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In every respect, our trip to Krakow, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna and Prague was fantastic. Gwen and her team did a terrific job.

Cindy and I very much enjoyed Krakow. The Bachleda was a lovely hotel and very nicely located away from the noise of the tourist areas, but walking distance to Old Town. Our guide, Marta, was excellent. We enjoyed her commentary and company. Krakow is a beautiful smaller city and we very much enjoyed our tour of Old Town, visit to the beautiful basilica, and tour of the Jewish sites (from which we learned a tremendous amount). As Gwen had suggested, the Schindler museum was special. Our visit to Auschwitz was exceptionally moving and our guide there (Woytek?—I’m sure I’ve mangled the spelling) was an incredible source of information and insight. We also had three excellent dinners in Krakow—at Cyrano de Bergerac, Goscinna Chata, and Szara. I also want to give a shout out to our driver. He was extremely helpful and went above and beyond.

We also enjoyed Warsaw, which, as you know, has a very different feel from Krakow. Our guide, Ewa, was incredible as I had mentioned earlier. She made the POLIN Museum, of the Warsaw uprising, and the tour of Jewish sites come alive as if she were telling a story. We learned a tremendous amount and were very moved. Raffles is a great hotel. Again, we had excellent dinners at Der Elefant and U Wieniawy. Our favorite Warsaw restaurant was Rozana, where we savored both the food and the cozy and refined atmosphere.

Budapest was another high point. Cindy and I loved the city; it is beautiful and quite striking, especially during our evening boat ride. And we loved our guide Julia. She was terrific in every respect and we much enjoyed all of her tours of various parts of the city. In addition to her knowledge, we especially appreciated her candor. She also is a great photographer, as some of our best trip pictures were taken by her of Cindy and me. We also were awed by being upgraded to the crown tower suite at the Matild Palace. Eating in Budapest was also a treat—from the strudel at Ruszwurm to our incredible dinner at Babel (a truly special meal).

I know I sound like a broken record, but we also very much enjoyed Vienna. The Sacher is a special hotel with its history and Gilded Age feel, as well as its excellent location. We were awed by Schonbrunn Palace, the Klimt paintings at the Belvedere, and by our behind the scenes tour of St. Stephens. Our food tour with Bianca was a highlight of our visit to Vienna, as was our dinner at Steirereck.

Finally, both of us knew almost nothing about Prague—except through a book we had both read—The Last Palace—and we were both captivated with the city. Everything came together for a perfect last stop on our trip. Our guide, Eva, was terrific. The Four Seasons upgraded our room so that we overlooked the river, the Charles Bridge and the castle (what a view from our bed!). Prague itself is lovely and we especially enjoyed the Jewish quarter and the castle. And we had three really special dinners—at La Finestra in Cucina, Field (really amazing), and Kampa Park (great view for the last night of our trip). I should also mention that the tour of Mikulov was also well-worth the time (and we enjoyed the drive).

Everything went off without a hitch and the team in Krakow made our arrival there seamless even when our plane was delayed several hours. We also very much appreciated your suggestions of sites and restaurants (as you can tell by the emphasis above, we love to eat!).

Cindy and I thank Gwen, Dana and the whole team for a very memorable experience.

My husband and I just got back from a terrific trip to Vienna and Salzburg. We planned this trip just a couple of months in advance and without much prior knowledge of what we might want to see or do. Gwen was very helpful in suggesting options as well as advice about transportation, hotels and restaurants. I very much appreciated the speedy responses from Gwen and Dana while planning the itinerary as well as during our trip.

Vienna and Salzburg are both beautiful, and it was a pleasure just to walk around and admire the architecture and scenery. We arrived in Vienna several days before Easter and so had the opportunity to visit some Easter markets and attend a wonderful Easter Sunday Mass at the Hofburg Cathedral featuring members of the Vienna’s Boys Choir. We also visited the Spanish Riding School for a performance of the beautiful Lipizzaner horses and attended a terrific concert at the beautiful St. Charles church. We took a fun and informative food tour with Tom and sampled some fantastic savory and sweet treats as well as some local beer and wines. The weather, with the exception of one rainy day, was lovely and so we decided to visit one of the vineyards that are situated on the hills below the Vienna woods. Gwen was able to get us a last-minute reservation for a delicious lunch on a beautiful terrace with a view of the vineyards. We wanted to see some of the Alpine countryside, and Gwen suggested a half-day trip to the lake district outside of Salzburg. This turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Our local guide, Roman, took us up on a cable car where we got some breathtaking views, and then walked us around two ridiculously picturesque towns. Though we were in Austria for only 8 days, we enjoyed a variety of activities. There’s no doubt that we wouldn’t have had as good an experience without the help of Gwen and Dana.

Gwen planned a wonderful trip for me and my teenage daughter through Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, and Amsterdam in March 2025; my husband joined for the second week. My family had worked with her last year, too, so we were a bit surprised by her slowness in the beginning of our planning process, but, ultimately, the trip was planned well and executed perfectly. I particularly enjoyed Gwen’s opinionated responses about hotel options—I found her descriptions and opinions useful when choosing among many great options in all of the cities we visited. I also greatly appreciated her detailed instructions of how to read our train tickets in German and find the right car/seat.

She offered varied tour options based on our interests and a thorough list of musical events in Salzburg and Vienna that we might enjoy. I appreciated her knowledge and thoroughness. She was also very direct about the best ways to cut costs when she presented the first draft of an itinerary. The guides she arranged for us were a good fit; I felt she had listened to what would work best with a teenager in tow. We especially liked Max in Munich, who did a good job keeping heavy WWII history engaging for a high schooler. Christiane, who was our guide at Dachau, was also terrific.

We covered a lot of ground in two weeks—highlights included our tour of Dachau, our trip to Swarovski in Vienna, boating along the Danube in Budapest, and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. We received a WOW Moment on this trip of an evening boat trip on the Danube in a beautiful boat with a lovely cheese board and drinks for us to enjoy.

Our February trip to Vienna was fantastic, thanks to Gwen and her team. First, the planning process was very personalized. We loved that Gwen herself met with us via Zoom for a pre-plan meeting and then again just days before our trip to answer any questions we might have and fine tune the details of our trip.

Second, the guides that Gwen arranged were fantastic. Especially Gertie, who we were lucky to spend a day and a half with. Gertie was extremely knowledgeable and provided us with great insight into Viennese life, both historical and modern day. She was also quick to pivot and make sure we had the most fulfilling experience possible. For example, when we arrived at St. Stephens Church for our special tour on the rooftop, we were informed that the elevator was broken. My husband is claustrophobic and did not want to climb the narrow staircase to access the roof. Gertie arranged for us to instead get a tour of the second floor chapel room (otherwise closed to the public) and the catacombs (also generally closed to the public). In retrospect, we think we enjoyed this experience more than we would have the rooftop tour. Likewise, our stable guide at the Spanish Royal Academy as well as our guide for our food tour were both personable, informative, and a pleasure to spend time with.

On Gwen’s recommendation we stayed at the Sacher Hotel, where we received first class service. We have stayed in many 5 star hotels and have not received the same attention and personalized service that we received at The Sacher, and I believe being associated with Gwen and her team was a big reason we were so well received.

We were in Vienna for 4 nights, which was perfect. (Again, Gwen steered us away from attempting to go to another city which would have cut down our time in Vienna.) We most enjoyed walking the city with Gertie and soaking up her knowledge. We also very much enjoyed the Spanish Riding Academy, and would love to see an actual performance if we go back to Vienna (unfortunately, there were only practices—not performances—whilst we were there). Getting to see the stables and horses close up, learn about the history and current functioning of the academy was a special treat. Indeed, other visitors to the Academy looked on with envy when we were allowed access to the restricted stable area, where we were greeted by three adorable stable cats and many of the horses came up to their stall openings to greet us.

All in all, we are really happy with our Vienna experience and with the expertise and personal attention Gwen’s team provided. We will definitely reach out to Wendy to get her recommendation for a planner for our next travels.

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