wedding and itinerary help

Old Sep 7th, 2005, 09:35 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
wedding and itinerary help

My fiancé and I are getting Married in Positano, Italy next April. We are novice travelers, 32 years old, on a budget and looking to have loads of fun. I’d love to take comments and suggestions on our tentative itinerary. Our schedule is somewhat dependent on getting the wedding paperwork handled in the first few days via our wedding planning company – exclusiveitalyweddings.com We are very flexible with most of this itinerary though. Any thoughts?

thx..
Chad

Sun. April 23 - Leave Raleigh , NC

Mon. April 24 - Arrive Rome: spend day in Rome – do the Caesar shuffle

Tues. April 25 - Rome – Vatican City then travel to Naples

Wed. April 26 - Naples – wedding paperwork then travel to Positano

Thurs. April 27 - Positano – Settle in, have Fun exploring possibly w/ friends

Fri. April 28 - Positano – Wedding

Sat. April 29 - Positano – Day trip to Capri? Ravello?

Sun. April 30 - Positano – Day trip to Pompeii/ Ravello/Capri FUN! **(Ceramics? Veitri, Umbria, Deruta – Mayday conflict?)

Mon. May 1 – Mayday? Travel to Cinque Terre


Tues. May 2 - Cinque Terre - Hiking the 5 towns

Wed. May3 - Travel to Florence

Thurs. May 4 - Florence – Uffizi, Accademia, Duomo

Fri. May 5 - Florence/Tuscany – Day trip to vineyards (spend the night in vineyard?)

Sat. May 6 - Olive groves/vineyard?…Travel to Venice?(spend the night in grove?) J

Sun. May 7 - Travel to Venice? (Hotel Flora?)

Mon. May 8 - Venice – Murano (Hotel Flora?)

Tues. May 9 - Return to US

wonderbar8 is offline  
Old Sep 7th, 2005, 10:32 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,087
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Chad -

I'd just like to offer my congratulations, and a Positano wedding sounds wonderful.

There are plenty of people here who will offer great advice on the places you want to visit; I've only been to Venice and Rome (either as a sole traveller or with hordes of children), so I'm not greatly qualified to help, but it does seem to me that you want to pack an awful lot into a short space of time.

I did get married once upon a time, many moons ago, and the last thing we wanted after the stress and hassle of organising the actual wedding was to rush about hither and thither. We NEEDED to relax in one place and enjoy the newness of it all... (and this was 3 weeks in east Africa).

This is YOUR honeymoon, you will only have this one very special time with your new spouse.

If you spend it packing your bags every other day and travelling to yet another place, you may find that later your memories will be a blur of trains, cars, airports.

But that sort of travel does work for some people, and whatever you choose to do, I wish you a wonderful marriage and a very happy future together.
julia_t is offline  
Old Sep 7th, 2005, 11:56 AM
  #3  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks, I tend to agree with you, but what to cut out, that is the question...hmmm
wonderbar8 is offline  
Old Sep 7th, 2005, 12:08 PM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 10,253
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You have three seaside locations in your itinerary, and two city locations, although your time in Rome is only one night--a bit skimpy. I usually try for at least two nights in each location--every time you move from city to city, it takes at least half a day.

I think you will arrive in Positano exhausted: a busy first day in Rome (jet-lagged, too), stay one night, and then trying to visit the Vatican and get to Naples the next day. Certainly one can do this, but should one?

Can your wedding day shift one day to allow more time in Rome?

If you had to drop one seaside location to ease your schedule, which would it be? Positano and Cinque Terre are more similar to one another, but the hiking may interest you more than Venice's unique beauty.



ellenem is offline  
Old Sep 7th, 2005, 12:52 PM
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks so much for the advice, I think we could drop Cinque Terre/Portafino, though my cousin and a couple of friends say they loved it and it's a must. The wedding will be in Positano, that's the only definite plan. I was planning on arriving in Rome, since the plane tickets seem around $100 cheaper to fly there instead of Naples, but Naples is where we will be doing our marriage paperwork. This is some of the reasoning behind the rushed Rome visit. I've heard some mixed things about Naples, the Rick Steves Italy 2005 book shies away from Naples, but I've read some good things about it here in Fodor's. I'm am now leaning towards less packing time and more relaxing...thx
wonderbar8 is offline  
Old Sep 7th, 2005, 12:58 PM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 10,253
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If your wedding date is not yet set, you might fly to Rome and head directly to Naples. With early AM arrival at FCO, you might be in Naples by noon or 1pm.

Do Rome after your time in Positano on your way norht to Florence. With a few relaxed days after the wedding, you might be more ready for the busy-ness of Rome.

Then do the Florence/Tuscany part, and finish in Venice.

I would steal your Cinque Terre days and add them to Rome and Venice.
ellenem is offline  
Old Sep 7th, 2005, 11:47 PM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,689
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Make sure your wedding planner confirms that you don't have to be in Positano any earlier than the day before to your wedding, as some Italian communes require that marriage banns be published several days prior to the ceremony and/or require that couples have one or more personal meetings with the mayor or other officials prior to a ceremony. This should be your first priority, so you may need to go to Positano first and do Rome as a post-wedding trip.

Leaving yourself one day in Naples to get all your paperwork done is highly optimistic and a bit dangerous in my experience working in Italy and working with US Consulate officials for the last 15 years in various parts of the world. Offices close at obscure hours and for obscure holidays (esp in Italy), people may be out sick, and if you need things notarized (which I know you do) and your documents are not in the precise order requireed, the notary will not sign them; the US Consulate notaries are the absolute worst sticklers for these kinds of things. I would give yourself 2 days to have a margin for error and to get additional copies, photos, translations, etc.

I would not travel on May 1, which is Labor Day, traditionally a day for demonstration and strikes in Italy. (It's not the kind of Labor Day where you eat hot dogs and go to the beach like in the US, its more like organized labor day. . .) Stay put where you are or travel the day before or after.

You have 14 days and besides getting married, you are trying to see Rome, the Almafi coast, Cinque Terre, Florence and Venice. If you weren't getting married, I would say pick 3 places. Since you are getting married, I would say pick 2. I would skip Cinque Terre as it is a bit distant for this trip and you will already be spending a good bit of time on a beautiful coast. If you are already on a flight out of Venice, then include Venice, but definitely for more than 2 days as this is really such a romantic city. Much as I hate to say it, I would skip Rome or, if you really feel you have to "do" more, go to Rome for 2 days only, and concentrate on the Amalfi coast where you can do wedding stuff and relax post wedding and then go on to Venice where you can just enjoy the beauty and de-stress after the wedding. Save Florence and Cinque Terre for an anniversary trip. If you already have a flight out of Rome, then consider skipping Venice and doing the Amalfi coast and then Rome which has so many things to see and do and lots of great out door cafes to spend time in.

The best way to do this would be:

Fly from the US to Naples (via a change in Rome or Milan), don't mess with flying into Rome and going by land down to the coast. It should not cost you any more or not much more to fly to Naples as it does not Rome, and when you add what it will cost you to go overland from Rome to Naples (plus the schlep itself with luggage, etc) flying directly to Naples is much easier. Spend time in the coastal area, get married, etc.

Fly to Venice from Naples. You could also take a train, but the trip will take about 7 hours (with a change in Rome), versus a non-stop flight of about an hour. In either case you have to take a bus or car to Naples from Positano to get the train or a plane, figure about 1.5 hours to get to Naples.

Then fly back to the US from Venice.

If you want to go to Rome in between Almafi and Venice, take the train from Naples to Rome (about 3 hours. Take the train from Rome to Venice, trip takes between 4-5 hours, there are many trains each day, including many Eurostars that don't require any changes. Do it during the day to see a bit of the Italian countryside.
Cicerone is offline  
Old Sep 8th, 2005, 05:02 AM
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thank you so much for this super informative reply! I catch your drift on making this a non-hectic wedding/honeymoon. Hopefully the marriage paperwork won't be too difficult since we're paying a small fortune to the wedding company to help us with all that. fyi, none of our flights are booked yet...and I like the idea of a 1 hour flight to Venice instead of by train. But one of the things we are very interested in knowing more about is the feasibility of spending the night in Tuscany somewhere at a Vineyard or Olive Grove or similar to get the feel for the Italy country-side. Does anyone have any experience doing something like this? ala Stealing Beauty (movie). I agree that we could come back another time for an 'art history trip' to Rome/Florence etc. but it's going to be hard to not stop and see the David as well as convince my fiance that our original ideas/itinerary may be too hectic.
wonderbar8 is offline  
Old Oct 29th, 2005, 01:32 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Just got back from Tuscany/Umbria and stayed in a farmhouse/agriturismo. We loved it! It was reasonable cost-wise and the views were gorgeous. You definitely feel like you're in Italy unlike some hotels which were overpriced, small and generic. The furnishing were rustic, cozy. You do need a car to get around. Our farmhouse in Umbria had a restaurant on site where they produce their own local jams and olive oils and you got to sample home cooking and get their perspective on the italian way of life. Your itinerary does sound packed, however. Good luck
kermit is offline  
Old Oct 29th, 2005, 02:05 PM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,098
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'd cut out 5 Terre and the Tuscan vineyard and add those days to Venice.

Forget Murano--not that there's anything wrong with Murano, it's just that there are higher quality sights in historic Venice that you won't have time for.

RufusTFirefly is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
cangel
Europe
14
May 5th, 2019 11:51 AM
redneck6497
Europe
10
Jul 20th, 2010 06:17 PM
Maggy
Europe
5
Dec 11th, 2003 08:46 AM
italyclimber
Europe
13
Aug 13th, 2003 06:36 AM
kmb
Europe
5
Jun 5th, 2003 02:26 PM

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 -