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Honeymoon to Italy and Switzerland

Posted by (Colorado) on

My fiance and I will be married on June 19, 2015, and on June 22 will board a plane bound for Italy for our 2 week honeymoon!

I've been watching tons of Rick episodes and we've come up with the following itinerary, some of which is already established and some of which is flexible. If you have any recommendations or advice, we'd love the feedback!

Itinerary

  • June23-26: land in Naples, head to Amalfi town to really relax and just spend some quality time together as new husband and wife
  • June 27-28: quick visit to Rome. I spent 2 days there in 1999, but my fiance would love to see it as the only classic European city we'll be visiting
  • June 29-30: Cinque Terre. We're psyched to hike from town to town and spend some more time on the rocky Italian coast.
  • July 1-4: Berner Oberland in Switzerland. So excited to see the Alps. We live in Colorado and I've seen and climbed in most of the world's famous mountain ranges except the Alps. We are planning to adjust our itinerary to the weather conditions and not pre-book any hotels.
  • July 5: Fly home from Zurich.

Questions

  1. Does this itinerary seem reasonable from the standpoint of not trying to do too much? Note that we are definitely spending those dates in Amalfi and Switzerland, so only the middle of the trip (Rome and Cinque Terre) are possibly negotiable.
  2. Should we plan to reserve a hotel room in Cinque Terre or just show up and get a room?
  3. Any advice on the train route we take into Switzerland? It seems like the more direct route is through Brig but a more scenic/interesting route might be via Chamoix.

Thanks so much in advance for your feedback!

Pat and Kelly in Colorado

Posted by
11337 posts

Congratulations! Sounds like a great trip and some of my favorite places. A couple of thoughts though.

I like to plan in terms of nights so I can see how many full days I have in a place and plan accordingly. Looking at your trip this way you have

  • 3 nights Amalfi Town (nights of June 23, 24, 25)

  • 3 nights Rome (June 26, 27, 28)

  • 2 nights CT (June 29 & 30)

  • 3 nights B-O (July 1, 2, 3)

  • 1 night Zurich, July 4 before you fly out

This is very fast to me, and especially the CT stop where you have a lot of travel time to get there to spend only 1 1/2 days (and that much time only if you take a very early train out of Rome.)

Also the time in Amalfi is short -- really 2 full days to get over jet lag. I would make Amalfi and the B-O 4 nights each and skip the CT. You can come back in the future! There is lots to do from Amalfi including just relaxing. Good hiking in the Sorrentine Peninsula, ferry trips, the islands, the bus trip to Sorrento and Positano. 4 nights in the B-O will give you just enough time to truly get to know the area. Again, there is much to see, mountains to hike, lifts to ride, little towns to explore. It is quite unlike CO!

If you travel Rome to Interlaken, it's pretty straightforward but a long train day. Leave early and change trains in Milan. you can buy your tickets on Trenitalia.com but you need to print out the Milan to Interlaken tickets at the station in Rome. Much of the Milan to Interlaken portion is beautiful.

Posted by
32212 posts

Pat & Kelly,

A few initial thoughts on your travel plans.....

  • At the end of June / beginning of July, pre-booking hotels would be a REALLY good idea as it will probably be busy in Italy. This is ESPECIALLY true in the Cinque Terre. You'll need to get something booked ASAP. I'd suggest looking in Monterosso first, as it's the largest of the five towns and therefore has the greatest number of hotels and other tourist amenities.
  • For the train route to the Berner Oberland, I'd highly recommend taking the most direct route rather than a "scenic route" through Chamonix, which could turn out to be a dreadful ordeal. That trip is going to take the better part of a day (about 7 hours) anyway (I know as I've travelled that route several times). I'd probably use a departure from Monterosso at 07:36, arriving Interlaken Ost at 14:28 (time 6H:52M, 3 changes at Levanto, Milano Centrale and Spiez). When you arrive at Interlaken Ost, you'll have to transfer to the Berner Oberland Bahn for the short trip (~20M) to Lauterbrunnen.
  • Where are you planning to stay in the Berner Oberland?
Posted by
16893 posts

Chamonix is a significant detour after you cross into Switzerland. Trains don't cross to Chamonix from Italy and the lifts on the Italian side of Mt. Blanc are closed for remodeling in 2015. So, enjoy quality time in the Berner Oberland and a fairly scenic route to get there without Chamonix.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you for the prompt replies and advice, Laurel, Ken, and Laura!

Laurel, I agree that I need to tighten up our itinerary to properly account for travel times between locations. I haven't figured out how to look up train schedules yet, so that's still on my TBD list, but I think it will help us make more informed decisions about our itinerary. Your point about allowing enough time to relax is very much taken by me (and Kelly!).

Ken and Laura, thanks for the advice about avoiding Chamonix on the way to Switzerland. Consider it done.

Ken, after we get the itinerary more finalized, I will take your advice and get hotels booked, particularly for Cinque Terre. I haven't compared hotels in Monterosso to Vernazza yet, but will keep in mind that Monterosso seems like an easier place to find accommodations. We are planning to spend about 3 days on the west side of the valley (Murren, Gimmewald) and then perhaps a night in Kleine Scheidegg with a train ride to Jungfraujoch.

Posted by
11337 posts

As to trains and other modes of travel, the website Rome2Rio is a terrific planning tool and you can use the info there to make some decisions. Buy tickets at www.Trenitalia.com. If you buy in advance and are certain of your travel days/times, you can get some fabulous discounts, but they are non-refundable.

Posted by
32212 posts

Pat and Kelly,

Just to clarify, Vernazza doesn't have any "hotels" but rather small rooms for rent, some of which don't provide breakfast. Monterosso has more "conventional" hotels, some with elevators and many provide breakfast.

Posted by
11613 posts

For a romantic beginning to your honeymoon, I would stay in Ravello rather than Amalfi town. It's a 15-minute bus ride into Amalfi, but the mountain setting and the villa gardens are beautiful, great way to get over jet lag.

Posted by
69 posts

Cinque Terre should be booked in advance. Only 2 days in Rome? Not booking rooms in Murren/Wengen in July? Good luck with that.

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