Honeymoon Help!

[johnandkatie]

Hi everyone,

We will be heading to Europe from Chicago for our honeymoon in early November (likely departing on 11/3 or 11/4), and we need some help picking destinations and also with the logistics of getting from place to place.

The only "must sees" are a stop in Italy (no city in particular, so probably whatever is best in November) and a couple days in Paris, but everything else is open. We will likely be going for 10-12 days including travel.

We lean towards cities over rural areas, but we would like to see both while there...we know the food is fantastic all over Europe, but places with great food and fun nightlife are definitely preferred.

I know this is rather vague, but hopefully we can get a dialogue going to help us make our decisions in the next few days. Basically we just want to see a nice variety of culture without spending 50% of our time on planes/trains and at hotel desks.

[katiekate]

With only about ten days, I'd say do Paris and Rome. But its all personal preference of course. Cinque Terre and Florence are also favorites in Italy. Prague is supposed to be awesome too - and its supposedly cheaper than the other large cities in Europe.

[johnandkatie]

Thanks for the suggestions...that's definitely one of our possibilities. I guess I'm just trying to find out how many cities we could fit without overdoing it.

[Eagle]

johnandkatie, First of all congratulations and welcome to the Boards! A few thoughts on your questions.....

With a time frame of only 10-12 days to work with, you won't have time for a lot of destinations in Europe. Keep in mind that you'll lose the first day in flight times and time zone changes, and with jet lag you might not be up to "touring speed" for day or two after arrival. The time in travelling between cities certainly has to be considered also.

I'd suggest booking "open jaw" flights for best efficiency. For example, you could start in Rome and fly home from Paris. Both of those cities have larger airports, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding flights. You might want to speak with a travel agent.

At that time of year, it will likely be a bit "chilly" in Europe, so starting in Rome and the south might be a good idea, as it would provide the opportunity to become "acclimatized" somewhat. There's lots to see and do in Rome, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding things to do. What types of sights are you most interested in - art galleries, Museums or historic sites? I can't comment on the "nightlife" much as I'm an "older" traveller, but hopefully some of our other members will have some tips on that.

As you only want to spend "a couple of days in Paris", you might have time to fit one other city into your Itinerary. Which cities would interest you the most - Florence (Uffizi & Accademia Museums) or possibly Munich? Those cities come to mind, as they're somewhat "on the way" to Paris.

Normally the best and most relaxing way of travelling around Europe is via the excellent rail network. However, depending on the distance and travel times between some cities, budget airlines are sometimes a better option. Often these airlines use airports that are some distance from the city centres, so the time and cost to reach the airports, along with the usual check-in and security times has to be factored in as well. I normally use train whenever possible (the high speed trains such as the TGV are in most cases better than flying IMO, as they travel right to the city centres - reservations are compulsory on these however).

If you haven't been in Europe before, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door, as it provides a lot of great information on smart, safe and affordable travel in Europe. The "Rail Skills" chapter is especially informative!

Hope this helps with your planning!

[herrbert]

I am not sure if this still matters, as I see in an other topic, you'll likely to choose Amsterdam and Rome. But I would change it to Vienna, with the classic Italian threepiece.

Vienna (4) - Venice (2) - Florence (2) - Rome (5)

On a romantic note, I think that Vienna has more to offer, if you compare it to Amsterdam. Combining it with Venice, would make it a pretty easy logistical operation.