Italy expert: Martina

“It was my first time using rough guides and it will not be my last. From the first time I connected with the team it had been great. They were easy to communicate with and patient with me helping to plan my Italy trip. Having drivers pick us up helped to take us to train stations or tours was peace of mind as we had young kids and my parents. I also got my parents to work with them as they were staying and touring in Italy longer then us. Again knowing rough guides took care of all the details was peace of mind. I definitely will work with them for future trips”

“A Trip of a Lifetime! Martina and the staff at Rough Guides did an amazing job organizing a long and rather complicated trip for me and my family to Sicily, Calabria, and the Amalfi Coast. After almost 4 weeks of travel, I can honestly say that everything pretty much worked without a hitch. The places we stayed were perfect for our needs (my husband and I, plus our adult son whose girlfriend decided to join us at the last minute), the guides for our private tours were knowledgeable and extremely accommodating, and the drivers (we rented a car for only two segments of the trip) were prompt and professional. We really had no complaints, and in fact agree that this was a true trip of a lifetime. It couldn't have happened the way it did without the Rough Guides team.”

“Awesome Italy trip - Rough Guide's nailed it! We had an awesome trip to Italy thanks to Rough Guides and Martina, our local travel planner/expert in Italy who planned the entire trip for us. She was very responsive to all our questions and worked diligently to put our trip together. We were 3 couples on a 16-night journey staying in 5 different cities and we had prepared ourselves that we would probably hit a bump in the road somewhere along the line with such an extensive itinerary. Much to our delight, everything went perfectly. All of the drivers and tour guides were excellent, arriving on time and going out of their way to be accommodating to our group's desires. The tours were all top notch and the guides so professional and knowledgeable, but still fun! Included in our trip was a farm stay with a cooking class in Tuscany which was a highlight for sure. All of the hotels on our journey were perfect, beautiful with great staff, and great locations. Choosing a travel company to plan your trip can be a leap in faith, but we couldn't be more pleased with the job Martina and Rough Guides did for us.”

“Rough Guides arranged a 5 city Italy tour for 6 of us including Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, and Amalfi Coast. We stayed several days in each city so had time to learn the city before moving on. RG's hotels were nice in our 4* guidance. Locations were good although wish our Rome hotel had been inside the city wall so it was closer to exploring the hot spots at nite. Our guides for museums and historic sites were terrific. Our drivers were top notch. RG's communications were good. The only other comment I would make was to try and get more in the shoulder season if there is one as Uffizi Gallery, Sistine Chapel, and other sites like Positano were too crowded to appreciate like they deserve. Would recommend RG to others.”

“Our trip to Northern Italy was very good. Our local Rough Guides expert provided us with an itinerary and patiently worked with us to make the changes we requested. In hindsight, some of her original ideas were better than our requested changes. For example, our visit to Milan completely surprised us, and we wished he could have had another day there. Of course, our local expert had recommended 2 days there, and we were the ones who asked to cut it short to 1 days, and put that extra day into the Dolomites part of our trip. The trip was full of surprises. In Venice, our local expert surprised us with champaign and chocolates. At Lake Como, we had a full 2 room suite with a beautiful view of the lake. Our private boat tour on Lake Como followed by dinner were absolutely wonderful. Great choices were make by our Rough Guides expert. There were also some issues, which almost caused me to give 4 stars instead of 5. The location of our Lake Como Villa required a car which had not been pre-planned. However, our local expert placed us at a Villa with a knowledgeable owner who lived on premises and could drive us into town to rent our car for 3 days. Indeed, the Villa owner was a great resource. A preplanned rental car from Lake Como would have made it better. Another issue was that when we disembarked from our train in Milan, we could not find our private car driver. We looked around for 30 minutes before calling the travel agency. It turns out that the driver was told to wait in front of the Burger King, but we were not told about the meeting location. It took an hour to get this resolved and our driver, who had left after waiting an hour for us, had to come back to the train station to find us and bring us to the hotel. Those were the 2 main issues with the trip. There were some other small hiccups which were easily resolved with a phone call to our local Rough Guides expert. Many, many other details were meticulously attended to. Drivers scheduled for all the other pickup points were on-time and very polite. The train tickets worked perfectly, and we were pleasantly surprised to have business class train tickets with the extra leg room and free snacks. Each hotel that we stayed in was unique and perfect. Our final hotel in Milan gave us a huge room upgrade. Excursions were lots of fun. And, the free time which was scheduled at our request was thoroughly enjoyed. The pre-paid breakfasts at the Chalet Hotel Hartmann in Ortisei and the Galleria Vik in Milan were just exquisite! The positives so far outweighed the negatives that even with the problems, I still feel like this Rough Guides planned trip deserves the full 5 stars.”

“We have a very good time all the way. The Capri boat ride is excellent and so much fun with the crew! They are awesome. The only one that needs some improvement is the Naples street food walking tour. Other than that. Everything including the hotels are great choices. You’ve done an excellent job! Will definitely consider you again!”