Honeymoon // First Time In Italy

Angelo,

Marriott will require 30,000 to 50,000 points per night for their locations in Rome (they are considered premiere plus addresses). If you really have that kind of point balance, use the location near the main train station.

Even with 2-3 of your hotel rooms covered, $5,000 for a 12-day trip may not be realistic. Does the $5,000 have to cover the airfare, or is airfare seperate?

Think of it this way: $5,000 will buy you 3,546 Euros as of yesterday's rate. Assuming your airfar is seperate, that means you've got 147 Euros each per day. That's do-able, but tight.

To some of your other questions -- for a regular trip that itinerary looks pretty manageable -- for a honeymoon it looks a little busy, but I'm not sure what I would cut -- -- spending part of your honeymoon in Cinque will be an unforgettable experience (I spent my 5th anniversary there).

I would not feel comfortable traveling from the Cinque to Pisa the morning of a 1pm flight.

Regarding Musuem VS. Outdoors -- in all your proposed locations you will both end up being satisfied. Rome's greatest museum -- the Forum -- is outside, as are most of its most historic sites. Florence is a living museum in itself, and strolling from small gallery to the next is great. The Cinque is just unique...

With your budget I'd try to pin down how many nights in Rome you can cover with Marriott points, so you can work to pin down accomodations -- your largest single, fairly inflexible expense -- next.

Hope you have a great trip. I also hope this will spur some more specific questions so we can be more helpful.

I can chime in on the Cinque Terre, as we spent (3) nights there last July. Looks like you've alloted the same number of nights as we did. Yes, (3) nights are enough, but sure, more would be nicer. We were able to hike the entire trail from Monterosso to Riomaggiore one day, and vist the towns on another. As for the 1pm flight from Pisa. You should not have any problem leaving the CT on an early train back towards Pisa and the airport. If you can modify your hotel requirments, I'm sure you can stay within your 5K budget. Congrats & Have a great trip!

My wife and I did a 14 day trip to Italy in October '09 for $5500 that includes airfare. Our airfare was $1500 total so we had $4,000 in spending money. Take away your two travel days and you will be in country for 10 days. $5,000 is very doable.

Traveling "cheap" (I should say affordable) in Europe is not as big of a challenge as many people make it out to be. It all depends on what you want especially in the form of sleeping accomodations. My wife and I, with the exception of Rome, only stayed in small family run B&Bs. Consequently, we never paid more than 65 euro per night (again with the exception of Rome).

If you want to do the trip for $5,000 then don't stay in hotels and be mindful of what you are spending on food. Stay in the small B&B's that are in rick's book and also check out tripadvisor. There are a lot of nice family run B&Bs in tripadvisor that are not in Rick's book. You would be surprised how nice of a place you can get for 65 euro. In Rome bump you price up to about 100 euro.

Another way to keep things cheap don't pay to have breakfast included in your hotel. The hotel will add about 10-15 euro per night for breakfast. Instead go around the corner to a coffee shop and get a coffee and pastry (stand at the counter, it is cheaper then sitting down). Breakfast for two should be less than 5 euro. For lunch get a panini or pizza. Lunch should cost you 10-15 euro for two. Dinner plan on about 25 - 30 euro. You can make dinner more affordable by each of you getting a pasta dish and splitting your secondi (meat course).

One final piece of advice, ditch the travel agent. They are a dead and overpriced industry. They are expensive because the are putting you up in boring stale hotels, when you can book a nice family run B&B on your own for half the price.

Bottom line is $5,000 is plenty if you manage your money wisely.

We stayed at the Marriott Hotel Flora which is close to the Spanish Steps and at one corner of the Villa Borghese Park. It was absolutely wonderful. We had breakfast on the roof every morning. I'm not sure what level you have to be to qualify for it, but check into it. There is another Marriott on the outside of Rome, however, getting back and forth to the city takes quite a bit of time. We didn't stay at this property--our friends did. They took the taxi back and forth which was quite expensive. One other note, if you can book that hotel now, do it. It's very popular and books quickly. Have a lovely time.

thanks for all replies and tips. it's comforting to know that i won't be doing this myself.

we definitely plan on using b&b as much as possible. the only reason we're doing marriott in rome is to offset some cost by using points.

a couple of follow-up questions:

1) what are some activities you would recommend in florence, besides museums? wine tasting? cooking classes? walking tours? how do would you choose which of these activities are legit and not get ripped off? which ones the most bang-for-the-buck?

2) is a day trip to siena enough? should we plan on staying overnight? is there a direct train from siena to cinque terra?

3) are there places other than siena that we should consider going to while in florence?

4) i found hotel maxim in florence that had double rooms for around 60 euros on their website (hotelmaximfrienze.it) but in rick's book, it was quoted at 110 euros? too good to be true?

5) which city in cinque terra would you recommend us staying?

Stay in Vernazza! It is most central, and just beautiful! The rooms are small but it really makes you feel like you are in Italy! Book in advance since it is a special trip and in the peak of the season. I have heard of people getting to the CT and not being able to find a room...not what you want! I would stay longer in CT and less in Florence. No museums in the CT Hike the towns, sip wine, dip in the sea, and eat focaccia! LOVE IT.