Suggestions for Honeymoon\Romantic Cities and Hotels in Western Europe?

Hi Greg, congratulations on your upcoming wedding. After reading your post my first thought is that you're trying to do too much in a short amount of time. You list 6 cities and a day trip to Iceland with only 24 days to see them. That's less than 4 days per country. When you consider that you lose about a day when traveling from place to place that leaves about 3 days per country- not city- but country. That's not a lot of time but an awful lot of travel. I would suggest cutting your list in half or more and really concentrating on specific areas. I have been to Italy, France and Germany and all three have wonderful towns, food and wine. You could easily spend a week in Florence doing wine tours and tastings then move on to another city either in Italy or in another country. This would give you the time to explore the great little towns nearby and not live out of a suitcase for your entire honeymoon. Also, you'll be traveling during the high season so you may have to up your hotel budget if you wish to stay in the center of town. $200 is about 153 euros. That's not a lot but you'll be able to find something. I would start looking on venere.com once you decide on the cities you wish to visit. The reviews are written by people who have completed a stay so they are pretty trustworthy. Donna

Congratulations. I agree with previous post, for 24 days I would limit to 2-3 countries. You need to prioritize locations. Travelling during July most of Europe will be busy and you will need to give yourself plenty of travel time from place to place. In Italy you have many choices for romantic areas, it just depends what you have in mind but most of Italy will be busy in July, it's busy year round. Lake Como, Tuscany, Verona, Venice, Florence, Sienna, Rome all romantic areas in my opinion but all will be bustling in July. Some areas can be very hot in July as well. Of course you could spend all 24 days in France or Germany.
You should try to narrow down your choices

Gregory, I definitely agree with the others in terms of skipping some of the places on your list. If you try to visit that number of locations in a three-week trip, you'll spend more of your time in trains and airports than actually "seeing" Europe. As the others have mentioned, that's peak season in Europe so it will likely be hot and crowded! Have you already purchased your air tickets? If possible, I'd suggest skipping Denmark, Sweden and Iceland. That part of Europe tends to be expensive and I'm not sure $200 per night is realistic. If this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door before you get too far in your planning. Given your location, you might consider making the short drive to ETBD in Edmonds, and have Rick's expert travel planners help you to sort out a realistic Itinerary. You could also have a look at the Guidebooks in the free Library there, to plan sightseeing in each of the places you'll be visiting. Congratulations and happy travels!

If that two hundred bucks 'per night' means just the cost of a hotel, you might be okay. If that's your projected expenditure for the whole day (hotels, meals, fees, etc), you don't have a prayer - - even without figuring all the transportation costs you'll have. Good luck on finding a winery without tourists since they advertise like the devil - - income is nice.

Have you read any general Europe guidebooks (like RS' Europe Through the Backdoor) to get some idea of the areas that would appeal to both of you. IMHO, you are trying to see far too much in too short a time - you don't want to start your life together in a
foggy blur. That come later, lol.