Mouse over the pics to learn some of the cool things these travel magicians can arrange for you.

You’re planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip. You need everything to be perfect. You’ve scoured dozens of web sites and travel forums, but you’re still not sure what’s the right itinerary or how to guarantee yourself flawless logistics and V.I.P. treatment. You hated your last travel agent, but you need someone with the local expertise and clout to get you the rooms with the best views, the savviest English-speaking guides, the free upgrades and special access. In short, you need a clever advocate who will get you the maximum experience for your travel dollar.

Sound like you? Then you’ve landed at the right site! The 175 travel masterminds you’ll find here have been road-tested, many of them for ten years running, by thousands of the world’s most sophisticated and demanding travelers—the readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine. They’re who you call when:

• you’re headed to the Pyramids and the Nile, and you need an Egyptologist guide who will get you past every museum line and inside the hidden-gem tombs that the bus tours skip.
  
  
• you need a rental villa in Tuscany that’s close enough to town that you can walk to the panetteria, yet pastoral enough to have a 360-degree vineyard view unmarred by electrical wires. Oh, and it can’t have centuries-old stone staircases that might trip up grandma or the toddlers.
  
  
• you want a veranda on a Greek Islands cruise but the ship has no balconied cabins left. You need a cruise specialist who knows which staterooms have access to a secret private deck at no extra cost … and who will arrange customized independent activities on each island so you needn’t waste time and money on the ship’s group tours.

So how do you get started and find your perfect travel agent?

1. Match yourself to a travel specialist by using the drop-down menus at right. Select a region, country, or interest and click “Go.” One or more names will appear. View each person’s profile, then choose the one that matches your needs. Can’t find a match? E-mail me at wperrin@cntraveler.com.
   
   
2. Prefer not to hop from specialist to specialist but to use one travel planner for all your big trips? Click here.
   
   
3. Read the FAQs and Essential Tips at right.
   
   
4. Learn the value that these travel specialists can add to your trip. See “Read What These Travel Specialists Can Do For You,” below.
   
   
5. Contact the travel specialist. It’s best to send an e-mail first to schedule a phone appointment.
   
   
6. Upon returning from your trip, post a user review of the travel specialist who arranged it. (You can do this on his or her profile page. Just click on the "Traveler Reviews" tab.)

Bon voyage!

Wendy Perrin
Consumer News Editor
Condé Nast Traveler





READ WHAT THESE DESTINATION SPECIALISTS CAN DO FOR YOU:
African safari specialist Nina Wennersten
American West/Rockies specialist Caroline Wood
California Wine Country (Napa & Sonoma) specialist Jackie Richmond
China specialist Gerald Hatherly
Costa Rica specialists Richard & Irene Edwards
Egypt specialist Jim Berkeley
Hawaii specialist Judi Chaitman
India specialist Victor Biswas
Italy specialist Rudi Steele
Maldives specialist Lindsey Wallace
Peru & Machu Picchu specialist Tom Damon
Russia specialist Greg Tepper
Southeast Asia specialist Sandy Ferguson
Tahiti & French Polynesia specialist Kleon Howe

READ WHAT THESE VILLA SPECIALISTS CAN DO FOR YOU:
Italy villa specialist Mara Solomon
Worldwide villa specialist Maxine Harrison
St. Martin villa specialist Marilyn Pulito
Hawaii villa specialist Anne Pawsat-Dressler