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October Honeymoon

Hello travel community,

I'm looking for some assistance in planning my honeymoon. Here is what we know:

We just bought our transatlantic flights.... we will be arriving in Paris at 6:30 AM on October 6 and returning home via Rome on October 21. We have never been to Paris (or anywhere in France), so we are thinking of starting our trip with four nights there. We have been to Italy before (the big three plus Bologna); however, we are looking to spend two nights in Rome at the end of the trip to see some things we missed the first time around and revisit some of our favorite restaurants.

That leave 9 nights between Paris and Rome that we are looking to fill, and I'm hoping to get the advise of the experts! Some of the ideas we have bounced around:

  • After Paris, flight to Pisa. Set up home base in Lucca and for four nights and do day trips to CT and maybe Florence (like I said, we have been but love it). Then rent a car and slowly make our way to Rome stopping in Sienna, Cortono, maybe another hill town?

  • After Paris, head South (Provence? Riviera?) before heading to Italy. With this plan, I'm not sure where to start us the Italy part of the trip.

Would love to hear some opinions. We are also open to other ideas.... other than Paris and Rome we are flexible. We don't like to travel too fast (been there, done that). And it is our honeymoon so we are looking for a relaxed, romantic itinerary.

Appreciate the help!

Tera

Posted by
10 posts

Congrats on tying the knots! My wife and I also did our honeymoon in Europe a few years ago. We were in Italy exclusively though. A few advice i have:

  • since you've both been to the big cities in Italy already, I suggest spending more time in the Lucca (or similar) areas. My wife and I both agreed that our favorite stops were Cinque Terre and Tuscany, and that we wished we'd allocate more days there. It is a honeymoon after all; the slower pace of the more rural areas were great for enjoying this special trip.
  • if you're okay with interacting with other tourists more intimately, I highly recommend staying at an Agriturismo. We stayed at one (http://www.agriturismomarciano.it/index.php, a winery) right outside Siena, and not only did it make a good home base for exploring Tuscany, it was a lot of fun chatting up other tourists while enjoying home-cooked meals in their traditional kitchen.

I've never been to France outside of Paris, so can't provide any comparisons there.

David

Posted by
16895 posts

If you travel through the south of France, it does not particularly change the Italy part of the trip, so it's just a matter of whether you have time to see more. Trains from Nice to Lucca take about 7.5 hours with 3 connections.

Posted by
4132 posts

Provence is amazing, very French and also very non-Parisian.

Posted by
5200 posts

Don't short change Paris. Four nights only gives you 3 full days and 1 jet lagged day in one of the truly romantic cities of the world. Personally I would add another night or two to Paris. Just a thought. TC