Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Alex is amazing. I use him for most of our holidays and I’m never disappointed. His communication is brilliant and he plans the best trips and really quickly! He’s planned trips to Dubai, Bali, flights only and most recently a trip round Italy with several stops. We first used him for our honeymoon 12 years ago!
Everything went to plan, no hitches and the service provided when we were organising the holiday was excellent. The quality of the hotels was great. Would absolutely recommend DialAFlight
Flights were fine and the staff at DialAFlight very helpful
Great hotel and location, would highly recommend. Thank you!
An amazing trip organised by Philippa - quite a task for a family of twelve ranging from 80 years down to 18 months. She organised an unforgettable trip for my husband and I to Croatia so we didn’t think twice about contacting her again for this trip.
Possibly more information needed regarding likely costs of airport to hotel transfers. Also we were staying 40 mins from town centre and it was not made clear the cost of taxis to go into town
Excellent service as always.
Callum always listens to me and then produces and tweaks if necessary. I wouldn’t use any other company.
Arthur was so helpful. Even when flights went wrong, he was on the airline's case immediately. Great and efficient company.
Great accommodation
Great communication throughout and knowing you’re being looked after. The app is a really useful tool keeping all you need in one place and allowing for direct contact.
Awesome again
The trip was a total success. Vinnie, did an amazing job as always. From booking hotels to talking to the concierges about restaurant and excursion bookings. It all worked like clockwork.
Excellent. Flights, transfers and our cruise with Star Clippers. Thanks everyone for a well organised trip. Will recommend and use you again.
Troy is amazing
Another fantastic trip, this time to Rome and Sicily. Great recommendations from Ryan and Guy
Another amazing gem. Thank you you Joe. It was absolutely beautiful
I was already abroad and needed future travel. Damian organised flights and Eurostar tickets for me. Super fast, super efficient and very professional.
A very efficient undertaking. Help always available (thank you) and everything done to ease journeys.
Al arrangements were spot on and recommended hotels were fine. Well done.
Thanks again to Jonathan Greaves my last trip was wonderful
Making two separate bookings caused us challenges for online check in and we couldn’t sit together however that was a very minor issue
Everything arranged and nothing was too much trouble for any of the staff. Thank you all
Change your transfer partner in Sardinia!
As usual the service was excellent and any questions we had were answered quickly and fully
I would recommend you but not the airline I used which was British Airways. Both outward and return flights were 2 hours late with very little explanation why
My easyJet flight out of Milan was cancelled. Not your fault. Luke is always excellent - he is the reason I keep coming back.
Joanna was very helpful and easy to get hold of to answer my stupid questions.
We have used DialAFlight on a few occasions. Gary found us an amazing holiday in Thailand, Tammy found us a lovely holiday in Rome & Milan. All hotels were really lovely and very central to everything. I would like to thank the team for all their help
Brilliant, and very reassuring to know I can contact you and get a quick response if I am worried about anything.
Florence is a feast for the eyes, with art and wonders at every turn. And when your brain is full of amazing images, you can find dozens of brilliant places to fill your stomach...
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Opening a new gallery in Florence is a bit like adding an extra dish to a banquet. But the Museum of the Opera del Duomo (it opened in October) contains a real wonder. It's the actual-size reconstruction of the original facade of Florence Cathedral. They put back its original statues, in storage for centuries, following details on a 16th Century drawing. The facade was part of architect Arnolfo di Cambio's first, 1294, vision for the cathedral. Never properly finished, it was removed in 1587.
SUPER HUMAN
Michelangelo sculpted the 14ft-high statue of biblical hero David between 1501 and 1504, while in his 20s. It is a supreme creation of the human mind, and hand. The plan had been to set the white marble statue high on the roofline of the cathedral, alongside other figures. Too massive to be lifted there, the colossus stood in Piazza della Signoria for 300 years, before being moved into the Galleria dell'Accademia in 1873 (a copy replaced it). It was restored in 2004.
MARKET LEADER
Mercato Centrale, on the first floor of the iron and glass market built in 1874, is the city's liveliest place to eat. Walk there through the stalls of leather goods traders (Via dell'Ariento), and head to the first floor. Mercato Centrale opened in 2014 to revive this ancient quarter, as one big dining space. There are 12 sections, each serving a speciality Tuscan dish made with ingredients sourced from the market stalls below.
ART BEAT
It's almost worth walking around the Uffizi at random, for that extra shiver of thrill when you unexpectedly come across Botticelli's Birth Of Venus and Leonardo's Annunciation. The other, equally majestic collection is in the vast Pitti Palace, on the south side of the Arno. There are many sublime paintings by Raphael, Titian, Lippi, Caravaggio and Rubens. You could spend a day in each.
PHEW VIEW
We crossed the Arno over the Ponte Vecchio, for the quietest walk in the city. Heading up the Via di San Leonardo, we saw no other pedestrians. After a coffee at the top of the hill, we circled back, down Viale Galileo, to a famous viewpoint of the city that we had all to ourselves. We curled around the Abbazia di San Miniato and the Chiesa di San Salvatore. Only then did we meet other people, puffing up the hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo, with its bronze replica of David.
WHEN TO GO
Florence can be crowded, although new pedestrianisation schemes make walking the central squares much easier. (To avoid the crowds, October to March is a great time to visit.) Fancy a coffee to start the day in Piazza di Santa Maria Novella? Order at a cafe's counter for the lowest prices - pay when you leave.
First published in the Mail on Sunday - April 2016
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