Honeymoon in Europe :)?
 

Hello all,

I'm from North Carolina over in the US. I want to plan a trip to Europe for our honeymoon, we(29M, 31F) are getting married April 23, and expect to do the honeymoon shortly after. I'm thinking around 2 weeks will be the duration. There is a lot I want to see and do, and unfortunately it sounds like 2 weeks isn't very much.

She wants to visit London, and I want to visit Rome. --Paris is in the middle as well as Venice, so if at all possible I'd like to see all 4....Although I'm sure I'll be recommended that it's just not doable. I know that you could spend all 2 weeks in London or Rome, and etc. But I want to get my experience in as who know's if/when I'll ever return.

I've literally watched hours of videos of all the high speed trains, seems like travel is fairly quick to be honest, which is fantastic. I'm not sure if it's cheaper or not for this particular itinerary, but I'd imagine flying is more expensive.

I'm not sure for a budget, I definitely don't mind spending a bit to get all of this accomplished as it's our only honeymoon :). I'm honesty clueless and not sure what to expect, so if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them. --I did get in contact with a few travel agents, and just awaiting their responses.

Anyone have an idea at some nice places to stay in those 4 cities, I'm not a millionaire but I don't want to stay somewhere that is so so either...

Thank you :)!

OK - 4 cities in 2 weeks is pushing it - but it really depends on how many nights you will have. If you can leave on a Fri night and return on a Sun (or possibly Mon) you can see more than if you really have just 12 nights on the ground.

All of the places you have picked are deserving of more time but you can get a taste in:

London (5 nights - 4 days but the first will be jet lagged)
Paris (4 nights - 3 days)
Fly to Venice (train will take forever)
Venice (3 nights - 2 days)
Rome (4 nights - 3 days)

All train except Paris to Venice.

As for hotels, you need to give us a nightly budget in $ or euros - and what you expect for that. Be aware than in europe many hotels are in older (sometime VERY old - hundreds of years) buildings, rooms are small and amenities can be limited. Think of prices in NYC plus.

>>I've literally watched hours of videos of all the high speed trains, seems like travel is fairly quick to be honest, <<

London to Paris would be train -- a no brainer. But Paris to Venice or especially Rome would be MUCH faster (and cheaper) to fly.

If you have two FULL weeks on the ground in Europe (in other words 16 or 17 days total) then you actually could fit in all 4. 4.5 days in London, 3.5 days in Paris, 2-ish days in Venice, and 3 days in Rome -- but you would be a little rushed. If it was me -- I'd pick 3 of those cities.

If you mean 2 weeks total (nets you 11.5 days free on the ground) I'd just pick two - but London/Paris/Venice would be doable.

Fly open jaw in to one city and home from another to save wasting a whole day back tracking.

>>Anyone have an idea at some nice places to stay in those 4 cities, I'm not a millionaire but I don't want to stay somewhere that is so so either…<<

There are (quite literally) thousands of places in London and many hundreds in Paris, Venice and Rome. So we really would need your budget and types of properties you like before anyone can give any sort of useful recommendations.

we were posting at the same time . . .

nyt's itinerary is good but would require the whole trip be 18 days home to home.

Paris, Venice and Rome, with day trips, would be workable. E,g., Venice is close to Verona, Vicenza and Padova just to name 3. Hotels on booking.com.

But Ron . . . the OP's fiancée/wife to be wants to see London.

I should have said London, not Paris as that is her preference. Numerous flights to Venice from London taking a couple of hours.

Thank you very much everyone. I honestly don't know what a budget would be for hotel. I need to craft it ALL together and see, oh hey it's 50k, heck no! I just don't know. It depends on what I see as to whether or not I think it's worth it.

Funny that you mention leaving on a Friday, I think that's exactly what I was thinking as well, that way we get more time. It definitely seems like Hotels will be a large bulk of what's needed, with flight taking a second step to that. I know I'm not doing a 350$ a night hotel that's for sure, but I def can do more than 150$ I think. --I believe it's 1.11$ > 1Euro currently. Sorry I didn't convert.

I tried to get away with the trains as I absolutely hate flying and am scared to death. But not more terrified that I'd stay at home. :P

You both mention a lot more time in London, and I'm curious as to why? Sorry I'm a little clueless :)

Congratulations! How wonderful to be planning your honeymoon.

Others have cautioned about trying to see too many places in a short time and that is very good advice. If you can give up Rome on this trip London, Paris and Venice can make a lovely trip. Even flying from Paris to Venice will eat up the better part of a day.

The Hotel New Orient in Paris is a lovely place for under $200 a night however it's not as convenient a location to major sights as other places we have stayed. It is close to the Parc Monceau and Musee Jacquemart Andre, two of my favorite places in Paris.

I love to travel and like you I HATE to fly so my doctor recommended a short acting tranquilizer. It helps a great deal. I am still anxious during take off but can manage with a moderate amount of wimpering and not full on crying. You could look into an overnight train from Paris to Venice but for your honeymoon spring for a private compartment with the money you are saving on a hotel that night. http://www.seat61.com/thello-train-f...o-italy.htm#1-, 2- or 3-bed sleepers

And post next year to tell us about the trip!

Scootoir, very funny! HAhaha. I need to check into these tranquilizers. I kind of wish someone would just hit me with a bat when I walk on, and then I wake up in my destination. I really don't want to cut Rome out, that's my favorite part of the trip. I love history and am very much looking forward to that. And then she really wants London, which is the total opposite direction. We are just difficult!

I will definitely check into your suggestions though, and thank you so very much for the kind words. I'll be keeping you all up to date on this of course!!

London is a much bigger city than any of the others and has more sights than you can possibly imagine. The other cities - esp Venice - are much smaller (London is about 8.5 million people while Paris is about 2.5 million and Rome about 4 million) and you can get at least a taste in a few days. (For comparison NYC is about 9 million, although the metro area is about 20 million.)

If it were my choice I would say any first trip to London should be 7 nights (6 days with one a half jet lagged) but you just don;t have the time for that.

If you have to cut something Venice - while romantic and the most unique - is the easiest to cut.

Some generalities to think of as the both of you starting planning your trip:
- As a rule of thumb, each time you change locations, it takes about 1/2 day of your time, what with packing up, checking out of hotel, transport to train/plane, travel time, transport from train / plane to new hotel, check in, unpack, familiarize yourselves with the new location.
- What have your travels been like previously, in the U.S? Do you like sun-filled sun on the beach vacations, or urban explorations in NYC? Visits to historic locations like Gettysburg or the nearby amusement parks? That will help you gauge what you might enjoy in Europe
- Watch travel videos, whether on youtube or checked out from your local library. It will give you a feel for those locations and what you want to see / do.
- All of your potential destinations are in big cities. Are you good with that - or maybe would you want to break up the urban time with a couple of days in the countryside?

@nytraveler -- Duly noted. I need to check out all of the sights, as I honestly had no idea there was so much to see and that it's so big. Thank you for the advice on that and information

@Lexma90 -- I understand. Lugging around luggage will probably get old quite fast, but all I can see in my head now is smiles and happiness. ---We are okay with beaches, but not all that hot on them. We've done two cruises in a year and a half and are all beached out. Our trips have mostly been to Las Vegas and to the mountains. We like sightseeing as a number one, exploration is very key. :)

I will most certainly look for some travel videos, I think I'm all done with airplane and train videos -_-

>>You both mention a lot more time in London, and I'm curious as to why? Sorry I'm a little clueless<<

Answers above . . . but more details:

London is the largest city in Western Europe - by a LONG ways. It has just tons of things to see and do and while the public transport is very VERY good, it eats up time just getting around. Plus -- whichever city you hit first (most likely London) you need to add a day just to get acclimated and start to recover from jet lag. So make up a list of what you think you want to see/do there and how much time they'd take (we can help you w/ times) then add a day simply because you probably won't be functioning on all cylinders on your arrival day.

Paris is wonderful -- but about 75%-80% of all the major sites are walking distance from each other so you can manage a lot in fewer days. 4 full days will let you see a lot and still have time to just sit in cafes and people watch.

Venice is quite small actually -- but is a place to kick back and take water buses and wander through neighborhoods on foot. So 2 full days (3 nights) would give you a decent taste.

Great advice above

April, good time to be here, London weather might still be a bit meh but the other ones should be good. Try and stretch to 15 16 days as suggested.

London is way big, good public transport and has the benefit that it is Euro lite, that is we speak English and more focused on the customer. Accomodation in London is probably the biggest cost, local transport is cheapish and most museums are free though shows can hurt the wallet. Jet lag is a pain but get out in the gardens on the first day and you'll be fine. Basically you have to decide to pay more than $150 a night or stay in a Hostel, (actually the yhs http://www.yha.org.uk/ type hostels are pretty good value but you have only just got married and maybe not got both your minds around what to spend etc), either way use booking.com and trip advisor to get an idea of costs then work out what you actually want to see in London (ie Harry Potter or the biggest Hindu Temple in Europe...) and come back to us to advise best options. NB UK uses the Pound, best go from the ATM at the UK airport.

Train to Paris needs booking 20+ weeks out to get a deal, very easy city centre to city centre. Suddenly you now have the Euro to contend with and French (though most people you bump into will handle English pretty well.

Fly to Venice, I'd try for 2 nights, it is magical and again book early for the best prices, train to Rome which has a very small ancient centre surrounded by a bustling noisy Italian argument, great fun, lots of walking, gelato, shopping here the public transport is not so good, selection of where to stay is probably a bit trickier as you have to balence cost, transport and zone a bit. I'd have a search on this site for general Rome advice before coming back with questions.

Check out flights and costs to go into different cities, and look at multi-city or multi- destination, meaning fly into one city and home from another, not two one way.

If flights work out cost wise and time wise, I suggest you start in Venice because it is so small, walkable, romantic and a good place to get over jet-lag. I would probably depart from Paris because due to departure taxes from London, it may be cheaper.

Arrive Venice
Venice: 3 nights, 2 &1/2 days, first 1/2 day jet lagged
Train to Rome
Rome 4 nights, 3 & 1/3 days
Fly to London
London, 5 nights, 4 & 1/2 days
Train to Paris
Paris, 4 nights, 3 & 1/2 days
Depart Paris

These would be minimum days/nights. If you have less time, cut one place.
Don't book flights until you have your itinerary set.

Hello

Book your trains as muhc in advance as possible :
Eurostar is best booked at 120 or 90 days in advance (I guess it is on the site).

If you fly to Venice be wary of Ryanair, not that the company is not good (I consider them inhuman bastards but they fly on time and safely) but they take off from Bauvais, whihc is NOT Paris, but will eat you a lot of time to go to - can be done, just pay attention and book the shuttle with ticket) - they land in Treviso, not Venice intl airport, but that one is closer to Venice.

Perso I would drop Rome and do it later, my opinion.

In Paris I always recommend 'Montmartre mon Amour' as a romantic hotel - go on their site, they are located nuder the Sacré Coeur, so not in 5-6 ('St Germain' that seems to be the recommandation to all US tourists).

For Venice, I recommend hotel Flora, also very nice, with a small garden and is very close to San Marco plaza, in a small alley - quiet.

London : I find the hotels so expensive ... no rc there...

And congrats for your wedding !

It's true about Ryanair not really going to Paris. I think the bus to Bauvais from Paris was maybe 17 euros? If you add in your time, I wouldn't bother with Ryanir from Paris unless I was saving a good $100 or so. But it also depends on how much you figure your time is worth and whether you mind spending some time on a bus.

Go with the Open Jaw flights as Janis suggested. Pay the extra money to take a real airline from the real destination, as the others have explained RyanAir doesn't exactly fly into Venice from Paris. You don't have the time for this stuff particularly if anything goes wrong.

You got lots of good advice already but here' my two cents.

Make sure all the hotels know it's your honeymoon, have the travel agent (TA) tell them if you go with a TA -or let them know yourself. Try to plan some special experiences, for example a food tour in Rome (Eating Italy) or the scavi tour of the Vatican (google it) a small group walking tour (Context is one I like). In London I like the the view from the Sky Garden (free tickets book in advance) or breakfast at the Duck and Waffle.

Don't try to do too much. travel can be very stressful especially when it's meant to be really great, like a honeymoon. Plus weddings are exhausting and while it's all great stuff sometimes you're tapped out afterwards so don't run yourselves into the ground.

Even two nights in Venice would be worth it but I'd suggest staying in Dorsoduro or Cannaregio, NOT right near ST Marks Sq.

Don't expect great weather, it can still be quite cool even at the end of April in the UK and Paris, but it's very changeable and it could be warm, just make sure you have reasonable expectations.

Hotel prices vary with season and date so it's hard to unequivocally recommend particular places. I think the reviews on booking.com are pretty accurate so it's a good place to start. I think you'll have a great time if your attitude is that you're having a quick look and you don't have to see everything this time around because you will be back,

Lots of recommendations for Rome, Paris and London on my blog
www.somuchmoretosee.com

bphnji

Sorry, that wasn't planned!

Sassafrass has a good idea to begin in Venice. Definitely a good place to get over jet lag. Could make the four locations manageable.

Sorry for the delay everyone. The Fiance and I did talk about this lots today. Looks to be around 4750-5K for airfare+hotels, I went to booking.com and did 4-5 stars 8.5+ Rating, we haven't picked the exact hotels yet because we need to check locations, but I think we will land in that range, We made a list of sights in London too, holy smokes there's a ton! Lots of free ones though which is nice, not sure about how much food and transportation will be though, maybe we can find some discounts :) ---We did decide to do London, Paris, Rome. --Maybe we can sneak one day trip to Venice in.. :X

@janisj -- I see what you mean about London, a little checking up on it and I'm exhausted with just seeing how much there is to see and do! ---Thank you for the advice, glad to hear Paris is a lot easier. I'm guessing London's attractions are all spread. --I think we are going with to skip Venice or have a day trip there, not sure. I wish we could make it to all 4 !

@bilboburgler -- I'm not the type that is usually conquered by being sleepy, although my Fiance will be. I'm really curious about Jet lag, but I'll take your advice and try to get to some Gardens and relax a little. --The currency is a lot more than our dollar over here, makes me quite sad! Everything seems so pricey! Thank you for the train advice, luckily we still have about 7 months till our trip, but I'll remember that.

@Sassafrass --I like your itenarary, we kind of canceled Venice as it wasn't on our list, but we may do a day trip....I will look at costs though and see if it's cheaper or better to do that. Thank you.

@pariswat -- Duly noted about booking the train asap! Eeek, okay, that sounds sketchy. No Ryainair :P! --I just can't drop Rome, it's the major reason I want to go. I'm guessing 5-6 is a zone? I looked it up and apparently Paris has 6 zones. This was a bit confusing :X. I will check the hotel out though, thank you! --I actually found some nice deals for London, it's not that pricey. I saw that Paris seems to be the most expensive, I think.. --Thank you for the congrats :)!

@emilya4-- No ryainair for us then!

@welltraveledbrit -- Thanks for the information on sights and tours. I will look into those, we do have Sky Garden on the list. --I'm hopeful we will have a blast and not be too exhausted for fun. Hopefully we will be okay. ---We are getting lots of advice on staying in Venice, so I'll have to see what we can do. --I think we will be there mostly the first/second week in May, so hopefully it will be a little warmer around that time. We have coats we always wear anyway :P --Thanks for the link to your Blog, I'll bookmark it and check it out. Much appreciated.

>>--Maybe we can sneak one day trip to Venice in.. :X<<

Sorry :( but Venice can't be a day trip really. Simply doesn't work logistics wise. Can't be done from Paris and from Rome it would take most of the day just for the train back and forth. So either do Venice for at least 2 nights or put it aside for another trip.

For London -- you can get massive discounts on the for-pay sites using the Days Out vouchers. http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

By purchasing 'train tickets' for your travel around the city (they are used for the Tube and buses but are bought in train stations). By using the 2for1's you can visit places like the Tower of London, St Paul's, Cabinet War Rooms, etc for half price. Those discounts plus all the free sites and London sightseeing actually comes out cheaper than the other two cities.

If you are doing London, Paris, Rome, you can not do Venice as a day trip from Rome.

Just too far, too much travel time for too little time there to get anything out of it. Also, many people who spend only a few hours in Venice do not enjoy it. Venice needs time to be appreciated and is wonderful at night when the lights of lovely old palazzos are reflected in the Grand Canal. So, don't cheat a place like Venice by doing a rushed few hours. You will go again someday when you can do it justice, maybe for an anniversary.

Enjoy the wonderful places you have chosen!

Now, about hotels. Important. Star ratings are different in Europe than in the US. Stars there denote amenities like elevators, pools, restaurants, parking, etc. They may have little to do with level of luxury, comfort, cleanliness or quality of staff.

You can have a wonderful small hotel with lovely rooms, beautiful views, great location, etc. but it has only two or three stars because it does not have a restaurant, pool or elevator. You can have a hotel that is not nice, but has more stars because of all that stuff. Of course, some have it all. Read reviews and ask here before booking. I do not, but many posters here know about tons of hotels.

Sassafrass's point about star ratings is very important. Look for a hotel you like at your price range and don't pay attention to the star rating. And anywhere but especially in London -- a '5 star' hotel would not fit in your budget since they would run $500-$1000 a night and upwards.

Congrats alpha0meqa! Others have given good feedback but I thought I'd throw my two cents in there. I've been to Rome 4 times, including a trip this past February for a 17-day trip to London, Paris, and Rome. It was my first time in London and Paris so that was a real treat. I, too, love history (I could live in Catholic churches, art museums, and historical sites with a healthy dose of great food and the local wine/gin of the area).

My time in London was all too short, but I think what it really comes down to is: what are the sights that are must-sees for you and your soon-to-be wife and and what are secondary "if there's time" sights? That will determine the best number of days to spend in any given place, regardless the very well-intentioned and helpful advice you may get.

For me, day trips to Chartres and Lisieux were 'must-do' places in France so my time stationed in Paris was longer, while England got cut short, which I have no regrets about.

What is it about Rome that makes you so attracted to it? (I say this as someone who's planning a fifth trip there for my relatively few 31 years on this earth so believe me, I too am attracted to it :)

I second the person who mentioned Context Travel - I'm currently planning a trip to Florence and Rome for 2016 and am having a hard time narrowing down which tours I want to do! At least one walking tour is a nice way to dig deeper into a place and there are several free ones in London and Paris. In Feb I did a Paris By Mouth tour which was fantastic.

If you like to cook - or if you don't know how but are intrigued by new options, google cooking classes - the one I did at La Cuisine Paris was fantastic (it was a macaron class).

As for Rome, a new thing I experienced this last time was Le Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini - incredible multi-media tour of an old palazzo and more (I won't ruin the surprise since they don't on the site). Must book in advance as it's a very small tour group and limited ones in English. My friend and I were just amazed and couldn't stop talking about it- a couple other friends have gone since then.

I agree with the person above who recommended the Scavi tour beneath St. Peter's - you *must* book this well in advance (google for instructions). I was lucky enough to know am American seminarian who got me in so unfortunately I can't advise you on how to book it the normal way. :)

I could give recommendations for the various churches and their major highlights all day long, but I don't to overwhelm the post. But if you have a question about any (general questions or about specific churches) I'd be glad to go into more detail!

As for transit in cities, yes, Paris is very walkable, but I still did a fair amount of metro or bus travel, depending on how quickly I wanted to get somewhere or how tired I was (I go hard when I travel). I downloaded the app 'Transit' which I found really helpful to know which metro/bus was nearby and when it was leaving. Rome is just as walkable (the metro is not nearly as useful as Paris's). If you plan your days in London well, grouping things geographically, it's not bad. Though that's true for all cities!

You're going to have a great trip - have fun planning!

In terms of budget you will need to look at much more modest lodging if you want to do air and stick to $4500-$5000. For 4-5* you would need to allow at least $400 or so per night (unless you find some incredibly good deals). Five star hotels can range form $500 per night up to $1000 or more Nice for a honeymoon but you need to be realistic about your options. (I travel a lot for business and we use 4* business hotels for regular travel and 5* hotels if we are having meetings with well-known consultants - and with corporate travel we still pay almost the prices I've quoted.)

You may be able to find deals for specific dates - but do be sure of the location before reserving.

And as far as hotels be sure you are selecting ones right in the center of each city - so you have easy access to sights and don't have to trek 40 minutes or more to get to and from any place you want to be.

If you have the money for 5* and want to spend it - more power to you. But don't give on location for "luxury".

Venice for the day, nah, the best time is early am and late pm. Just forget it.

London accomodation will be the most expensive so I'd do "yha" hostel (great positions and perfectly clean) then look at Paris and Rome in Hotels or appartments, stay in an appartment for the longer period. That way you get three different types of place in different cities.

A hostel . . . for their honeymoon? You are a romantic dog ;)

@Janisj--Bummer, that's very tragic. Well I hope we will be back then. I really wanted to at least see the city. Maybe another time then. --Thank you for the London guide link I appreciate it. Very nice to have :)

@Sassafrass--Thank you for the hotel information, that is very good to know, as I'm not used to that at all. I need to find out the best locations to stay at for each city then. I guess public transportation is always available so if it's in a general area it probably wont be too bad I'm guessing.

@ducinaltum-- Thank you very much. Awesome to hear, you're quite the traveler!! 17 day trip, wowy!
--We actually made a list of sights we would be interested in, but I got a few library books and will be seeing what those mention as well, from there we will narrow it down and make our day to day decision based off of that. --Actually no plans to my knowledge to take any day trips outside of the big cities, hmm. I haven't given it much though!
--I just love history as well, getting to see where the roman empire once stood as well as artistic history as well will be a great treat. ---I will definitely need to check on some tours, I'm guessing I should do at least one per city. --I love watching cooking shows/competitions, but unfortunately after a few months of dating we both stopped cooking, hah!--I will look up your tour recommendation as you seem to have enjoyed it quite a lot! Thanks for the tip.
--I'm just hoping that my feet don't fall off halfway through the trip. When I walk a lot my feet tend to start hurting. My Las Vegas travels, usually on the Last day I don't want to walk anymore. I need to train my feet somehow :( --thank you again for your information :)

@Nytraveler--Apparently I don't need 4-5 stars to find a good place so I'm happy about that. I think we can find nice places to stay inside that 5k flight/hotel budget, or pricing that we have seen so far. --Rgr that, in the middle of the city it is. I was wondering for each where the best location might be as I've no idea. But I have books that may help :) A few fodor's!

alpha0meqa - Sounds like you have the right attitude, you're flexible on hotels and are doing some research. I agree that there is something magical about standing in the city that was the heart of the Roman Empire. Did you see the HBO series Rome? It was great fun and we enjoyed seeing it before one of our trips...

I agree with the suggestion to download the Transit app (we use City Mapper) but they all work well and you'll bee able to used the same app in all three cities.

You're right there are lots of free things to do in London. In fact I just wrote a blog post on that!
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...in-london.html

In terms of hotels and locations it sound like you're already come up with some suggestions. I think everyone will be happy to give you feedback on whether they think particular places are in a good location or not. Obviously it's all a balance of value/charm/location.

You feet are definitely gong to be hurting after walking around all these places (particularly the cobbled streets you'll find in some areas of Rome. I highly recommend comfortable shoes!

I'm going out on a limb with a hotel recommendation in Paris but I haven't actually stayed there yet. In December I will stay at the Hotel de Varenne in Paris and will be happy to report on it. It's highly rated on TripAdvisor and we are paying 200 euros a night with breakfast. We usually prefer the Relais Bosquet near the Eiffel Tower but chose Hotel de Varenne because it is located closer to places we plan to visit like the Musee D'Orsay and the islands. If the weather is really cold we won't have so far to walk.

@alpha0meqa oh I know what you mean about feet - I always go equipped with a small zippered bag of moleskin, blister bandaids, regular bandaids and these inexpensive folding travel scissors which are amazing: http://www.rei.com/product/745494/co...lding-scissors. I mostly end up using the moleskin and maybe a blister bandaid or two, but the other ones are nice to have in case.

As for cobblestones as welltraveledbrit said...ugh...they kill. Harder soled shoes are better - I learned that the hard way. :)

The Paris by Mouth tour was the St. Germaine one - I would go back to the shops we visited in a heartbeat (you eat all the things you pick up a the wine shop at the end) and all the tours seemed great, just depends on your schedule and which strikes your fancy. No cooking in those ones!

@welltraveledbrit - I'm bookmarking your free things in London post as a teaser to make me go back again soon. So many things left undone! And your tip on lectures is great - thanks for putting all that together.

Oh and you could check out the Blue Guides for the cities you're visiting. I have some much older friends who've been traveling longer than I've been alive who highly recommend them - I haven't used one yet myself, but it could be worthwhile to check out!

janisj, I was thinking along the lines of

hostel, hotel, appartment getting grander along the way a sort of development of the relationship, still you could make it more fun

http://www.quirkyaccom.com/london or choose a canal boat google "Jessie narrowboat"

Depending on how you like to travel, you really don't need *that* much time to get a real sense of cities, if you have your heart set on going to 4.

Eg. the first time we went to Italy, our itinerary was as follows:

Rome/Naples to see Pompeii and Capri/Florence/rent a car to see Pisa, San Gimignano, and Siena/Venice.

Care to guess how many nights we were in Italy? I believe it was 8, and to be honest it didn't feel rushed at all. We ate gelato at least once a day, visited amazing museums, and saw pretty much all the touristy "highlights." We also explored some of the local neighborhoods on foot to get a feel for what the country was really like for locals. Venice and Murano together are TOTALLY doable in 1 day, assuming you like to wander around. There isn't that much to see. You can visit a few of the Tuscan towns in the same day. Same with Florence - 1 day for the city was plenty and we saw 2 major museums and a lot of the surrounding area. And we added Pompeii/Capri because we felt like we had too much time scheduled in Rome.

Just like you can spend 2 nights in NYC, or a week in NYC, or a year in NYC and have a different experience, your honeymoon should reflect what interests you, not what you "think" you should do.

Venice actually has tons and tons of things to see. IMHO, trying to see any of the islands plus Venice in a day makes for a mad rush with nothing significant. This is based on considerable personal experience. I have been to Venice 6-7 times, once for a week, and stayed in 4 different locations. All of that time, and I still have not gone into any of the museums. Also, with time to go to one of the islands, Burano would be my first choice. It is unique and colorful. Very different from Venice.

I have done a couple of quick stops for a day in Venice, on the way to other places. Since I have been there, I am familiar with it and pick only one little area to visit. It is just kind of a quick, hello beautiful Venice. Had I not been there before, it would be a meh experience. Staying in Venice is totally different from a rushed day trip. Night is magical. There are also several wonderful day trips from Venice, most 15 - 30 minutes by train. If you can only do a day trip, please do not cheat yourself or Venice by doing that. Wait for another time when you have a minimum of two nights and a whole day or more. If you honestly find Venice is not for you, you could do the day trips and islands.

>>Venice and Murano together are TOTALLY doable in 1 day, assuming you like to wander around. There isn't that much to see. <<

Which only proves that a mad dash means you don't 'see' much of anything . . .

Right, Janisj.
Just because someone rushes around and doesn't find much to see in Venice, does not mean there isn't a lot to see. That person did not allow enough time to look.