European Family Vacations & Tours

Overall, we had an absolutely amazing trip to Greece and Croatia to celebrate our postponed honeymoon. Zicasso’s travel specialist was a joy to work with. Her communication was excellent from start to finish, and she really tried to get to know us as a couple to better plan the perfect trip!

Once we arrived in Europe, she checked in with us via WhatsApp every day, making sure our travels were going to plan and we were enjoying our time. We traveled to Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini in Greece, and Dubrovnik, Split, and Krka National Park in Croatia. Our trip was filled with history, nature, crystal-clear waters, private tours, and lots of adventure.

We had a lovely tour of Sicily and we thoroughly enjoyed the scenic villages, mountains and coastal areas, the delicious food, the history and culture of the region, and, of course, the many lovely Sicilians we met on our journey! This was made possible by the travel company we went with when we first engaged Zicasso. They met with us (online) and developed a great tour, for which a few highlights are summarized below. They were also very helpful during the trip to offer us assistance if we needed it. In short, they made our trip truly memorable!

On our visit to Palermo, we experienced its ancient history and fine cuisine. Touring some of the smaller towns and villages, such as Cefalù, Modica, Scicli, Marzamemi and Noto, we enjoyed many scenic streets and alleys with their many shops and restaurants, and also seeing some beautiful artwork in their ancient cathedrals. The countryside of Sicily is also lovely to see and on our tour, we were privileged to visit some farms and talk with some locals who make their living off the land.

We were captivated by the rich historical underpinnings of Sicily, as we saw when we toured Agrigento to visit the Valley of the Temples. In other larger towns/cities we visited, such as Ragusa, Syracuse and Taormina, we had many opportunities to tour food markets and taste (and to learn to prepare) some specialty dishes of the local area.

Having a walking tour around Mount Etna with a local guide provided us with a refreshing outdoor nature hike that was a great way to learn about the area. Capping off our nature walk with a gastro/wine tour at a local winery was a great finale to our two-week vacation! In the end, our only regret was that we didn't want the vacation to end!

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 was the perfect family vacation! We started in Split and ended in Dubrovnik, with stops in Hvar and Korčula. Zicasso's travel specialists planned the perfect trip and when we ran into a few hiccups with our flights being canceled, they were accessible and helped change our plans.

We truly enjoyed every activity they planned for our family. The hotels they picked were perfect. I would definitely use this travel company again to plan another Croatian trip. My kids said it was their favorite family vacation.

We cannot recommend Zicasso's travel company enough!! Our family just got back from a two-week trip to Italy (starting in Venice, then Florence, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast). Our travel specialists did an incredible job planning our trip and it was an experience of a lifetime!! We had the best time in every city!

Everything was seamless, from the events and tours we had planned to the transportation from city to city. What we loved most was how our tour guides were all natives of the areas we were visiting, so they offered unique perspectives on every part of Italy. Also, our travel specialists, being local to Italy, helped us plan some really special things to do (walking wine-window tour, bike ride in Tuscany, boat taxi to Burano to visit the small town where lace is still being made, and a Capri boat tour). All of our guides were English-speaking and absolutely wonderful!

We had frequent communication with our travel specialists regarding scheduled plans and if we had questions, they were readily available via WhatsApp.

I also turned 55 while on vacation and our travel specialists were kind enough to send Prosecco, wine, and some wonderful Italian snacks to our room. This was, by far, the best family vacation we have ever taken and we will definitely be vacationing with them in the future. If you're considering vacationing with this travel company, don't hesitate! They are fabulous and leave no stone unturned to make sure you have the best experience possible!!!

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!