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.

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.

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.

Zicasso’s travel planner and his team planned a marvelous trip for us. We visited five cities, starting in Frankfort and ending in Munich. Every excursion was perfect. The guides and drivers were very knowledgeable and friendly (great English). The hotels in every city were amazing.

Overall, we had an incredible trip! Zicasso's travel planner made our travels smooth and easy to navigate. She responded to all of our questions in a timely manner. The itinerary was detailed and easy to read. It was so nice having our train tickets in advance. The sights were beautiful (Venice, Florence, Cortona, Cinque Terre) and we had fun on our tours. Our villa and hotel accommodations were lovely. Everyone was friendly. We highly recommend our travel planner and her company!

Our trip to Greece was exceptional, thanks to the careful planning by our travel company! They had every detail planned out and made sure we were well taken care of.

I traveled with my husband (50s) and my parents (80s). We had a general idea of some places we wanted to see and told the travel planner our interests. She ran with it and planned us the perfect trip for the pace we wanted and the types of experiences we were looking for. She suggested places that weren't even on our radar and they fit perfectly with our interests.

Our trip was 12 days, broken up into four nights in Chania, Crete, three nights in Santorini, and four nights in Athens. This was the right amount of time in each place (though my husband said he could spend a week in Santorini just to relax).

The travel planner met us at the airport and gave us a burner phone for our use during the trip, as well as a packet with tickets and boarding passes that we would need. The phone was very helpful because it had an app with our itinerary for each day, as well as contact numbers for her, drivers, tour guides, etc. This was great because we had what we needed at our fingertips and didn't have to pay for an international plan on our cell phones.

Each location we went to offered very different experiences.

Chania, Crete, was fantastic and my personal favorite spot. Our travel planner recommended it and I'm so glad she did. It was rich with history and culture, without feeling like a tourist trap.

Santorini: When we first arrived, it was a bit of a jolt because all the buildings are white and boxy (only the churches have blue roofs), and I was missing the color and vibrance of Chania. We went into Fira while we waited for our rooms to be ready and it was a total tourist trap, with people swarming around and souvenir shops and fast food restaurants. I was wondering if it was a mistake to come to this island. However, once we were settled into our hotel and saw the spectacular views and experienced the calmness, I understood why people come here. The nature and beauty won me over (and I just avoided the cities).

Athens was amazing because of the history and hospitality of the people. Everyone was so welcoming and kind. The ruins do not disappoint and we marveled at how they were just everywhere in Old Town.

Delphi: We took a day trip from Athens to Delphi and toured the ruins and museum, and had a wonderful lunch overlooking the mountains and valleys.

We went on several incredible tours during our trip. Two food tours (Chania and Athens), three archaeology/ruin-focused tours (Santorini, Athens, and Delphi), one tour of the mountains in Chania, and one sunset catamaran boat ride in Santorini. Every one of them was unique and interesting.

Our travel planner arranged several lunches and dinners for us. Each place was outstanding and the views were spectacular. We would just tell them we were with the travel company and they gave us the best seats in the restaurants and outstanding service.

We could not have asked for a more perfectly planned out trip!