European Honeymoon Destination Advice

Number three. Good mix of two pretty cities and beaches of Croatia, Plitvice Nat.Park, Split with Diocletian Palace, walled town of Dubrovnik. Also cheaper than other combinations.

I like #1 myself but I would probably do it in a more linear direction - fly into London, then to Amsterdam, then Prague, and fly home from Budapest. With 3 weeks I would probably add in Vienna too, either between Prague and Budapest or after Budapest and fly home from Vienna.

Your destinations all sound great. And congratulations! Not knowing your ages and interests, except for wanting to cram as much as you can, it is hard to recommend. I like all:)

I like #1 and agree that London-Amsterdam-Prague-(Vienna?)-Budapest makes more geographic sense. I like #3 too, if you're looking for countryside and beach time as well as big cities. The others wouldn't appeal to me as much, but we spent our honeymoon over a weekend on the Maryland shore, so what do I know? ;-)

I would be attracted by a version of #4 ...
(especially if you are talking autumn as in October, when the central European cities turn more chilly)
Amsterdam (3)
Antwerp/Ghent (2)
Paris (4)
Loire Valley (3)
Bordeaux (2)
San Sebastian (3)
Fly to Barcelona (4)

Or expand #2 and spend a week on each - Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica - relaxing in well chosen villas.

Thanks for the feedback thus far. Its all very helpful.

A further bit of feedback about us. We are both from the Boston area, around 30, fairly active, and don't mind a bit of walking (we walked 16 miles in Florence one day on our previous trip), I would really say we are interested in taking advance of many different aspects of a place. History, indulging in the local beverage, walking to a beautiful vista, being able to enjoy the local or historically significant musical heritage of a city. Ideally we would like to visit a place that offers alittle bit of all those things.

Additionally, our idea about the route of the Combination of the East and Western Capitals is this is most cost efficient as both London and Amsterdam are transatlantic transit hubs from our home in Boston.

Also I agree Vienna makes sense If I visit Eastern Europe, except while I would go again, I have been and it was not my favourite. Call my crazy...

Thanks again!

A Combination of the East and Western Capitals we have never been to.... (??)
Fly in to Amsterdam (3) >> Berlin (4) >> Prague (4) >> Vienna (2) >> Budapest (4) >> Fly to London (4)
All of these places a little cool by the time autumn rolls around.
Good drinking though in all of them !!
(You can always transit through Vienna if you have been before and it wasn't a favourite)

"History, indulging in local beverage, walking to a beautiful vista ....." You will find that and then some in Prague and Budapest. In Prague it will be mainly beer. The best (IMHO) from nearby Pilsen (Plzen). Beer from Prague: Staropramen, Branik and many others brewed in local pubs. Local wine from C.R. is not from Prague but from southeastern Moravia (cca 200 miles southeast from Prague).
Especially white wines from there are excellent.
In Budapest mainly wine from nearby Tokay area - high quality wines. And then barackovica, never found it anywhere else. It is very tasty spirit from apricots. I also tasted one from peaches but don't know if it is called barackovica, too. And beautiful vistas - too many to name. In Prague maybe little bit more. And musical venues, operas, theaters - too many to name in both cities.
Recently I found this website written by people who lived in both cities, enjoy:
http://www.bbqboy.net/prague-budapest-visit
I visited both cities; Budapest four times and Prague many many more times and cannot than strongly agree with them.

@djp_syd: You don't have to transit through Vienna. Direct trains from Prague to Budapest don't go via Vienna but via Bratislava.
There are no direct trains to Budapest via Vienna.

I was thinking the Austrian Railjet would be a preferable experience. Time is not much difference.

Czech or Austrian Railjets are the same. The difference is that one is blue and one is red. True, they don't go to Budapest. But taking them if you don't stop for some time in Vienna would be uselessly longer and more expensive journey. If you absolutely want to take them for experience, get off in Breclav and board a train to Budapest there. It would not be more expensive but it would obviously take longer and you would have to change trains once.

One always has to stop in Vienna for cake and coffee though, right ??

@djp_syd I never really considered transiting from Amsterdam to Prague via Berlin by train, but with high-speed trains, it might not be the worst idea.

Here is a good West / East 3 week tour with no more than about 3 hours on each train leg.

Amsterdam 3 nights
Hanover 1 night
Berlin 3 nights
Dresden 1 night
Prague 3 nights
Cesky Krumlov 1 night
Vienna 3 nights
Gyor 1 night
Budapest 4 nights
London 3 nights

Ilja, RailJet trains do go to Budapest, they just go slow.

If I had three weeks I would do

Istanbul 3 nights
Road Tour Bulgaria 4 nights
Road tour Transylvania 4 nights
Road tour Slovakia 4 nights
Budapest 6 nights

Approx 6 hours from Amsterdam to Berlin and approx 4.5 hours from Berlin to Prague. Not insignificant journey times, but if you wanted to throw Berlin into the mix then taking the train becomes more advantageous.

It's your honeymoon, so you deserve some relaxation time, not darting around Europe like madmen!

I would throw in another itinerary, which I think is suitable for a honeymoon rather than any old holiday. Start in Dubrovnik for a few days and visit Bosnia and some of the islands from here. Take the catamaran to Hvar and spend several nights here then go to Split and visit here and Trogir. Then visit Plitvice and Krka for walking. Have a few nights in Rovinj and then end with at least 4 nights in Venice. It's a good mix of old cities, beautiful countryside and beaches without spending most of your time in airports or on trains. What a honeymoon should be.

Approx 6 hours from Amsterdam to Berlin and approx 4.5 hours from
Berlin to Prague. Not insignificant journey times, but if you wanted
to throw Berlin into the mix then taking the train becomes more
advantageous.

You are correct, which is why I broke those legs into two segments.

I tend to agree with Jennifer, it's a honeymoon not a 'let's see everything we can see in 3 weeks' slog around Europe. Limit your bases to 3 or 4 and do day trips from them and skip all the packing/unpacking, moving from hotel to hotel. Pick places that have lots of possible sites of interest to you and slow down and enjoy them.

All of your ideas sound good to me - just choose which one calls to you the most, right now. You can't go wrong.

Since you've gotten lots of good tips on some of the other itineraries, here's my Sicily trip report, which will give you some ideas for your option #3: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina

When it comes to honeymoon, my advice is always to defer to the bride...

PS now after 20+ years of marriage that I have say, i would vote # 3.

Someone said, yield to your wife on the first 4 choices/opinions. . . after that you've acquired the habit and it's easy.

Sicily sounds great. I spent 2 weeks there and could easily have filled a third. People were super friendly, the sights are extremely varied, the beaches are gorgeous, the driving is easy, the food is wonderful, but it won't be a blitz . . . even if you change locations every 2-3 nights, it won't feel like you are zipping through. Think you can adjust to the slow lane for a honeymoon?