Italian Honeymoon Advice

Keep your Rome nites together at the end.
On arrival, head directly to the Amalfi coast. Great place to start a honeymoon.
For car rental, use Autoeurope.
They're very easy to work with.
Rent for Tuscany, and drop in La Spezia on your way to CT.
Quick train ride into the five villages.

Good advice Gem. Cannot imagine going to Italy and not spending a few days on the beautiful Amalfi Coast - a must see

I would choose 3 destinations, preferring the Amalfi Coast over Cinque Terre.

1. ARRIVE Rome. Train to Florence (4N)
2. Florence
3. Day to Pisa+Lucca
4. Day to Siena
5. Train via Naples to Sorrento (4N)
6. Day to Capri
7. Day to Pompeii+Herculaneum
8. Day to Positano
9. Train via Naples to Rome (4N)
10. Rome
11. Rome
12. Rome
13. DEPART Rome

I have read crowds are not too bad yet in the end of May, any truth to
this?

Having been to Rome, the CT and Florence near the end of May, I can promise you that they'll all be very busy. Make your reservations for the CT earlier rather than later.

"Best" town in the CT is very much up to personal preference. We like Monterosso because it's the largest, has the most amenities, and a fair amount of accommodations which don't involve puffing up long flights of stairs or hills to reach.

I'll vote the other way and recommend dropping the Amalfi as the CT would eliminate a long day of travel from Florence and backtracking north to Rome.

1: Arrive Rome. Train to Florence (5 nights)
2. Florence
3 Day trip to Pisa/Lucca (train). Lucca is the better of the two.
4. Florence
5. Day trip to Siena (train or bus)
6. Train to the CT (3 nights)
7. CT
8. CT
9. Train to Rome (4 nights)
10: Rome
11. Rome
12. Rome
13. Depart Rome

I'm with Kathy on that. Geographically, Amalfi is the outlier.

I did some of this on my honeymoon and I would advise not breaking up the Rome. We did 2 and 2 in Rome at the start and end, and it was dumb. Flown open jaw ever since.

We really enjoyed Vernazza in CT. It was a nice "vacation from our vacation." If I could go back in time and tell me from ten years ago a thing or two, it would be to slow down, attempt less, and remember that we can always come back.

If you decide to choose between Sorrento area and Cinque Terre, I'd suggest doing so based on your interests. Sorrento area is better if you prefer to be active and make multiple day trips while Cinque Terre is better is you prefer to hike and relax. When you look back at your honeymoon, you'll more likely remember what you did in either Sorrento area or Cinque Terre rather than the travel time between destinations.

I have to ask if you considered going to the most romantic city in the world for part of your honeymoon, That would be Venice. If you considered it and ruled it out for some reason, ok. If not, go back to the think tank and consider it.

I agree with Gordon. Venice is a very romantic city for a honeymoon. I think you should consider it.

Thanks for the responses, really appreciate it. In regard to not going to Venice, my finance and I think it is too much out of the way of what we would like to do with the rest of the trip. I have heard Venice can get very crowded but I doubt it is any different than Amalfi coast, Rome, CT. We also have tentatively decided to stay in Amalfi area over CT area.

After some more consideration, we are thinking Positano three nights with one night on Capri, then head up to Florence two nights and then two nights in air bnb in Tuscan hills. Finally head to Rome for three nights. Seems like trying to add in Venice might make the trip too rushed and strain the budget.

""After some more consideration, we are thinking Positano three nights with one night on Capri, then head up to Florence two nights and then two nights in air bnb in Tuscan hills. Finally head to Rome for three nights.""

This is as many places as you will want to do in the allotted time. anything more and it becomes a race to get to a destination

Joe's right. And, you can day trip Capri from Positano rather than packing up and moving for one night and taking up a half day or more of precious time on simply travel.

We have been to Italy just twice, and covered much of your planned ground. 14 Years ago, late September-early Oct, no crowds. 2014, early to mid May ... Rome and Florence were mobbed. Your itinerary calls for three nights in Rome, but really just a single, full day; you will be jet-lagged the day you arrive. Logistics ... train is good. We did enjoy having a car one week in Tuscany. We picked up a car in Pisa, went to Lucca, Cinque Terre, then down to Sienna. Drove back to Pisa to return the car and then flew out the next morning from Pisa via Milan to Boston with an arrival in time for dinner. Someone else suggested you concentrate your time in Rome; that's a good call, at one end or the other. I suggest that you spend three nights in Rome up front and don't go back.

Open yourselves to the unexpected. Smaller cities have charms and romance that you may choose to enjoy. Orvieto's magnificent cathedral had some wonderful frescoes by Lucca Signorelli and Padova has Giotto's wondrous Scroveigni Chapel. And plan as you might, be open to the unexpected. We stumbled onto a gelato festival when we were in Orvieto. Annother find: at first I was unhappy to have booked three nights in Milan at the end of our 2014 tour, but, on that May trip, we stumbled onto "Piano City" ... a wonderful weekend festival of classical and jazz solo and duet performances in the Public Gardens and other venues throughout the city. Far more enjoyable, if less historic, than Leonardo's "Last Supper." We spent the better part of two days just hanging out in the park and enjoying music.

Cinque Terre will be wonderful; we spent two nights there and I still consider our one full day there as the day I went to heaven.

If you have not yet booked your air, consider flying into Naples and out of Milan. Multi city flight.
This would be straight line travel, no backtracking.

Also be aware that Positano is somewhat hard to get to.
From NAP take the Curreri Viaggi bus, 10 Euro, 1 hour 20.
Then take either the Sita bus 1 hour if you're lucky, to Positano.
The other option would be a private transfer same amount of time around 125 euro.

Positano has beautiful views, great food, a lot of high end shopping and tons of stairs.
It does however have good access to the Path of the Gods
If you're into hiking.

I'm with other folks here, the CT and Amalfi coast feel like overlap in the relaxing coastal delights department. Can't compare the two, but I just visited the Amalfi region and already dream of returning. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen. With the fast train from Rome it's not such an outlier from Rome as long as you're spending more than a couple days there. You should really divide your stay between the Bay of Naples side and the Amalfi coast side, if only to get the jump on the many day-trippers headed in all directions. The major sightseeing is on the Naples/Sorrento side. At that time of year, the ferries will be running and they are the most scenic and relaxing option for getting around. Positano is gorgeous. I loved Capri, but I think a day trip is plenty. Heck, you could day-trip there twice if you really felt like it.

My husband and I chose Italy for our honeymoon 21 years ago. In hindsight, it's not something I'd do again.

We're experienced travelers but after all the work of putting the wedding together and the ceremony and festivities afterwards, we got to Italy exhausted. My only advise is going to be plan on some more downtime right from the start. We didn't see much of the Amalfi Coast because we were just too tired to do anything more than sleep for a few days, and that wasn't even enough.

Good luck and congratulations!