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Winter Honeymoon in Europe

Posted by (Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA) on

Hi all! My husband and I are considering doing a belated honeymoon in Europe, likely for 12 to 14 days sometime between 12/20 and 1/6. We have not yet purchased flights but have found some killer deals on tickets to Paris on 12/19 through 12/24, so we will likely start there.

We are trying to decide our destinations and would love some feedback on your favorite cities, as well as your favorite winter activities, honeymoon activities and romantic accommodations.

Paris is definitely a must, as neither of us have been there. We'd like to spend three days there. As for the remainder of our time, we generally prefer the smaller towns in Europe (to give you an idea, we loved Tuscany, Cinque Terre, and Sevilla - although the latter is not THAT small).

Some ideas for our honeymoon are: Bruges (as we love Belgian beer and chocolate and it seems to be quite charming); Beaune or somewhere else in the French countryside (but I'm not sure whether there will be much open in the winter); Switzerland (which city? any suggestions for romantic lodging there?); Nice; Venice or Lake Como; Rothenberg or other smaller German towns. We probably need to narrow this down to four destinations. I've also heard great things about Prague and Budapest in the winter, but I hesitate to fill our itinerary with strictly larger cities.

Our ideal vacation involves beautiful scenery, friendly people, great food, wine and beer, and some cultural activities. The husband is not huge on museums but will tag along with me to one or two of them. We also love hiking and outdoor activities, but I suspect we won't be doing any of that in December/January (unless we ski, which may be outside of our budget).

We've already been to Rome, Florence, and much of Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Grenada, Sevilla, hilltowns) so we are not considering those destinations.

Also, I am a Floridian with somewhat thin skin, so do not want to go TOO far north (e.g., Scandinavia). :)

Thanks in advance! We look forward to your responses!

Posted by
6113 posts

Much of Europe will be cold and wet in late December and possibly snowy, which may impact on your hiking. Coastal areas of Scandinavia, mild due to the jet stream could be similar temperatures to those places in the centre of the European land mass such as Prague.

You are likely to lose at least the first day to jet lag and Paris deserves more than 3 days, even if you are just skimming the surface. From here, you could head to the south of France - Provence or the Dordogne.

Over the Christmas and New Year period, when some things close and there maybe transport limitations, I would suggest that you limit yourself to 2 or 3 locations, particularly as one is Paris.

Posted by
1 posts

Was in Paris for 2 weeks December to January. The only issue, besides rain, is french schools do not reopen from holidays until after Epiphany, January 6. So, there were lots of families on holiday. Staying in a hotel within walking distance of places you like saves a lot of hassle. Most activities are indoors as rain is frequent, and chilling. After January 6, Paris is empty. Venice is so cold in January! Como is close to the Alps...try areas south of Rome. Hike.

Posted by
5697 posts

Christmas markets! We started in Paris for 5 days because ... well, because it's Paris. Train to Strasbourg/Colmar for 5 days of multiple Christmas markets. You'll have to deck your Floridian body in thermals, however, at that time of year.

Posted by
1056 posts

Regarding Christmas markets — if your travel begins in a Paris on 12/20, you won’t find much in the way of Christmas markets. Not sure what markets, if any, Christmas market Paris offers, but know that any Christmas market will last at best only til Christmas Eve, so that’s a self-limiting activity. Bigger cities will also have more to do in winter holiday season than small towns.

Posted by
6365 posts

I was in Europe at almost the same time--for us, December 28-January 22. Paris was at the end of the trip. I would say we enjoyed Paris, (I'd been a couple times before) but it was about 30 degrees F. The top of the Notre Dame was closed due to extreme cold which we found slightly amusing since we are from MN. Skies were clear and sunny, but still it felt a bit on the chilly side. We were in Vienna at the beginning of January and again, we had a great time, but it was windy and about 25 degrees F. Since you are from Florida, I would think you'd find most of Europe chilly. What about Greece, Malta or Sicily? Or look at possibilities in Spain that you might have missed, like Mallorca or Ibiza, Valencia? Possibly Portugal? One positive is that places that are extremely popular, for good reason, like Bruges, would be less busy at that time of year

Posted by
3068 posts

Would you consider Costa Brava, in the northern part of Catalonia ??? ... and if you're fond of snow, a short -literally short!- ride away from Costa Brava, check the Eastern portion of the Catalan Pyrenees -even more glorious and impressive in Winter.

A good in-between basecamp could be near Puigcerdà, and a place like La Torre del Remei in the small sleepy town of Bolvir de Cerdanya could be a great choice to splurge. From there, you're a short drive into Costa Brava, or the lavender fields of the south of France, etc.

Now you can say "wow", LOL!

Posted by
6365 posts

Personally, I like Enric suggestion. However, if you did want to consider skiing consider the Berner Oberland area of Switzerland. In January of 2017 we stayed in the Lauterbrunnen valley in a nice, reasonably priced Airbnb. I am a skier and I thought the skiing around Murren looked nice(we didn't ski). It seemed to be more local people skiing and my impression was that as skiing goes, it was pretty reasonably priced. We considered a Colorado ski trip last year and between car rental, lodging and lift tickets, we think BO would be cheaper. Transportation is so much easier and cheaper in Switzerland.

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