Honeymoon - March - need hotel suggestions and what to do :)

Jill Do you already have your international flights? Where are you arriving and what date? Leaving from Barcelona on what date? It is always tempting to try to put as much in a trip to Europe as you possibly can. But unfortunately, your plan is not going to work out logistically or realistically. OK. I am trying to sort this out. You will be grouping Varenna, Bergamo, Lake Como, and Bellagio together, right? Florence and Tuscany another group. And Venice and Verona? Some thoughts: * IMHO, you have way too many places in your current itinerary. It is also important to account for travel time between your destinations as well as your proposed day trips. At least 1/2 day to get from place to place when you add up all of the travel time. Really. * If you don't already have your air tickets, I would drop Barcelona. This is an outlier in terms of location and travel time. Add this to Italy and spend more time in Venice and Florence / Tuscany. Less time in Lake Como area. Maybe Zermatt? * Check to see how long the train travel is from whatever Italy city to Zermatt. Maybe lengthy with change of trains.
* The Lake Como area is absolutely spectacular. But maybe not in March. Hope someone comments. If the Lake Como area remains in your itinerary, you only need to stay in one place, not 2, if I understand your itinerary now. Read what others have to say and give us your current thoughts. Bobbie

Jill, My first suggestion would be to have a look at a copy of the Italy 2012 Guidebook (also available in E-book format). I'm not sure about Bergamo, but there are good Hotel listings for the other places you mentioned. You could also check Trip Advisor. Varenna is on Lago di Como, so you won't need to take a day trip there. Bellagio is 20-minutes by Ferry from Varenna, so it's not really a "day trip". Many of the other locations along the lake are also easily and quick trips from Varenna. Are you planning to visit the four towns you mentioned in an 8-day time frame? If so, I'd suggest skipping at least one of them (perhaps Bergamo). Keep in mind that each change of location will take a minimum of about half a day, so that's a very "ambitious" plan! You have too many places on your list for such a short time frame. Congratulations and happy travels!

If I understand your post correctly you will be splitting 8 days between 4 cities and would still like to add in 4 day trips. this is too much and for me would be impossible. You lose at least half a day when you change cities so this takes your two days in each city down to no more than 1.5 days. This leaves very little time for seeing the city much less taking a day trip. I think you should cut out at least half of your itinerary and concentrate on no more than 3 cities. This will give you time to explore and really enjoy what you are seeing. Most people make the mistake of trying to see it all and end up spending more time on the train than seeing the country. Your trip is the equivalent of going from Orlando to West palm Beach then to Fort Myers Beach then to Titusville in 8 days. it's a lot of travel. as for things to do in each city, I suggest getting good guide books to see what interests you. We can all make suggestions and give itineraries but then you'd be our trip and not your own. If you make a list of what you wish to see we can help you put them in a good working order. QDonna

Yikes! I was exhausted after just reading half of your itinerary. This sounds like a marathon at a dead run. I agree with all of the above posters that you have too much scheduled. All you will really see is the inside of a train or bus. Buon viaggio,

First, will you be taking your husband's name? If yes, make sure that the name on your government ID (passport) and the name on your plane ticket match. Next, your itinerary is very ambitious. I hope that you have calculated in the amount of time that you will be packing, unpacking, traveling to/from the train station and riding on the trains. Your train journey from Varenna-Esino to Zermatt is about 5.5hrs. Florence to Bergamo is just over 3.0hrs. Venice to Varenna-Esino is 4.5hrs. I can't see how you can do day trips when you won't be in the city where you are spending the night long enough to see that city (Varenna excepted) given your journey times to travel to and from the cities.

if I'm reading this right you are doing 8 nights Italy, 2 nights Switzerland and 3 days Spain ??? If you had 8 days in Italy you should only try 2 places. You will spend so much of your time traveling and very little time experiencing anything. Where do you plan to fly into? for 8 days in March I would say split your time between Venice and Florence, 4 nights each. I agree with above posters that it is all a bit much, a lot of moving around in a very short time
you will be spending more time in airports and train stations than at your destinations

Thank you everyone who responded! If anyone has any recommendations of hotels or things to do in the cities that I listed - I would appreciate the help!

Jill, first, don't let your honeymoon end! I agree 4 cities in 8 days is a lot. Let go of what you can - Lake Como, Venice, Florence, are all places to savor.

Jill, "If anyone has any recommendations of hotels or things to do in the cities that I listed - I would appreciate the help!" The Italy 2012 Guidebook has all the information on sightseeing, Hotels, Restaurants, etc. It's currently "on sale" for $17.45 in the store on this website. Click the "Books" link at the top of the page. It's also available as an E-book in Kindle format for $9.99. You may be able to find a copy at your local Library or larger Bookstores. It's difficult to recommend "things to do" without having some idea of your interests or what you hope to see. It's difficult to recommend Hotels without having some idea of what "comfort level" or price level you want. Cheers!

Jill Another resource, especially if you have not been to Europe before. Check out from the library or buy RS Europe through the Back Door, a terrific book which gives you great background on everything but especially itineraries and transportation info. Also, love to see your current itinerary. Bobbie

Bought the 2012 book - great information and extremely helpful. We ed all of our hotels from the book. Thanks!

Jill, It's great to hear that you have the Guidebook now, as that will answer a lot of your questions. Did you buy the Italy 2012 or Europe Through The Back Door? I'm assuming you sellected your Hotels using the Guidebook (*Note - the website will automatically remove some words, and "sellect" is one of them - I've deliberately misspelled it for that reason).

You need suggestions on what to do on your honeymoon!!??? LOL. (sorry I couldn't resist...)

Good idea to pace yourself, rather than cram in as much as possible. I'd recommend an easy 'rest' day somewhere in the middle just to recharge your batteries. A good day trip from Florence into the countryside of Tuscany is the Slow day in Tuscany - http://www.slow-days.com They take only small groups, I think up to 6 or 8 people, and visit a vineyard for wine tasting, a castle and some of the less touristy villages in Tuscany. Best of luck with the big day!

Being your honeymoon I'd suggest doing a quarter of that, perhaps a half if you're the energetic type. I'm that type and still that sounds overwhelming. Less is more when it comes to traveling. Marinate in those places, forget the drive-thru.