My future husband & I are planning to honeymoon in Europe this year. We are flying into Amsterdam and staying there for a few days (we have a friend that lives there so we can stay for free)..then we want to take the train to MOST LIKELY Paris. Any suggestions? We would be there for approximately 3 nights..we don't have to go to Paris, we could go another country. We are looking for a romantic not too expensive place to stay

THANKS!!
Kristen

What time of year is the trip? How long do you have? What city are you flying out of, or can you decide that later? Have you been to Europe before? What do you like, cities and museums/shopping or outdoor activities the mountains or beaches? Do you have any sort of ballpark for a nightly hotel budget? All this would help us provide more focused and helpful answers. Europe is a big place; some people want to hike in the Alps, some people want to spend all day in the Louvre, both are an equally good way to spend time, but its YOUR honeymoon.

germany.romantic road

Hi

Well, it is easy to get to Paris by train and it is a lovely city. My wife and I went there last year and here is a trip report http://www.gardkarlsen.com/Paris_France.htm . But my hometown Stavanger in Norway is only 1 hour by plane from Amsterdam and here you can experience fjord Norway. You could go to places like Kjerag (see http://www.gardkarlsen.com/kjerag.htm ) or Preikestolen (see http://www.gardkarlsen.com/preikestolen.htm ). So it depends a bit on when you travel and what you are into

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Hi K,

>We are looking for a romantic not too expensive place to stay..<

What's your budget?

kaybe: First, congratulations on the upcoming wedding. My two favorite cities are Paris and Venice but I am not sure they would suit if you are on a budget. For only three nights I would recommend Salzburg Austria or someplace in Germany as hotels and food are much cheaper than either Paris or Venice. That being said, if you can afford it I can't think of anywhere better for a honeymoon than Venice or Paris. They are equally romantic and beautiful, just completely different so choosing between them would be dependant on your individual interests and what you are looking for in your honeymoon. (Besides the obvious of course).

We are honeymooning in mid-late July, and are flyin gout of Boston. We have both spent time in EUrope..he has been to Amsterdam & Belgium & I have been to both of those along with Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria & Germany. We both love culture, walking around, taking it all in. Not big beach people. Hotel range up to $200 a night. We both love taking pictures and just experiencing new cities and etc. Hope this helps, thanks for the ideas so far!!

Kristen

Hi K,

In Paris, we always stay at the Hotel Bonaparte, 61 Rue Bonaparte in the 6th. From 124E dbl w/bkfst. It is located near 3 metro stops. Has AC and an elevator.

Tel 33 1 43 26 97 37
FAX 33 1 46 33 57 67
www.hotelbonaparte.fr

For more info, enter "Hotel Bonaparte" in the "search this forum" box.

Photos are at http://tinyurl.com/ludgd

Enjoy your honeymoon.

We loved Amsterdam. We'd taken the train from Paris, which was easy and relatively inexpensive. There are so many reasonably priced and nice hotels in Paris, and also great restaurants that are reasonably priced. I'd stick with you plan to visit Paris.
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Thank you for the awesome suggestions so far...! Appreciated! We are now thinking of flying into Paris..taking the train to Amsterdam after a few days... then flying home from there. Any comments or thoughts?

If you want some restaurant recommendations in Amsterdam, I gave all the details on some we liked in my trip report. If you can't find it, I can paste it here, too. It's a charming place to visit.
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Flying into Paris, then visitng the friends later, would be ideal for a honeymoon, at least if this is a true old fashioned honeymoon. I'd think you'd want privacy the first few days.

Since there are only two of you, I'd think that you could find a "tiny but romantic" room to stay in. The first place I ever stayed in Paris (can't remember the name-it was over 20 years ago) was in this category. It was inexpensive, and the room and bathroom were tiny but beautifully decorated.

MaureenB - can I have a copy of the trip report? THanks!

Here's my Amsterdam notes:
"Final stop: Amsterdam. Five nights’ stay, first visit for all of us.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Amsterdam! You always hear of the Red Light district and the coffee shops and the laissez-faire attitude, but you don’t hear how open and friendly the people are, how lovely the canals and side streets, how wonderfully trendy the restaurants and cafes, how people are out strolling at all hours of the night and you feel safe everywhere. I think I’d expected it to be quaint and charming (which it is), but in a dark wood-paneled cliché way, not in the young and contemporary way it is.

The standard reply we were given in Amsterdam, when we asked for anything, was always “Of course!” How refreshing.

We stayed in a fabulous location, at The Hotel Residence le Coin, which was directly across a small street from the Hotel de l’Europe, down the street from the Hotel Doelan, on Nieuwe Doelenstraat (sp?). A great neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam.

The hotel has a lift and A/C, also free use of the hotel’s washing machine and clothes dryer in the basement (which was welcome as we’d been traveling over a week when we arrived there). Each room has a little kitchenette, a nice-sized bath, large rooms with wooden floors and a sitting area. It’s fairly new, so everything sparkles. Very friendly front desk, too.

Two cafes on the same block as the hotel were wonderful: Café Katoen for a university atmosphere, and Café le Jarden, for great table seating on the canal.

Amazing dinners at two restaurants in particular:
“Stout!”, at Haarlemmerstraat 73 (www.restaurantstout.nl). Fabulous ‘foamy asparagus’ soup with shrimp, chateaubriande, fresh fish, dessert course, wine list. Very trendy lighting. Great service. We’d gone to the neighborhood in search of a restaurant called “Lof” which we’d seen written up. We didn’t like its atmosphere, but were lucky that Stout! was just across the street.

Also at “Restaurant Dining Eleven” we had a great dinner. It’s at Reestraat 11. Also trendy and contempory, well-presented and beautifully-served meal.

Another nice dinner at “frenzi”, at Swanenburgwal 232. Very simple and contemporary. We arrived shortly after 10:00p.m., when most restaurants close in Amsterdam, and persuaded the owner to sell us any left-overs they had in the kitchen! They put together a nice Caesar salad with cooked-in-the-shell shrimp and mango. Very nice.

Also a good brunch at a place across the street from frenzi—called “Puccini”. Creative salads and sandwiches. Very nice also.

We took a canal cruise one evening. Toured the Anne Frank Huis and the Van Gogh Museum. Visited the Nieuwe Kerk (sp?) Our teens went to a concert at the Paradiso and loved it.

One afternoon we did the 2:30 “Best of Holland” excursion to Volendam and Marken, with a stop to see wooden clogs made, Gouda cheese created, and to visit windmills. It was by bus, with a boat from Volendam to Marken. A lot of fun. Even our two teens liked it.

Our teens also liked shopping at one street in particular, between our hotel and the museum district. Also a Zara shop there, and many others like it. They thought the selection and prices were better in Amsterdam than what they’d seen in London and Paris even.

A detail about Amsterdam if you go there-- carry enough Euros in cash, because many places won't accept a credit card for a 'small' purchase (i.e. under 25 EU).
The only unpleasantness we encountered in Amsterdam related to cab rides and inconsistent pricing. Especially when our two teens were grossly overcharged cabbing to the hotel from the concert. They were well aware of the route, having walked it already twice, but we'd wanted them to cab home late at night. They knew the cabbie took a very round-about way back in order to over-charge. Also, when we arrived at the taxi sand at Central Station, I was literally swarmed by rather aggressive cabbies and felt uncomfortably jostled by them all."
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