My fiance and I will be traveling to Italy for the first time on our honeymoon. Our trip will be at the end of June/beginning of July and we will have 8 days on the ground, not including travel days. We wanted to get some advice from more seasoned travelers on how best to spend our time in Italy. We want to get a feel for the Italian culture and see some of Italy's beautiful scenery. We both love the outdoors and learning the history of any place we travel to, but since this is our honeymoon we want it to be on the more relaxing side. The areas that we think might be the best fit for our honeymoon trip are Florence/Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Lake Como and Venice. We realize we can't do it all on this trip, but we are thinking of trying to make it to 3 of these destinations. We are looking for guidance on how to get in and out of Italy in that time frame with a great experience in between. Is there anything that we can't miss? Below is one example of how we could do Venice, Cinque Terre and Lake Como:
Day 1: Land in Venice
Day 2: Venice
Day 3: Travel to CT
Day 4: CT
Day 5 CT
Day 6: Travel to Lake Como
Day 7: Lake Como
Day 8: Lake Como then train to Milan
Day 9: Fly out of Milan
The other option would be substituting somewhere in Tuscany for Lake Como and possibly departing from elsewhere. Does this plan seem doable on our timeline? Is there a town in Tuscany that is recommended? Would switching Tuscany for LC make travel more/less complicated? Any advice would be appreciated.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16240 posts
The Cinque Terre are out of the way. It's a long way from either Venice o Milan. It's also very crowded at the time of the year you are considering (all of Italy is crowded at that time however).
You could also do (not sure I got the nights right):
Arrive VCE
Venice 3 nights
Lake Como 2 nights
Cinque Terre 3 nights (or 2 nights with the last 1 night closer to either airports below)
Return from Pisa (PSA) or Genoa (GOA).
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
I agree with Roberto that Venice needs three nights. Lake Como is beautiful and relaxing, but if you want more depth of history in your trip, then I would consider Volterra or Siena, instead.
Posted by
Atlanta
5295 posts
Best wishes for your upcoming event(s). Depending on your arrival / departure times, you appear to have seven full days and two partial days. With only that amount of time consider staying in only two places -- Venice and Lake Como -- perhaps splitting the time between them. The reasons for that suggestion are: (1) Both are a very laid back romantic places for a honeymoon, (2) after the stress associated with most weddings (in-laws, outlaws, and other relatives / friends) you really do not want the stress of having to cope with any more travel logistics than necessary, (3) getting from Point A to Point B almost always takes more time than anticipated and you don't have a lot of time to fritter away getting from hither to yon, (4) and your honeymoon should be a relaxing time -- not a travel marathon. Just food for thought.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
It does seem, for a honeymoon, you are squeezing in too much travelling.
Look at just Venice and Lake Como, with 3 nights in each. Add single night stops in Verona and Milan as these centres will form part of your journey regardless. Fly home from Milan.