Coco6224

My fiance and I are currently planning our honeymoon and are looking to go to Ireland and Italy. We have a just about 2 weeks for our trip. We would love to see both countries, as one is his preference and the other is mine. However, I have NO idea if its doable to do both in one trip. We understand we will be rushed and may not be able to see everything we want. However, if its possible, I would love to make it happen. Any recommendations on whether or not we should attempt this? If so, any recommendations as far as itineraries? We are open to all cities.

Thank you for any help in advance!

Coco6224

Sorry, I left out that we are leaving from New York, so that needs to be factored into our trip.

kybourbon

Perhaps you could pick two places in Italy and two places in Ireland? With only 7 nights in each country, it's not practical to stay more places. You could look at budget flights between the countries. If you book a budget flight, pay attention to luggage restrictions and check-in time as they are usually quite strict.

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Coco6224

Definitely wouldn't try and see more than two places each. Any recommendations on the best two? Right now, we have looked at Dublin and Rome... but we are open to change things around to accomadate the trip. Any suggestions on where to stay?

wrenwood

What time of year?

Coco6224

Last week of April, first week in May... in 2013.

amamax2

What about each country calls to you? History, architecture, countryside etc? That would help us to suggest places.

Coco6224

To be honest... we are open to it all. We both haven't been to either country, so we would love to see as much as we can, and anything. We are both into history, so that would probably be a big factor. We also thought about perhaps staying somewhere in Tuscany, and venturing to Florence or Pisa at some point. That will allow us to check out some of the sites, but enjoy the countryside.

In Ireland, Dublin would be a highlight but I would love to rent a car and check out the Cliffs of Moher.

We love to eat, and we love to drink a good beer or a glass of wine. The thought of checking out a vineyard while in Italy sounds very attractive! We are still fairly young, but don't need to be in an area with a lot of nightlife. If it is there, great, but if not, that is fine also.

We are looking to experience the culture, good food, and each others company.

I don't know if taking on the two countries is too much or not. Perhaps we will end up focusing on one. We would like to leave April 21 or 22 and fly home May 3 or 4. We understand we will lose some days because of travel.

kybourbon

If you do both, I would start in Italy and go to Dublin last. Italy has holidays on April 25 and May 1 which may create some problems for you.

Jean

With the dates you mention, you don't have 2 weeks.

I say flip a coin and go to one country, not both, and maybe plan on seeing the other on your 1st or 5th anniversary.

Or choose a third country as a compromise.

longhorn55

I see no reason why you can't visit both countries as long as you limit your travel within each.

If, as Kybourbon suggests, it makes more sense to start with Italy, I would fly from NYC to Rome. Then travel in Italy and fly from there (Rome or wherever) to Dublin. Since you want to see the Cliffs of Moher, you will be close to Shannon airport. Depart Shannon to NYC.

On my last trip to Italy, we had a good 6-day trip with 3 nights in Rome and 3 nights in Sorrento (to see Pompeii, Herculaneum and Capri).

I've been to Ireland twice in recent years, visiting both Dublin and western Ireland. You could spend 3 nights in Dublin (doing day trips to Glendalough and Newgrange) followed by 2 nights in Galway and 1 night in Ennis (before your return from Shannon).

It would certainly help if you could manage to have 12 full days "on the ground" and 1 full day for travel between Italy and Ireland.

Suki

My daughter and her husband traveled to Paris for a week, and then took a cheap flight and spent 5 days at the beach in Spain (San Sebastian, famous for good food and drink.) It can be done, but remember that it is very easy and often pretty cheap to get flights from NY to Ireland so you might want to wait and go there on a subsequent trip. I'd go to Italy and stay in Rome and Tuscany and, maybe, Cinqua Terre.

ter2000

A lot of US travellers fly home from Europe through Dublin - certainly when we travelled from Rome and from Lisbon to Dublin in the last few weeks there were a lot of Americans transitioning though Dublin on both flights - so this could be doable.

The question is, do you really want to do it? I remember the post-wedding exhaustion after our wedding absolutely flattening me. It's such an emotional time, and the days leading up to the wedding are such a whirlwind, do you really want to spend your honeymoon traveling the highways and byways of two countries a couple of thousand kilometers apart?

My suggestion would be to limit yourself to one country and take it easy. I'm Irish but I'd really think about limiting your stay to Italy, with a few days downtime at the start (maybe in the Sorrento region) and then a bit - but not too much) of traveling around. Don't be too ambitious - you'll get to Europe again - and it would be a huge mistake to do a "saw that, saw that, saw that" type of trip rather than taking our time and really experiencing a country or region.

Coco6224

Thanks for all your suggestions. Think we are going to try to stick to just Italy this time around and save Ireland for perhaps our one year! Ireland is a little bit more affordable, and easier to get to in the future!

wrenwood

Coco6224 I think that's a great choice. Italy in late April and May should be stunning.

I would limit myself to either a "southern" trip ~ Rome, Pompeii, Paestum, Amalfi, southern Tuscany ~ or a more northerly trip ~ Venice, Florence, northern Tuscany, maybe add in one of the lakes or the Italian Alps.

Don't try to do too much. You will spend a lot of time just enjoying the country.

We've been to Ireland once, it's beautiful. This fall we will take our 3rd trip to Italy. It's unforgettable.