My fiancé and I are in the very early stages of planning our honeymoon. We'd like to do a two-week trip to Europe and visit France, Italy, Germany, and possibly the UK if time allows.
Does anyone have any recommendations of a route or itinerary? We'd like to see some typical tourist attractions but are more interested in "off the beaten path" exploring.
We've been to Scotland but haven't done any multi-country travelling, so any advice is very appreciated! :)
From a practical sense, multicountry traveling in France, Germany, and Italy really is no issue. The same currency is used, same time zone, and all within the Schengen zone, other than language, you may not even know you crossed the border.
You do really need to narrow down some places you want to go based on what you are interested in, people on here can throw out a place, but that just names a random place bearing no relation to you. Given the time and distances involved, look at maybe Paris or Southeast/Eastern France, Southern Germany, and Northern Italy, down to Rome.
With 2 weeks, I would be hesitant to include more than 4 stops, maybe 5, This allows 3 nights at each stop, or two full days of activities. Given the stops will be some distance apart, figure each travel day is tied up with packing up, traveling, and getting settled. Your arrival day is also mostly occupied, as is your departure day.
You also do not mention time of year, that makes a difference, December is very different in these areas than July, with lots of different choices.
do you intend on using trains and planes, or a car?
Congratulations!
First, what month are you going?
Second, two weeks and 3, possibly 4, countries is, IMO, too many countries. Remember that each day moving from country to country takes a (full) day away from visiting a country. So with 3 countries you lose 2 days and with 4 countries you lose 3 days. Changing locations involves more than the train or flight times....checking out of lodgings, getting to airport or train station, possible security check time (airport, 2 hours for sure), travel time, getting to new lodgings and checking in. And I suggest you count nights in a place, not days. It works out better in planning your trip. (Sounds odd, but it really does work.)
"Off the beaten path" exploring is a bit hard to do as so many people are traveling, and "influencers" have in some cases highlighted places that used to be more "hidden", but aren't anymore. That being said, I have found that having a car and driving through the countryside of a country often leads to finding a small town or village that is charming and low key. Time of year also makes some places more "off the beaten path" during certain times of the year.
What are your interests? When you picture yourself in Europe, what do you see? Do you have any long-time wishes regarding any place in Europe, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Coloseum, Big Ben? This sounds like a corny exercise, but it does help!
Even in popular places with lots of other tourists, you can really enjoy yourselves. Paris is, rightfully so, considered the most romantic of cities. My husband and I have been there in our early 30s, our 40s, 50s, 70s and even at 79 and 80. We have been there in April, May, June, July, August and September. It has ALWAYS been wonderful! I would definitely spend 5-7 days there, as there is so much to do and see, and even doing nothing there but strolling or sitting at a cafe feels special (5 days in the city with 2 other days for day trips).
The big three cities, London, Paris, Rome are all worthy of a week minimum. However, if you pick just 2 locations, whether it is 2 biggies, or a biggie and some countryside, or even all countryside, your honeymoon will be great. For me, I would pick one country and spend half the time in one or two major locations and half the time in one or two smaller towns/villages/areas, or places with a different weather patterns (e.g. Paris and somewhere in Provence, or Paris and the Riviera).
My best advice is to close your eyes and pictures yourselves in Europe. What are you doing? What do you see when you look around yourselves? Put some of these pictures together in your mind and you may discover your location.
Best wishes and enjoy your honeymoon!
Paul is correct that your arrival day is kind of shot if you are coming off a long international flight, unless you really sleep well on the plane. Jet lag may be involved. Arrival time will involve possibly 2 hours (or more) going through customs/immigration/security, etc., then getting to your lodgings. You will need to orient yourself and adjust to the time change and won't see too much that day IMO. Departure day you will need to be at the airport about 3 hours ahead (security checks, etc.), so that day is kind of lost unless you have a late departure.
If you rent a car to explore a country, do not plan on renting in one country and returning it in another country. Those drop-off fees will be 500-1000 euros. Within one country, drop off fees at a different location are not bad, in my experience. Sometimes there is no fee at all. It all depends.
Perfect, Judy.
Judy nailed it too many countries not enough time.
Two weeks, you can't do all of any of those countries in two weeks.
Germany, my favorite areas are Bavaria, the Rhine Valley and Berlin.
France, Of course, Paris for 4-5 days then you could do 2-3 days in Normandy, or go east to Strasbourg and take in some of the upper Rhine Valley of Germany, the Black Forest (Triberg) and perhaps a bit of Switzerland. Or you could head for the Rhone River valley that ends in the Med.
Italy, Love it, focus on Venice, Florence and Rome, with perhaps a couple of days in Tuscany visiting Siena. Or stretch it to visit the Naples area (need about 4 days to do Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri and the Amalfi Coast).
Plan you trip from day to day, including travel time between locations. You can take the trains. Check your rail trips using online sites for each rail company for each country.
Also, use TripAdvisor.com to determine what to see in each city. Input "things to do in -------"
Brittney
The heart wants what the heart wants. You can do your dream honeymoon, if you do not overload your itinerary with multiple city/hotel changes. Changing cities and hotels too much is a great time and energy waster, and potentially a relationship killer.
Start with the number of total nights. Assuming you have 14 nights, I would suggest that you allocate 5 nights in one city in Italy (e.g Rome), allocate 4 nights in one city in Germany (e.g Munich) and allocate five nights in one city in France (e.g. Paris). Which dream cities you chose is up to you and your fiance, but I strongly suggest that you limit yourself to one city in each country.
All of the major European cities are amazing. I can absolutely guarantee that you will not have any problems filling up your 4 or 5 days with very interesting things to do, see or eat. In fact, you will probably end up wishing you had twice as much time to spend in each city. You cannot see everything. Once you select your cities, go to the respective RS country forums and you will be inundated with more suggestions.
Fly open jaw into one city and fly home from you last city in order to avoid wasting time doubling back. Personally, I would start in Italy and finish in France. Which cities you choose to fly into and out of may depend on the prices of the international flights, or your personal preference.
Because all of your cities are far apart, I would suggest that you fly between the cities. Inter-city flights between major European cities is very cheap even if you have to pay baggage fees. The romance of train rides is overrated; scenery whizzing by at over 250kph gets very tedious especially if the rides take 9 to 12 hours.
Note that I did not include the UK. If you want to ask me why I would not want to do 4 countries in 14 nights, I would rather spend my time trying to convince you to reduce your trip to just two countries in 14 nights.
Slow down and enjoy what each city has to offer. If you want to see all of Europe in a very short time, stay home and watch youtube videos.
Thank you all very much for your input! As I mentioned, this is very early stages and ideas will need to be narrowed down significantly. I really value the insight and expertise!
Our plan is to decide what our top few "must-see and must-do" is in each country and figure out how that will factor into how many days we spend in each. I am not opposed to making it a two-country trip. My fiancé's number one choice is Germany, I'm partial to Italy, and France is a close second for us both. The only city we'd like to see in the UK is London, but that can certainly wait for an anniversary trip :)
We'd like to go just before the tourist season really ramps up, possibly in April or May? We plan to take trains or public transport when there. We are open to inter-city flights if they are cheap enough.
Great advice, all!
I would definitely not discourage you from taking on three countries. You aren't actually touring 3 countries, of course, just hitting one or two destinations within each. Nothing wrong with that! Rick Steves hits 4 countries in the first 2 weeks of his 3-wk "Best of..." tours - which involve an immense number of ground miles... the Netherlands + Germany + Austria + Italy...
That said, I wouldn't recommend that sort of pace if you really want to enjoy your 3 countries and still be friends at the end. I would not recommend more than 5 stops, personally... 2-3 nights per stop is about right.
We'd like to see some typical tourist attractions but are more interested in "off the beaten path" exploring.
OK... here's what I'm thinking. Stay out of the major European cities (Berlin, Paris) and focus partly on smaller, more scenic, more romantic places.
Note that in addition to all of Germany, the German Rail pass covers travel outside Germany to Venice and to Salzburg. And the Alsace is so close to Germany that it will cost only a few Euros extra to reach Strasbourg or Colmar from Germany. The Rhine River Valley and the Alpine rail route to Venice offer some of Europe's most scenic train rides. I wish we had spent our honeymoon on the train rides I've suggested (instead of in the car...)
