(Closed) European Honeymoon – no idea on how to begin planning

• lim3
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: May 2014

Your description of exploring and relaxing roughly every other day is what we did on our honeymoon to Italy, I think it’s a great plan and will leave you feeling enriched and refreshed. 

We stayed in one quiet, scenic coastal town in the south, one big city in the center (Rome) and one small, charming, medieval town in the north.  It was a perfect mix for our two weeks.

Tuscany or Umbria would be nice in the spring with everything in bloom and the hills being green.  I’ve always wanted to see Tuscany/Umbria in the spring.  Rome + two or three bases in Tuscany or Umbria (or both) would make a nice two week trip.  And ground transportation would be very resonable with many towns reachable in 2 hours or so from Rome by train.  There’s a good chance you can get a non-stop flight to Rome too.

I like to use google image just to get visual inspirations.  The tripadvisor forums are super helpful and so are good old fashioned guidebooks to get an overview of the different regions in a country, then to compare towns in each region.  

My general advice is not to move too much, not to sleep in two many different places.  I would plan for no more than 3 or 4 myself.  You can visit other nearby towns during the day if you want to branch out.  

For your touristy things (like the sistine chapel for example) make sure that you check their hours and days of the week open and plan accordingly.  Some places (like the sistine chapel for example) you can and should buy advance tickets for so that you do not have to wait in the 2+ hour line wrapped around the building for entrance.

Have you thought about Spain?  You could do a mix of Barcelona and Andalucía, that would fill two weeks in nicely.  And I think the south of spain might be your best shot at beach weather in May if you’d like to incorporate any beach time.  Though if you are unable to fly between Barcelona and Andalucía it might not be that feasible because I think the train is quite a long ride.

Finally, I think if I had my heart set on France then I would still go to France in May, but that is me personally.  Though if France was just one contender among others then I would save it for another time since this is a honeymoon afterall and should be as stress free as possible.

Have fun!

• Scorpio88
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: May 2015

It sounds almost exactly like our honeymoon in May! We are getting married May 23, and flying out to Paris the next night (direct flight from Toronto).  Direct flights were important to me because I also hate flying, and wanted the shortest time possible.  I found our flight using my Aeroplan points. 

I am just in the middle to final stages of planning our honeymoon.  A lot of tourist attractions won’t allow for purchase of tickets this far in advance, so we have to buy them about 2-3 months prior.  <br /><br />We are leaving May 24 and returning June 11, sojust over 2.5 weeks. We are flying into Paris and staying there for 3 nights. We actually found a site called AirBnB (you rent homes / apartments) and it’s MUCH cheaper then hotels. For example, we’ve been talking to this one lady who’s apartment is 5 minutes from the Eiffel Tower, and it’s $85 a night versus $300 a night for hotels we’ve found in the same area.  Just make sure reviews are good, and always ask them questions beforehand. AirBnB protects you too in case of any issues.<br /><br />We are flying out then to Venice (I’m using EasyJet which tickets are cheap – about $80 one way) and using my Air Miles points to cover the hotels there.  Then using ItaliaRail (train tickets can range from $10-20) to Florence, Pisa (only a stopover to see the Leaning Tower), Rome and Naples. I found a great airline, Alitalia, that is decently priced too, and we’re using it to fly across to Athens, Greece and finishing in Santorini for 5 nights before we take a direct flight home.<br /><br />I 100% recommend buying all tourist attractions in advance, my friend went backpacking this past summer in Europe, and he said they waited in 2 hour lines sometimes when they could have skipped the lines if they had pre-purchased.  If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me, I’ve done extensive research into Europe travels haha.

• Lizzy88
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: May 2014

I recommend Rick Steves – both his books for figuring out some ideas and his consultants (ours was Lisa). We got married in May 2014 and then did a whirlwind tour of Europe. We did Scotland, London, Paris, Venice, Munich and a couple of smaller towns in Bavaria and Austria. We really enjoyed it but next time we will do something slower paced. Anyway, we used his book Europe through the back door and came up with a rough plan. He has more specific books if you want to focus on Italy or France. Lisa looked over it and provided us with some great tips (like when in Paris go to the Louvre or O’rsay on evenings they have extended hours) and hotel and dining recommendations. It cost some money, but it made our trip a lot better. Some of their favored places are booked fast, so I also used a lot of trip advisor, which worked out well. 

Good luck! And don’t let it stress you out too much 🙂 I know planning a wedding and a trip like that at the same time can be insane, but at the end of the day its about having fun!

• moviegoer23
• 6 years ago

Commenting to follow! 

• lucy236
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: June 2015

Like previous posts I would advise you to check flights on the budget carriers own websites for flights around Europe if you choose to travel that way, like easy jet and Ryanair. A lot of those airlines don’t show up on flight comparison sights. Or if you’d like to avoid planes the rail network is great around Europe. You could start in London and take the train on to Paris or Italy. Spain has some great affordable beach resorts if you want to relax. Just make sure you do extensive planning and research to save money. If you’re from the states now is a great time to travel as the exchange rate is very good right now. 

• tolkenbee
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: September 2015

First of all you obviously need to decide how long you’re going to be gone, and what bit of Europe you want to visit. Based on your OP I’d guess central/southern Europe. You’d need to see which cities you want to visit, and how long you think you need in each, and how long it would take to get in between the ones.

I would recommend flying into one place and out of another, because that way you don’t have to “go back” on yourself. 

Recommendations wise:

I wouldn’t be scared to travel to Paris just because of what happened recently. 

In Italy I’d recommend: Milan, Florence, Pisa, Sienna, Lucca, and Cinque Terre (I haven’t been to Rome). If you stay in Florence you can take day-trips to Pisa, Sienna, Lucca and Cinque Terre, so you don’t have to stay in those places. 

I’d also recommend Geneva. It is expensive, but a lovely place. 

I’d also recommend Amsterdam and Berlin. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, the only “problem” is that it is a typical “bachelor party town” full of drunk men who smoke weed and go to the Red District 😛 But if you go to the Anne Frank House and take the guided boat tour on the canal, it is easy to forget that for a while. 

Berlin is great for history and night-life. Seeing the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Holocaust Museum feels quite powerful, and though it may not be typical honeymoon-stuff, I think it’s really worth it, especially if you don’t think you’re likely to come back to Europe any time soon.

Also, I of course have to recommend London (because I live here). Like PP have said, you can take the Eurostar to Paris easily, and then continue from there. London is one of those places that no Europe-trip is complete without, and it has so much to offer.

Prague is also a beautiful city with a lot of history, and so is Hamburg.

Have you considered the Nordics at all? They are beautiful countries, with a lot of nature and water, and some currently very good food. Norway’s fjords are absolutely amazing, the Stockholm archipelago is beautiful, and Helsinki is a very relaxed and enjoyable city. 

• kristinspeed
• 6 years ago

how about croatia? it’s so amazing! 

• msmorganitebee
• 6 years ago

I was just in Paris this weekend with my DH for a long weekend,  it’s safe to travel to 🙂 Best things we did in paris were go to the lourve (we didn’t even go inside, just the outside was cool enough for us!), notre dame, the eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, sacre coeur, and my personal favorite was the locks of love bridge 🙂 we also did a river cruise which was super romantic.

I suggest Paris (so romantic!!). I’ve never been to Italy but think it would be a wonderful addition to your honeymoon. My husband and I went to Amsterdam for our honeymoon. While we had a wonderful time there, I don’t think you need to spend more than 2-3 days there. I prefer Edinburgh in Scotland by a long shot. Maybe consider London and Edinburgh?

Also DH and I live in Ireland (he’s irish). Ireland is extremely beautiful and romantic. 

If you don’t like to fly you might want to stick to the mainland europe and take trains everywhere. If you are open to flying, Ryan air has some amazing prices!! we got our tickets from ireland to paris last weekend for 9 euros (so around 11 dollars). They have great deals (not always THAT cheap, but still worth looking into!).

Try pinterest for travel tips and places to see.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by  msmorganitebee.

• muguet
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: August 2011

We used Destination Europe http://www.destinationeuropeonline.com which was expensive but worth every penny