Private Trip Planning & Booking
LET'S PLAN YOUR DREAM VACATION
Planning Your Fully
Customized Trip
We create private travel programs and experiences that meet your specific wishes, interests, time, and budget. The process starts with an in-depth, 45-minute consultation with Alida, our founder and Europe specialist, to discuss your travel preferences and desires. We then create a customized itinerary and proposal. This package made for you will be inclusive of accommodations, transportation, tours, and experiences—all tailored to you, and within your pre-set budget. Our service does not end in the booking phase. We remain at your disposal during the trip to make sure everything runs smoothly and that you enjoy every second.
PLEASE READ THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Before You Book Any Service
Our core destinations include:
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Italy, Croatia, Greece, France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Slovenia, and Switzerland
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Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Germany
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Scotland and England
Beyond our core destinations:
We can design bespoke itineraries across the entire European continent, as well as Mediterranean destinations such as Türkiye, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia. If you have a specific country or multi-destination journey in mind, just reach out!
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If you go ahead and book this service, our process will start with a Zoom meeting for us to understand exactly what your wishes are: destinations you wish to visit, and experiences you wish to have. It is also important to talk about your budget for us to be able to present the level of service and category of accommodation.
We call this meeting the "Kick-off meeting", and it's a crucial step of the process, as we strive to provide the best possible customized experience for each and every one of our guests!
Following the meeting, we will work on a customized program and will send you a 1st draft of the itinerary for review. This step is used to make sure we are on the same page and to determine the travel schedule.
You will let us know if you'd like to change something, or add something… The process of creating the customized itinerary sometimes requires us to have several versions of the draft itinerary.
Once we are both happy and agree on your itinerary and program, we move forward to the proposal planning stage. In this stage, we work with our trusted suppliers, having in mind everything we previously talked about, and the budget that you set for this trip, we will put together the best possible value for money.
The next step is creating the proposal, and depending on the time of travel and length of travel, as well as how complex it is, the proposal creation may take a bit of time on our end.
As soon as we receive all the information from service providers and accommodations we aim to use for your trip, we will send you a proposal that includes a detailed day-by-day itinerary description, names of chosen accommodations, a list of included features, and all other important things about your program, including the total package price that will be within the set budget. The package price consists of hotel accommodation, transfers, experiences, and tours.
We can still apply tweaks and modifications if there is anything you dislike about the proposal!
Once you are happy with your proposal with all the package components, we will send you a private link in WeTravel (our booking platform), where you will have to sign the last page of the proposal in acceptance, pay the deposit, and we will lock it all in. If you're booking far in advance, only the deposit is necessary to confirm, a 30% payment is due 90 days before your trip, and the balance becomes due for payment 45 days before your trip. The payment for all of your services goes through Vagabonda Travel, you can read the full Terms & Conditions for independent travelers.
Upon the balance payment, within 45 days before your arrival to your destination—we finalize all details for you, and approximately 20 days before the trip, we send you your travel document—this is a Technical Itinerary—the same exact itinerary from your proposal, but without long descriptions, instead, just concise information for you to follow for an easy travel flow. You will have all the timings, meeting places, and contacts of service providers that will take care of you while traveling. On top of that, of course, we will deliver any train tickets, ferry tickets, and similar.
Once you land at your destination and start the trip, we are still there for you. The Vagabonda team, as well as our local ground operators. We are all there for you in case you need us for anything!
So, we begin our relationship with the consultation, and we are by your side throughout your trip, until we drop you off at the airport for your homebound flight.
Our non-refundable professional planning fees cover the professional 45-minute conzulation, handling all the land arrangements of your trip, from itinerary creation, service provider arrangements, and end-to-end booking from head to toe: handpicked hotels, private transfers, trusted guides, curated experiences, and technical travel documents with hands on assistance during your trip.
Our fee structure is transparent and structured by party size and travel duration:
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Standard Journeys (5 to 14 Days of Travel Time):
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1 to 6 Guests: $500 (Perfect for solo travelers, couples, families, and small friend groups up to 3 couples)
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7 to 10 Guests: $700 (Covers larger party coordination, dedicated private transport logistics, and multi-room arrangements)
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Extended Grand Journeys (15 to 21 Days of Travel Time):
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1 to 6 Guests: $750 (Comprehensive multi-region curation and complex routing)
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7 to 10 Guests: $1,250 (Full multi-week group management, multi-vehicle logistics, and large-scale coordination)
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For journeys of 22+ days or groups larger than 10 guests, please contact us for a custom quote.
Please note that in case you change your mind for any reason, or are not able to travel, the fees we charge are non-refundable. The fees include the extensive time invested in the process: from the initial consultation to custom route design, budgeting according to your wishes, securing the best local ground partners, coordinating with hoteliers, and preparing your technical documents.
Important to know:
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Your travel date must be at least 30 to 45 days after the day we start working on it (when we have our initial Zoom kick-off consultation), but can be planned as far in advance as 12 to 15 months.
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This is a full travel agency service.
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The price of your journey will be the total package price per person or per family with all land services included at a very high value for money!
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Tours can be organized across different travel styles and budget levels.
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This service is not for everyone, and not for those who seek the cheapest option. Please note if you prefer to stay in apartments (private accommodation/Airbnb), this service is not for you. We only work with hotels that we know and love. With private accommodation, it is nearly impossible to have quality control and to work with, as a travel agency.
If you want a worry-free experience and the best possible value for money for a program with private transfers, an upscale level of tours and experiences, with accommodation at nice 4 and 5-star, locally owned hotels, this service is for you!
Depending on your total budget, the experiences and tours can be either private or joining small groups. Joining small groups for sightseeing and some experiences can make the whole program substantially more affordable, while still having an upscale service. Absolutely every segment of your tour will be planned, booked, and “glued together” by our destination experts, making sure all segments that are part of your program work well together (these are the tours, sightseeing, transfers, train rides, experiences, and similar). We make sure the order of visits is the best possible and most enjoyable, that the times of visits are the best, and we also plan some time at leisure for you—and for that time, we will give you all of our recommendations and ideas on where to go and what to do in different places. These are all of those "free of charge" things to do on your own in destinations that are often the most enjoyable, spontaneous moments of a trip.
Clients often ask us what is a good budget, and we really want you to know that we work with different levels of comfort and travel style!
That is why it is very important for us to know what budget range you feel comfortable with for this trip. It can be an estimate or a target goal. We are always flexible and can calibrate elements along the way, but having a clear budget range helps us select the exact right accommodations and experiences from day one.
Pricing varies based on seasonality, destinations visited, duration of stay, and style of service:
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Boutique 4-Star Standard: Generally speaking, our average client spends between $4,200 – $5,000 per person for a 7-day land program (excluding international flights). This covers beautiful, handpicked, centrally located 4-star boutique hotels, private driver transfers, select small group sightseeing, and curated private experiences. (Rates will be higher in peak summer and lower during shoulder/spring/autumn seasons).
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Luxury 5-Star & Private Experience: For an elevated luxury journey staying at 5-star hotels and enjoying top-tier private services—such as dedicated private drivers throughout, private boat charters, and private licensed guides—the budget typically ranges between $6,800 – $8,500+ per person per week.
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The "Best of Both" Hybrid (Most Popular): Very often, clients prefer a smart combination! For a budget in between (approx. $5,200 – $6,500 per person per week), we combine centrally located, high-character 4-star boutique properties in walkable cities (like Rome or Florence where you spend little time in the room) with stunning 5-star view properties and private boat charters in scenic countryside or coastal regions like the Amalfi Coast, Lake Como, or Tuscany. (Please note these are just examples, we can offer this across all European destinations).
Important Notes:
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The above figures are realistic guidelines; every custom itinerary is individually priced based on your exact dates and selections.
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Family trips with children under 12 often work out more economically on a per-person average due to family room configurations and reduced child rates on certain tours.
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Small groups of 4 to 6+ travelers sharing private transfers and private guides will also see a lower per-person average as vehicle and guide costs are divided among the party.
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Direct, one-on-one planning with Alida: Your journey is custom-designed directly with our founder and European destination specialist—bringing decades of firsthand insider knowledge and personal connections to your itinerary
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Only pay the planning fee upfront
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The deposit you put down to confirm is 100% refundable until 90 days before your travel date
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The final payment is due 45 days prior to your travel date (see the full Terms & Conditions)
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Local contact is available during your entire trip to help and assist with anything you may need
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Worry-free in terms of organization—everything is taken care of for you
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Accommodation in vetted, trusted hotels
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Services such as transfers and sightseeing are provided by top-notch, trusted professionals
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If anything goes wrong, for any reason, our team is here to fix it for you!
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In your travel documents, we will include all of our restaurant recommendations as well as curated suggestions on what to do during your free time
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Even though we do not sell airline tickets, we are happy to help you find the flights that work best with your land program
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Choose Your Own Adventure
Happy Clients
- The Coscia-Mancuso Family, White Plains, NY
We cannot thank Vagabonda Travel enough for custom-designing our family trip to Italy. Memories to last a lifetime. Every detail of our trip was perfectly curated and exceptional. We would have never been able to plan this adventure on our own. Communication with the staff is excellent and we felt secure knowing we had contact number while we were traveling. Cannot wait to book our next trip with you soon!
Trip of a lifetime.
Happy Clients
- Megan and Jerry, Los Angeles, California
We have never used a travel service before, and Vagabonda absolutely blew us away! From their hotel bookings, to the day-by-day itinerary, to hidden gems we definitely would have never found on our own, we can't thank their team enough! Highly recommend for anyone who wants an authentic experience in Europe!
BEST TRIP EVER! We'll remember this for the rest of our lives!
Happy Clients
- Pete and Paula, Lindenhurst, New York
When my husband and I started planning our 30th Anniversary trip to Italy we had no idea where to even begin. That’s when I stumbled across Alida’s TikTok videos. I absolutely LOVED her content. To be honest, at first I was skeptical about planning a trip like this off of someone I saw in a TikTok video, but after meeting with her we knew we picked the right travel agency. Our 17-day trip was absolutely incredible. Alida and Vagabonda Travel made our lifetime dream of touring Italy one we will never forget!
Happy 30th Anniversary to Us! A TRIP OF A LIFETIME!
