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Testimonials
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Holiday: WC01 - WALKING the CINQUE TERRE We both had a fantastic time, no travel problems with either planes or trains. In fact all our apprehensions soon disappeared when we realised that train travel in Italy really wasn’t as bad as our imaginations had led us to believe. Thank you for arranging the lovely anniversary surprise for Carole, sadly my limited grasp of Italian would have prevented this and she probably would have ended up with a bouquet of seaweed and salt water instead, she was thrilled, Mille Grazie! Both hotels were very good, SESTRI LEVANTE – the room was pleasant, at the rear of the hotel, a little small maybe but clean and tidy, mini bar fridge and safe, and ample bathroom, what you would expect from a medium sized hotel. Excellent restaurant, with impeccable service! But make sure to reserve a table. MANAROLA – the room was lovely, overlooking the main street, large and well furnished, air conditioning, good bathroom, all in all a delightful small hotel. Now the important bit, the walking. - To the sanctuary at Montallegro and the Gulf of Tiggulio, suppose our biggest complaint, for which you were in no way to blame, the weather. Having hiked all the way up, and upon reaching the summit visibility was down to 10 metres no views at all! Also, but only minor, from the restaurant to the fork in the path is quite a bit farther than the ½ kilometre stated in the route guide, but just keep walking it can’t be missed. The section of path to the shrine, where the trail crosses from west to east side of the ridge, is severely overgrown and proved a little hazardous in the wet conditions. - The Grand Traverse to Portofino, what else can be said but “spectacular!”, and the route description is the most accurate. Portofino, wow, and “oh” how the other half live. - Mountain trail from Monterosso to Vernazza, stiff ascent but worth it for the initial descent into Vernazza, along the narrow path with the most glorious views down to the sea over the terraced vineyards. Very remote, and as peaceful as described, no one but us on the trail. - Morning walk from Sestri, before our transfer to Manarola, to Punta Manara. There is a terraced view point, about two thirds the way up, with a clear view back down to Sestri, which don’t come any better. (I have the very scene saved on my computer desk top). Great circular walk, well described. The 5 villages of the Cinque Terre, fabulous! Luckily for us we had already spent some time in both Monterosso and Vernazza earlier in the week, and being based in Manarola we had also sampled it’s delights, allowing more spare time in Corniglia and Riomaggiore, route well described, impossible to go wrong. Earlier that week, while taking lunch in Vernazza, we were chatting to a charming lady, from New Zealand, who was adamant that we would not be able to walk the trail between the 5 villages in just one day. Although the climbs out of Monterosso and Vernazza were steep, walking between Monterosso and Riomaggore is easily achievable in a day. In fact not only did we accomplish the walk, including a stop for a welcome swim along the way, but we spent a very enjoyable afternoon in Pisa (such was, by now, my expertise and confidence with Italian trains) with some lovely photos of the Leaning Tower. - Bay of Poets and Portovenere, yet another truly spectacular walk. The scenery was simply stunning. Again the route description was accurate, but having negotiated the “Difficult” section, where the path finally emerges at the hairpin bend, there is a little path just visible on the right that descends to a road, which takes out a good stretch of the road walking, that is in my mind more preferable. We would be extremely hard pushed to pick a favourite walk, they were all splendid. We would have no hesitation in recommending your services and company to likeminded walkers, and will regularly check the web site for new itineraries. Once again, mille grazie. Ciao, Steve & Carole Gardner. Steve & Carole Gardner, Shropshire, England

Holiday: SB002 - SESTRI LEVANTE SEASIDE BREAK Hi Mike Thanks for your email. Brian and I had a really great time at Sestri. For us it was the perfect combination of walking, rest and exploration for that time of year. So some feedback. TRAIN TRAVEL Well organised and well informed. HOTEL Directions to the hotel were excellent. The staff were wonderful and the mix of several generations of the same family was lovely. Being the only brits there was also good! WALKS The choice of walks was good and in the right order. We got lost a few times on walk 1 & 3 but it was easy enough to find our way again. I enjoyed the extra challenge. The Cinque Terre was touristy but it did not spoil the experience. Would love to see it in winter. I rate the holiday 9/10. We had a lovely time, met some great people and the scenery was wonderful. Thank you. Sylvia Sylvia Burgess, Wimbledon, England

Holiday: EC001 - WESTERN LIGURIA HINTERLANDS Our trip was so great ........ Carle went back to work raving about Italy etc. and everyone laughed, seems Brian was back from Italy the day before and was complaining ... never go back etc. so many people etc. ha ha guess he was in Rome! Anyway probably have a booking for you next year - think Loretta wants to book soon while Ken is caught up in our enthusiasm!! Sadness of the trip though - I lost my camera card of the first half! I've been phoning and emailing ........... England to Triora is missing and that means Cinque Terre - ouch! Guess we'll have to come again! I've got to say that a great part of visiting Italy is embracing the food and the wine (I appreciated your suggestions) the Italians have great pride in these and we had such a special time 'cause we requested 'locale' - that last dinner in Arezano was unbelievable - I went to the kitchen, bowed and had someone translate that that was the dinner I wanted to have the night before I died! Pasta with scampi, zucchini in a creamy sauce .... yummy! Dianna Dianna and Carle, Vancouver, Canada

Holiday: SB001 - MANAROLA SEASIDE BREAK Hi I had a great time thanks :). Difficult to be back at work now! So loved the walking - wow, just amazing!! And for all the help, much appreciated - I have fallen in love with Cinque Terre!! Caroline Caroline Stewart, London, England

Holiday: ET001 - 3-CITY BREAK: PISA, GENOA & MILAN Hello Mike Arrived back in England safely and on time. Weather here has matched Italy over Easter which has been great. We enjoyed our holiday break very much and thanks for all what you did for us. As suggested by yourself it would have been better perhaps if we had the last night stay in Pisa to cut down on train travel, but we made that decision. Otherwise all was fine. Hotel good. We enjoyed staying at a seaside town rather than in the cities. You never know I might be able to persuade our friends to come over walking with me & Ian to make a change from Plaus. Will keep your webb page to check out your holidays. thanks again Pat Pat & Helen, Leighton Buzzard, England

Holiday: WC05 - PONENTE RIVIERA WALKS (Guided) First of all thanks for planning an excellent holiday which we both enjoyed. It was good to meet you and Steve and the individual attention was much appreciated, especially as we were new to Italy. The walks were excellent and at just the right level for us; the one to Cervo was especially appreciated as we would not have had the confidence to follow this ourself in a region we didn't know. We had no trouble following the Albenga to Alassio self-guided walk. Your personal attention such as helping with obtaining tickets, etc. was also appreciated. The knowldge you and Steve had of Italy and the region was also very useful (so much better to go somewhere and here about it from the 'locals'), although perhaps you should brush up on your knowledge of the flora!! The choice of accommodation was good. The hotel was a high standard with excellent facilities. We also felt the choice of Alassio as a base was a good one, right for the time of year as there was plenty to see and do in the evenings. As we discussed, encoraging more 'green' travel by train from the UK would be good (we had no difficulty getting back after an overnight stay in Paris) and possibly a marketing niche. We don't have time for a lot of holidays so we did appreciate this one and would certainly recommend it to others. Jane is now reading another Annie Hawes book so you never know, we may be back again at some future point, probably again in the winter. Thanks Tony and Jane Tony & Jane, Yorkshire, England

Holiday: WC01 - WALKING the CINQUE TERRE We had a fantastic holiday, and both agreed that we would definitely like to do it again – and soon. Both hotels were good and it was lovely to have all your rail tickets all organised, so that you just had to pick up the instructions and start walking. I thought Manarola was going to be too small, but we thoroughly enjoyed living like a local and in fact when we moved to Sestri, it seemed almost too big and brash after the quietness and serenity of Manarola. All the walks were great, though it looked like they had been written by different people, so some were better to navigate than others. Can I urge you to remove the word “soon” from the walking instructions and insert the number of meters instead? In some of the walks “soon” meant instantly and in other “soon” could mean a good 10 minutes away, so, much anxious time was spent double checking to make sure that we hadn’t missed anything. Also I liked it when the walks had a synopsis at the beginning, telling you the length in kilometres, the level of assent etc. along with a short précis on what you could expect. A previous holiday maker suggested splitting the walking instructions up so that they were easier to carry. I can only agree. We ended up numbering all the pages and then tearing them out of the book. A plastic wallet would be great too for those wet days. We had a little trouble on the way back, as the man in Genova Brignole bus station told us that the nr 100 bus to the airport no longer stopped at Genova Brignole and that we would have to get a 30 bus to Genova Principe and pick it up from there. There was a fair on that day, which may have caused buses to be diverted, but perhaps you should double check for others. All in all a great holiday which more then exceeded our expectations. Thanks Sue Sue Redpath, London, England

Holiday: WC01 - WALKING the CINQUE TERRE Home again, after a wonderful two weeks in Italy - thankfully, yesterday was a glorious day here, with not a cloud in the sky, so we took the dog out for the day, onto the hills, to prolong the holiday mood! Today not so great, but improving. The Cinque Terre was really great - our first time in that region, but certainly not our last! The scenery, of course, is spectacular, and we were really pretty lucky with the weather - one day which turned drizzly, and one night which produced so much rain and flooding that we had to jiggle around the walks for next day. Other than that, it was hot (sometimes too hot for those climbs!) and sunny. In particular, the route from Sanctuario Saviore to Sanctuario di Reggio was just a magical experience, with views, wild flowers (even in late September) butterflies, and we had it completely to ourselves, meeting the first two people just as we reached the road at the end - a nice change from the coastal trail, especially the section from Monterosso - Vernazza which is very popular! A couple of points; 1) We had a problem with pathfinding coming out of San Fruttuoso - we think that one of the signs may have been changed/shifted. We were using Itinerary 2 ( really fancied Itinerary 3, but in the last couple of years, I seem to have developed a minor problem with 'raw' heights, so heeded your warning re the via ferrata). We left the courtyard at the tower, continuing up the steps to the left, as per instructions. Kept waiting to see the right fork "where you must follow the red dots at a wooden post and blue sign with a yellow arrow pointing to the right, with directions to Base O". Sounds fairly obvious! - but we kept going on and seeing none of these signs. Didn't know just what you might have meant by "Soon after", but after a good 30-45 minutes of clambering upwards we reckoned we must have overshot. A closer study of the map we had bought showed that we must now be well on the way up what looked like a dead-end track up to 'Sorgenti Caselle' and Bocche di San Lorenzo, so turned back. On the way down, almost back at the courtyard, we saw what must have been the correct path going fairly level, on the far side of small ravine, and finally located the start of this path - sure enough, a right fork off the path we had taken, but we still couldn't see either the red dots on a wooden post or the blue sign with a yellow arrow, plus which, the entrance to the path was fairly overgrown, and not particularly obvious. At this point, overheated and well behind time, we gave up, and went back down to San Fruttuoso to get the boat back! We could only assume that someone had removed the post and dragged the vegetation over the start of the path for some reason - perhaps as a joke on mates who were following behind them. This is obviously nothing to do with Xtralussion, but just thought that perhaps you should be aware of it? 2) Would you consider either including a published map as part of your package? - or else giving recommendations for people wishing to purchase those maps covering the appropriate areas? Being used to the Scottish hills, we always feel safer with a map and compass, and had bought one of the Cinque terre and one of Tigullio/Parco di Portofino. The latter was on a bit too tight a scale, unfortunately, plus which I had mislaid my specs, which is why we hadn't studied it closely enough at an earlier stage, to prevent the problem above! [ Xtrallusion now supply maps to all those on our self-guided walking holidays. ] 3) It would have been really useful to have had the day's walking notes in a removeable, more portable fashion, rather than having the choice of carting the whole folder with us each day, or tearing out the day's notes and risking getting them out of order/dropping a page, or whatever. 4) Again, nothing to do with Xtralussion, really, but if you are chatting to hotels, perhaps you could suggest that us Brits (+ Aussies+Kiwis, etc!) might appreciate having some English language TV channel - other than the eternal CNN? The last thing I want to relax with on holiday is the American take on the world situation! These are the only suggestions that we would make - everything else worked like clockwork, including the train system ( which seemed to surprise every Italian to whom we mentioned it!) We were also very grateful for your extra help in sorting out the transfers to Bardolino which, again, worked just fine. We're thoroughly converted to train travel now. Both hotels - in Manarola and in Sestri Levante were excellent. Staff were helpful and welcoming, and both were very clean. In particular, the family run hotel in Manarola must be one of the most spotless places I have ever stayed in, the room and bathroom were both spacious, and - everything worked! The family were reticent at first, but the signora started chatting away with us in Italian, we replied in English,. we seemed to understand one another, then her son became more confident of his English and we were soon communicating just fine. We were given a bottle of their own wine as a parting gift. Just about everyone we dealt with in Manarola, shops, restaurants, etc., was really friendly - it's a great wee place, and we'd certainly hope to stay there again. We very much appreciated having an emergency number to call, if it had been necessary, and also appreciated your 'phone call on the Sunday morning to check if we had been affected by the awful weather further west. Sorry this is such a lengthy epistle - just wanted to give you our thoughts, in case they are of any interest or help to you in building up the business. We will certainly recommend you to several friends who are interested in the same sort of holidays as we are. Thanks again for all your help! and all best wishes, Janice Janice Menzies, Scotland.

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Enjoy relaxed, independent walking holidays in Italy along the Italian Rivieras using self-guided itineraries. Explore the beautiful mediterranean countryside and coastal mountains by foot taking in some of the regions most famous and magnificent towns and coast - the Cinque Terre, Portofino, Genova (Genoa), Santa Margherita, Rapallo, San Fruttuoso, Camogli, Chiavari, Sestri Levante, Vernazza, Manarola, Riomaggiore, Monterosso al Mare, Corniglia, Portovenere, Savona, Spotorno, Noli, Finale, Alassio, Imperia, San Remo and it's national parks to name but a few.

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www.xtrallusion.com Xtrallusion Holidays info@xtrallusion.com UK +44 (0)845 0944 669 ...with local knowledge 'in the bag' Italy +39 010 911 2949 Holidays & Adventures in Italy and on the Italian Rivieras Xtrallusion offers a selection of self-guided & escorted walking holidays in Italy.