Honeymoon in Europe-need advice!!
Sep 16th, 2004, 09:36 AM
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Honeymoon in Europe-need advice!!
I am getting married in June 2005, My fiance and I would love to go to Europe but do not know where to start. I would love to see Ireland, Germany, England, France and possibly Italy. How much time would we need, can we rent a car to get to these countries(except Ireland)?? Can we wing it as far as not making hotels or B&B's reservations until we get there??? Best places to see, safest cities?? Help!!!
Sep 16th, 2004, 09:40 AM
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*** Best places to see? ***
Isn't that sort of like asking what is the best shirt to buy, or the best type of food? It's very different for everyone.
Think about WHY you want to go to these places.
Think about if you'll ever get back to Europe again. (Do you really need to see it all at once? Why not enjoy a few places this trip and then plan for other trips in the future?)
After you've answered those two questions, go to your library or book store and get a few guidebooks on Europe and look at all the pictures and get a feel for each place. Once you've narrowed it down, come back with more specific questions.
Also, the miniguides here on fodors for those destinations will help you figure out the basics as well.
It's just impossible for strangers to tell you which cities or countries YOU want to see.
Sep 16th, 2004, 09:45 AM
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get a grip.... you do not have to see all of Europe on one trip. Of course you can wing it and not have hotel reservations, if that's what you want to do and don't care that much about where you stay.
Don't you have some parameters for this trip in terms of money and time? Don't you have jobs or something that limits the vacation time you can take for this trip (as well as the time you are probably spending right before on the wedding?). Because many folks would spend at least a month probably on seeing those countries.
Don't you have some parameters for this trip in terms of money and time? Don't you have jobs or something that limits the vacation time you can take for this trip (as well as the time you are probably spending right before on the wedding?). Because many folks would spend at least a month probably on seeing those countries.
Sep 16th, 2004, 11:01 AM
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Like other people have said, the answers depend on how you like to travel. Would you prefer a small sample of many countries, or spending more time in only one or two countries? If you try to fit too many countries into your trip, you'll only get to do a quick tour of the biggest attractions. If you take more time to explore each country, you won't be able to visit as many countries. What's your budget? Do you like to have a lot of downtime between activities and take things slowly, or would you rather have a fast-paced sightseeing vacation? If you're trying to go to four countries, you could probably do it in 2 weeks if you spend 2 or 3 days in one big city in each country. If you're the type of person who would feel like they missed out, or get stressed out with such a fast-paced vacation, you either need to eliminate some of your destinations or plan on longer than 2 weeks.
You can rent a car for all of those places - just take a ferry to the continent. However, if you stay in big cities, you can avoid the hassle/expense of renting a car and just use public transportation - most big European cities have very good transit systems. You can also take bus tours for many destinations outside the big city - for example, I toured the west coast of Ireland in a bus tour group.
Also, if you try to go to many destinations, a lot of your trip costs and time will go to transportation from one city to another.
You can wait until you get there to find accomodations, and I've done this on a few of my trips, but there IS the element of uncertainty and the possibility that you could spend a lot of time trying to find a place to stay and may end up having to pay a higher rate, not being able to take advantage of advance-booking discounts. I'd only do that if you're adventurous and not very high-maintenance.
Your budget may also drive your itinerary. Many people find that it's cheaper to fly to London than other European cities. You also may find that the price of hotels differs significantly from one country to the next.
I LOVE London, Dublin, and the rest of the UK and Ireland. The people, especially in Ireland, are really friendly. If you only have a couple of weeks, I'd probably start there and try and do some side trips within the UK, like York, Bath, Edinburgh, Galway, Cork, etc. You also don't have as big of a language barrier to deal with.
Good luck! Try asking more specific questions as you get more into planning your trip.
You can rent a car for all of those places - just take a ferry to the continent. However, if you stay in big cities, you can avoid the hassle/expense of renting a car and just use public transportation - most big European cities have very good transit systems. You can also take bus tours for many destinations outside the big city - for example, I toured the west coast of Ireland in a bus tour group.
Also, if you try to go to many destinations, a lot of your trip costs and time will go to transportation from one city to another.
You can wait until you get there to find accomodations, and I've done this on a few of my trips, but there IS the element of uncertainty and the possibility that you could spend a lot of time trying to find a place to stay and may end up having to pay a higher rate, not being able to take advantage of advance-booking discounts. I'd only do that if you're adventurous and not very high-maintenance.
Your budget may also drive your itinerary. Many people find that it's cheaper to fly to London than other European cities. You also may find that the price of hotels differs significantly from one country to the next.
I LOVE London, Dublin, and the rest of the UK and Ireland. The people, especially in Ireland, are really friendly. If you only have a couple of weeks, I'd probably start there and try and do some side trips within the UK, like York, Bath, Edinburgh, Galway, Cork, etc. You also don't have as big of a language barrier to deal with.
Good luck! Try asking more specific questions as you get more into planning your trip.
Sep 16th, 2004, 11:21 AM
#6
Obviously this is a personal decision, but if this is your 1st trip to Europe and knowing it is your honeymoon, I would suggest the combination of Venice and Paris. Fly into Venice, stay 5 days, take the overnight train (in a private cabin) to Paris, stay another 5 days. Book your flight home back out of Paris.
Do not rent a car. Do make two hotel reservations (one each city) ahead by researching on the internet, unless you don't mind wandering around strange cities looking for a place to stay.
I don't know that this is the "best" but this is a very romantic and not difficult itinerary I am proposing.
As far as where to start, go to your local bookstore or library and get "Europe thru the Backdoor" by Rick Steves and any other general guidebooks and do some reading. Every place you mentioned is great to visit and 'safe'. There is no way to answer how much time you 'need'. Sure you can rent a car but the train is efficient and an easier way to go.
If would help (your fellow posters) if we knew the length of your trip. If it's only a week (for example) then you certainly can't do justice to five different countries as you mentioned in your initial question!
Do not rent a car. Do make two hotel reservations (one each city) ahead by researching on the internet, unless you don't mind wandering around strange cities looking for a place to stay.
I don't know that this is the "best" but this is a very romantic and not difficult itinerary I am proposing.
As far as where to start, go to your local bookstore or library and get "Europe thru the Backdoor" by Rick Steves and any other general guidebooks and do some reading. Every place you mentioned is great to visit and 'safe'. There is no way to answer how much time you 'need'. Sure you can rent a car but the train is efficient and an easier way to go.
If would help (your fellow posters) if we knew the length of your trip. If it's only a week (for example) then you certainly can't do justice to five different countries as you mentioned in your initial question!
Sep 16th, 2004, 11:33 AM
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I agree with the others on all counts, especially with regarad to hotels. Do you really want to spend your honeymoon stopping by hotels every day to see if there's availability? What if there isn't? That would definitely not be my idea of a honeymoon.
I think you need to sit down with your finance and some guidebooks and get a sense of what you'd both be interested in doing and seeing. Nobody here can give you much help until we have some idea of time, budget, and your interests.
I think you need to sit down with your finance and some guidebooks and get a sense of what you'd both be interested in doing and seeing. Nobody here can give you much help until we have some idea of time, budget, and your interests.
Sep 21st, 2004, 04:47 AM
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germany? bloody hell, why? apart from Munchen, former nazi camps and Berlin there is nothing else to be seen. it is ugly, most cities are industrial. england has london, bath, cambridge and oxford and the lake district. it is flat from south and north. Scotland yea, that would be a different story. souther europe (including France) or eastern europe are surely the most interesting ones.
Sep 21st, 2004, 05:11 AM
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For a honeymoon and a wonderful travel experience, I agree with the Venice, Paris suggestion. You will visit two of the most fabulous and romantic cities in the world. Five days each is a good amount of time or, if you plan to spend more time, add the days to Paris and take a couple of day trips to places like Chartres, Versailles or Giverney. If you visit Paris and Venice, you won't need a car. I suggest doing some research and making reservations. It is your honeymoon and you want to spend it in the nicest and most romantic hotels you can afford. Do some research, make some choices and come back to us for help along the way.
Sep 21st, 2004, 05:32 AM
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Lorabele, first of all, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!
You sounded a lot like I did when I started planning my very first trip to Europe. I was impatient and wanted to see it all. After much reading and planning, we decided to stick to a few countries at a time and keep in our minds that there will be plenty of trips to Europe to come. Our first trip to the mainland was Austria and Italy. What we didn't realize was how long it took to actually get from one place to the other (we used the train systems). The time it took to check out of one hotel and check into another in a different city was much long than anticipated. Since you are interested in countries that cover a great spanse, do keep this in consideration. Unless you have a lot of time (and money) to take a long trip, I would narrow your search to one or two countries and try to explore those in greater depth. There is so much to see in each of the countries that you mentioned that you could spend months in each one and not see everything. Go to the bookstore and pick up a few Europe guidebooks. Once you know what countries you are interested in seeing, go back and pick up information on just those places.
And I must say that I disagree with the above post; I loved Germany. While there are some industrial areas, I thought so many areas were fascinating, and a lot of the scenery just beautiful. We each have different likes/dislikes. Only you know what you are interested in seeing.
Good luck and best wishes!
Tracy
You sounded a lot like I did when I started planning my very first trip to Europe. I was impatient and wanted to see it all. After much reading and planning, we decided to stick to a few countries at a time and keep in our minds that there will be plenty of trips to Europe to come. Our first trip to the mainland was Austria and Italy. What we didn't realize was how long it took to actually get from one place to the other (we used the train systems). The time it took to check out of one hotel and check into another in a different city was much long than anticipated. Since you are interested in countries that cover a great spanse, do keep this in consideration. Unless you have a lot of time (and money) to take a long trip, I would narrow your search to one or two countries and try to explore those in greater depth. There is so much to see in each of the countries that you mentioned that you could spend months in each one and not see everything. Go to the bookstore and pick up a few Europe guidebooks. Once you know what countries you are interested in seeing, go back and pick up information on just those places.
And I must say that I disagree with the above post; I loved Germany. While there are some industrial areas, I thought so many areas were fascinating, and a lot of the scenery just beautiful. We each have different likes/dislikes. Only you know what you are interested in seeing.
Good luck and best wishes!
Tracy
Sep 21st, 2004, 05:44 AM
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Hi Lora,
Well you could fly to Dublin for a day, fly to London for a day, fly to Paris for a day, fly to Rome for a day, fly to Berlin for a day; but that would make for a busy week, especially if you don't bother with making hotel reservations.
I suggest that you follow the advice above.
Well you could fly to Dublin for a day, fly to London for a day, fly to Paris for a day, fly to Rome for a day, fly to Berlin for a day; but that would make for a busy week, especially if you don't bother with making hotel reservations.
I suggest that you follow the advice above.
Sep 21st, 2004, 05:57 AM
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Lorabele,
There are plenty of wonderful places to see in Europe. To see all of the places you've listed, beyond just a limited visit of the capital city, would take several weeks. You could easily spend two weeks in every place you've mentioned.
Do you want to go to a beach? See just the capitals? Tour the countryside?
Plenty of possibilities exist. I might suggest that one option for you might be a cruise. Several cruise lines have trips that'll stop in several countries with day trips into places like Paris. (My parents did one a few years ago that went to Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Germany and Norway. On their own, they did 4 days in London.)
I also might suggest that you think about how tired you'll be once all the events surrounding the wedding are completed and the added fatigue of jet lag.
In the case of my wife and I, we hosted a wedding in New York City for 200 people. The weeks leading up to the wedding were quite hectic with trying to finalize the arrangements, rehearsal dinners and trying to wrap up things at work so that I could take three-weeks off. Based on advice from friends, I'm glad most of our first week was spent at a relaxing beach resort.
There are plenty of wonderful places to see in Europe. To see all of the places you've listed, beyond just a limited visit of the capital city, would take several weeks. You could easily spend two weeks in every place you've mentioned.
Do you want to go to a beach? See just the capitals? Tour the countryside?
Plenty of possibilities exist. I might suggest that one option for you might be a cruise. Several cruise lines have trips that'll stop in several countries with day trips into places like Paris. (My parents did one a few years ago that went to Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Germany and Norway. On their own, they did 4 days in London.)
I also might suggest that you think about how tired you'll be once all the events surrounding the wedding are completed and the added fatigue of jet lag.
In the case of my wife and I, we hosted a wedding in New York City for 200 people. The weeks leading up to the wedding were quite hectic with trying to finalize the arrangements, rehearsal dinners and trying to wrap up things at work so that I could take three-weeks off. Based on advice from friends, I'm glad most of our first week was spent at a relaxing beach resort.
Sep 21st, 2004, 06:12 AM
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"How much time would we need to see Ireland, England, Germany, France and Italy?" A lifetime!
Lorabele; choose, eliminate, concentrate. Make your trip a pleasure.
In my opinion, till now, Suze has the most attractive suggestion; 5 days Paris, a nighttrain in a private cabin on the Venice express, 5 days in Venice. Organize your trip well and book two hotels beforehand. It will help you travelling in a relaxed way. You will have seen 2 of the major european cities at a reasonable, enjoyable pace. Also June is a very adequate moment to visit both cities.
Lorabele; choose, eliminate, concentrate. Make your trip a pleasure.
In my opinion, till now, Suze has the most attractive suggestion; 5 days Paris, a nighttrain in a private cabin on the Venice express, 5 days in Venice. Organize your trip well and book two hotels beforehand. It will help you travelling in a relaxed way. You will have seen 2 of the major european cities at a reasonable, enjoyable pace. Also June is a very adequate moment to visit both cities.
