European Getaway: France, Switzerland, Italy Tour

We decided on the location and planned the trip to the three Italian cities of Venice, Florence and Rome only about a month before. Using this travel agency thru Zicasso was key to getting hotels with great locations, good tour guides, transfer arrangements and proper timing for touring of all the cities. The trip went very smoothly and we were able to focus on enjoying the trip.

Thanks for helping me organize my family (of 10 with diverse age from 15 to 63) trip to Italy, from Dec 17 to Dec 31. Whilst different member of my family have different expectation and requirement, I would like to comment you and your team on having planned an excellent trip that not only met each and everyone's interest and expectation but truly exceeded it.

Your planning have brought us to the lovely cities of Parma, Modena, Florence, Orvieto, Civita Di Bagnoregio, Naples, Rome, Venice, Cortina d'Amprezzo and back to our starting point Milan. Throughout the trip, we have a well balance itinerary that covered

- beautiful churches such as the Duomo in Milan, Rome, Florence,

- archeological site like Pompeii, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Pisa, Verona (learning more about romeo and Juliet)

- great local eating places (recommended by the guides you chose)

- lovely country side and unique sight in San Gimignano, Civita Di Bagnoregio, Orvieto, Lake Como,

- great gallery likes Uffizi, Academia

- Interesting activity such as Snow Mobile excursion in Cortina, Learning Cooking 

- Shopping activities

With so much, yet your team immaculate planning never have us rushing from sight to sight, we were both able to enjoy and learn as much as we can of each sight and at times added more activities.

The team of guides you chose, have truly turn stone and history into exciting stories that the provided the group deeper understanding of the sights we visited and saw. Really like to thank each on of them like our guides in Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano, Orvieto and Civita Di Bagnoregio, Naples and Pompeii, Rome, Verona, Venice and Milan.

But most importantly, thank you for getting our driver, he truly ensure our comfort whilst driving steadily through jams on our way to Naple and snow storm on our way to Cortina d Amprezzo and also took very good care of us ensuring we know what to do where we have no guides and leaving us clear instruction when we needed help. He is truly a wonder.

I will definitely tell my friends heading to Italy about this company.... A wonderfully great experience.

Overall, the tour planned for us was incredible in scope. We appreciate how much coordination goes into planning stays at five locations for five people (two couples and a single) over a 14-day period. One of the advantages to having a professional handle the logistics of such a journey is foreknowledge of the available lodgings, and this was certainly evident here. Each hotel, in our opinion, was unique in its own way and representative of each particular locale, especially  from the ornate rooms in Venice, to the rustic charm of the farmhouse in Tuscany, to the mountainside accomodations in Positano; each was outstanding. We also appreciated the manner in which our travel agency provided us with important phone numbers, pictures of guides, dining recommendations and other valuable information.

Most impressive, I think we all agreed, was the transportation between destinations. The rides were comfortable, and the drivers were courteous and knowledgeable; I do not believe we would have been able to arrange this part of the trip as well as it was handled by this travel agency. (A special shout-out goes to our Venice to Florence driver who arranged an impromptu visit to a balsamic vinegar farm while we were en route!)

Our travel agency's choice of guides was equally laudable; each was accommodating and knowledgeable. They expedited our entries into the various attractions, allowed us to go at our own pace to a great degree, gave us some excellent restaurant suggestions, and basically made us feel special. In retrospect, I feel that we should have not scheduled as many tours as we did and left more time for independent exploration, but that certainly was not the fault of this company; we were the ones who drove the schedule. That being said, the golf cart tour of Rome seemed like a good idea at the start, but I don’t think it was what we expected; we found many of the destinations uninteresting and mostly forgettable. We found what we felt would have been better places to visit just from walking around Rome on our own.

The one big negative of the entire trip was our final stop in Positano. We had required, and were given, three rooms at all of our other locations, but for some reason, the travel agency originally booked only two rooms for us in Positano, meaning that our single traveler would have to bunk with one of the couples for three nights in a one bed, one bath room. We only found out about this arrangement a month before our trip, and would not have even known about it if one of our party didn’t notice it on her own. Our travel agency's solution was to house the single traveler in a separate hotel for two nights and then with one of our couples for the final night…inconvenient, but doable. However, upon reaching Positano, we found an error in the reservation (the wrong dates were reserved…how does this happen?) and ended up with one room for four people. At this point, we were unable to reach any a company representative; the problem was eventually solved by the hotel manager at the hotel, but it involved us staying in three separate (and not co-located) hotels for one night, two separate locations for the second night, and finally all of us in a villa the last night. The villa was probably our favorite lodging, and things worked out in the end, but unfortunately, this was no thanks to our travel agency.

This is really a shame because this trip was so well-planned, and yet, the freshest memory we have of it was this last situation. Many times we were amazed how our travel agency found all of the people and places, such as the Chef’s Dinner in Florence and the honey and wine tasting in Tuscany, that made this a once in a lifetime experience. We expected there to be missteps along the way in an undertaking of this size, but it seems like that whole Positano debacle could have been avoided if the correct reservations were made at the outset when we all agreed upon them.

Locations Visited: Venice, Verona, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, Pienze, Rome, Pompeii, Positano

My husband and I planned this trip for our 10-year anniversary. I’m a person with high expectation and this travel agency exceeded all my expectations. The entire trip was dream.

We opted for personalized tours and transport for 95% of our trip. All of our drivers were wonderful. They arrived on time and made sure we made it to all of our destinations without issue. They had the contact information for the tour guides we were meeting. Upon arrival to our first hotel, a local cell phone and gift were given to us. Having the iPhone during our trip made any needed communication with our agent and his team a breeze. In addition, we used the phone apps for navigation throughout the cities we visited. We made a last-minute request for an additional private transport, and our agent was able to make it happen. We greatly appreciated their customer service.

We participated in a several unique experiences while in Italy. We went truffle hunting in Pienza, which was amazing. After, we were served a meal that highlighted truffles and the cheeses made locally. In addition, we did a cooking day in Rome. This was a private cooking class where we made pasta, several sauces, and appetizers. The one disappointment is that we never received the recipes from the chef (we were told by the chef that they would be emailed to us). However, this is a knock on the chef and not our travel agent. Once the class was done, we were served a meal in a private garden area. Lastly, we did a food walking tour in Rome. This was an amazing way to find local cuisine that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. A wonderful experience.

All of our tour guides were excellent. They were knowledgeable, friendly, and familiar with the cities. We had one guide that really went into the details and reasons for expressions in the art. We didn’t care for that, but we didn’t specify that ahead of time or to the guide. It was wonderful seeing her excitement and passion for all of the amazing working works of art and sculpture that we saw.

Overall, I would highly recommend this travel agent and his team if you are traveling to Italy!! You will not be disappointed. We gave him our wish list of activities, accommodation preferences, etc. ahead of time and he made sure we got them all! Thank you for such a wonderful and memorable trip. If we are able to return to Italy, you will be hearing from us.

The trip was good and the travel company did their job well. I'm particularly pleased with their recommended hotel location in all 5 cities - Rome, Florence, Milan, Interlaken and Lucerne. The hotels are centrally located and provides easy access to most of the desired attractions.

However, improvement can be made if we are informed clearly that certain area of visit are really really near the hotel, and easily accesible by wheelchair so that transport may not be required. 

To be precise, I've enquired about visiting Trastevere and were informed that we need transport arrangement to get there. Luckily the hotel staff in Rome gave us both directiions and restaurant recommendations as it's wonderfully near our  hotel and we managed to had lunch there with our wheelchair bound son.

Similarly our morning date with a chocolate facility in Interlaken was also very near the hotel of stay, hence the car is not required for that morning. 

Perhaps more detail should be given so that travellers can make their own decision on the requirement of the car as I understand these constitute a big part of the cost when making the quotation for each customer's travel plans.