Spain, France, & Italy Tours

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).

Our trip was fantastic. The guides were excellent. The Madrid wine tour guide was excellent, our guide for the walking tour of Barcelona was excellent, our guide for the walking tour of Madrid city was excellent, and our guide for Tarragona and Sitges was excellent. We were so pleased with all the tours that I will not change anything for our next trip with you guys. I appreciate your company and the way you handle things. Zicasso’s travel specialist was so helpful. Thank you so much. I can't wait to do this all over again.

We had an amazing 2 weeks in Italy, from Rome, to Bari, Positano, Sorrento, and Naples. The planning and execution of our trip through Zicasso’s tour operator was flawless! They worked with me quite a bit in the planning phase to make sure this was going to be our dream trip.

The trip was very nice. Some details of timing and drive times for events could have been communicated better. We had a tour canceled at the very last minute for no reason. Another tour was a walk through a village, but didn’t include entrance to the three main sites in the town, which was strange.

Overall, the trip was perfect! The hotels were really nice and the itinerary was great.

A few things I would have changed. First, the Amalfi tour day. There was not enough time in Ravello or Positano. We needed more time to relax and shop.

The class of train could have been nicer for the Florence-to-Rome portion of the trip.

We've been to many wineries throughout Europe and the one we went to on our way to Siena was okay, but we have been to much nicer wineries, with better wine and food tastings. It was not a great wine tour experience.

Everything else was wonderful and we really enjoyed the trip with our sons!!!

Thank you!

We had a great trip to Italy. Zicasso’s travel specialist was very helpful. We set a low price target for Italy and that may have affected some of the hotels.

Our hotel in Palinuro was great, with a huge pool, beautiful views, and a good location. Our B&B in Castellabate was in a great location, right across from the water and a beach area, but it was very basic and didn't offer breakfast. Our hotel in Maratea was way up the mountain by the Christ statue, but not near any shopping or restaurants, and the food at the hotel was very expensive and by far the worst we had on our trip.

The Volkswagen included with our tour was a perfect car for the three of us. The tours were nice to have pre-arranged for Pompeii and Paestum, and we really enjoyed the boat tours, especially the one where the son fixed a delicious lunch and served it al fresco on the boat.

Our final night at our B&B in Naples overlooking the bay was perfect and the owner recommended a wonderful restaurant for our final dinner in Italy. A terrific end to a great 10 days.

Thank you for arranging another customized trip for me, Zicasso and this travel partner. I'm getting spoiled! (And loving it!)