2 weeks in Europe is that possible?
 

We are planning our honeymoon for September 10,2006 and would like to hit a few countries along the way. France, Switzerland and Italy and maybe one more. Does anyone have some advice how to do this all in 2 weeks. Is there a way to do this so it's not so expensive.

Thanks

Yes, do not think " countries", think regions. Each of those countries would take several weeks to see. With only 2 weeks, I would do a concentrated natural beauty sojourn to include the French riviera, The lakes of northern Italy, a brief diversion into Luzern, and end in Venice. That is a honeymoon ! Start with a good map and buy a guide book.

Expensive in this case is definately relative. We just spent 17 days in Italy and Austria and spent about $12,000 all inclusive for 4 people. We stayed at modest hotels but bought a lot of souvenirs. I can tell you that it was a whirlwind seeing Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice, and Salzburg. Italy's hotels were more expensive for what you got. Austria may be a country you could add but it already sounds like you a have a whirlwind planned. I don't like dirty countries and Italy is fairly dirty compared with Austria which is imaculate. Of cours you are already seeing one German speaking country and I don't know how different they are as I have never been to Switzerland. Paris is very dirty but other cities like Bordeaux are pretty clean.

It makes it hard to decide when there are the must sees like the Eifel Tower and Colosseum in dirty places.

The trains in Europe are clean, punctual, and cheap. They also save you the aggrevation of getting lost and driving in less than desirable company.

Back in January, you asked questions about actually getting married in Positano. Is that still part of the plan? And given the budget conscious nature of your question(s) - - I am assuming that you do not have a separate twoo weeks <i>after</i> the wedding for the honeymoon traveling.

I urge you to drop Switzerland (or France) from your ambitions (or both). It's a little bit hard to understand how you can't afford a wedding in the US (and yes, I realize that you referred to NYC as a venue), but a trip to Italy for six? people is somehow more affordable?

Traveling to any two of these three countries in September is not going to be inexpensive; September used to be a &quot;shoulder&quot; season for much of Western and Southern Europe (maybe it still is in Eastern Europe), but for a decade or thereabouts, it has been &quot;discovered&quot; as one of the <i>best</i> seasons - - and thus, demand has driven the prices up to the same as (if not more than) the peak summer months. For lodging in Italy, there are actually often cheaper prices in July and August, because September weather is spectacular compared to the heat of peak summer.

If the two weeks includes the wedding, I would encourage you to confine your plans to Italy alone. Or at most, make a &quot;footnote&quot; side trip (2 or 3 days?) to one other destination, such as Paris or the French Riviera (or Lucerne or Lausanne, if you insist on Switzerland).

And of course, fly home from &quot;there&quot; (the second destination) with an open jaw air travel itinerary - - rather than backtracking to Italy for your return flight. The website www.whichbudget.com will direct you to the best low-cost options for traveling between Italy and France (or Switzerland).

We need more information on the Positano part - - are you hoping to travel straight there? - - and if so, get married on what post-arrival day?

Your budget will go further if you could find that you would be content with lesser known parts of Italy, especially in the south, for example. Depending on whether that suggestion suits you or not, then the next most important advice would be to plan on a minimum of intra-Europe travel. It will add to your costs and subtract from your time, actually seeing places in the (preferably <i><u>one</u></i>) country that you flew all the way across the ocean to visit.

Whatever your decision, congratulations on yur new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

You didn't tell us if either of you have been to Europe before and if so to which countries. If not, I'd heartily agree with Bob the Navigator, although stretching it just a tiny bit further, I'd consider adding in Paris for maybe three nights. What's a honeymoon in Europe without Paris? If you set up an open jaw flight, flying maybe to Venice, working your way to the lakes and into Switzerland, taking a train from Montreaux to Paris, and flying home from Paris, this is quite practical. I would advise against adding any more countries. For this itinerary, I'd even consider substituting Zermatt for Luzern.

We were going to get married in Positano but his father has taken ill. So we decided to do it here in the States and fly over a few days later on our honeymoon. No we both have never been to Europe before and this we think would be a nice time. We want our trip to end in Positano Italy and either begin in France or even Spain with having two weeks.

You only have two weeks - you need to cut back on the number of places you want to visit. And now you've added Spain to the mix.

Since you want to finish up on the Amalfi Coast - Spain and even France don't make too much sense.

A couple of choices: stick to Italy; or visit Paris or ____ (insert any European city that interests you) and then fly to Rome or Naples and from there go to Positano.

But to try to tour Spain and/or France, and/or Switzerland plus Italy in two weeks is a pretty tall order.

I suggest you think cities/towns instead of entire countries! I guess it would be possible to do France, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain in 12 days (subtract your arrival and departure day because they are taken up in airports/transportation/hotels) but it's simply not a reasonable plan. Not to mention, moving around so much makes your trip more and more expensive.

I would suggest fly into Paris for 4 days, take the train down to the Lac Leman area of Switzerland for 4 days, then an overnight train to Venice for 4 days. Fly home from Venice.

suze: Your plan works - except it looks like the only firm part is they want to finish up in Positano.

Oops right you are Janis. I guess I will keep my advice to &quot;please pick 2 countries not 4&quot; -LOL and one of them obviously needs to be Italy.

I like to recommend the &quot;rule of three&quot;: three countries maximum, with a minimum of three days in any one place. Suze's plan would work, if they shorten stays in each place to add Positano. But that makes a pretty hectic trip---which doesn't sound like a honeymoon to me. So I like Janisj's suggestion of just Italy, or Italy plus one other gateway city (maybe Geneva for the beautiful Lac Leman area, which is a great place to shake off jet lag). Making it a more compact trip will also help keep the cost down, and they will have more time to enjoy each place (and each other).

&quot; I don't like dirty countries and Italy is fairly dirty compared with Austria which is imaculate. Of cours you are already seeing one German speaking country and I don't know how different they are as I have never been to Switzerland. Paris is very dirty but other cities like Bordeaux are pretty clean.

It makes it hard to decide when there are the must sees like the Eifel Tower and Colosseum in dirty places.&quot;

That is just so perfect!!!

I'll try again incorporating suggestions from Janis and Enzian.

Fly into Geneva and stay (3) days in Vevey/Montreux, train on to Venice (3), Florence (2), on to Positano(5), fly out of Rome (1).

How's that?

All of the above sounds great would anyone have any suggestions if I narrowed it down to France and Italy?

suze's plan is good - but if you now want just France and Italy -- Paris, Venice, Florence and Positano is sensible for two weeks.

3 or 4 days Paris (4 is better)
3 days Venice
1 day Florence
3 or 4 days Positano
1 day in Rome to fly home

Meant to add - to make it work you need to book open jaw into Paris and out of Rome

what does that mean?

open-jaw means that you fly into one city and out of another city.
For instance you could fly into Paris and fly home from Venice. Saves a lot of time and money backtracking :-)

What does what mean? Open Jaw??

Open jaw is where you book a round trip ticket to/from different cities.

For instance fly from NYC to Paris, and then fly home from Rome to NYC.

Sorry - TexasAggie's comment wasn't there when I posted . . . .

oooh Wombat... dontchajust?

Oh thanks for your help do you know of any good sites to find hotels and the euro pass?

Venere.com is the best (starter, at least) site for hotels in Italy. For Paris, you might start with webscapades.com

Presumably you mean a EurailPass. Highly unlikely that it would be a good bargain for you. Overrated and overpriced. Train travel in Italy is intrinsically a good value. Just buy the ordinary (&quot;point-to-point&quot;) tickets you need. As noted above, see www.whichbudget.com for flights between Paris and Italy - - such as easyjet.com or myair.com - - cheaper than the train and do in two hours what takes 14 on the train.

Well actually your best site for finding hotels is right here on this forum. For instance if you post a question about a hotel in Venice for such and such a date and include your budget you will get TONS of goos advice

And why do you want a &quot;euro pass&quot;? Point to point train tickets are inexpensive and budget intra-Europe airlines are often even cheaper.

I don't believe that is enough train travel to warrant a rail pass, you can simply purchase point-to-point tickets at the train stations.

Since you say now only France and Italy, I think Janis' itinerary above is about as perfect as you can get.

www.lacalcina.com Pensione La Calcina in Venice is absolutely lovely.

Paris www.dacia-paris-hotel.com for Dacia Luxembourg in the Latin Quarter is nice and in an excellent central location on St Mich.

that should read &quot;good advice&quot;

topping for kittpom-

not a bad day's work everyone!!!

Thanks Everyone!!

I might skip Florence and add a day or two to Rome.