Europe Food & Wine Tours & Vacations

Our Zicasso travel specialist put together the perfect itinerary for our two-week trip to Croatia.

From our arrival in Zagreb to our visits to Rovinj, Plitvice National Park, Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik, we enjoyed our knowledgeable guides and drivers, and the special places we visited. These places included the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, the cooking class and private lunch in Hvar, the oyster and mussel farm, and the Elafiti Islands.

We also appreciated that we had the opportunity to meet our travel specialist, who graciously gifted us a delicious bottle of Croatian wine.

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).

We had an absolute dream trip to Italy with the help of Zicasso's travel specialist! Traveling as a family of five, we visited Rome, Florence, San Gimignano, Greve, Siena, Cinque Terre, and Venice, along with many beautiful towns and smaller areas throughout the country.

The wonderful vacation rental accommodations were thoughtfully chosen and every detail of our trip was carefully planned. The local tour guides were incredibly knowledgeable and gave us a truly authentic experience. Our private transfers, train transfer, and private tours were efficient, informative, and made traveling from place to place seamless and stress-free.

The communication between all tour guides and transportation providers was great, as was that of each vacation rental host, who contacted us in advance to prepare us for our arrival.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was discovering the smaller, less-touristy areas within the larger cities, places we likely never would have found on our own. We enjoyed exploring Tridente for shopping and Trastevere in Rome for a private pizza-making class (highly recommended), artisan shops, excellent restaurants, and a vibrant nightlife.

Florence was wonderful, but we had the opportunity to travel to a few other areas, such as Siena, Greve, and San Gimignano. We even had a private vineyard tour and chef's meal while in Chianti. A must-see is the walk to the Boboli Gardens across Ponte Vecchio and, on the way back to our apartment, a stop at Piazzale Michelangelo.

While staying in Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare), be sure to take a private boat to visit all of the other villages and maybe even snorkel. The water is so clear!

Venice had great history, but we also enjoyed our boat tour to Murano to watch the glassmaking process and Burano, filled with gorgeous multicolored homes and artisan shops.

Every experience felt personal, meaningful, and special.

This trip was truly an absolute dream and we are so grateful to him for helping make our family vacation to Italy unforgettable. We highly recommend him to anyone looking to plan an incredible, seamless, and memorable trip!

We had a fantastic trip through Croatia, Montenegro, and Slovenia, traveling from Dubrovnik to Hvar, Split, Plitvice Lakes, Rovinj, and Ljubljana, with day trips into Montenegro and other parts of Slovenia along the way.

Zicasso's travel company did an amazing job of helping us create the trip we wanted. From the beginning, they listened to our ideas, made suggestions, and worked with us as our plans evolved. Our travel specialist got everything started, another helped us fine-tune the itinerary and make several changes, and the third was always quick to respond and help while we were traveling.

Everything was seamlessly coordinated. We loved the hotels and excursions they selected, and the private drivers and tour guides added so much to the experience. Just as important was knowing that the company was only a message away if we had a question or needed anything while traveling. That kind of support gave us peace of mind and allowed us to simply enjoy the trip.

I’ve already recommended Zicasso and this travel company to others and will absolutely look to Zicasso when we’re ready to plan our next adventure.

Edwin and I struggled during this trip. It started in Venice with the hotel room and location. Horrible room with little or no amenities. Please note, the other hotels were much better.

There should have been better communication between Zicasso’s travel company and us. I was unaware we were not going to have local tour guides in Arezzo, Montepulciano, Verona, Orvieto, Cortona, etc. The drivers took us to these locations and dropped us off in the piazza or city gates and we were on our own. The drivers shared some notes about the city, but we wandered aimlessly most of the time. Please note, the local guides in Venice, Florence and Rome were great.

As per the restaurants, I had received recommendations from friends and family, which I shared with the travel company. They made the reservations on our behalf. However, they never told us how far the hotels were from these restaurants. It would have been nice for them to tell us. As a result of the distance, we asked the travel company to cancel some of the reservations on our behalf.

The three positive things I can say are as follows:

The travel company responded quickly when we called them from Italy.

The private drivers in Venice (from airport to hotel), Verona (driver), Florence (driver) and Rome (hotel to airport) were great. However, the driver from Florence to Rome with a stop in Orvieto was terrible.

The local tour guides in Venice, Florence and Rome were great.

All in all, we were not happy and very disappointed with this trip.

We just returned home from a very memorable trip to Croatia. Thanks to Zicasso's travel expert and her company for the terrific itinerary. Dubrovnik, Hvar, Split, Rovinj, and Zagreb were all toured with knowledgeable guides and experienced drivers to get us there!

There were many highlights, including the beautiful Adriatic countryside, Plitvice Lakes National Park, and a dinner with wine pairing. Of course, there were many more delightful experiences, but too many to include all of them!

We received top-shelf transportation, well thought out itineraries, and first-rate services. I would highly recommend this travel company!