Guided Italy Tours

It was the best tour ever. The hotels, extra excursions, entertainment and tours were amazing… the local guides along with our tour guide were so knowledgeable and friendly. The Architecture, museums, caves, pasta factory, buffalo cheese factory, pizza making, wine, lemon orchard, olive oil factory were among the many things that impressed me- the dancers and singers we saw were fabulous… The group itself was a wonderful mixture of single and married people. I would encourage everyone to to take this tour!

Collette once again provided a wonderfully designed tour experience. The tour guide and bus driver were excellent. The daily itineraries were perfect. We were a Catholic group and most special to me were the opportunities that we had to celebrate Mass in Assisi and in Padua. I wish to thank Collette for making those arrangements with the holy sites where we were able to have Mass together.

Was a fabulous experience Cathy Boufforfd was our travel agent. She is professional, courteous, connected and informed. Alberto Pecorai was our tour manager and Alb was amazing. He loves Italy, and specifically Tuscany. He was full of knowledge and interesting facts. He’s also very personable.

An awesome experience. Your manager and local guides were very knowledgeable. You get a taste of each city you visit. From Ancient Rome to the Vatican, the history, architecture, and churches are breathtaking. From Rome to Assisi. Views are picturesque. Small town charm. Moving to Florence and the Duomo. Awe inspiring! A ride through Tuscany on the way to Venice. A stop at a winery for a Tuscan chef cooking class and lunch. Delicious! Venice the city of canals. Get yourself lost over the bridges and backstreets. Final stop…Lake Como. Views of the Alps….picture postcard! A bucket list trip. Can’t wait to go back!

Our tour was fabulous! Collette takes the hassles out of traveling; all you have to do is show up and enjoy! Our hotels were all very beautiful and comfortable; the meals that were provided were delicious, and the bus transportation was comfortable and enjoyable... but it was our guide, Massimo Galasso, that truly made the trip one we will never forget! Massimo was very knowlegable about the country and encouraged questions and conversation. He taught us to speak some Italian (the basics), we sang songs in Italian, and we learned about the beautiful country. If anyone had any kind of problem, he found a solution. He made the long bus rides a lot of fun and the time pass quickly.

Italian Vistas tour gave us a wonderful look at top spots in this beautiful country. We saw the incredible Roman structures in Rome, the beauty of Sorrento and the Island of Capri, the Venetian lagoon, the beauty and art of Florence and the wonderful lake are in Lago Maggiore. To see this required some long bus rides (the longest about 4-5 hours with rest stops), but it was worth it to see these cities/countryside. We loved this tour!

The entire trip was memorable…a dream come true!

Loved all the cities/places we went, all the tour givers and our tour manager were terrific. And the accomodations were very fine. My favorite part was the Roman ancient ruins, but I loved every spot we visited. And the pace and bus travel were just right and very comfortable.

This was such a memorable tour. We had a small group and we all had a blast together. Our tour guide and tour driver were excellent. I loved San Giamangio and Portofino! The Tuscany villa and area was wonderful. Stresa was a lovely town and surrounded by the Swiss alps. All of our wine and food experiences was excellent. For the first time going to Italy I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Wonderful overview of Italy and Christian was an awesome tour guide. Favorite experiences included the Tuscan winery, visit to Pompeii, Pisa, the monastery trip in Florence and dinner, Murano glass trip and Stresa excursion to Isola Bella. Did plan additional activities/tours on our own like to see the statue of David in Florence and blue grotto in capri that weren’t with the included tour. Enjoyed the trip add on to the Vatican. Once in a lifetime experience!

Our tour guide was amazing! My son’s luggage arrived four days late on arrival and our tour guide was able to communicate with the airlines on our behalf and we finally received our luggage at our third hotel. She was very knowledgeable throughout the trip and helpful to our luggage situation. My favorite stops were the ricotta cheese making farm and the buffalo farm!

The Tuscan Feast and Boat ride on the Seine was most memorable

Excellent

From the excellent hotels with views of the Alps, great shopping opportunities and great meals included as well as by our discovery, I thoroughly enjoyed this trip. I especially was impressed with Mauro Ciummo who was truly born to be a tour guide. He was personable, took time with everyone to get to know them and was generally very jolly and entertaining. There was time between sites to enjoy on our own which was well planned. It was difficult staying awake on the longer bus rides and although we all needed the rest, I wanted to keep my eyes on the beautiful views! Seeing fields of strange wildflowers, soaring peaks, oodles of giant snails feeding at the base of an Olympic ski jump, sheep and Great Pyrenees guarddogs outside our first room and cows being herded up the main street below another room with bells clanging...great memories. And the St Bernards were wonderful. We were very happy with British Airways also, except for the excessive charge to pick our seats. Nice trip.

Our Alpine trip was wonderful. We Love Collette and have a new favorite air carrier, British Airlines. Their food is as bad as anyone's but the planes and service are great. I had heard some less than positive comments about Brit Air, mostly that some of the employees can be surly, and while we did have a surly check-in agent at Venice's Marco Polo Airport, for the most part they were quite nice. We don't usually check bags when we fly because of lost bag problems in the past, we needed to this time because we needed heavier cold-weather clothing. This agent insisted (rather impolitely) that we check one of our 2 carry-ons, saying it was a full flight & there wouldn't be enough room. Upon boarding they announced that their planes now had expanded overhead compartments, and we then noticed there were many empty compartments. Unnecessary issue. BUT... baggage was handled perfectly and our checked bags in both directions, even through the flight transfers, went perfectly. I still don't like airports, but Brit Air's terminals do seem superior. We have traveled with Collette 7 times now and have been delighted every time with every aspect of travel with them. We had a little more free time on this trip, which we appreciated, and Mauro Ciummo was hands down the best tour manager we've had. And we've had some great ones. Give that man a raise! :) Collette is very efficient, any problems that come up are handled properly, efficiently and in a timely manner. On a previous trip our tour manager tripped on a curb in Amsterdam and had to be treated at a hospital, and there just happened to be another tour manager in the same train station who saw immediately that we were properly directed until our assigned tour manager was back on tour, bloodied but OK. Less so on our first Collette tour. Our manager was a bit of a disciplinarian and scolded one handicapped passenger for walking too slowly and making us late for one destination (we actually got there 20 minutes early... we happened to meet that passenger's son months later & she was apparently unphased) and Van got scolded for having to use the toilet after we “starred” in a play-like presentation at Bunratty Castle. Again we were not delayed because of that. But overall that tour was as excellent as any of the others. The limo service this time was very appreciated, although we did have a communication issue upon returning to Pittsburgh. My phone for some reason didn't send my confirmation that we were at the pick-up point, so the driver called us to be sure that we were there, much appreciated. However we got a text from (apparently) a different driver the next day who had seen the delayed text notice that we were waiting to be picked up and came to pick us up a day later. I don't know how that happened but it was, sadly, an unnecessary trip for them. We expected the latter parts of this tour to be anti-climactic after being so high in the Alps but that was not so. The entire tour was just wonderful. Again, though, much of that enjoyment was because Mauro was so wonderfully entertaining and well-informed. Big kudos to Mauro! While this was our first Collette tour without our friend Doug Oster and local gardeners, our group was very nice, and we did enjoy meeting people from all over our country. We hope to enjoy many more Collette tours, and along with the help of Travel Junction, hope to have a long future relationship.

The Alps, the Alps, the Alps! Loved Chamonix! Montreaux, Lucerne! Our tour manager was the best ever!

We had a wonderful time visiting Tuscany. Mike, our tour guide, was the best host. He was always attentive and added thoughtful personal touches throughout the trip. His recommendations for food and shopping were excellent. Tuscany is a beautiful place, and we would love to visit again. Thank you, Collette, for putting together such a wonderful itinerary.

We loved every minute of our trip and every town, mountain, farm, city and peak that we visited. We would highly recommend!

Mike was amazing! The people I met were amazing!

Valentina absolutely made the trip. Her organization and knowledge of the areas we toured added richness to each stop. We were so impressed with how she made everyone feel that they were her favorites! Her "rotate bus seat" policy really helped the group to integrate well and group irritation was minimal due to her "be on time" policy - all communicated with the perfect blend of charm and honesty.