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2 Week Honeymoon France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Rome

2 Week Honeymoon France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Rome

Old Oct 1st, 2014, 11:51 AM
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2 Week Honeymoon France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Rome

My fiance and I would like to travel through Europe for a 2 week honeymoon starting on May 31, 2015. We definitely want to be in Greece for a few days relaxing and taking in the scenery. We would love to see Spain and France as well. Obviously, we can't see France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Rome in just 14 days. So we're thinking of 3 countries, 4 days each -- leaving 2 days for traveling. I went to Paris and Spain as a teen, but never traveled there otherwise.

We would like some tips or ideas about possible trip ideas, or how to hit the best spots without spending an exorbitant amount of money. Greece definitely has to be one of the countries we visit, we're more flexible with the other 2.

We're thinking of renting air bnb's where it's feasible to save a little. Though, we would like to splurge in Greece. I'm not sure how much this would cost either, so if any one has any estimations, please share.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 12:14 PM
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2-3 cities would be maximum in that period of time. The 2 days of travel would be just to get to first city from home and home from last city.

Cost? What can you afford?

Airfare? From where?

Travel between cities by train or low cost flights.

You need to put a whole lot more research into this.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 12:17 PM
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I will be the first, but others will urge you to not try to take on too much. Two weeks seems like a long time, and it is--if you aren't traveling every few days. I can think of nothing more luxurious than two weeks in Greece, but it's your trip. I would start by searching a few options on a airfare search engine like kayak. For European low-cost carriers, there is skyscanner. Just play around with the options until you find something that works. Keep in mind that less traveling often results in less money spent. Congratulations!
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 12:33 PM
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I agree with the above... Even more so, because every time I've been in the early planning stages of a trip to Europe — I did the same mistake, amassed too much into little time... Relocating to another country, even city — you practically "waste" a day preparing, traveling (especially when flying!!!), finding your new hotel, settling in your new hotel...

I would cover less countries, even cities, and enjoy each a lot more, with much less hassle.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 04:54 PM
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If it's 14 days total, then deduct 2 for coming and going. Figure an hour on either end of a train ride. Every hotel change at least half a day. Flying anywhere assume pretty much the whole day is shot. Therefore anywhere you fly you need to allocate three nights minimum.

The main idea in plotting out your trip is to avoid having the relocation time overwhelm what's left for enjoyment. The worst part of travel is the traveling aspect.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 04:55 PM
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http://wikitravel.org/en/Italy

Replace Italy with any country, city or region.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 06:12 PM
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Forget countries---think destinations.

For a 2 week honeymoon, I would see Paris, Venice, and Rome.
Or, Venice, Rome and the Amalfi coast.
Or, Athens, Santorini and Rome.

You get the idea.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 06:15 PM
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We know traveling to get to the destination is hassling, all the more reason we're researching. Just trying to figure out what's possible and what to scrap. We're not looking for the 5 star $$$$ experience, but neither are we going to book into hostels. I'm not sure what the price range should be. But initially we were going to go to Asia, and the plane tickets alone would have been around $3K for the both of us, along with a place to stay, maybe another $1K and then you add in food and tours or what not, probably another $1K...so our budget is probably around $5/6k for the both of us.

The internet is an overload of information, and we're just starting to research. Once we get some sense we can start narrowing down. We really want to visit Greece because it seems so beautiful, and we've both never been. But Greece is also far from France and Spain. So is it smarter to do Greece and Italy?

Alternatively, people have suggested doing a cruise in the area to see a little of each country. Has anyone done this here, if so what are your experiences?
Thanks for the tips!
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 06:28 PM
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A cruise will mostly allow you to stay put on a ship and see very little of any of the ports/countries you stop at.

This is a honeymoon - give yourselves time to relax and enjoy each other. In two weeks, choose two or three destinations at most. Go to your library and look at guidebooks, choose the two or three places you'd most like to see. These places might be all in one country (Athens and a Greek Island or two) or Paris, Rome, Venice for example. Personally, I'd choose one country and two or three locations in that country.

A trip to Asia will be cheaper and will allow more pampering for the same price as long as you choose less expensive countries like Thailand or Indonesia. Places like Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan are as expensive as Europe.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 07:23 PM
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I would suggest staying in one country, like Italy, which is one of the loveliest countries in Europe, and VERY romantic...

...Based on our experience few years ago, I'd consider renting a car which will give you the most freedom and flexibility....

You can land in Rome, stay 3 nights, then rent the car and travel up north along the coast to one of the most picturesque areas in Italy — Cinque-Terre (stay 2 night) and up the hills of lovely Tuscany to Florence (stay 3 nights) and then head to Venice (2 nights). Drive West to the lakes of Northern Italy along the foothills of the Alps (Como and Maggiore) where you can spend 3 beautiful nights. Fly back home from Milan.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 07:43 PM
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OK...what the heck: Rome, Santorini and Athens.

Into Rome, out of Athens. Rome there is a lot to see and day trip possibilities too. Orvieto is one.

Rome to Santorini on Air Berlin, which I think is the fastest way to get there but could be wrong, then on to Athens, where personally I would spend only 2 nights.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 08:02 PM
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http://wikitravel.org/en/Santorini

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santori...tional_Airport

http://www.airberlin.com/
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 08:45 PM
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Honeymoon in Italy:

Open jaw, Venice/Rome.

Travel by train, schedules and tickets on the Trenialia web site.

Venice 3 nites, Florence 3, Rome 4. A couple of small towns for two nights each, or maybe just one with a couple of day trips.

Or skip Venice, fly into Milano and start from there.

That would be a much more relaxing trip and cheaper too.

May is a great month.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 07:29 AM
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What country are you from? Would you suggest that someone plan on 4 days to see your country?

My advice is to pick ONE country and ONE part of that country to visit for your 2 weeks.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 06:40 PM
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My vote personally is Italy, but my son spent in honeymoon in Greece--flew to Athens and spent most of their time on the islands--Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos. Doesn't get much more romantic than that. He and his wife still rave about--4 kids later!
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Old Oct 4th, 2014, 04:44 AM
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We did a 14 day cruise which we did the Greek Islands a day here and there. Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Crete, we did a full day in Athens. We extended our trip, and did several days in Venice and flew in early and pre cruise and did 3 days in Rome which to this day is my favorite city EVER!!Italy is an amazing country and there is Venice--I don't think any place on earth is more romantic then Venice. (The confirmed bachelor Cloony chose it for his marriage--what's that tell you?) LOL. If you love history then Rome is awesome so it all depends on your likes and passion. The Almalfi Coast in Italy is so beautiful and a night in Positano would be so romantic I love it there as well. You seem to be leaning towards Greece. If you just focus on Greece you can easily island hop from one island to the other for several days at each for commuting there is easy. Not to discourage you but I would return to Italy in a heartbeat but returning to the Greek Island I would not bother with myself. I mean they are small, and not much to do. You are on a honeymoon so maybe relaxing is what you choose. Congrats and take your time.
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Old Oct 4th, 2014, 04:59 AM
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Or if you want to do two countries, a nice combination is Greece and Turkey, and Turkey is likely to be cheaper than most European destinations.
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Old Oct 4th, 2014, 07:55 AM
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Have you ever spent any actual amount of time on a Greek island diann24 or are all your comments on both Italy and Greece confined to the few hours you had ashore in each place on a cruise?

I'm reminded of an acquaintance who once said to me, 'we spent a night in Lausanne, we didn't rate Switzlerland very highly.'

Do you not see how ridiculous such a statement is diann24? Not only is a day or two in a city not enough time to actually have an INFORMED opinion of that city but to write off an entire country (or all Greek islands) based on such a superficial view is beyond ridiculous.

If by, 'not much to do', you are referring to arriving in a small harbour and finding there are a limited amount of shops to buy tourist kitsch in, perhaps you are right, there is not much for YOU to do.

However, if you wish to spend a summer on a Greek island where you can swim, snorkel, dive, windsurf, fish, hike, sail, ride horses, learn a language, explore ancient history, learn about the Greek culture, learn over time to see how the average tourist is to be laughed at,etc. then you will find there is more than enough to do.

A popular cruise port is Rhodes. On the main street of the Old Town, you will find hordes of cruise ship passengers every day in season. They are there for the plucking as far as everyone is concerned. Whether they buy an ice cream cone, a coffee, a beer, lunch, jewellery or souvenirs, they are over-charged mercilessly for everything. Why not, they're just a walking wallet with no real interest in anything. If they had an interest they would spend enough time to learn something about the island.

I get annoyed at people who have no real depth of knowledge about a place and yet are perfectly willing to advise someone that there is 'not much to do'. How would you know? You have to spend enough time to find out if there is anything to do, before you can have a worthwhile opinion on the subject.

Stick to advising people on which cruise ships you like best, that is a subject you probably have enough experience with to have an informed opinion.
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