17 Days Honeymoon in Italy and France

Old Sep 1st, 2015, 04:30 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
17 Days Honeymoon in Italy and France

Hi guys,

Remember me? I finally booked my flight to Italy with Emirates. Open-jaw tickets as suggested by members here. Thanks. I guess I found a very good deal for the ticket. RM 2544 per person equivalent to around USD 600. I will be arriving at Rome and leaving back to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. From Venice, I will fly to Paris. Oh ya! I will be travelling next year April.

I have summarize my itinerary as per below:
City Day of Visit
Rome 3.5
Florence 2.5
Pisa/CT 2
Milan 1
Venice 2
Paris 4
Amsterdam 2

I know the journey from Cinque Terre to Venice is very long (by train ~5 hours++) so I will make a stopover for 1 day at Milan. Or you guys think I should just skip Milan and travel all the way to Venice?

Also I really really appreciate if you guys could provide me with affordable suggestion for accommodation at each cities. By affordable I mean Euro 100 and below for two person room and it would be great if the location is near to train/metro station (walk-able distance).

I am planning to allocate Euro 75 per person for daily expenses (this exclude accommodation). Do you guys think this is too much or too less? Ps:I am not into fancy dinner or alcohol.

Appreciate your help guys!!
anna2808 is offline  
Old Sep 1st, 2015, 05:17 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 57,890
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
IMHO stopping in MIlan is just wasting a day unless you have some must see sights there. Five or 6 hours on a train is not too long to manage.

Also 7 places in 17 days - esp for a honeymoon - is really too much. I'm afraid you will just end up with a blur rather than really enjoy the trip.

In that time I would do no more than 4 cities. And be sure you understand how much time you really have. Have you included in the 17 days the day you arrive (really a jetlagged half day), the day you depart (no sightseeing unless you fly out at night) and where have you allowed for the time to get from one place to another.

I would lay your trip out night by night listing where you will start, any travel you will do that day and where you will sleep. Remember that to have 3 days sightseeing you need to spend 4 nights in a city.

As for your budget - this is not our price point, but the budget student guides typically say that about 60 euros per day is the minimum to live on - but that includes eating street food, picnics and sandwiches from supermarkets. That number does not include cost of trains or flights from city to city. Are you flying from Venice to Paris? Train would take at least 11 hours, although there appears to be a night train, but that's about 15 hours.

If it were me I would pick the top 4 cities and actually have time to see something of them as well as do a little cafe sitting/relaxing
nytraveler is offline  
Old Sep 1st, 2015, 05:37 PM
  #3  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Hi nytraveler,

Just to clarify

Previously my plan was even packed.. The 17 days does not include the days I arrive and depart. So, it is actually 17 + 2 days.

As for the budget EURO 75, excludes the cost of trains or flights from city to city.

Yes, I will be flying from Venice to Paris.

This might be the only time I travel to Europe in my lifetime and hence 7 cities at one go. I seen people traveled 10 cities in 15 days hahaha but that's not what I want. So, I settled for the middle one. Not too pack, not too relax.

I think I will skip Milan as suggested by you. I am not particularly interested.

Thanks for your opinion!!
anna2808 is offline  
Old Sep 1st, 2015, 08:17 PM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11,971
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Good you are leaving out Milan, specially since you have no real interest there.

Your trip is more rushed than many, including myself, would like, but it is doable.

However, when you consider travel times between cities, etc. I think you are still estimating a little more time than you will actually have. Except for Rome and Venice, none of your stops will have as many days as you list. Leaving out Milan helps some though, giving back travel time that you had not allowed for. It still works, just a bit tighter than it looks with only days listed and not travel days.

Depart home - you are not counting this day?
Day 1, Arrive Rome, Check into hotel, etc. by noon, jet lag.
Days 2, 3, 4, Rome, (3 & 1/2 days)
Day 5, travel to Florence, takes about 1/4 day
Day 6, Florence, (1 & 3/4 days, not 2)
Day 7, travel to CT, stopping in Pisa, (night time in CT)
Day 8, CT (1 day, not 2)
Day 9, travel to Venice, most of day in travel, evening hours in Venice
Days 10 & 11, Venice, (2 days)
Day 12, fly to Paris, 1/2 day of travel
Days 13, 14, 15, Paris (3 & 1/2 days, not 4)
Day 16, travel to Amsterdam, with checking out of hotel, train time, getting to hotel in Amsterdam, etc., at least 1/2 day of travel.
Day 17, Amsterdam, (1 & 1/2 days)
Day 18, depart Amsterdam.

If you still have an extra day, you can put it wherever you want that appeals to you.
Sassafrass is online now  
Old Sep 2nd, 2015, 05:41 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,713
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Have fun with your trip !
You'll have the time of your life.

less than 100 e per night in Paris is low price.
I can recommend the ones below where I stayed and apid that price or below.

If no availability or if you want cheaper, I recommend you look on booking.com or hotels.com

Pay attention that the rating these hotels get is - for me - relatively misleading : you get 1 point * appreciation of the traveler for 5 criteria :
- location, service, cleanliness, confort and ? (average ?)
This means that when you read a note of 2,1 that hotels.com comments as 'correct', you have already 1 point for location, so you actually have a rating of 1,1 on 4 -> run away...

My recs (note that the tariff price was in all cases above budget, I benefited from discount that may not be available for your dates):
Collège de France (hotel du) 7 rue Thénard 5e
Pré (hotel du) 10, Rue Pierre Semard, 9e
Neuve (hotel de) 14, rue Neuve Saint Pierre 4e
Arvor rue Laferriere 9é
Boronali 65 Rue de Clignancourt 18e
29 Lepic rue Lepic 18e Pigalle/abesses

I have no recs for Pisa (lost the name of my regular), Milano or Venice (I've got a good one but well above budget - it will tough in Venice to find your budget).

For Amsterdam, I did spend a lot of time looking for good/unexpensive hotels and never found anything below at least 150 € and I never slept in the center.
pariswat is offline  
Old Sep 2nd, 2015, 04:21 PM
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Hi Sassafrass,

Thanks a lot for your recommendation!!!! Appreciate your time in detailing my itinerary!!

My itinerary will be like below:
Day 1 -Depart home, reach rome at 8 pm.
Day 2,3,4,5 roaming in Rome
Day 6, travel to Florence, takes about 1/4 day
Day 7, Florence, (1 & 3/4 days, not 2)
Day 8, travel to CT, stopping in Pisa, (night time in CT)
Day 9, CT (1 day, not 2)
Day 10, travel to Venice, most of day in travel, evening hours in Venice
Days 11 & 12, Venice, (2 days)
Day 13, fly to Paris, 1/2 day of travel
Days 14, 15, 16, Paris (3 & 1/2 days, not 4)
Day 17, travel to Amsterdam, with checking out of hotel, train time, getting to hotel in Amsterdam, etc., at least 1/2 day of travel.
Day 18, Amsterdam, (1 & 1/2 days)
Day 19, depart Amsterdam.

Pariswat,

I definitely gonna check out your recommendation. Thanks for your time.
anna2808 is offline  
Old Sep 3rd, 2015, 10:56 PM
  #7  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Any more ideas?
anna2808 is offline  
Old Sep 5th, 2015, 06:30 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 165
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Don't underestimate travel time between cities. By the time you check out of your hotel, walk to the train station, purchase your ticket, wait for your train, ride the train, get to your destination, get your bearings, walk to your hotel, check in to your hotel, it can take a long time. That's without train delays which happen regularly in Italy. If possible, find out if you'll be traveling on a holiday. That can affect the number of trains that run and slow you down. If everything goes as planned, you'll do ok. With this tight of a schedule, mentally prepare yourself for what you'll do if things don't go as planned.

I also think your itinerary is too packed. But, I understand trying to maximize what time you have. I would not personally travel all the way to the CT for only one full day there. It's a long ways to go for such a short amount of time. The CT has so much to offer you'll barely scratch the surface. We were there three nights on our honeymoon and still didn't make it to Corniglia. Have you thought about going to a smaller Tuscan town outside of Florence instead? Your travel time would be much shorter. For what it's worth, we stayed in Orvieto (closer to Rome) and adored it.

Regardless, whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll have a great time. Congratulations and happy travels!
candj83 is offline  
Old Sep 6th, 2015, 11:51 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 6,534
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Holidays do not affect train schedules in Italy, so don't worry about that.

If you can afford it, it often simplifies matters greatly to take a taxi in between hotels and train stations. Saves time and hassle.

Your travel time will not be shorter if you go to a small Tuscan town instead of Florence. In fact, it will be longer.

Everybody will try to talk you out of some destination and then tell you that you should go to their favorite desetination instead. The small towns of the Italian Riviera are just as beautiful as the small towns in other places in Italy, and you don't need more than a day there to justify the trip to enjoy the scenery.

I think you already know that not everything in life goes perfectly, and somehwere along the way you are likely to end up not seeing something you had hoped to see because of some snafu earlier in the day. So I wouldn't start worrying about that now either. If it happens, it happens. The only thing you MUST do on your trip is be in Amsterdam for your flight home! Otherwise, have fun on your honeymoon.
sandralist is offline  
Old Sep 7th, 2015, 05:19 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 165
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sandralist, we were there about three years ago. I am by no means an expert on trains, but I was sharing based off our personal experience. We booked our tickets as we went along. The station had a paper table of train times, with dates asterisked for holidays, indicating reduced options for travel. And sure enough, we had to wait over an hour for the next train since the one that would have normally ran wasn't running since it was a holiday. Maybe with everyone doing everything on the internet ahead of time, that's no longer an issue because the schedules are already posted.
candj83 is offline  
Old Sep 8th, 2015, 06:44 PM
  #11  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
sandralist..
Yes i agree with you.. Everyone has their own preferences..
And i do expect to miss some and hit some. nothing is that perfect..

candj83..
i will book all my intercity trains online around 2-3 months earlier..to get cheaper fares and also train schedules.
anna2808 is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
candycanes
Europe
23
May 9th, 2018 07:01 AM
elajeanbee
Europe
8
Feb 3rd, 2017 12:44 PM
Ragnarv
Europe
12
Nov 5th, 2015 10:29 AM
Flyhi
Europe
9
Jul 2nd, 2009 08:14 AM
windanlin
Europe
10
Jan 27th, 2008 10:33 AM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -