Great advice.

I was planning on the Hilton Florence, but did not do any research yet on Florence/Venice...but will definatly not book it if it's not in a good location like you said. Thanks for the Athens advice...is the Hilton Athens nice/good location? What about the one in Venice? Any other recommendation for Florence as far as hotel?

travelerjan your pictures look great! I think it's now between Mykonos and Naxos. I hear Paradise Beach or something like that was a really nice Beach on Mykonos....

Which island is closer/easier to access from Santorini....Naxos or Mykonos (how much time in ferry)??

let's say I chose Naxos, is a day trip to Paradise Beach (I might be off on the name) possible?

I assume accomadations are cheaper in Naxos...?

The Athens Hilton is just a few blocks from Syntagma Square in Central Athens.

Naxos is closer to Santorini than Mykonos and easier to reach from Santorini. The regular ferries take about 2.5 hours. Naxos is cheaper than Mykonos and isn't overrun with cruise ship passengers, the harbor's too shallow for the big ships.

Hilton Garden Inn Florence Novoli

Is this one in a better location?

A glance at a map in the book you have not had time to open would show you which island is closer to Santorini ... it might even be faster than getting on the internet

haha, especially since there is a big map on the first page....

Closer doesn't always mean easier to access...

The hotel Mykonos Grand on Mykonos looked niced and reasonably priced and I had friends who went there who loved it...which is why we originally had Santorini/Mykonos as our 2 islands....however Naxos will be strongly considered...

2.5 hrs to get to Naxos....but how long for Mykonos? I assume this is high speed boat?

alpine, here is a tutorial (thanks to BrotherLeeLove who taught all of us) that will help answer ALL your ferry questions present & Future.

Use this link to a ferry site:
http://www.openseas.gr/OPENSEAS/index_en.vm

Put "santorini/thira" and "Mykonos" in the port & destination slots. For the date, click the little calendar to enlarge and THEN click the LEFT arrow on top. This moves the dates back to Sept 2008.

To view a typical schedule for the 2009 date you want, do not choose the DATE. Instead, choose the DAY & WEEK you would plan to travel, i.e., 3rd Friday. I chose that and found 2 fast-ferries. The trip duration would be about 3 hours. NOTE: fast-ferry fares are about 2x that of "regular" ferries to the same destination.

Ok...so far, this is how it's looking:

Sept 22 - Arrive in Florence at 7h00 am. We will spend 2 nights. Hotel not decided.

Sept 24 - early am - take train to Venice. We will spend 3 nights at the Hilton Moliny Stucky

Sept 27 - we will take a flight from Venice to Athens. Limited research to date done, but there is a flight that leaves at 6h50 am arrives in Athens a 2PM, cost around $150EU each, however the flight to Santorini only leaves at 7h10 arrives at 7h55, so day lost to travel...there is a flight from athens to Santorini that leaves at 13h30, so we need to find a flight from Venice to Athens that would also us to get on that flight and at least get part of the day in Santorini....is there only 1 airport in Athens, i.e. will my flight from Venice to Athens be in the same airport as Athens to Santorini??? In Santorini we will either stay at Hotel Volcanos Villas (I know name changed) or Ikies - Traditional Houses

Does it matter if we go from Athens to Mykonos and after we go to Santorini...if we do that, then we can get the offseason rate at the Ikies since it will be in October....

Sept 30 - take a ferry to Mykonos (assuming we go to Santorini first) and spend 3 nights in Mykonos. We were thinking the Mykonos Grand as a hotel...

October 3, take a flight to Athens, spend 3 nights in Athens at the Hilton Athens...



Does the above sound ok? Lots of moving around, but most of the times shouldn't be too too bad, except the Venice to Santorini or Mykonos day...

Please comment on hotel choices...or provide alternatives...

thanks to everyone who helped!

I agree with others Greece sounds much more to your taste than Italy. Florence especially seems a bad choice if you are not interested in art and architecture. Venice would be better for walking around/taking pictures, generally soaking in the atmosphere

Thanks for the comment. I might reconsider and take out Florence to replace it by Rome??

My attraction to Florence was doing a Winery tour...

I think of Florence as an amazing treasure trove of art/architecture. That is why I love the city. The good food and wine are nice extras for me but not the main reason for visiting. You have different priorities and I am sure you can find vineyard tours (and food tours) in Tuscany.

I would not advise going to Rome for only a day or two. It is a wonderful city but overwhelming if you don't have more time than that.

We will skip Rome for this trip and hopefully return some day to do Rome and the other regions of Italy we did not get to enjoy.

We will either do 3 nights Florence 2 nights Venice or vice versa...

If you really want a small taste of Italy, for this trip I would seriously consider visiting <b>one</b> city only. I agree with Vttraveler that given the circumstances, Venice might be the better choice.

Think of it like this- you will be making this trip after your wedding. You won't be flying non-stop. There will be a change of planes to get to either Venice or Florence. You'll be tired and jetlagged.

You might just want to have a few days to <b>relax</b> after the wedding and all that travelling

I love Florence, but it is very crowded, with lots of people packed into those narrow streets. With only one or two nights, I'd be afraid you might end up hating it. And rushing off to do a wine tour- you wouldn't really get a feel for the city. Then up super early to get the train, then another super early morning only a couple days later to fly to Athens...I don't mean to be negative, but that sounds exhausting!

Why not spend the first 4 nights of your trip in Venice relaxing and enjoying the city (I've never been to Venice, but everyone says it's perfect for honeymoons) before you head over to Greece?

Then, on a future anniversary trip you can go to Rome or Florence and spend some time in the Tuscan countryside.

If your attaction to Florence was to do a winery tour, there is actually much better wine produced closer to Venice, toward Verona (the region is called the Veneto) or north toward Friuli. The Veneto is best for reds, and Friuli for whites.

For example:

http://www.italyandwine.net/veneto/winetours.htm

http://www.tours-italy.com/venice-da...our_friuli.htm

Thanks for the great comments! You have a very good point and we might skip Florence and do only Venice. Is there another city closer to Venice which we could go for 1 night? We would do 4 nights Venice and 1-2 night at the other location?

Do google searches for info and images of Treviso, but also consider one of the winery tours listed above, some of which I believe offer accommodations. Verona is also a possibility.

Another thing you might consider, since this is your honeymoon, is to spend one of your nights at Locanda Cipriani on the island of Torcello in the Venetian Lagoon. It's incredibly atmospheric, the food and wine are legendary, you can zip over to the island of Burano if you get bored, but you're not trying to cram in a lot of travel on public transportation to and from Venice. You can just slip out of Venice for a night on a boat, and come back relaxed to catch your Athens flight. (The Locanda might even offer you transporation to the airport).

This is a premiere destination everyone dreams of staying in for a night:

http://www.locandacipriani.com/

I agree with Apres_Londee, skip Florence and spend 4 nights in Venice. It is very romantic and you feel as if you are in a different world - no streets just the canals. You can't go wrong with Venice in my humble opinion.

Then on to Greece.

BTW, we just returned in June from 16 nights and stayed in 7 different cities/towns, in Italy and Germany. We were concerned that we were moving too much, but we loved it!! And we are older than you, 49 years old both of us.

It's exciting to be able to see so much. As long as you are not planning to relax alot.

Thanks!

ok I think we will only do 4 nights in Venice, which means we have 10 nights in Greece now...should we add a third island?

santorini 3 nights
Mykonos 2 nights
Naxos 2 nights
Athens 3 nights

or Santorini 4 nights
Mykonos 3 nights
Athens 3 nights

or ???

No, do not add another island!

Santorini, Naxos and Athens.