Salerno Tour Packages

Well for introduction, me (26) & my wife (25) are software engineers (yeah, very new) working in Pune, from Rajasthan. We went to Italy for a tour of 9 days from 5th May - 14th May of 2018. So, below is a detailed review from our end both about the tour agency & our tour.... ****Flights**** --> Did not face any issue in flights, it was all good. (Lufthansa & Turkish) --> **Tip: Do register your meal preference before 48 hrs of your departure (sometimes you might face an issue if not done so) ****ROME**** # Hotel (Palladium Palace) --> Room: Average --> Breakfast: Amazing --> Location: Amazing (just a few blocks from the train/metro station) # 05/05 --> As soon as we reached hotel, in 1 hour we had a prebooked walking guided tour for "Colosseum & Ancient Rome". Definitely, you cannot miss Colosseum when you are in Rome, and with a guide it becomes more interesting. But to our bad luck, the particular guide we were assigned was highly boring and with a very bad english. --> Went back to hotel in 2/3 hrs and that was it for that day. # 06/05 --> This was free day without any pre-bookings. So, we explored different places in the city by metro and on foot (majorly). --> Went to many places like: Spanish Steps (Beautiful), Park Villa Borghese (Do take self-driven golf-car designed bikes there, it is so much fun) Vatican City (Must visit, but we did not go inside the church as it was huge queue, but if you want then leave early), Piazza Navona (Street art/music), Pantheon (Nice church), Fontana di Trevi etc. --> All these places were really worth, and there are many other places about which you can research earlier & plan accordingly --> Exploring Rome on foot is an amazing experience, it is a beautiful city, while exploring you will come across many beautiful streets, buildings etc. --> **Tip: Do ask for a paper-map from your hotel reception, because when you are exploring on foot, it is even more helpful than googlemaps. ****AMALFI COAST**** # Hotel (Residence Due Torri) --> Room: WOW !! Incredibly beautiful !! So, here we were not given hotel room, but a studio apartment, which was kind of 1BHK with a sea-facing big balcony. And the walls were so white, the furniture and everything was so so beautiful, like a movie. --> Breakfast: Wasn't included, but the kitchen was fully equipped, so it was great fun for us to cook. --> Location: 1. The view and the particular geographical location of that place is amazing, a small town (Maori) with very less tourists. 2. Now, Amalfi Coast is coastline of a group of towns (Salerno, Cetara, Maori, Minori, Amalfi, Praiono, Positano, Sorrento). So, Maori is a little earlier in the coastline, not in the middle, and the more tourist fav. places are in the middle or towards the last. But, trust me, this place is so beautiful to stay, that a little extra time to travel from there would not bother at all. # 07/05 --> Relaxed # 08/05 --> Free day. So, we explored 2 of the most popular towns (Positano & Amalfi) on the costline and Maori. These were all beautiful places. --> There are different ways to commute (ferry, bus, self-driven cars/bikes), but we opted for ferries. Which is a costlier than others (not too much), but it is a memorable experience, plus you get the amazing view of the coast from sea. --> **Tip: There are some hidden gems on this coast like cliffs, beaches etc., you can do some pre-handed research abouth those and plan accordingly (we missed that). # 09/05 --> We had a prebooked tour on this day for the island of Capri. --> A cab took us from hotel to Sorrento town, and from there we with a group of 10 people took a tour from Sorrento to Capri island on a samll yatch. Wow ! That was an incredible experience, the beautiful sea, the yatch pilot took us to different amazing places around the island, breath-taking views, there were complimentry drinks & snacks, he even stopped it in the midlle of the sea and we could just take a swim there, you cam lie in front of the yatch. It was 1 of the best days on our tour. --> Then we were there on Capri island for a couple of hours, which was also quite good. --> Overall this is a must must thing to do, if you are in Amalfi. ****LA SPEZIA (CINQUE TERRE)**** # Hotel (Cinque Terre Gateway) --> Room: Amazing !! the best hotel room we had on our tour. Like those classy pretty ones which you would want for your honeymoon, the furniture, the bed, the walls, the bath everything. --> Breakfast: They provided coupons for a cafe, but the breakfast was too average & limited --> Location: Amazing (very near to the train station) # 10/05 --> Relaxed # 11/05 --> So, La Spezia is a big town, and there is a popular place nearby "Cinque Terre", which is a coastline of 5 villages very near to each other, with each village having it's own history & significance. --> All these 5 villages are conncted by a railway line which runs parallel to the sea --> So you have to take a day train pass from la Spezia terminal, and then you can visit all the towns 1 after another or in any sequence you want. --> All of these are beautiful, especially "Manarola", BUT BUT, though not exactly but still is kind of similar to Amalfi where Amalfi being 10 times more beautiful. (We wanted a place which was more countryside with less tourists, but it was also hugely crowded) --> Since, we had been to Amalfi, we were not very excited by the place. The best thing for us here was the hotel. --> **Tip: If you are going to Amalfi, then definitely skip this place, and can opt for Florence or some beautiful beach location in South. ****VENICE**** # Hotel (Amadeus) --> Room: Really good --> Breakfast: Really good --> Location: Amazing (very near to the train station) # 12/05 --> We had a prebooked guided walking tour of Venice & Gondola ride from afternoon to evening. --> And this time the guide was phenomenal, such an entertaining guide with great knowledge and humor as well, and Gondola ride is defnitely an experience. --> Then we just took a self tour around the streets of Venice. # 13/05 --> Again we had a prebooked ferry tour to 3 islands (Murano, Burano & Torcello) --> This is a must to do thing in Venice, all these 3 islands are an amazing experience to take. Murano -- You would never forget the glass factory workshop (Tip: They have beautiful Pandora braceletes there, if you want to buy those, buy from there, because you can roam araound in whole of venice & you will not find the same thing) Torcello & Burano are also very beautiful & so colorful. --> **Tip: If you have 1 more day, then you should also visit "Lido de Venezia" which is near to Venice, and it will be an addition of a good beach destination on your itinerary. (We found out later about this) ****TRAVEL IN ITALY**** --> Out mode of transport between the 4 cities was through trains. The trains were really good, and so were the stations. --> Sometimes we had to do a change of trains, & we had a limited time window to catch another in like 15-20 mins, though it was a little tense sometimes, but luckily we were well on time on each instance. --> *TIP: If it is your first time in Europe, then do read about the train system, tickets, metro & stations, and things related to that prior to your tour, it would be easier. (It helped us as we had been to a similar place earlier) ****FOOD**** --> Well if you convert euro to rupees, you would feel that food is very expensive, but in 2 or 3 days you would be normal to that. --> There are a good number of Indian restaurants in Italy, that is a plus point (but more non-veg than veg) [Ganesh Ji, Venice is a really good restaurant] --> Take away Pizzas were what we took most of the times (they do have veg options for Pizza everywhere) --> Overall it can be a little tricky for food depending on your preferences & taste, but not that difficult to be a problem. (You can always carry a lot of ready-to-cook meals) ****OTHERS**** --> The climate at that time was kind of late winters, so it was soothing overall, a little cold somedays, and pleasant on others. --> You would find a lot of Bangladeshi vendors everywhere (except Amalfi), so as a person from Indian subcontinent you can always get things a little cheaper than others. ****VISA APPLICATION**** --> It is a smooth process, just be prepared with all the docs on time, specially the docs related to your company. --> **Tip: If you do not have your marriage certificate, then do remember to take the invitation card in "ENGLISH" --> **Tip: Always keep asking your travel agency to check and let you know the currently next available date for Visa interview, because you will be better prepared about when to be ready with the documents, as you never know what is the waiting period at that time, & it might create issues with your schedule. ****CURRENCY**** --> For currency exchange, you would find multiple organizations in your city, and it's a easy process. And we were recommended of "Centrum" by our travel Agent, and it was a really good option, the guy came to our home and did the process in half an hour. --> So, we took the exchanged currency in 2 formats: Cash(60%) & Card(40%) --> *Tip: It is a really good choice to carry currency in 2 formats, as card is also accepted there at hotels, many of the stores and restaurants. >>>>>>>>Travel Triangle<<<<<<<< --> We really feel that this is a great platform for any travel, because you do not need to invest a lot of time in contacting different agencies for their packages & itineraries. Here, you can just put your requirements, & different agencies will give you the quotations, their itineraries at one place. --> Our Travel Triangle companion "Shilpa Verdhan" has been a really great guide and help to plan our travel, she always responded positively about our requirements, and would arrange very quickly the travel agencies after any update in our requirements. :) >>>>>>>>Travel Masterz<<<<<<<< --> We had already talked to a lot of travel agencies, but the thing which impressed us the most about Travel Masterz was their knowledge about the places. Whenever we used to talk to travel agencies, they would simply just tell the same old places, which are the most common touristy ones, and that was our problem, we did not want our tour to be like that. And we wanted to know about some other good options which are not the same old ones, and then when we had a conversation with "Arpita" from Travel Masterz, we felt really good with the way she was so open to share her great knowledge about the different options we can choose. And that is the best part about them, their knowlwdge and their willigness to suggest something new for your travel. --> As already mentioned above in detail, the hotels which they provided were impressive, specially Amalfi & La Spezia ones were amazing, and the best part was their choice of locations in all 4 cities. --> Another great thing about them was the prebooked tours which they included in our package, all of those were really really great (again as mentioned above in detail, specialy Venice & Amalfi ones) --> All the airport pickups were well arranged, with professional taxi services. --> Also Arpita & Amit (another employee), both were really helpful in our Visa process, and all the other planning of our tour. --> The only bad experience we had with them was the last half day of our tour i.e. in Venice. So, 4 days back our flights got cancelled, and we hadn't got any update for our flight which was supposed to be next morning. Then we had to spend 3 4 hours trying to calling the airlines while we were to enjoy in Venice, and then finally after a 50 mins of waiting on 1 call, we were able to talk to the airlines, and then they published our new tickets for another flight which was also in the morning only, and they accepted it was their fault, and if we would not have called them on time, the flight which we would have got at the airport would have been after 1 day. So, it was very irritating for us at that time, and we feel that even though it was a mistake on airlines, but also it is a responsibility on travel agencie's part to proactively look upon such a thing, and instead of we calling the airlines they could have done the same. --> But that was the only hiccup we had from Travel Masterz's end, other than that it was seamless & as mentioned above they are a really great company with great knowledge to plan your travel, and we would definitely recommend them to everyone !! :) ****FINAL WORDS**** --> Overall it was a really memorable & satisfactory experience for both of us,and would thank Travel Triangle, Travel Masterz & google research for that :) :)