Italian Honeymoon Advice

Old Feb 24th, 2017, 03:39 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Italian Honeymoon Advice

My fiance and I are in the process of planning the details of our honeymoon for this August and would love some feedback on romantic or fun things to do in the different areas we'll be staying! Here's what our itinerary looks like:

Fly into Venice and spend 2 nights-- we've been here before so are using this as more of a relaxing transition back to Italy / get over our jet-lag.

Cinque Terre-- staying 4 nights in Vernazza

Capri-- staying 3 nights

Positano-- staying 3 nights

Rome-- 1 night and then flying out the next morning

We realize there is a lot of travel here, but were willing to spend some time on trains in order to hit all of the places we wanted to. Any suggestions on amazing restaurants or must-see/must-do things are welcomed! We love adventuring around (definitely want to hike in CT), are big foodies and looking forward to drinking great wine (any wine tours recommended?), and want to spend some time relaxing as well.
mgant2011 is offline  
Old Feb 25th, 2017, 01:47 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 624
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Have you already bought air tickets? If not, I would suggest landing yourselves closer to the Mediterranean coast than Venice, unless you really really want to see Venice again. If you have already bought your tickets, but seeing Venice is not extremely important to you, than I would suggest trying to push on a bit your first day, by train so you don't have a such a long journey from Venice to le Cinque Terre. Since you are foodies, consider heading to Bologna. It's pretty quiet there in August. It's hot, but the streets are covered with archways, so it's shady. Get an air conditioned hotel and visit the markets and eat world's best pasta. When you leave, you have a shorter journey to le Cinque Terre. It's probably most interesting to take the train through Parma and down to La Spezia.

You say you are willing to spend some time on trains to see everything you want, but after le Cinque Terre, I would be very tempted to fly from Pisa to Naples (if it's possible). Otherwise, leaving from Vernazza, you will have an extremely long travel day getting to Capri. You need to check when that last boat leaves from Naples and make sure you start traveling early enough to make it.

The only wine country you are visiting is le Cinque Terre, and I'll bet there are vineyard tours you can join there. If you are determined to hike in le Cinque Terre in August, be prepared to get up early in the morning to do it. The hikes involve more vertical climbing in the hot sun than many people anticipate. There are not a lot of shade trees on the cliffs, so it can be very uncomfortable for most of the afternoon. Bring water, not wine!

Overall, if it would break your heart not to go to all the places you have mentioned for your honeymoon, and you are set to stay cheerful on those long train rides, then don't let anybody discourage you. But if your main interest in the places you've chosen is beautiful sea views and relaxing, hiking and swimming, then your trip would be much less hectic if you either simply went to southern Italy (take fast trains down from Venice if you've already bought tickets) or paired le Cinque Terre with the island of Elba in northern Italy. You can read about Elba on the internet.
frencharmoire is offline  
Old Feb 25th, 2017, 04:31 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 232
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My suggestion would be to remember this is your honeymoon, so take the time to enjoy each others company. Don't be in a mad rush to see everything because Italy will seduce you and you will want to return. We spend a month there every year and I often begin to plan the next trip while on the plane returning home from the current trip.

The Italians have a saying, "Il dolce far' niente," means the "sweetness of doing nothing." Sit in a cafe with an espresso and watch the world go by.

Buon viaggio e Buona Fortuna,
rbciao47 is offline  
Old Feb 25th, 2017, 04:41 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 25,422
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
closer to the Mediterranean coast than Venice

oops

good advice otherwise
bilboburgler is offline  
Old Feb 25th, 2017, 09:11 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 473
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Too much time spent moving vs spending your time in places, for my taste. It's too close to a 'list ticker' itinerary for me.

And while I understand that most people pick places based on popularity and how many people have heard of them, Cinque Terre, Capri and Positano have been on my list of places to avoid for decades.

Cinque Terre for example was a lovely little area to visit 30+ years ago. Did you know that they now sell tickets and limit the number of hikers between the villages per day mgant2011? They have to limit the numbers due to overcrowding.

The villages which were once real villages, are now just wall to wall tourist kitsch shops and rip off priced hotels and restaurants.

If you want to stay in that area, I suggest Portovenere instead, just to the south. You can day trip by ferry to Cinque Terre if you wish.
http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/portovenere

Portovenere is still a real place, not somewhere with a 'theme park atmosphere' as some have described the Cinque Terre these days along with Capri and Positano.

Be a bit more adventurous and find some places that you haven't heard of before rather than the places everyone goes to because everyone else goes to them.

Instead of Capri, consider Ischia.

http://awanderingcasiedilla.com/2016...ld-you-choose/

Your honeymoon memories can be about a place that is 'yours' rather than a place the everyone and their uncle has been to. Portovenere and Ischia are not tourist free by any means but they are more real than Cinque Terre or Capri have been in a very long time.
Dogeared is offline  
Old Feb 25th, 2017, 10:04 AM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 57,091
Received 5 Likes on 3 Posts
i've never ben to Ischia, but I gather from my italian teacher who hails from there that it's very popular with Italians in the summer so i'm not sure that it will be much better than Capri to be honest. But at least the tourists would probably be Italian!

but overall I agree that you are setting yourselves far too much travel, honeymoon or no honeymoon. Do you even know how you're going to get from the CT to Capri in a day?

In August I think that after Venice I'd be heading over to somewhere like Le Marche which won't attract so many tourists, [there must be some nice places for walking there] then somewhere in Umbria, perhaps a lake, and finally Rome. I just googled walking in Le Marche and i got loads of hits.

alternatively you could go north to the Dolomites where again there would be great hiking, then a lake somewhere between there and Rome and finally home.
annhig is offline  
Old Feb 25th, 2017, 10:12 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 49,560
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Too many places for me for a honeymoon. I'd follow the advice from posters above.

Google "cinque terre crowds images" and see if that's how you'd like to spend your honeymoon.
StCirq is offline  
Old Feb 25th, 2017, 02:00 PM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 1,645
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The tourists who go to Ischia are German. Mrs. Merkel of Germany goes to Ischia for her vacation.

In all the places everybody talks about you find crowds of tourists in August. Dolomiti, Ischia. Portovenere has cruise ships so it is like le Cinque Terre. Le March you need a car, and it is far from Venice.

I think it is normal for a honeymoon to want to go to Capri and Venice. Maybe just one but now with the fast trains it is not so bad to go to both.
massimop is offline  
Old Feb 26th, 2017, 09:00 AM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 473
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
There are very few places you can go to where there are no tourists. Popular places are popular for a reason obviously. But there are places worth going to where you will encounter less tourists than in the most well known places and which may well be as worthwhile if not more worthwhile going to than the most popular places.

The degree of popularity is not an absolute measure of how worthwhile a place is in other words. It is the individual's interests that determine how worthwhile a place is to visit. I simply don't choose to assume that popularity means it will be a place that I find the most worthwhile to visit. I prefer to think for myself, not blindly follow the herd.

When I see people list the 'usual suspects', I wonder if they have actually given any thought to what their own specific interests are when coming up with those places or have simply opted for the 'most popular' list on the assumption that their own interests and preferences are the same as the herd.

I don't mean to be insulting to anyone but let's acknowledge that the herd don't actually think for themselves, only the herd leader does that. Now if you and the herd leader are of like minds, that's fine but what if you aren't?

In the case of Cinque Terre for example, I think Rick Steves has been single handedly responsible for a great deal of the prominence it has come to have with travellers to Italy. What it was like when he first visited has changed enormously. The scenery remains the same but the commercialism and number of visitors has gone through the roof. It is no longer the same place he as the herd leader discovered and liked. The herd following behind however continue to follow the path he took regardless of it no longer being the same.
Dogeared is offline  
Old Feb 26th, 2017, 09:14 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 1,645
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
"There are very few places you can go to where there are no tourists."

Okay, I give up. Do Americans never understand Italy is a big beautiful country and tourists only go to a very very very very small parts of the country?

Of course tourists go to places other people make suggestions they go. That is normal. You are in a strange country! Someone has to tell you where to go. Also it is normal to go to Capri and Venice if you have a honeymoon. Le Cinque Terre is also a nice place for honeymoon if you don't want to spend a lot of money. Americans did not ruin it. It is very beautiful. But if you want to go to beautiful places without Americans, there is many. How can people believe there are "few" places in Italy you can go without seeing other tourists? There are many!

Do people just like to make speeches without information?
massimop is offline  
Old Feb 26th, 2017, 09:55 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 49,560
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
>

That is not always true, massimop. Some of us here are very adept at exploring and finding all kinds of places that we're not "told" to go to, whether by other tourists or in guidebooks or on the internet.

Some of us are quite aware that there are many, many places in Italy (and every other country) where you can visit without seeing other tourists.

But please acknowledge that most first-time visitors to any country gravitate, for obvious reasons, to the "main attractions," which are where all the tourists are.
StCirq is offline  
Old Feb 27th, 2017, 05:24 AM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 473
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Massimop, I think I was not clear enough in what I meant by there being few places with no tourists.

If I find a small mountain village in the middle of Italy, I may be the only tourist there. But, there is very little chance I am the first tourist in history to have visited that village or that I will be the last.

If there is a road or a goat path to a hut, a tourist will show up eventually, that's all I was saying. The difference is that some places will have more tourists than others and that just because a place has a lot of tourists does not mean it is a better place to visit.
Dogeared is offline  
Old Mar 1st, 2017, 09:42 AM
  #13  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I totally understand your concerns with our itinerary, but we have chosen each of these locations for different reasons and are set on hitting them. We've researched travel times and have agreed to them because we want to see all of these areas of Italy. This is all non-negotiable on our end. So instead of the feedback on our timelines in each place, hoping I can get some feedback on cool places to try in each of these areas.
mgant2011 is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
katechristine
Europe
17
Jun 2nd, 2016 04:15 PM
vishalmodi
Europe
13
Jul 10th, 2014 03:53 AM
Pelligrina
Europe
25
Dec 12th, 2011 04:48 PM
aussiedreamer
Europe
11
Apr 21st, 2010 08:55 PM
pittpurple
Europe
9
Jul 26th, 2007 11:03 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 -