I am trying to plan our honeymoon in Italy for next July. Neither of us have been to Italy before. We will be landing in Rome and I was thinking we would stay 4 days in each place (Rome, Florence (including Tuscany and Sienna) and Positano). The question is should I use the extra days to go to Venice or just add them onto one of the cities we already plan to travel to? Would including Venice be too much travel for a 2 week honeymoon? Or, is there another itinerary that might be better? Also, do we need to rent a car or can we just take trains to the destinations mentioned? What is the easiest mode of transportation? Thanks in advance for your help!

I don't think that Rome, Florence, and Venice are too much for two weeks. We recently did Florence and Venice in about ten days, so I think you should be fine doing all three areas and splitting up your time between them.

Look into flying into Rome and out of Venice since open jaw tickets are not only cheaper at times, but also save you time in travel.

It is only a three hour train ride from Florence to Venice. I think Venice is a great place to end a trip to Italy....especially a honeymoon trip.

Good luck with your plans! BTW - trains are very easy between the cities you've mentioned.

amrach, congratulations! Two weeks may be too much for all four places you mentioned. Regardless of how you allocate your time, I agree with Statia that you should research open-jaw tickets. Fly into Venice and out of Naples/Positano (or vice versa)--better to work you way north (or south) rather that having to travel to and from Rome. You'll save time and money that way.

Trains are easy to go from place to place. Depending on where you and your fiance want to go in Tuscany, those places can be reached by bus or train, or by car. That seems like the only place you may need to rent.

Many posters on this site have recommended against driving from Rome to Positano, as the traffic along the Amalfi coast is somewhat forbidding. You can do a search and find several posts on the best way to get from Rome to Positano. Ira has started a FAQ thread on traveling into Italy that you might find helpful. Good luck.

Dear Amrach,

I would start your honeymoon in a magical place - Venice...

3 nights Venice
3 nights Florence (if doing Seina)
3 nights Rome
4 nights Amalfi coast - to wind down, relax and spend a couple of hours in a chaise lounge

Fly out of Naples. Don't backtrack if possible. The Eurostar trains are great. In Naples have a private driver pick you up from the train station and deliver to your Amalfi destination.

Happy planning.
Tam

Statia,

Where have you purcashed your open jaw tickets ? Consolidator or directly with airlines ?

Try Delta airlines directly through their website. They have non-stop flight from JFK into venice. On the way back you can fly from Naples to JFK via Milan on Alitalia (delta's partner).

bsteele, we purchased with Air France thru our travel agent after searching for fares online and finding what we wanted. We flew into Florence and out of Venice and it was cheaper than going and coming from the same city on either route.

I'm sure you can purchase open jaw tickets directly with the airlines, as well, since I see a lot of posters mention that they do the same thing.

I had to reply - I just spent my honeymoon in Italy the last week in Aug. and first week in Sept. We did Rome for 4 days, Positano for a long weekend and then Venice. We really did need a beach break after seeing everything we wanted to in Rome - there's a lot to see. I'd been to Florence before and decided to skip it and was happy I did - I'd do Positano and Venice for the different experiences!

I don't know about other airlines, but you can specify open jaw tickets on Delta by clicking on the "multi-city reservations" link directly above the "enter origin city" link in the middle of the screen.

Hi amrach,

You might find this link helpful.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34443340

My suggestion is to fly into Venice and spend 3 nights, train to Florence and spend 5 nights including side trips (we visited Lucca, Siena, Bologna), train to Orvieto for one night and then to Rome for the rest and fly out of Rome.

Or

Fly into Naples, spend a week on the Amalfi Coast and then train to Rome for a week and fly out.

Have a great trip.