The fine print we actually want you to read.

An agreement between us and a platform or brand: when someone arrives at their site through one of our links and buys something, they pay us a small percentage. You pay exactly the same as you would coming from anywhere else. No inflated price, no hidden fee, no discount you miss out on by coming from us.

This list updates if we sign a new agreement or drop one. The date at the top tells you when it was last reviewed.

Our rule, in this order:

• Would we use it ourselves? If the answer is no, we don't recommend it. Period.
• Does it work for the kind of traveller who reads us? What suits a 22-year-old backpacker doesn't suit a 50-year-old couple coming for an anniversary. We recommend by context, not by commission.
• Is there an affiliate agreement available? Only then do we add the affiliate link. If there isn't one, we link directly to the provider's site without affiliation.

What we will never do:

• Recommend something we wouldn't try just because it pays a higher commission.
• Inflate hotel or tour ratings because we have an agreement with them.
• Hide real flaws of a service to keep the commission.
• Remove legitimate criticism from articles at the request of an affiliate partner.

If you ever see an article where a piece of criticism disappeared, email us at corrections@visitingthebalkans.com. We review it. If we got it wrong, we fix it. If we did it on purpose, we explain why.

In every article that contains affiliate links, we say so explicitly at least once. We use formulas like:

"Affiliate links. No extra cost to you, a small commission to us — and one of the few pieces of fine print in this article we actually want you to read in full."

If you missed the notice in some article, assume by default that any link going to one of the platforms in section 02 is probably an affiliate link.

We reinvest it in what you see: hosting, photography, research trips we couldn't otherwise afford, hours of writing and editing, working tools. This isn't a million-dollar business. It's an independent project trying not to depend on intrusive advertising — and affiliate links are part of how we manage that.

If you'd rather support us without going through affiliates, you can subscribe to the newsletter, share our articles, or write to tell us where you found us.

Of course. If you'd rather not contribute to our commission, you can go directly to the provider's site by typing the URL into your browser. What we recommend stays the same.

There's no penalty, no content disappears. The information is the information, with or without affiliation.

This policy is published in compliance with:

• The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable European law.
• The EU Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires clear labelling of sponsored or commercially-influenced content.
• The US FTC guidelines on disclosure of commercial relationships in digital publications — applicable to our international audience.

If you think we haven't disclosed properly in any specific article, write to privacy@visitingthebalkans.com. We review fast and fix it if you're right.

Yes, we make a living from this too. No, it doesn't make us recommend worse. If it bothers you, don't use the links. If it helps to know what we recommend without filters: read and decide.

All we ask is that you know how it works — and now you do.