Europe Food & Wine Tours & Vacations

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 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!

Zicasso's travel specialist organized an amazing 12-day series of private tours, taking us from Milan to the lake regions (Como, Maggiore, and Garda) and down to Bologna. Our days were filled with visiting churches, museums (including the Ferrari and Enzo Ferrari museums), a winery, parmigiano, prosciutto, and traditional balsamic manufacturing, a cooking class, boat tours, and food tours.

Along the way, we saw testing at the Ferrari track and a small portion of the women’s Giro d’Italia. With all that, we still had sufficient downtime to search the streets to find our own gems.

Our trip coordinator checked in with us daily to confirm the daily itinerary and transportation. When we had questions or needed to make a change due to the weather, she was thorough, attentive, and responsive in a way that was reassuring and comforting. She was simply amazing.

I would highly recommend using this travel specialist and team for any of your Italian travel needs.

This is a summary of our thoughts on our recent trip to Croatia that was created by Zicasso's travel specialist. Overall, we had a really great time.

The hotels that the travel specialist chose for us were terrific. The rooms in our hotels in Split and Dubrovnik were spacious and very comfortable. In fact, the location for all three hotels was excellent. In Split, our hotel was right where the action was. It was a great location. The hotel rooms at our hotel in Hvar were small, but otherwise very comfortable, and the location was fantastic. The travel specialist correctly chose our hotel in Dubrovnik outside of the Old Town. It was not within walking distance of the Old Town, but travel by cab or Uber was very easy and our hotel was beautiful. The breakfast spots in each hotel were beautiful, which was a lovely way to start each day.

At each point in the trip, the arranged rides were right on time and very helpful. The vehicles were all excellent. We had a variety of excursions and the quality was variable. Our first full day in Split we had a food tour mid-morning after we had had a full breakfast. That kind of tour would have been much better in the afternoon. Our guide did not give us very much history of Diocletian's Palace, which we would have enjoyed, but touring the palace was still a delight.

The trip to Krka National Park was beautiful, as well as the brief walk in Šibenik on the way back to Split. Our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant.

The ferry rides from Split to Hvar and then Hvar to Dubrovnik were uneventful. Transfers to and from the hotels also were smooth.

The tour of Hvar was interesting, although it seemed to be stretched out to get us to our dinner destination at a set time. That particular meal was mediocre and the subsequent trip to a small winery was also not a highlight. That trip could have been done in a shorter period of time and we would have been happy to pick our own dining location. The itinerary read, "Enjoy your authentic Mediterranean meal," but it really was not special.

We were disappointed that we could not see the Blue Cave or the island of Vis, but the weather really did not permit it. The itinerary was clear that weather conditions might affect the itinerary, which they did, but the skipper did his best to keep us relatively close to shore. We were still able to go swimming at a protected cove and had a nice stop at a beautiful winery, which made up for not getting to the cave and Vis. Unfortunately, at one point two of us got seasick and after lunch those two went home to Hvar by taxi. The other two of us had a great afternoon boat ride back to Hvar.

In Dubrovnik we had an excellent guide who showed us the Old Town and guided us to the cable car ride to Mount Srđ. We had a one-day Dubrovnik Pass, which, frankly, was a waste of money. We had toured with our guide and then did the cable car, so there really was not any time to avail ourselves of the things that the Dubrovnik Pass would have given us. If it helps for future planning, we really did not need the pass.

We, as a group, had different feelings about the trip to Montenegro. We did not realize how long the trip actually took. It's a long drive there and back. One of us thought it was worth the effort; the others did not. Our guide was very good. If we had understood what was involved in traveling back and forth, I suspect we would not have pursued the trip. It was relatively late in our tour and a day of rest or a trip back to Dubrovnik would have been a better use of time (and then we would have used the Dubrovnik Pass!)

The last day touring the Elaphiti Islands was also affected by rough seas. Again, it was no one's fault, but we did not get to see everything we had hoped for. That said, our skipper was excellent. We learned quite a bit about Croatia and Croatian life from him, and we had a nice lunch on a beautiful island.

One recommendation that we would like to make relates to tipping. We were very happy to tip everyone along the way, but we had not planned for this, so we were a bit short on the euros that we had brought with us. We would recommend that the travel company include an approximate total of the tips for the trip. That would have been very valuable.

All told, it was an excellent trip, our second Zicasso trip in two years. Thanks!

We had a fantastic experience for a first-time trip to Italy. I wasn't sure how this would be, considering I learned about Zicasso while trying to plan the trip myself. Zicasso put me in touch with a travel specialist and the whole team was incredibly responsive to my many, many questions. If they were ever annoyed, it didn’t show.

I really wanted a smooth experience for my family of five, including three teens, one of whom has Celiac. Our agent was great in helping plan out the experience we wanted. As you may know, it is challenging to find rooms for five in Europe, but the travel company found apartments (usually two bedrooms with a pull-out couch) in the heart of town. You can really customize what you do, but we elected to plan our own meals and handle some of our own transport. We did have one issue where the van driver taking us to the train failed to show. I got one with Uber and the travel company quickly (I mean before we got home quickly!) refunded that amount.

Our contact in Italy was amazing and patient. I can’t give her enough credit. Any time I was unsure of something, she was there. The tours were great, especially Florence and Rome. You may be able to find the companies online, but ours seems to have the connections to get the best guides.

As for meals, we didn’t have any issues. We used an app and got a few recommendations from the travel company and local guides. Even our wine-tasting tour out in Tuscany was accommodating.

I would use our travel company and Zicasso again. I think the only downside is we tried to cram a lot in and it was hot. I probably should have asked for one to two fewer or shorter walking tours, especially on days we switched cities. Otherwise, it was excellent.