Europe Trip Planner

Zicasso’s travel company put together a wonderful trip for us! Our 10-day trip included stays in Berlin, Dresden, and Munich, with stops in between in Potsdam and Nuremberg. We had great guides, great hotels, great recommendations, and great communication from them throughout the trip. I highly recommend working with them.

Zicasso’s travel specialist did an outstanding job of coordinating all of our travel. She booked us great hotels, close to city centers, museums, parks, etc. We were able to walk to great restaurants, enjoy the local atmosphere, and just have fun. She also set us up with great tour guides in each city. They were very knowledgeable and shared their knowledge of their country with us. We love to learn about the history and culture wherever we travel, and the guides did an outstanding job.

The travel specialist also provided an excellent list of restaurants to try in each city we visited. They were all great.

One of the best things we liked was the way that our travel specialist set up our visit to each country. Usually, the first day was a city tour with a guide to get to know the city and the history. The second day was a countryside tour away from the city to allow us to get a better feel and understanding of the history and also the countryside. The last day or so would be a light schedule so we could explore the city on our own, which worked great since we already knew the details of the city.

Also, the transportation our travel specialist set up for us was outstanding! From the limousine service to our train tickets, ferry tickets, plane tickets, etc., that made the trip extremely easy to navigate!

She also communicated with us throughout the trip to make sure that everything was going according to schedule, which was great.

Without a doubt, our travel specialist is an outstanding travel partner and I think she would certainly be at the top of your list of travel partners. She provided exceptional service and experiences, which made our trip a memorable one.

This travel company was incredibly difficult to work with, and I would not recommend them. The travel agent seemed very annoyed when we asked basic questions about our itinerary. For example, the itinerary he sent us did not have the correct number of rooms booked for our party. When I asked him about it, he rudely told me, "Of course I have booked the right rooms". Later, we found out he was working off the wrong itinerary - our final invoice was based on this wrong itinerary and had a much higher amount than we actually owed. When we pointed that out, he went from being annoyed to flat out rude.

We also identified many gaps in transportation and logistics, with the travel agent continuing to be rude when we asked for clarification or support in fixing the gaps. For example, he had us driving a rental car to the Bologna airport at around 3 AM from rural Italy to make an 8 AM flight. We would be driving right through Florence on the way to Bologna. When I asked why we didn't simply take a later flight out of Florence, I was told there were no options to do this. A simple Google search identified several flights out of Florence at a more reasonable time.

We finally had Zicasso step in, and they were incredibly helpful in cleaning up our itinerary. Unfortunately, we still experienced several logistical issues during our trip despite Zicasso's support. For example, we were dropped off by drivers at train stations and were then on our own to figure out how to get to our hotels - all required lengthy walks up hills to access, and my 81-year old father was not able to do that. So we had to find our own transportation or have my dad attempt to walk (not good at all). As another example, my father really wanted to see the Matterhorn. The travel agent said it was an easy "day trip" from our hotel to the Matterhorn. It turned out to be a 3.5 hour drive each way. The driver left us at a train station below Zermatt (town below the mountain) to figure out on our own how to navigate the city of Zermatt. We had no guidance from the travel agency on how to best see the Matterhorn, and Zermatt was another town with steep hills that my dad had to walk through (with a cane) as we tried to figure out how to best see the mountain. Due to the length of the drive to Zermatt from our hotel, we had less than two hours in Zermatt because the travel company had booked us on a 6:15 AM train the next morning to leave Switzerland. It was a wasted day instead of being the wonderful experience my father had hoped for.

The best part of the trip was the hotels, and the travel company gets credit for selecting hotels with wonderful views and great breakfast options. They were not easily accessible from the local towns, so we had to figure out taxis and shuttles to get to nearby sites.

Most of the time, we were left on our own to find our way around. But we did have a guided tour in Florence and a knowledgeable driver that took us to a winery in Tuscany. Both of these guides were amazing, and it would have been nice to have more guided support throughout this trip (especially in Zermatt).

Thank you for all of the help planning and then supporting us throughout our trip. The itinerary was planned to visit several villages and cities in Germany, then Paris and London. The transfers, train tickets, and hotel rooms all worked out perfectly. Even more notable was a death in my family, which caused us to delay and change the trip somewhat. Zicasso’s travel company was extremely supportive and again helped plan the trip with a few changes. I highly recommend the travel company.

What a wonderful trip we had! Everything was planned out so very well. The two tour guides we had were exemplary and we enjoyed those days immensely. Most of the hotels were great, with terrific locations. The suggestions of activities offered for each place were spot-on. We especially loved the string quartet concert in Salzburg.

The communication of Zicasso's travel company was really good. I always felt they were right there to help when I needed it, which I definitely did one early morning. The train passes at the hotel in Lucerne had not been sent to them, but somebody got them to me in 20 minutes. Crisis averted.

We were not thrilled when we got to Vienna and found the Pride Festival was in full swing. It really made getting around the city a challenge. If I’d known that, I probably would’ve stayed an extra day in another city to avoid that.

Thanks for all you did to make this trip for our family so memorable.

The trip was operationally well planned and the coordination with Zicasso's travel agency was generally very good. Their proposal was significantly more expensive than the competing proposal, so I guess I expected a bit more. I would give it 4.25 or 4.5 stars if the rating system was bit more nuanced.

A few things were sub-optimal. On our first morning, the guide contacted the agent to tell them that they would pick us up at 10am (or at least that is what the guide told us), but our itinerary indicated 9am. At 9.15am, we called the agency and they called us back about five or 10 minutes later to tell us about the new 10am time. Not a great start.

That guide and the one in Munich were what I would describe as average guides – knowledgeable, but without much personality. The guide in Salzburg was outstanding.

From an organization perspective, we went to Salzburg from Lucerne, Switzerland, passing Innsbruck on day four, then trained it back to Innsbruck the very next day, basically adding four hours of driving/training for no real reason. We could have just stayed in Innsbruck on day four and then gone to Salzburg on day five and not backtracked.

Lastly, the hotel in Munich was very dated and the whole feel of the place was drab, including the decor and the lobby.

All that said, the operational people were very responsive and just about every leg happened right on time and the guides were organized. I never heard from the lady who organized it after I booked it, which I told her was odd, especially since I thought a trip to Italy, their specialty, was on the cards for my larger group that I had been with in Ireland the week before this trip.

So, all in all, a good trip, but not a great trip. I am not sure I would use our travel company again, but I have not landed firmly on that just yet.

Thanks, Greg S.