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Montepulciano & Vernazza Honeymoon (cooking classes, wine tasting, bike rides) - Help! :)

Posted by on

My fiance and I are going on our honeymoon in August and we are looking for recommendations for some fun activities! Thank you so much for your hotel recommendations earlier. We are all set. :)

With the Rick Steves Italy book we already have lots of great recommendations for the big sites and museums in the major cities. Now, we are looking for some additional tips for when we're relaxing in Montepulciano and Vernazza. Specifically, we would LOVE recommendations for cooking classes, wine tasting/tours, bike rides, hikes, etc. We are avid cooks and explorers and we'd love to try some new things.

Here are the dates we're staying. We'd love some advice on activities:

  • Vernazza: August 14-16 (during the holiday, I know)
  • Montepulciano: August 19-23

Other places we're going:

  • Rome (August 11-14)
  • Florence (August 16-19)
  • Venice (August 23-24)

Thanks so much for your help!

Posted by
1054 posts

Congrats.

I did a quick visit last year to Montepulciano and stopped into these 2 places from Rick's book. The Contucci Winery and Cesare the Coppersmith. Both Adamo and Cesare provided a fun expierence for us. I'll be in Montepulicano again this year, a week after you on the last weekend in August for the Bravio. I haven't found a bike rental place yet, I'm interested to see if anyone replies on here about that.

Will you have a car in while in Montepulciano? That makes getting out to the wineries easier.

In Vernazza we hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso and it was great. There was a little wine stand on the hike between the towns with a guy selling wine made from the vineyard you hike past. The limoncello hit the spot too there.

In Venice we also did the both the Back Lanes tour and Chichetti Bar Crawl with Allesando from Rick's book. I'd recommend either on of those or both. http://www.schezzini.it/

Posted by
715 posts

Montepulciano has three wineries right off the main square where you can taste for free, four if you hit both parts of Contucci. Montepulciano is wonderful, but not sure you want to spend so many nights there unless you have a car and are going to explore. I swear that everything in Montepulciano is uphill, even when you are walking down hill.

Vernazza is small, but the surrounding area has so much to do. If you are after big tourist sites, then no, but if you enjoy a hike into the hills and a cool siesta in a small santuario then it is just lovely. Do not discount the wonderful time you will have just sitting and relaxing on a verandah with a bottle of local white wine. It is just lovely. I strongly recommend the hike on the #6 trail from Manarola, through Volastra to Corniglia.

Have a great trip.

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