Scandinavia Tours From USA

The four of us really enjoyed the trip Zicasso's tour planner created for us. She was responsive and quick to reply to our questions, including while on the trip. We visited Bergen, Odda, Trolltunga, Aurland, Ålesund, and Oslo. Our highlights were Trolltunga and Aurland. We would have gladly traded an extra day at Aurland and skipped the Flåm railroad, as that was too touristy for our taste, but we can only say that after having been there.

We just returned from a three-week trip through Scandinavia. Our trip included stops in Stockholm, Oslo, Aurland, and Bergen, a cruise along the Norwegian coast, and Copenhagen. We are fortunate enough to be able to do two or three international trips a year. This was one of our best trips; a wonderful experience.

We worked closely with Zicasso’s travel designer at the tour company to plan this trip. From our very first contact with her, we found her to be very knowledgeable, with some wonderful ideas. And just as important, she was always super-responsive. The hotels she selected were terrific, the walking tours were very interesting, and our cruise on the cruise boat was unforgettable. We are fussy American travelers and the travel designer was still able to plan a perfect trip. I am already thinking about another trip to book with her and the tour company.

First, do not send me a water bottle; I have more than enough. Overall, we had a great trip to Norway, with a good balance between time in the cities of Stavanger, Bergen, and Oslo, and rural retreats. We stayed in fine old hotels in magnificent settings on the Geiranger and Lustra fjords. We reveled in a quieter pace, with more time to enjoy nature. Our agent selected terrific hotels in each setting and, during the trip, was attentive to our needs and responsive when some minor problems arose.

Our trip was great. We sincerely appreciated the knowledgeable and personable travel guides in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Bergen. I do not remember the name of our food tour guide in Oslo, but she was also an interesting and competent guide. The drivers were all on time and much appreciated.

This travel company was not located in or experienced with travel in Scandinavian cities. I did not see the other choice of travel company until I had already spent a considerable amount of time with this travel company. I provided the itinerary. They only had to arrange hotels, guides, and transport. This travel company didn't deliver as follows:

Hotels: This travel company did not have a relationship with hotels and made their bookings (at least with respect to one hotel) through Expedia. So, we ended up with the worst room in our category at almost every hotel and had to spend time negotiating to switch rooms. At one hotel, they did not pay for breakfast, even through they said in their booking that they had. When so informed, they offered to pay for breakfast, but that is beside the point. At the hotel in Copenhagen, we were informed that the room had not been paid for and it took some time to get that issue straightened out.

Guides: Except for one guide in Copenhagen, the guides were either inexperienced or did not add value, For example, our guide for the Copenhagen city tour was a young, uneducated French woman who had moved to Copenhagen only 6 months earlier and did not speak Danish. The guide in Stockholm took us to a sandwich lunch at her neighbor's apartment. Not what we were looking for in a city tour.

Transport: We were advised that there was a train that would take us from Gothenburg to Copenhagen in 2.5 hours. In fact, we had to take a bus to Falkenberg and then a train. The trip was 4.5 hours.

Restaurants: We only went to one of their restaurant recommendations. All the other recommendations did not take into account our dietary restrictions.

The Zicasso travel company and the agent we dealt with were fantastic. She was very helpful in planning the trip and during the trip. Of course, things went wrong during the trip: a boat scheduled for a fjord tour had engine trouble and a train was very late, so we missed a connection. Our agent was always available by phone and text to help us out. We liked having the itinerary on our cellphones. She could even then update it along the way, adding new options for "free times".