Best of Lake Como: 7-Day Tour of Italy’s Famous Lake

WOW!  This vacation far exceeded our expectations.  The travel company took our starting point, a half marathon race in the Italian Alps, and created a memorable experience.  This occurred at several levels.  First, the accommodations were all top notch.  In Milan, they had wonderful English speaking front desk staff who even found a camera charger with outlet adapter left behind.  The Milan location allowed easy walking to major attractions, dining, and shopping.  In Varenna we had a lake view room with a  balcony overlooking Lake Como, and again, attentive English speaking staff and convenient to local shopping, dining, and the ferry to Bellagio.  The same occurred in Sondrio and Monforte as well.  All guides spoke adequate to fluent English, and we enjoyed the large variety of activities, from hiking to visiting operations for cheese and wine making to dining at Michelin star restaurants. All reservations were as expected.  The drivers were all professional, courteous, and spoke some English.With regard to service during the trip, this travel company again excelled.  At a couple of times on the trip I had concerns about something upcoming (I am a control freak with a small Italian vocabulary).  The travel designer at this company had welcomed us to contact her by the an App if we had any questions or issues during the trip.  On all three occasions she responded to my text message inquires via the App, made phone calls on our behalf, and assured everything went seamlessly.  Having someone with a strong language fluency and familiarity with the region made us feel very secure. 

"Italy Luxury Trip Review: 8-Day Tour."

Our custom trip through Italy was one of the most amazing travel experiences we have had. Cameron’s attention to details and knowledge of unique and incredible activities created a whirlwind tour through Venice, Como, Tuscany, Florence, Rome, and more. We had the absolute best hotels, restaurants, tour guides, ground transportation, boat tours, and more. We had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stand in the Sistine Chapel alone, before any other groups, in the cool and quiet of the morning and really take-in the art, history, and feeling of it all. We had a boat tour of Lake Como where we were literally the only ones on the water and with the sunshine peaking through clouds like spotlights on the villas that lined the coast. We had a private lunch of the best northern Italian wines, cheeses, meats, and more while in Bellagio with a charismatic host who told us stories about the vineyards in the region. We had the privilege of having the center table at the fine dining restaurant located in the hills of Tuscany and enjoyed their specially prepared tasting menu. We enjoyed 5-star hotels with rooms that overlooked the Grand Canal in Venice and the Domo in Florence. Our tour guides were traveling professors from prestigious universities, art and architecture historians, and locals who had childhood friendships with museum curators that allowed us special access to restricted areas. If you are thinking about a trip to Italy, I highly recommend you contact Cameron - you will never forget your experience.

Let us begin by saying that the team that the travel company have assembled for our vacation in Italy have delivered value well beyond our expectations. We were already impressed from the first moment our travel specialist prepared the draft itinerary for us and as we progressed with each iteration of the itinerary, it has only reinforced our belief that we have found the right person to work with for our first trip to Italy. As we embarked on our journey, the people whom we came across, starting with those who drove and accompanied us to Lake Como and meeting our contact for the first time at the villa have been most hospitable. We knew then we were off to a good start for our vacation. Our contact was very thorough and reassuring with our every little need, from the contact details, exact spellings and pronunciations of the names of our upcoming guides to the smallest of details for every booking and hotel for the rest of the trip, she was always there and checking on us on a daily basis. Her presence was always felt throughout the vacation and her availability was reassured by checking in on us on a daily basis.Our first guide exhibited warmth and care from the first moment we met her. Our morning with her at Lake Como was relaxed and an excellent introduction to Italy. We were blessed with good weather and with her as our guide in Como, we learned a fair bit of how to move around the town and we were quite comfortable towards the end to spend the rest of the afternoon by ourselves, taking the ferry back to Cernobbio on our own. And then there was our driver, who was always punctual throughout the entire time we were at Lake Como. He has accompanied us at every journey, from the airport to the Villa, recommended us to visit SerraValle in place of FoxTown due to inclement weather, extended our day trip to include Bellagio as part of our itinerary and finally, brought us from the villa to Milan where he introduced us to our guide in Milan, who was both knowledgeable and professional. Our driver was always at our disposal and even joined us at breaks and lunch with our guide in Milan. We finally parted ways when he brought us to the Milan Central to meet with our other contact who checked us in to the train expediently.As we arrived Florence, our guide met with us at the train station platform directly where we stopped. It was a pleasure meeting her and subsequently, our driver. Both of them were friendly and very hospitable in getting us settled in at the Hotel, which incidentally got us upgraded to a junior suite upon check in which was a pleasant surprise. The following day we met with our guide, whom we found to be extremely knowledgeable of the city and its history and totally passionate over the art she introduced to us at Uffizi and the Accademia Gallery. We enjoyed our time with her in Florence. The following day, our driver picked us up first thing in the morning and we had the pleasure of his company throughout the day. Our first stop was Siena, where we met with our guide who was very energetic and enthusiastic about everything to do with Siena. We learned a fair bit of the town and its history over a relatively short period of time through her. The rest of the afternoon was spent with our driver who drove us to the vineyard in Tuscany and subsequently back to Florence where we drove up to Piazza Michelangelo to take in the panoramic view of the city. We are very pleased to have met our driver who was thoroughly hospitable and informative throughout the time we spent with him. Our contact met us at the train station and arranged for seats close to the luggage area as we were traveling with a couple large luggages. She kept us company while waiting for the train and saw us off as we headed towards Rome.At Rome, our guide greeted us at the platform and our driver drove us to the Hotel. Our guide gave us a quick introduction to the city as we headed to the hotel but most importantly, recommended us to a local restaurant nearby the hotel. We loved it so much we ended up dining there all three days we were in Rome. The following day, we met with our guide who was absolutely outstanding. We spent most of the whole day with her at Vatican City, had lunch with her, visited key spots around Rome and finally had a quick pre-dinner snack at Trastevere. We were very impressed by our guide's passion over the history of Rome and her inexhaustible energy. Throughout the day, our driver drove us professionally from one spot to another and was never far away from us whenever we leave the vehicle. We were picked up by another driver the following morning at 5am and headed to the Airport with plenty of time to spare before boarding our flight home.Overall, the entire trip went without a hitch from start to finish and totally stress-free, thanks to the meticulous amount of planning and the professionalism of the team who were there with us every step along the way. It is hard for us to pick particular best moments as they were all outstanding in their own right. We will definitely pay more visits to Italy when opportunity permits and will be in touch with the travel company again when the time comes.