I highly recommend Patrik as a tour guide! He gave us an incredible experience exploring Lake Bled and Ljubljana, sharing so many fascinating historical highlights along the way. His deep knowledge and engaging storytelling brought the rich history of these beautiful places to life. Patrik's passion and enthusiasm made the tour not only informative but also truly enjoyable. If you're looking for an unforgettable way to discover Slovenia, Patrik is the perfect guide!

Despite being a winter Sunday with few options open, the tour was excellent, and the guide showed great knowledge of the place. The wine and lunch were amazing. We loved everything.

My parents and I booked a one-week private tour from Zadar to Berlin this Fall. Our first stop was the beautiful Lake Bled in Slovenia, where our guide Ante Lovric took us up to the overlooking fortress, then on a lovely drive around the lake, and finally lunch at a restaurant that specialized in the local dishes. The next stop was scenic Salzburg, where we overnighted at a quaint family-run hotel on the outskirts of town and enjoyed shopping in the city center. The following day we arrived in Munich for the beginning over Oktoberfest. Since my mom loves shopping, Ante was so kind to take us to the largest mall before we headed to do “some” beer tasting. Luckily our guide has been before so he knew the ins and outs of Oktoberfest protocol and showed us a wonderful time. We then drove to Berlin, which is a long drive, but thankfully the van was a comfortable new Mercedes so it was easy to relax. Ante helped to organize a hotel in Berlin, sight-seeing tour, and restaurants. My parents and I had a wonderful experience thanks to the professionalism and thorough agenda created by Ante! Highly recommended and of course ask for Ante! His knowledge of the local history and insider knowledge will enhance your trip!

While our trip was enjoyable, it was NOT because of our tour guide. We had an enthusiastic recommendation to use Jakov, owner of The Guide Croatian Authentic Tours company, as our guide. We worked with Jakov to plan our visit and repeatedly told him we expected him to be our guide based on the strong rec he had been given. He in turn told us he would be our guide unless family matters interfered. Then, after we had paid significant dollars (higher than we wanted but worth it we thought because of the guide recommendation), we arrived to discover that Jakov was leading a separate tour in Austria and we had a substitute. We received no advance notice of the change nor was any refund offered. The substitute was a fine person and a good driver. However he was NOT a trained, experienced and knowledgeable guide and was unable to answer most of the questions we had. We resorted to using on line resources to glean information about what we were seeing. We learned more in the two hours we spent with local guides in two of the cities we visited than we did from the substitute guide the company provided in Jakov's stead. We actually learned (after we returned and sent an email reporting our unhappiness) that the substitute guide was sick so could not lead the Austrian tour (query why he could lead our tour?) and now we believe that is why three of our group came down with COVID during our tour. We would suggest you find a different company so you don't have to worry about having an inexperienced (and possibly sick) guide leading your tour. By the way, none of our group has ever given a negative review to a tour operator prior to this experience but Jakov and this company treated us dishonestly and we feel that other travelers should be aware of the risks.

Amazing! Amazing! We’d the most enjoyable and well planned 14-day holiday in Austria & Bavaria. We learnt so much about the history of Austria & Bavaria from Jakov as well as the local guides that Jakov arranged in Salzburg. & Munich. We really enjoyed the beauty and tranquility of the lakes - Kongnisee, Hallstattsee, Gosausee, Wolfgangsee, Zell Am See, Alpsee and Eibsee, The majestic alps of Wachmann and Zugspitze, taking Schafbergbahn and making a trip up Eagle’s Nest are must-do. Don’t forget the hidden gems of Gosau, Mittenwald and Rothenburg of the Germany romantic road. Everything went so smoothly and we were well entertained by Jakov’s jokes through the 14-day. Good hotels, beautiful scenery of lakes and mountains and great company!!! What more can we ask for. Highly recommend Jakov! This is our 4th trip traveling with him, he always do his best and someone we can trust our holiday plans. Special thanks to Jakov!!!

Just got back from a fabulous 2 week trip planned by Jakov and guided for the most part by Patrik. We were recommended to tour Croatia and to connect with Jakov by our family doc who's been on four trips with Jakov :-) For our first trip to this part of the world, it hit all the highlights and Patrik was dedicated and attentive, and detail and needs oriented. Safe driver! He also connected superbly with my sons in their early 20s and late teens. Was super to get to chat with him and Jakov through the trip and get to know how some local Croatians. Hotels were well planned according to our specs - we requested a triple and a twin room either connecting or close to one another. Of note, Patrik observed our family and suggested a change to the planned itinerary which worked out beautifully - so instead of another coastal city/churches, he took us to Lipica Horse Farm, preceded by a delicious lunch. On another day, after discussing which cave we preferred to visit, we ended up choosing Postojna because of the cool train ride :-P - but we appreciated how both Patrik and Jakov gave their honest opinions on each. Jakov is full of crackling energy and so fun and authentic to talk to! I will not hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking to tour the region (and we've found he also does tours to surrounding areas too!) Something else to note: from October, many hotels turn off the AC and turn on central heating, so those like us who need a lower temperature for sleeping need to sleep with the windows open, which may not be optimal depending on whether your room overlooks a street.

We loved the area and tour. The winery was wonderful and views spectacular. Our guide was informative and fun. Would highly recommend this toyr

Very knowledgeable guide, comfortable van, beautiful countryside, personalized service. The winery staff took the time to explain their operation in detail, and the wine was delicious. We recommend the tour highly.

Our experience with The Guide was fabulous. All we had to do was enjoy all that the Balkans had to offer. Jakov customized a tour for us base on our preferences and added his suggestions of sites to see. We covered an amazing amount of area in two weeks...from Zagreb to Ljubljana all the way down the coast to Dubrovnik. The hotels, the meals, our knowledgeable guide and driver, Patrik all combined for a first class experience. I would not hesitate for a second to recommend The Guide to anyone who wants to truly explore and learn about the real Croatia and surroundings.

I don't normally write reviews, but we had such a wonderful time on our two week tour that I am compelled to let others know. Without going into detail, every hotel we stayed in was really nice - better than ones we would have picked for ourselves. I believe the term is "four star" hotels, and I believe it. We did a lot of driving because there was so much we wanted to see in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but much of the travel time was an opportunity to have Patrik (our driver and guide extraordinaire) fill us in on the history of the people and places we were going to. Patrik was outstanding and really added to the enjoyment of the trip. By the time we were done, he was like one of the family. :-) Another thing I liked about the personalized tour was that we could change our minds about what we wanted to see or do on a certain day and, if reasonable (and possible), Patrik would adjust our itinerary accordingly. We ended up seeing very cool things that were not on our original itinerary - and having lunch in Italy! Thank you Patrik and Jakov for the outstanding job you did taking care of all the details and making sure we had an excellent time. We Did!

Do not hesitate to employ The Guide as your private tour planner! The planning stages went so smoothly thanks to Jakov who corresponded with me via email through the whole process. Jakov was quick to reply to every question with great suggestions and was very accommodating to the requests of our group of 6 adults, which resulted in a fabulous well-planned 12-day tour through Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia. The hotels were beautiful, comfortable and all had great food. There were so many trip details and they all went smoothly. Our tour guide and driver was an amiable young man, Patrik, who is very knowledgeable and passionate about the beautiful regions we visited and their history. Patrik saw to our every need with patience, friendliness and good humor. Here's the best thing about private tours - you can hear the tour guide and ask questions; you can actually find a place together to sit down for dinner; you can linger at a spot for a bit longer; you can slip into stores and ask your tour leader to wait up a bit and you can change plans en route! Patrik accommodated all of this with ease as well as suggesting restaurants and foods to try, places to explore on our own and giving us plenty of free time to experience the area. We had so much fun with Patrik! Thanks again, Jakov and Patrik, for making this tour such a wonderful experience for our group. If we are ever in the region again, we will call on you!

The Guide, helmed by Jakov Radman, has developed a strong following among Singaporeans, which is not small feat given Singaporeans' avid appetite for traveling and high standards demanded of any experience. We were referred to Jakov by a friend who had traveled with him. The first thing to say is that Jakov is highly personable and gave very close personal attention to detail in order to deliver what we desired of a private two-family tour. We communicated via email, WhatsApp chat and video calls to make our plans for a 2 week trip. Jakov gave very helpful guidance as to where best to enter and leave, and we ultimately entered via Istanbul to Podgorica in Montenegro, wound our way northward and exited via Zagreb through Frankfurt. We had a busy itinerary that would no doubt be a skim and sample savour of Croatia as a priority, with forays into Montenegro, Bosnia and Slovenia. Our courier, guide and driver was Jakov's close collaborator Ante Lovric, who was the epitome of a perfectly balanced guide: friendly, equanimous, efficient, informative, flexible and responsive. Ante ensured that we were well looked after and we had great confidence in him throughout the trip. It would take too long to describe the highlights of all the places we went to, except to say that they were well chosen to represent the best of each region we traversed, in terms of history, culture, food and wine. We could pin Budva, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Mostar, Plitvice Lakes, Rovinj, Postojna caves, Bled, Ljubljana and Zagreb as stops providing special memories. At every region we left wishing we could have spent a whole week there. Memorable interludes included dinners and lunches (as part of the itinerary and curated by Jakov and Ante) at absolutely local and down-to-earth establishments boasting the freshest and best victuals typical of the area, wine tastings at family run wineries and oyster tasting in the Bay of Ston, on a boat, offered by a 5th generation oyster farmer, accompanied by local wines. To illustrate the flexibility and the personal touch, Ante offered us a variation of our itinerary which we readily accepted, an option to bypass Zadar, no doubt another very attractive historical city on the Dalmatian coast, in favour of a completely different experience, heading into the scenic foothills to his home village of Miljevci to meet his father and brother (and family dog Ron, whom our kids loved!) in their family home and to partake of village style hospitality in a local tavern restaurant by an olive grove, where apart from a sumptuous lunch grilled to perfection a la minute we had the opportunity to try home made white and red wines and a range of delicious but head spinning Schnapps-like shots. We had requested accommodations with character, rather than generic tourist hotels. Apart from Dubrovnik where by the nature of the options available outside of the walled city, our hotel was rather nondescript, the rest of our accommodations were mostly interesting, historic buildings in the cultural heart of our destinations, refurbished to a high standard and offering bed and breakfast of exceptional quality. Standouts were Hotel Santa Lucia Heritage in Split, Hotel Villa Tutorotto in Rovinj and Hotel Triglav in Bled. Restaurants curated for us were superb, with special mention going to Sandvran in Mostar, Bakus in Ston, Peace in Miljevci, Sestica in Ljubljana and Batak Grill in Zagreb. Of those we tried on our own, the only disappointment was Pod Napun in Motovun, which was meant to be a tasty introduction to truffle cuisine in Istria, but which instead disappointed us in the poor quality of food (but with due credit to a rather nice steak) and the complete absence of even a whiff of truffle, despite truffle prices on everything. The waiter tried "It's like that", but we are not truffle naive. We recommended to Ante to steer his future clients away from this place. Overall, it was a wonderful introduction to this part of the world, an emerging and rapidly developing tourist destination, full of friendly folk, where we always felt very safe, more so than in many of the more well known locations in Europe. It is a region which we longed to return to even as we finished our tour, due in no small part to the careful curation of our itinerary by Jakov and the highly professional and well appreciated efforts of Ante to make our time with him very special. We will be back, and we will in future focus on individual regions for more depth than breadth.

What an unforgettable tour of Slovenia and Croatia with Jakov and Ante. We were blown away by the beauty these countries had to offer, made more enjoyable by the dedication and passion of Jakov and Ante. Jakov took us to the beautiful Lake Bled and Ljubjiana while Ante brought us around Croatia and a day trip to Montenegro for the rest of our 15-day trip. We were blessed with a variety of experiences from the amazing waterfalls in Plitvice & Krka National Parks, to fortified Old Towns like Dubrovnik, Trogir and Omis to name a few to the beautiful city of Zagreb where it snowed on one of the evenings. We have learnt so much about the history of the country from Ante which made the experience so much richer. What we appreciate is that Ante and Jakov made the effort to understand our culture and we felt an immediate connection with them. Their recommendation of restaurants have been good and we ate well. Thank you Ante and Jakov! We will definitely recommend you to our friends! Wishing you a blessed Christmas and happy new year in advance!

We travelled to Slovenia & Croatia twice (pre/ post pandemic) and we had a really amazing time exploring different parts of the countries as there’s so much to see and explore and never enough time to cover all. We trust Jakov as he’s reliable, customer oriented and always do his best even during difficult situations such as our tour mate couple came down with Covid during our 2023 trip. His willingness and agility in making last minute adjustments to accommodate his customers’ needs is very valuable. I just came back from Tuscany trip organised by Jakov and team mate Ante and once again it’s really enjoyable and all the tour itinerary very well planned, hotels were great

I totally enjoyed my second visit to the Balkans (private 16 days tour) thanks to them for making it really fun and memorable. Their passion for their country/the region and their understanding and deep knowledge of the cultures and history added that extra perspective/flavor that I really appreciate. Jakov Radman took really good care of us eg logistics, accommodations and sharing the amazing history of the places. Love his fun personality too and giving us so many laughing moments to remember. And I enjoyed the food much more this round as he had great recommendations on restaurants and food as well. Also really blessed to have Patrick Gilja as my driver/guide for the trip (in the 2nd car). In addition to his passion and knowledge of the region, really thankful for his safe driving, understanding and patience to deal with 4 vocal women in his car for most of the holiday 😁. I will definitely go with them again to explore other parts of this beautiful region.