
Then drive again for about an hour to get to the second monastery only to be told we have to decide to either see the monastery or get lunch because we’re only there for 1 hour.
What stone bridge? We had something mentioned in passing but nothing more.
We didn’t visit a mosque or a cathedral in Shkodra, we were just taken straight to the hotel.
Day 3:
The only day I actually enjoyed and the description is fairly accurate.
Day 4:
You are taken to a jewellery factory and a leather factory and spend the majority of the day there. My partner and I requested to not go shopping but instead go straight to Budva to enjoy more time in the old town. We were denied and taken to the shops against our will and the doors of the shops are closed behind you so you’re locked in until the tour group departs.
Day 5:
You again spend the majority of your day in the bus travelling. When you get to Tirana you are given less than 2hours to get lunch and see the city before leaving for Lake Orid
(we did not choose the all inclusive option and never battled to find food near the hotels at night, actually our favourite times of the trip were when we were walking the streets like locals in the evenings and going to local restaurants)

The only redeeming thing about this trip is the fact that the local scenery and heritage of these countries is absolutely beautiful. I would definitely encourage everyone to go visit these countries and take the opportunity to truly enjoy the experience, instead of being rushed from 1 location to the other with RSD travel.

I've never had cause to complain about a holiday before, but I guess there's always a first time.
We originally booked with RSD to go to Morocco for a fortnight back in 2021, but then Covid hit and we had to cancel. I was so impressed by the way RSD handled refunds, etc. that I promised myself I would book with them again in the future.

Fast forward to 27 March 2025 and we set off for an 8-day tour around the Balkans. I should say from the start that our coach driver and guide were exceptional, but they could only work with what they'd got. Also we were spending 10 hours on average a day on the coach, with precious little time off. We saw some lovely places (Kotor, Budva, Skopje, Prizren) but unfortunately only had a maximum of two hours to explore - and often a lot lesss - before we had to go. Border crossings were a nightmare - sometimes waiting up to an hour and a half for our passports to be checked, and bearing in mind we visited four countries, that was yet more waiting around.

But the worst thing was the enforced visits to a jewellery workshop, a leather workshop and a carpet manufacturer. We had to spend around two hours in each with the hardest of hard sells (I actually ended up running from the carpet showroom pursued by a salesman!). Prices in all of these started at 500 euros and after that the sky was the limit. I didn't want any of this, and certainly didn't have that amount of money to spend, so more time wasted and we felt like we were taken for mugs.

The hotels for the first four nights were nice - spotlessly clean, but poorly situated in the back of beyond. The food was average - certainly not the 'gourmet package' we thought we had paid extra for, but again, different countries have different ideas about food.

On the fifth night we went to Lake Ohrid (renamed Lake Horrid). The hotel was like a youth hostel. The food was extremely poor, and leftovers were served up again at breakfast. Unfortunately this was our only two-night stay. Our room looked out over the lake, but unfortunately directly in front of us was a stagnant swimming pool. Three of the guests had to request a room move because of the smell of sewage.

And then, on the last night, we went to the Hotel Continental in Skopje. It was an utter dump. The food was so bad that we had to go out for fast food (luckily it was the only hotel that was attached to a town). The rooms were shabby and run down, and the lift did not work (we were on the fifth floor).

I've never ever been so relieved to get back home. Unless you are addicted to full days on a coach with much waiting, and largely uninspiring places to visit, DO NOT GO ON THIS TOUR. I know RSD would probably fall into the budget holiday category, but really this was very very poor value for money. I will never travel with RSD again.

We really enjoyed our trip to the Balkans. We were happy to get up early to allow a lot of travel - we just re-ordered our bedtime. The hotels were all fine. The guide was excellent; the driver was exceptional. Both were very friendly and relaxed. We were happy to have long journeys as we enjoy looking at the scenery as we travel. Everyone on our coach seemed very contented and was punctual about meeting times. The visits to the factories were not a problem - quite interesting in fact! We have already booked another RSD holiday.

Be prepared: extremely early hours f the night flights and very early morning starts each day, not getting to your hotel until late and having to rush down to dinner before an early night. This except for day 6 and 7 where the day was wasted hanging around and in the worst hotel with nothing to do and no running water . Schedule poorly designed. A different hotel every night- no point unpacking and very exhausting and unsettling.
Three hard-sell visits to a gold and jewellery dealer, a leather and fur dealer and a carpet dealer. A huge waste of time and money.
So much time spent on a bus with not enough time to get out and stretch your legs and go to toilet.
Local guides all very knowledgeable and good English.
Quality of hotels varied considerably but overall very poor.
Holiday guide: very good English and overall quality of information good. However she was extremely unprofessional in several ways that require note.
She told our fellow travelers that they should not have come on holiday if they didn’t want to do the extra excursion with additional costs. She told my daughter who is vegan and didn’t want to go into the leather and fur dealer that she’d be guilty if anything went missing on the bus, despite driver being in the bus.
She did a very long lecture on how we should invest in the gold and jewellery for offer in the dealer and gave a very heavy sell like she was on commission. It was very lengthy and so horrifying that a couple of travelers expressed their opinion on this. She got very angry and on entering the dealership, in front of the gold/jewellery dealer she spoke critically about us travellers and expressed her outrage calling them rude and indecent for simply expressing unhappiness for the unprofessional sales pitch.
She brought her brother and niece on the bus which is a breach of insurance policy.
She was also very poor at helping my vegan daughter who also has additional support needs. We were often given rooms on separate floors despite asking for assistance with this from guide. We had also asked for her assistance at the beginning to help liaise with her vegan diet so that she could be catered for without surviving on salad. It turns out there was 4 vegans and 3 vegetarians yet my daughter was left with nothing but cold boiled vegetables and fruit and on her own negotiations with final hotel was able to arrange for two suitable protein rich dishes and soya milk for all the vegans and vegetarians: this should have been done by guide and was actually very straightforward- it only took a little effort.

This company uses a very hard sell, they took us to carpet factory, diamond factory and leather factory in 5 days all of which lasted over 2 hours each, the guide gave us the hard sell before each of them, saying these outlets sponser RSD so we can get cheaper holidays, the outlets gave the same speech when we got to them. The guide was also extremely rude when we did not buy anything. First time we have used them and definitley the last time. Save your money

Enjoyed seeing the variety of Balkan countries. Sometimes was spent at less interesting sites or coffee breaks were overlong. This resulted in having reduced time at the highlights of the tour. Certainly the last hotel was poor in quality and the food was awful

I'm extremely disappointed with this company. I had paid initial deposit of £255 on 13th February this year for a Cyprus holiday not departing until October. I have a specific swallowing difficulty following radiotherapy for throat cancer 3 years ago. So I was advised to purchase "gourmet buffet" in evening. But not really clear how we could make this suit my needs. Anyway, after reflection and discussion with my son I cancelled the holiday today as I was very anxious about getting sufficient nutrition in a strange country etc. I was advised I wouldn't get any money back from deposit and told to claim on travel insurance. Why would I have travel insurance now if not travelling til October? Also, they clearly have time to resell this holiday. Pretty shoddy customer service. Also appears I've had a lucky escape reading stories of gruelling schedules in other reviews.

This was our third time with RSD on their trip to the Balkans. This trip was excellent value for money and we will certainly go with RSD again. Most of the negative comments I have seen are either due to folk not properly reading the very comprehensive information provided prior to booking or to their having unrealistic expectations of what standards to expect for the money they had paid. If you want champagne standards then pay champagne money! - don't expect champagne standards on lemonade money.
Our guide Mahir and driver were excellent . Yes there was a good deal of time on the coach but if you are visiting four countries in a week what do you expect?
We visited some brilliant places that we may well return to as independent travellers. We also met some lovely people on our coach. If anything detracted from the trip it was the small proportion of 'moaners' who seemed determined to find fault with everything.

Fabulous guide
Good agenda

A very well organised trip, every hotel was well selected. The tour guide Suat was very knowledgeable

We are currently on our 'free' week of the two week cultural tour 'Istanbul & the Aegean'. This must be our 7th or 8th RSD trip. This particular trip has been superb. Our guide - Suat - was incredibly knowledgeable, well organised, and with fabulous English, a great sense of humour. His independence knowledge of all the places we visited the temples, ruins, cities and towns, mosques and heritage sites was quite remarkable. The hotels have been brilliant - and - certainly for the cost of the holiday, they have been exceptional. We've read reviews that are negative for this company, and struggle to understand them !! There is no other company offering these sorts of cultural experiences - let's be clear - you're getting your flight, your transfer, your 4* or 5* hotel, your buffet breakfast, your coach driver, your tour guide ... and your second week alongside the beach in a great hotel ... for free !!! For £300 !!!! What on earth do some people expect !!!! You wouldn't get a week in the UK for that !!! Yes, you get the option of an evening meal deal, there's extra excursions and an 'all in' package on the second week. Yes, there can be a fair amount of travelling in a coach (I'm not sure how people think you'll get from one site/attraction to another without travelling in a coach !!!) But all of this, even down to the exact miles you'll travel each day is made perfectly clear before you book !
There are NO hidden extras ! It's all in the prebooking information. We haven't booked our meals for the second week, preferring to venture out , get some walking in and meet and eat at more authentic Turkish places - there was absolutely no pressure to take the meal package.
So..... we have booked and rebooked with RSD . We think that they offer exceptional value holidays, with 'choices' to pay for 'extras' if that's what you want to do. It's all clearly explained. If you want to be independent - then do your own thing. If you want the security and comfort of knowing you have a superb buffet/evening meal every night, then pay extra for it. Personally, we've seen some amazing places, had some great tour guides, and at extremely good value prices - and we've booked Cambodia and South Africa later in the year - speaks for itself !!!!!!

Beyond the Balkans - A full on overview of 4 countries, Kosovo, Macedonian, Montenegro and Albania. Greats sites from coastline to monasteries. Good tour guide and modern coaches. Hotels generally good with decent food. Great value for money.

We always enjoy RSD holidays/tours and this to Rhodes was no exception. The sights were very good and the travel arrangements, hotels and tour guide were wonderful for oldies like us. we were kept informed at every step regarding our programme and the accommodation, food, and service were very good. The free holiday in the second week was smashing and overall we were very happy with the whole holiday.

This is a new tour offered by RSD this year.
In general, excellent value & an interesting insight into a developing tourist area in SE Europe.
We visited 4 countries in 1 week which involves alot of travelling & the crossing of borders.The coach was very comfortable & air conditioned. Our driver was excellent & kept the coach immaculate. The guide,Mahir,was friendly,informative & knowledgeable.
Generally, the hotel rooms were of a high standard,but please remember that apart from Montenegro this is an area of developing tourism. The food was good with varied menus & plentiful.
The excursion package involved two boat trips & a cultural evening. During the tour we visited Tirana & Skopje & had the benefit of 2 local guides. We also saw ancient monasteries & enjoyed spectacular scenery.
Overall, a fantastic trip & great value for money.
Highly recommended!