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Honeymooners In Europe of March 2018 Where to go?!

Hello,

My husband and I are planning to travel to Europe for our honeymoon from March 16-31, 2018. We have a budget of around $10,000 CAD. We prefer hotels or AirBnB's, not hostels.

We have previously travelled to Europe before and have already visited the following places in Italy: Venice, Florence, Rome, Positano, Capri, Cagliari. Greece: Santorini, Mykonos. Croatia: Dubrovnik, Split

We are from Newfoundland, Canada where we are accustomed to cold weather, and we're already aware that most of Europe will still be quite cold in March and are completely fine with that.

Some places we have had our eye on travelling too are: Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona, Prague, Montenegro, Berlin, Nice or really anywhere in the south of France, Paris, Lake Como, London, Budapest, Moscow and St. Petersburg (I understand we would have to apply for a travel visa to visit Russia).

Any advice on a travel route, or must see cities in that amount of time would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!!

Posted by
2539 posts

How about Lisbon (including Sintra), Madeira and finishing in Paris?

Posted by
923 posts

I agree with Bruce. From a weather perspective, it will likely be warmer the further south you go. From a budget perspective, Portugal and Spain provide some of the best value in Europe. With 14 days on the ground in Europe (assuming 16th and 31st are travel days) you can easily visit 3-4 base cities to explore. Also, if you are interested in flowers and windmills, the Netherlands may have some great flower fields. We went on a river cruise in the Netherlands in late March and the tulips were amazing. You could consider flying into Lisbon and out of Amsterdam. Maybe something like this:

March 16 - overnight flight
March 17-20 - Lisbon and Sintra
March 21-25 - Fly to Paris, see Paris and Versailles Palace
March 26-30 - Train to Amsterdam or Harlem; see the Kinderdijk, Keukenhof Gardens and Amsterdam
March 31 - Fly home

Posted by
27929 posts

Bruce's idea is a good one, but really, the possible combinations you could create from your list are numerous:

Berlin has magnificent museums (art, archaeological, historical) and a wealth of historic sites, especially from the WW II and Cold War periods. Although I wouldn't care for the weather in March, I can well understand that you would not fear it. And I'd say it's a more indoor-oriented city than many on your list. It's also comparatively inexpensive--though I don't see a problem with your budget in any case.

Nice and the south of France: I just don't know. March is well and truly "off season" there. Nice is a big, functioning city so definitely would not be dead. Menton is warm enough that it has a lemon festival in mid-winter (I think in February), and I liked the two large gardens there. Still, I'd want input from people who've done the Riviera in March. I was surprised at how much cloudy weather I had in the area around Nice in the first half of May this year, thought the temperature was pleasant if not especially warm. A lot of the attractions have more limited hours and/or days of operation in May than in mid-summer, and probably more limited still in March. You could work around those limitations; I'm thinking more about what that means about the general atmosphere, if tourism is down so much that a museum is only open four days a week, rather than six or seven.

Be especially careful if you're thinking about Provence. The mistral (wind from the north) makes for really miserable conditions when it chooses to blow.

Check Amsterdam's weather data carefully. Several people I met in Europe independently mentioned that it can be really depressing, chilly and damp. Wikipedia's weather-summary chart suggests that a dearth of sunlight may be a significant factor. March has just 126 hours of sunlight, on average. Obviously, that situation improves as you move toward the end of the month. On the plus side, tulip season begins around mid-March (though it's weather-dependent), so if you have an interest in the flowers, this would be a great opportunity to see them.

Barcelona is one of my favorite places, with fabulous modernista architecture as well as a large historic area, plus very good museums. There's lots to do there, and the weather is comparatively mild. There's fast train service between Barcelona and Paris, so that would be a workable combination.

I don't think March is a very good time for the Italian lakes.

I really liked Montenegro when I visited it in 2015. It's got a lot of attractive towns, some with a Turkish vibe, and some very pretty countryside. But it feels more like a wander-around-outdoors sort of place to me. The weather might be OK; take a look at what wunderground.com has for historical weather stats. (The site isn't working for me at the moment. You'd need to enter a city --I'd use Kotor, then choose Historical, then Monthly, then use the pull-down box to select March.) But I think it could feel sort of abandoned out-of-season. They were practically rolling up the sidewalks in Budva on the day I was there in early October 2015. I think for a honeymoon you'll want the occasional festive evening (a lively restaurant, at least), and I'm just not sure that Montenegro runs to "festive" in March. The easiest place to combine with Montenegro would be Dubrovnik, but you've already been there.

Posted by
6713 posts

Congratulations! Lots of options, but if you haven't been to Paris what better time to go than on your honeymoon? You could easily spend a week there, including some day trips if you want. Then a fast train either to (1) Barcelona and elsewhere in Spain (car?) or (2) London (colder but more to see and easier to communicate).

That time of year you'd be wise to focus on cities where you can manage bad weather better. I'd suggest sticking to just two big ones, long enough to appreciate them and work in some day trips nearby. Much more satisfying, to my mind, than trying to "hit" a bunch of them for just 1-3 days each and spending lots of time and money moving yourselves around.

You probably know the advantages of flying "open jaw," into one city and home from another, so you don't spend time and money backtracking within Europe.

We loved visiting Newfoundland back in the 1990s, a spectacular place with friendly people. It helped that it was August.....

Posted by
15777 posts

C$10000 = €6500. Let's say €1500 for airfare. That leaves about €350/day. That might be a little tight for the "classic" London/Amsterdam/Paris because those are the most expensive cities, but probably doable. Be careful with AirBnB's since local authorities (especially Paris) are cracking down and you could end up paying up front and losing both your money and your lodging. On the other hand, you can find reasonable hotel rooms with a little time and patience. Consider starting in London, then flying to A'dam from London City Airport, then train to Paris. Or maybe fly into Paris, then train to A'dam, then train to Berlin. Another great itinerary is Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest.

One thing I'd take into account is that your second week is Easter week. If you want something really different, go to Spain. Start in Valencia for Las Fallas - a festival unlike any other - that begins on March 15 and culminates with hundreds of huge bonfires on March 19. Then Barcelona, then spend the last week in Andalucia for Semana Santa. It is high season hotels are still less expensive than some of your cities, easy to find rooms for €100-150. FYI Andalucia is the warmest, driest part of Europe.

I would avoid places like Como or south of France that are very dependent on good weather. In cities, there will be lots of choices for bad weather days.

Posted by
7021 posts

"Any advice on a travel route, or must see cities in that amount of time... we are accustomed to cold weather... and are completely fine with that."

Get an "open-jaws" transatlantic flight... Then take trains while you're in Europe (additional flights take up a lot more time than you might think.)

Fly into Prague for 3 nights
Train to Berlin for 4 nights (4.25 hr trip)
Train to A'dam for 3 nights (6 hr trip)
Train to Paris for 4 nights (3.25 hr trip)
Fly home from Paris

Posted by
7175 posts

All easy trips ...

Lisbon (5) > Madrid (5) > Barcelona (5)
Berlin (6) > Prague (4) > Budapest (5)
Barcelona (5) > Provence (5) > Nice (5)
London (5) > Paris (6) > Amsterdam (4)

Posted by
13 posts

In case of weather Spain and Portugal seem like the best decisions for me. Considering their climate, it'll be the warmest places in March comparing with other European countries. I really recommend Barcelona, we had a trip there too a year ago and I think it's a perfect place for honeymoon, beaches there are amazing (and probably you will be able to swim during your time), besides there's very beautiful historical architecture and many interesting places to visit. Lisbon is a cool decision in this case too :)
Berlin could be a nice choice too, it'll be colder there but it's a very interesting place and there's many museums to visit! Also historical sights and as I remember there's also many interesting local events for tourists. In case of historical sightseeings I can recommend Estonia too, for example Talinn is perfect for many interesting excursions and long walks across the city https://greentourbaltic.com/tourcats/tallinn/ , it's one of our favourite countries too.
You can try France too but I agree with previous responses here, I'm really not sure how comfortable will be weather there during March. But anyway for example in case of Paris it can be a really good trip :)