Tripbelle is a small atelier of trip designers led by Belle Castellano. We don't sell packages. We hand-build journeys for people who want a stay, not a hotel — a table, not a reservation. Italy. Greece. Morocco. Japan. Bali. The places we know by first name.
We don't claim the world. We claim ten regions where we have spent enough seasons to know which butcher in Modica makes the best ricotta, which guide in the Atlas Mountains will actually slow down, which Kyoto ryokan owner remembers your name a year later. Each route below is a starting point; every itinerary is built one traveler at a time.
Italy
Lemon-grove villas above Positano. Trulli houses in Alberobello. A private boat captain who knows where the locals swim. Ten to fourteen nights, slow and southern, with rooms held by handshake at family-run properties Booking.com will never list.
Greece
Skip the crowds. We design Greek-island routes that thread small ports, off-grid beach tavernas, and a private caique day where lunch is whatever the captain caught that morning. Boutique hotels under thirty rooms, never a megaresort.
Bali
Past the influencer swing in Tegalalang there is a Bali that wakes at five with offerings on the path. We pair you with a private driver, a Balinese family compound homestay, and one quiet beachfront stay. Yoga only if you ask.
Japan
Cherry blossoms or autumn maples, we time your trip to the season. Ryokan stays with kaiseki dinners. Private temple openings before the gates open to the public. A craft-island detour to Naoshima. Tokyo only at the end, only if you're up for it.
Morocco
Riad in the Marrakech medina with a rooftop you'll never want to leave. A weaver-village day in the Atlas with a guide who grew up there. Atlantic-coast finish in Essaouira where the surf is gentle and the seafood is yesterday's catch. Hammam scheduled.
Portugal
A Lisbon design hotel, a long beach week in Comporta where Lisbon goes when it tires of itself, and a Douro Valley wine-country finale on a quinta. Slow lunches. Custom Tejo sailing afternoon. Pasteis de nata pilgrimage included by default.
Mexico
Mexico City is having a moment, and rightly so. Roma Norte design hotels, a dawn balloon over Teotihuacan, then south to Oaxaca for textiles and mole, and a long quiet Yucatan cenote-and-hacienda finish. A real trip, not a beach club.
Bespoke
Croatia? Vietnam? A Spain-and-Portugal honeymoon with one private driver across both? A milestone-birthday Patagonia? A grandparents-and-grandkids three-generation Ireland? The most interesting trips don't fit on this page. Begin a conversation.
Some travelers want every detail handled. Some want one impossible reservation. We do both. Below are the six service tiers we offer; most clients combine two or three.
Our flagship service. A one-on-one design relationship, an hour-long discovery call, a written narrative itinerary, every booking placed by us, and a 24/7 concierge line while you're in country.
Twice a year we host small group departures, capped at twelve travelers, designed around a theme: Sicilian olive-pressing season, a Kyoto tea-ceremony week, a Marrakech textiles immersion. You'll meet your trip-mates before you fly.
Our most-requested specialty. We design solo journeys with a trusted-driver layer built in, vetted boutique stays where the front desk knows to expect you, and optional female-led day guides when you'd like company.
A 40th, a retirement, a 25th anniversary, a sober-anniversary celebration, a surprise honeymoon-redo a decade later. Milestone trips deserve more than a cake. We design the moment, the room, the toast, the surprise dinner under the stars.
You've already booked the trip. You just need the right table at Quintonil, a Paris florist that delivers to your hotel, the perfectly-timed Vatican entrance, the boat captain in Mykonos who actually returns calls. One hour, one fee, one bookmark.
Multi-generation trips are a particular pleasure. We design itineraries that work for grandparents and grade-schoolers in the same villa, with kid-friendly afternoons and grown-up dinners. Birthday-week takeovers and reunion trips are our specialty.
Tripbelle was founded in 2018 in a 1840s carriage house off Wentworth Street, by Belle Castellano — a former magazine travel editor who, after fifteen years of writing about other people's trips, decided to start designing them. The first client was a Charleston neighbor planning a 30th-anniversary Italy. The second client was that neighbor's sister. We have grown almost entirely by word-of-mouth since.
Our atelier is small on purpose. Five trip designers. One operations director. A rotation of in-country guides who have been with us since the first year. We do not chase volume, we do not sell packages, and we do not work with cruise lines. What we do is sit down with you, listen carefully, then quietly hand-build a trip you could not have built yourself.
What we believe, mostly, is that the best travel is the kind where the seams don't show. You shouldn't see the spreadsheet behind the day. You shouldn't be told to download an app. You should arrive somewhere lovely, find someone who knows your name, and be handed an aperitivo. The rest is craft.
Most clients begin with us four to nine months out. Some come to us a year before a milestone. Some, charmingly, six weeks before a honeymoon. We work with what we have.
You fill out our short inquiry form, or call. We respond within one business day with a 30-minute discovery call invitation.
One hour, complimentary. We learn how you travel, who you are, what would make this trip special. A planning fee proposal follows.
Two to three weeks of design. You receive a written narrative itinerary, refined across two rounds of revisions, never a generic PDF.
We book everything, prepare your in-country dossier, and stay reachable on a 24-hour line for the entire duration of your travel.
We have a deep little black book. Family-run agriturismi in Tuscany. A converted monastery in Lecce. A houseboat in Kerala. The kind of places that don't care about a five-star plaque but pour you a glass of wine before you've put down your bags.
The trips that mark a life are the ones designed by someone who is paying attention. Tripbelle is paying attention.
We don't ask for reviews. These are letters our travelers sent us afterward, published with their permission.
Belle planned my 40th in the Amalfi coast and I cried twice on day one. Once at the private boat captain who had a bottle of cold prosecco waiting and once at the handwritten note in the room. Every restaurant was a notch above what I would have picked. I felt looked after for nine straight days.
My daughter and I went to Kyoto for cherry-blossom season. Belle's atelier built a ten-day trip that paced perfectly — mornings out, afternoons rest, dinners that felt sourced from a guidebook we didn't know existed. The ryokan owner remembered my mother's name from her own trip in 2019. That kind of detail is what we paid for.
As a Black woman traveling solo to Marrakech I was nervous, and Belle's team handled every layer of that thoughtfully. A driver who became a friend by day three. A riad where the host walked me to dinner the first night. A women's hammam booking I would never have found alone. I came home rested, not exhausted. That's the test.
The form to your right takes about four minutes. Once received, Belle or one of our three senior designers will write back within one business day with a complimentary 30-minute discovery call invitation. There is no obligation and no design fee until after that call.
We work with travelers planning trips of $5,000 per person and up. If your budget is smaller, we are happy to point you to thoughtful self-planning resources at no charge.
Pick up the phone. Send an email. Walk into the carriage house off Wentworth on a Saturday afternoon (please call ahead). The best trips begin with a real conversation, not a contact form, although that works too.
Yes. Bespoke itinerary design carries a planning fee of $750 per traveler for trips under 10 nights and $1,200 per traveler for longer or multi-country trips. The fee is quoted in writing after your discovery call and is fully credited toward any accommodations we book on your behalf at our partner properties.
The Concierge Hour is a flat $375 single-session fee. Small-group curated trips have a published all-inclusive rate. Group and family trips are quoted bespoke.
For peak-season Italy, Greece, and Japan trips we ask for four to nine months. For milestone trips, holiday travel, and three-generation reunions, six to twelve months. For the Concierge Hour or a single reservation, two weeks is usually fine.
We can. We are an IATA-accredited agency and have access to consolidator and contract fares for premium-cabin international travel. For domestic and economy-cabin flights we generally recommend you self-book to keep costs down, and we will help with seat selection and timing advice at no extra charge.
A 24/7 concierge line is included with every bespoke trip. A real human, on Charleston time during the day and on rotating after-hours support overnight. We have rerouted travelers around volcanoes, found doctors at 2am, and replaced a lost passport in under 18 hours. We plan for every trip to go smoothly. We're built for the rare ones that don't.
We strongly recommend it and partner with two trusted carriers (Allianz Global Assistance and Travel Guard). We will provide quotes during the planning phase, but you purchase the policy directly — we don't take commission on it. Coverage options include trip cancellation, medical evacuation, and Cancel-For-Any-Reason rider tiers.
Yes, Tripbelle is a member agency of Virtuoso. In practical terms it means we have direct relationships with most of the world's leading hotel brands and many independent boutique properties, and we can layer Virtuoso-only amenities (room upgrades, daily breakfast, food & beverage credits, early check-in / late check-out) onto your stays at no additional cost.
Very much so. Roughly a third of our travelers are solo women, and our solo journeys are designed with a trusted-driver layer, hand-picked properties with sociable common spaces, and optional female day guides. Belle herself travels solo regularly and the design choices reflect that lived experience.
Yes. About 15% of our clients are based in Canada and the UK. We bill in USD, but payment by international wire or major credit card works fine. Our hours skew US Eastern, but we accommodate calls into the evening for European travelers regularly.
Tripbelle LLC ("Tripbelle," "we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect about you when you visit tripbelle.net, when you submit an inquiry, when you become a client, and how we use, share, and protect that information. By using our website or our services you agree to the practices described here.
We collect information that you give us directly — for example, when you submit an inquiry form, schedule a call, or correspond with us by email. This typically includes your name, email address, phone number, dates and destinations of interest, group size, occasion, budget range, and the personal travel context you choose to share.
For active clients, we additionally collect passport details, dates of birth, dietary and medical needs you disclose, mobility considerations, frequent-flyer numbers, and payment details (processed by our payment processor; we do not store full card numbers on our servers).
We also automatically collect technical data when you use the website: IP address, browser type, device identifiers, pages viewed, time on site, and referring source. This is collected via standard server logs and cookies as described below.
We use cookies and similar technologies to make tripbelle.net work, to remember your preferences (including cookie consent), to understand site performance, and to support our marketing. You can choose your cookie preferences through our cookie banner on first visit, or by clicking "Cookie Preferences" in the footer at any time. Disabling non-essential cookies will not break the site but may reduce some convenience.
We share your information only with parties that need it to deliver your trip, and only to the extent required:
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your inquiry data with marketers outside our authorized service providers.
Tripbelle is headquartered in the United States. To deliver your trip we may transfer your data to suppliers in the destinations you have chosen. By engaging us you consent to that transfer. Where transfers involve EEA, UK or Swiss residents, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses or comparable safeguards.
If you are in the EEA, UK or Switzerland, you have the right to:
To exercise any of these rights, write to privacy@tripbelle.net with "GDPR Request" in the subject line. We respond within 30 days.
If you are a California resident, you have the right under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA, to:
To exercise these rights, email privacy@tripbelle.net with "CCPA Request" in the subject line. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.
We keep inquiry data for up to three years from your last contact with us, after which it is securely deleted. Active client trip records are retained for seven years for accounting and warranty purposes, then deleted. Newsletter subscriber records are kept until you unsubscribe.
We use industry-standard technical and organizational safeguards including TLS in transit, encryption at rest for sensitive identifiers, role-based access controls, and annual review of our supplier security posture. No method of transmission is 100% secure; we will inform affected travelers in the unlikely event of a breach involving sensitive personal data.
Tripbelle does not market to children under 16 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children. Parent or guardian contact information for family travelers is provided by the booking adult.
We will update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be flagged via the website and, where required, by direct email to active clients.
Privacy Officer
Tripbelle LLC
122 Wentworth St, Charleston, SC 29401
privacy@tripbelle.net
(843) 555-0177
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website tripbelle.net ("the Site") and all travel concierge, planning, and booking services provided by Tripbelle LLC ("Tripbelle," "we," "us"). By using the Site or engaging us to design or book travel, you agree to be bound by these Terms.
Tripbelle LLC is a South Carolina limited liability company (SC LLC No. SC-LLC-22938), with offices at 122 Wentworth St, Charleston, SC 29401. We act as a travel advisor and concierge: we plan, recommend, and book travel arrangements on behalf of our clients with third-party suppliers including hotels, transport providers, tour operators, restaurants, and guides.
Tripbelle is not a hotel, airline, ground operator, or insurance carrier. We do not own or operate any of the lodging, transport, or activity providers we book on your behalf. We act as your agent in contracting with these third-party suppliers, each of which has its own terms and conditions, including its own cancellation, refund, and liability policies. Where any conflict arises between these Terms and a supplier's terms, the supplier's terms govern your direct relationship with that supplier.
All written proposals are valid for 14 calendar days from issue. Pricing is held only upon receipt of the trip deposit and an executed booking confirmation. Suppliers may modify availability or rates between proposal and deposit; we will inform you in writing of any change before processing payment.
Bespoke design carries a planning fee of $750 per traveler for trips under 10 nights and $1,200 per traveler for longer or multi-country trips, unless otherwise agreed in writing. Deposit and payment schedules vary by supplier and trip; specifics will be detailed in your written booking confirmation. All payments are processed in US dollars.
Tripbelle planning fees are non-refundable once design work has commenced beyond the complimentary discovery call.
Cancellation of supplier services (hotels, ground operators, guides, etc.) is governed by each supplier's individual policy, which we will share with you in writing before payment. As a general matter:
We strongly urge every traveler to purchase travel insurance, including a Cancel-For- Any-Reason rider where available. We can recommend carriers and policies but do not issue insurance ourselves.
Travel insurance is not included in any Tripbelle service. We strongly recommend you obtain comprehensive travel insurance covering trip cancellation, trip interruption, medical care abroad, medical evacuation, and baggage. Insurance is a contract solely between you and the insurer; Tripbelle has no role in claims adjudication.
Neither Tripbelle nor any supplier is responsible for losses or expenses caused by events beyond reasonable control, including but not limited to natural disasters, severe weather, epidemic or pandemic events, acts of war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, transport strikes, supplier insolvency, or border closure. Where such events make a trip impossible, we will use best efforts to recover refundable amounts from suppliers and to rebook on reasonable alternative dates.
You are solely responsible for ensuring you hold a valid passport (typically with at least six months remaining validity at entry), required visas, and any vaccinations or health documentation required for the destinations on your itinerary. We will share country-specific guidance, but the final responsibility rests with you.
All content on tripbelle.net — written copy, photography, written itineraries, vendor lists, design files — is the property of Tripbelle LLC or used with permission. You may not reproduce, redistribute, or republish any content without written consent. The itineraries we deliver to clients are licensed for personal use only and may not be shared with third-party planners or republished.
You agree not to use the Site or our services to violate any applicable law, infringe any third party's rights, transmit harmful code, or scrape, copy, or systematically harvest content. We may decline service or terminate an engagement for conduct that threatens our staff, suppliers, or other clients.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Tripbelle's aggregate liability for any claim arising from or related to your use of the Site or our services is limited to the total planning fees you have paid to Tripbelle in the twelve months preceding the claim. Tripbelle is not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, lost profits, or loss of enjoyment.
We are not liable for the acts, omissions, or breach by any third-party supplier (including but not limited to hotels, airlines, ground operators, guides, restaurants, and insurers).
You agree to indemnify and hold Tripbelle harmless from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Site, or your violation of applicable law.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, USA, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.
Any dispute arising under these Terms that cannot be resolved through good-faith negotiation within 30 days shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, with the seat of arbitration in Charleston, South Carolina. Each party bears its own legal fees; arbitration costs are split equally except where the arbitrator awards otherwise. You waive the right to participate in any class action or representative proceeding.
We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the Site or our services after changes are posted constitutes acceptance.
If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force.
Tripbelle LLC
122 Wentworth St, Charleston, SC 29401
concierge@tripbelle.net
(843) 555-0177
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