Ten Day Amalfi Coast Itineraries

I have to begin by saying I've told everyone how pleased I am with Zicasso and the travel agent they recommended.  I also have to say that I was very hesitant to book my trip with a company that I had only communicated with via email.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about.

The initial response I received from my agent was immediate and continued right up until our actual trip while we were in Italy.  I let her know where I wanted to go, what I wanted to see, told her I was interested in a mix of arranged tours and time on our own.  She listened and also made great suggestions.  I honestly can't say enough about how wonderful she was to work with, along with her co-worker.

They arranged for all our hotels, transportation and tours.  Every driver and guide we had was top notch.  They made a point of keeping us in small groups, sometimes only the two of us and the guide.

Our 19 day trip began in Venice where we were met at the airport and driven to a private water taxi.  That driver walked us out of the boat and made sure we knew how to find our hotel. Our departure was just as seamless.  A guide met us in our lobby, walked with us to the water taxi, came into the train station with us and explained the board to us, pointing out our train and track number.  

We continued on to Verona, Cinque Terre, Tuscany, Florence, Naples, the Amalfi Coast and Rome.  Since we weren't in any one place longer than three days it was extremely helpful to have guides, even for just a couple of hours to orient us, which saved us a lot of time.  We had guides for a walking tour in Venice, a morning in Cinque Terre traveling with us between the villages, the Accademia in Florence, Pompeii, an Amalfi Coast drive and the Vatican in Rome.  Every one of the them was passionate and proud and we learned so much.  We had a car in Tuscany and saw many other places on our own, Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena, Montalcino, Montepulciano.  We stayed in Sorrento, spent one day on Capri and another full day on a tour to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, which included a short boat ride along the coast.  Spectacular.  Our only tour in Rome was the Vatican but we saw all the other major sites on our own, taking the metro, bus, taxis and walking, lots of walking.  It was the perfect mix of free time and arranged tours.

And, they also worked with our children who surprised us with a dinner in Venice for our anniversary after a gondola ride!

One great advantage to having your tour guide in the country you're visiting, you're in the same time zone.  We had one mishap with a train and were able to talk to them right away.  Other than that, everything worked liked clockwork.

I would definitely use them again and have told everyone I know what a wonderful job they did for us.

When we inquired about a trip on Zicasso, they told us a few companies would reach out to us with different offers on our desired location. It only took one reply back from this agent for me to know that we would have a more personable experience with this travel agency. (Mainly because he was straight up with us concerning itinerary ideas, especially regarding weather and how it is unpredictable in March. He patiently worked with my fiance and me for quite a while before we approved the final itinerary filled with transportation to and from hotels, private tours (some meant to be small group, but we ended up being only ones), and pre-planned relaxing train-rides. There wasn’t a moment of our trip that we had to worry or even think about- really. Our first stop was Rome, where we spent 3 days. Upon arrival at the airport in Rome, we had a driver waiting for us, which was a huge relief since we were tired and last thing we wanted to stress about was how to get to our hotel. Our local point-of-contact for the agency also called once we arrived to make sure we had everything we needed. He was great! Once we reached our hotel, we slept off the jet-lag and then our holiday started. March is the early beginning of the tourist season, so we were able to do many things without waiting. Not saying it was empty, but we had room on the sidewalks and were in and out of restaurants in no time at all. I also highly recommend planning free days in each city, as you will want to look around for yourself and take your time in certain parts. Even if you spend a week in every city, you always leave feeling like you needed much more time, as there is so much to do and so little time in a day. We spent 3 days/4 nights in Florence. It was in Florence that we were able to easily tour a good bit of what Tuscany has to offer. Through tours our agent set up for us, we visited the beautiful cities of Siena, San Gimignano (Our Favorite), Lucca, Pisa, and the Chianti Region. We tasted sooooo many wonderful wines and privately ate at local restaurants for lunch. We also took a short train ride to Venice for a day trip, as I craved a gondola ride. Everything was planned so perfectly. The minute we stepped off the train in Venezia our guide to get us to our marked location was there with a water taxi to take us to St Mark’s Square. There, she directed us to our gondola and we spent the day wondering around Venice until meeting up back with her and the water taxi to take us back to the train station. After Florence, we traveled to Sorrento (our other favorite!) along the Amalfi Coast. It was magical and the weather was perfect. We had our own boat to visit the grottos (no wait for the Blue Grotto either!) and to the Isle of Capri; and although most of the shops were closed on the isle (early season still), it was beautiful and we were able to relax on the beach. We saw Pompeii and even hiked up Mount Vesuvius. Sorrento was a quaint and charming city and we made friends with quite a few locals. We truly had a wonderful honeymoon and I would recommend this agency to everyone. We could not be happier!

Overall, we had a great time. One of the drivers even wished us a happy 15-year wedding anniversary as he greeted us in Rome for one of our tours, which was very nice. The Zicasso travel company was very responsive and helpful with all my questions, and our itinerary was very clear and descriptive.

The guides for the walking tours were excellent, demonstrated great knowledge of the culture and history of the different cities we visited, maintained great energy throughout the tour, and made sure we were able to get to our next destination safely. The guides had a good command of English for the most part, which made communication easy.

In Venice, the gondola ride turned out to be 20 minutes as it was probably a busy time of day (around 12.30pm local time). The gondolier was not very engaging. However, we appreciated the experience on the canal.

Florence was a beautiful city, with so many museums, buildings, and gardens to see. Sorrento was wonderful. The Amalfi Coast was a sight to see, along with the everyday view of Vesuvius from Sorrento.

Our hotel in Sorrento was by far the best of all in the four cities in terms of size and view, even though all the hotels were rated four stars.

Planning a whirlwind 10-night, four-city tour of Italy in the summer is not easy and I thought the company did an excellent job.