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Reviews for Martin Cycling Adventures
4.8

Martin Cycling Adventures

I'm Silviu Martin and I founded Martin Cycling Adventures in 2013 as a boutique road cycling tour company based in Transylvania, Romania.

My mission is to support you with our unmatched local expertise to deliver the most authentic experience possible.

STUNNING LOCATIONS to practice road cycling
Our local expertise is unmatched and we have selected the most epic routes, the least trafficked roads for our tours. Silviu together with his team of guides are experienced and passionate cyclists and they are always exploring, always on the lookout for those spectacular roads we all dream about.

AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE
Everything from the ACCOMMODATION, RESTAURANTS and extra ACTIVITIES are all handpicked so that you get to know the true spirit of each country. We pay extra attention to choosing the appropriate places to crash at the end of a long day. All hotels or guest houses are carefully selected by our team for location, authenticity and character and are personally and constantly reviewed. Most of them are at least 3* and 4* locations, some with Spa & Pool. At the end of an exhausting day we know you need some pampering.

STELLAR SUPPORT
Our guides are first class, local experts that are also fluent in English. They will lead you into these once-in-a-lifetime experience in the Balkans. All our tours are supported by van or in the case of the Transfagarasan Epic with luggage transfer so that you can fully enjoy the experience and just focus on cycling.

Featured trips & expertise

Top itineraries and travel advice

Recent Trip Reviews for Martin Cycling Adventures

Silviu set us up with great road bikes
Romania | Sep 19 - Oct 3, 2019

H
Harley W.
Canada | Reviewed on Oct 11, 2019
Silviu set us up with great road bikes and some great routes for our self guided biking week.. Romanian drivers drive fast and with aggression, so the quieter routes were much more enjoyable. With hindsight we would have requested that Silviu keep us off extended rides on major highways with no shoulder, as riding those roads can be frightening and dangerous. Silviu’s selected hotels and guest houses were excellent, as were his restaurant recommendations which we requested. We would have... Read more

Silviu set us up with great road bikes and some great routes for our self guided biking week.. Romanian drivers drive fast and with aggression, so the quieter routes were much more enjoyable. With hindsight we would have requested that Silviu keep us off extended rides on major highways with no shoulder, as riding those roads can be frightening and dangerous. Silviu’s selected hotels and guest houses were excellent, as were his restaurant recommendations which we requested. We would have liked to see more detail in our itinerary for restaurants, points of interest, rest spots, etc.
Silviu also set up a driving week for us. Again excellent lodgings and restaurant recommendations, when requested. We rented the car ourselves, through a major international rental agency, and were shocked to learn at pick up that an international drivers licence was required. We were able to switch last minute to a local rental agency that didn’t required the international licence, which was a godsend, although our vehicle was smaller and cost more.
Romania is a very interesting country to visit, with many buildings and fortifications, dating from the 15th century, which blend seamlessly into modern life. Food is excellent, as is wine and beer, and all very reasonably priced. We highly recommend Romania, and Transylvania in particular, as a great place to visit.

Local specialist: Silviu Martin
Silviu
Silviu Martin
Local specialist in Bucharest, Romania | Replied on Nov 07, 2019

Dear Harley, it was a great pleasure to be able to design a tour for you in Transylvania. I'm happy you had a good time and that you appreciated the rides, hotels, and restaurants. I appreciate your recommendation to include more details about sights and other relevant highlights on your route. We will certainly take this into account for our next trips.

Thank you for your kind words and I do hope to see you again.

Greetings from Romania,

Silviu

Fall 2019 Journey
Romania | Sep 22 - Oct 1, 2019

Rod
Rod E.
Canada | Reviewed on Oct 07, 2019
The KimKim portal turned out to be an excellent tool to work with Silviu during the planning stages of the trip. It is easy to navigate and by keeping and allowing full access to the running dialogue, I found it a very good repository for reference and sharing with the rest of our group. Silviu was responsive and very willing to tailor the trip to our requirements. He included everything that we had set out for him as our "wish list" for the trip and offered some options for our... Read more

The KimKim portal turned out to be an excellent tool to work with Silviu during the planning stages of the trip. It is easy to navigate and by keeping and allowing full access to the running dialogue, I found it a very good repository for reference and sharing with the rest of our group.

Silviu was responsive and very willing to tailor the trip to our requirements. He included everything that we had set out for him as our "wish list" for the trip and offered some options for our consideration as we planned the journey which was very helpful landing on our final itineray.

Silviu was very accommodating during the planning phase as well as throughout the trip. He was knowledgeable about the countryside while sharing history of the various towns, villages and regions while we were on tour. The accommodations were well appointed, comfortable with great amenities and the food was beyond our expectations. The bicycles that Silviu provided and maintained were very good quality road bikes that performed excellent.

His transport vehicle was comfortable for the transfers that we made between cities.

Local specialist: Silviu Martin
Silviu
Silviu Martin
Local specialist in Bucharest, Romania | Replied on Oct 08, 2019

Rod, it was a great pleasure to design and run this cycling holiday for you and your friends. I enjoyed getting to know you and to hear your stories and I'm happy that we got to share quality time. I do hope we see each other again.

Until next time....never stop exploring. :)

Yours truly,

Silviu

cycling around saxon villages
Romania | May 5 - May 13, 2019

H
hugh s.
United Kingdom | Reviewed on May 17, 2019
The Saxon villages of Transylvania sounded to me like an intriguing place to visit on a bike. it is marketed as a region full of history, social upheaval and change, all set to a backdrop of stunning scenery. it is all of these things and more, the little medieval villages inhabited by industrious saxon farmers for over eight hundred years lie in amongst the pretty wooded meadows and valleys.
Due to economic deprivation over many years, these once prosperous villages are now set in a time...
Read more

The Saxon villages of Transylvania sounded to me like an intriguing place to visit on a bike. it is marketed as a region full of history, social upheaval and change, all set to a backdrop of stunning scenery. it is all of these things and more, the little medieval villages inhabited by industrious saxon farmers for over eight hundred years lie in amongst the pretty wooded meadows and valleys.
Due to economic deprivation over many years, these once prosperous villages are now set in a time freeze. unchanged in over a century. beautiful castles and fortified churches sit beside well constructed houses set out in the neat linear fashion of the Saxon village.
Since the communist era many of the Saxon people left their houses and businesses and returned to Germany . much of the land is common ground, grazed by the romany shepherds with their flocks of sheep, usually assisted by half a dozen big dogs helping to guard against the bears and wolves also living in the area!
Poverty is evident in this area, the villages and churches are very run down, though there are signs of funding and investment to repair and maintain.

It is a fabulous place to tour on a gravel bike, in fact just made for gravel bike touring! some of the roads are well surfaced, but many are either really badly potholed or just clay and rubble surfaces. there are many footpaths throughout the region which make great cycling in dry weather, beware though, when it rains the mud becomes a tenacious sticky clay that will stop any bike in its tracks! The topography is gently rolling hills with some steep but short climbs. all the while travelling through open meadows, woods and forests.

So its a great place to cycle tour, but if like me you prefer to stay in bed and breakfasts rather than camp then logistically its very difficult to make a plan. I was unable to confirm any bookings until I contacted Silviu Martin of Martin Adventures. Silviu was terrific, he arranged all the accommodation along the way , no mean feat as even with use of the native language tying down bookings was difficult. Silvui is the consummate professional, he is conscientious, and really cares that his clients get a good experience. We were a self guided group, but Silvui kept in touch to ensure everything went smoothly. I would highly recommend Martin Adventures

Local specialist: Silviu Martin
Silviu
Silviu Martin
Local specialist in Bucharest, Romania | Replied on Jun 11, 2019

Hugh, many thanks for your nice words and for this review.

It was great to have you here and, I must tell you, I was impressed when you told me that you actually had fun in that really rainy and cold day :) Also, great insights about Transylvania. I'm sure they will also help other travelers. Looking forward to seeing you again.

Regards, Silviu

tour of Romania
Romania | Aug 18 - Aug 24, 2018

Steve
Steve P.
United Kingdom | Reviewed on Aug 26, 2018

Had a great time, Silviu was very helpful and kept in touch with our progress, he was very professional. We will recommend you and Silviu. Thanks again. Steve, and rest of group.

Local specialist: Silviu Martin
Silviu
Silviu Martin
Local specialist in Bucharest, Romania | Replied on Sep 28, 2018

Steve, I'm so happy you enjoyed your time cycling here in Transylvania. :) The area you explored is one of my favorite ones in Romania. Hope to see you and the guys again.

Cheers,

Silviu