Italian Honeymoon

Erika,

Two weeks in Italy for a honeymoon is not enough time, so I would not try to see Greece as well...with one week committed in N. Italy, I would suggest that you spend the remaing week in Venice, 3 nights, Cinque Terre, 2 nights and Milan(where I presume you will be flying out of Malpensa) for 2 nights. IMO you will not find a more romantic honeymoon destination than Venice.

While we have a week's stay in N. Italy, we are not committed to staying there the whole time. Would you suggest we spend less time in N. Italy to open ourselves for more options?

Hi Erika - First - Congrats on your upcoming wedding!! Le Cinque Terre is the first place I would suggest. Leave the car in La Spezia - jump on the train and you're in the village in 15 miinutes. Be sure to walk the Via Dell'Amore (Lover's Path) along the cliffs between the villages. The 25 minute - 1/2 mile section between Manarola and Riomaggiore is a Great section, with a cafe halfway for a drink.
Vernazza is my favorite - a nice place to stay if you want to spend a few nights would be Http://www.nerinarooms.it - right on the harbor and very scenic!
From Le Cinque Terre, I would offer Http://www.Casolarelibbiano.it - A wonderful B&B just outside of San Gimignano in Tuscany and within 40 minutes of Volterra as well as Siena. Berta And her husband Andrea are great hosts in a Beautiful property.
After exploring Tuscany for a few days perhaps down to Rome - suggest The Hotel Forte, located directly at The Spanish Steps , and easy walking to The Trevi Fountain, The Via Veneto, and The Roman Forum. You can jump on an open bus on Via Veneto and see lots of sights , getting off and on at your leisure.
And , of course - Venezia - My thought would be The Hotel Casanova, where my friends Franco and Stefano take excellent care of their customers- Especially Honeymooners. Located directly behind The Piaza San Marco and easy walking to The Rialto Area with all it's markets, shops, and vendors, The Grand Canal, and , of course Piazza San Marco. The Hotel will also give you FREE water taxi tickets to Murano , where you can sit and be amazed by the glass-blowing demonstration, and then on to the Island of Burano, very quait and picturesque - famous for it's lace and embroidery. A nice day!!
Wow!! You guys are going to have fun!
I would suggest flying home from Venice - Not going back to Malpensa - And Milano - I'm Italian and all I can say is - I wouldn't include it!

Ciao, Greg

Erika, its feasible if you mean "can you hit the well-known places such as Rome, Florence, Venice, Amalfi Coast, etc."? And for some people this is what they are looking for. If you want to know the must-go-to sites they'd be the main chapters in any book about Italy, and most will also tag the most important sites in each locale to tourists; the chapter on Florence is sure to mention the Uffizi for example.

Another approach is to see fewer places but in more depth; spending 3-4 nites in a location and using it as a base. We recently returned from a trip to Southern Italy spending 4 days in the Bari region and 3 in Sorrento. We got a glass of wine at a place overlooking the port each nite, and on the 2nd nite they remembered us and on the 3rd the proprietor was suggesting places we should be sure to see. We ranged probably 50 miles up and down the coast from our base so it wasn't as if we only saw 1 town; but we could spend as much or as little time exploring each day as we felt like, and had a comfortable place to come back to each afternoon without the hassle of packing/unpacking and so on.

Wow! Thank you so much for the wonderful suggestions! I think looking over all the ideas and then viewing some of the websites and photos, we may take it easy and just stay within Italy.

Also, we're thinking of doing N. Italy at the end, because it seems like it may be more relaxing. Do you think this would be the case?

Congrats Erica, Tough decisions but first you have to decide how you like to travel. Do you want to spend 2 days here and thereor do you want to get to know a place. We have done three trips. One was three weeks thru central italy Santa Margherita ligure/CT, Florence and hilltowns, assisi and Rome.
Two other trips were a week in italy (Rome/Sorrento) 3-4 days each (Venice/Lake Lugano) 3-4 days each followed by a week in Greece. As you can see we like the 3-4 days in each location in hopes you go back again to see the other locations. I wuld definitely look into flying open jaw (in one city out another)

Erika,

First of all, congratulations! I have a few suggestions to add to the others.

With only two weeks (and considering the occasion), I'd suggest a somewhat "relaxed" Itinerary, perhaps using open-jaw flights into Rome and out of Venice or Milan. One thing to remember is that you'll lose the first day in time zone changes and the last day getting ready for the flight home, so you'll only have 12 days.

I suggested starting in Rome, is that in mid-June it's going to be warm but perhpaps not as hot as July. Although the culture in Rome can be a bit "intense" this might be a better idea. As you move north, hopefully it will stay a bit cooler.

Where is the Villa "just south of the Swiss border" located? This will have a bearing on the overall Itinerary.

You mentioned "we will have a car". A few things to mention. In some cases, there's an age limit of 25 for rental cars. Also, an International Driver's Permit is compulsory for driving in Italy and you can be fined on the spot for failing to produce one. This must be used in conjunction with your home D.L. and EACH driver must have an I.D.P. You can obtain these easily at any AAA office (they're valid for one year).

Again on the topic of cars, you may want to check other posts here regarding the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato zones which are prevalent in some areas (especially Florence). Driving through the automated Cameras will result in a violation ticket (>€100) which you'll receive several months after you return home.

I'd suggest using the car "strategically" to visit specific spots that you're interested in, but drop it as soon as possible and use trains (which are VERY easy to use and usually much faster than travel by car). A GPS along with a good Map are highly advisable!

Happy travels!

Cinque Terre is a must!...but plan on spending at least 2 nights. In June, there are sure to be plenty of Tourists though so I would stay away from Monterosso or Vernazza during the day...unless you don't mind crowds. Vernazza is a great place to be in the evenings. We met two people who now live there that came as tourists and never left. Happy Honeymoon!