Honeymoon Itinerary-Travel Time..
 

Hi All,
I am trying to plan my Honeymoon itinerary and was wondering about the following travel times:

Rome to Venice by train
Venice to Amsterdam by plane
Amsterdam to Paris by train?

We arrive Rome on Dec 6 in the late afternoon and depart Paris on Dec 21 at 12:30pm leaving us with 14 days total to enjoy the sights.

Do you think 2 days/nights in each Venice and Amsterdam will be ok? Should we forget about Amsterdam all together?

Thanks for any insight... We need a lot of tips...

n

About travel times, I can only answer about train travel from Rome to Venice. It is a 4.5 hour train ride, very easy.

I have not been to Amsterdam nor Paris (yet - planning our first trip to Paris for March). Anyway, with only 14 days I would say skip Amsterdam, and just do Rome, Venice and Paris. There is so much to see in all of these cities, why shortchange yourself? Give yourselves time to relax and just enjoy being there - after all you are on your honeymoon!!

It depends on how you're counting the days and nights. If you mean travling rome to venice (which gives you hardly any time n Venice) then one day/two nights and leave the following am - that's really only one day - not two. In that case I would bag Amsterdam and just do 3 cities - spending 3 or 4 nights in Venice.

I think you need to spend at least two full days in either city (which by my calculation would mean 3 nights) to see much of anything and not feel rushed. Remember at this time of year days are very short - esp in northern europe - in comparison with most of the US.

And since Amsterdam is the outlier - and is - but like Venice - IMHO a place enjoyed more in good weather I would just do 3 cities.

Hi N,

>Do you think 2 days/nights in each Venice and Amsterdam will be ok?

No. At least 3 nights in Venice

>Should we forget about Amsterdam all together?<

For this trip "yes".

However, if you want to includ Amsterdam, fly www.myair.com from Venice (VCE) to Paris Orly and take the train from Paris to Amsterdam.

Happy Hooneymon.

((I))

We just did a "into Rome out of Paris in 14 days" itinerary this summer. I really encourage you to pare down your traveling ambitions. Since it was my first time, I really wanted to hit everything, but my wife had the common sense to convince me that we would knock ourselves out. It's very tiring doing all the sightseeing, especially in Rome.

We wound up doing Rome, Florence, Burgundy, and Paris and it was pretty exhausting. If I were you, I'd try and cut as much travel as possible and lengthen your stay in the cities you really want to be in. Consider cutting out Amsterdam and take a plane instead of the long night trains. It is very hard to sleep on the night trains and they are the exact opposite of romantic. Easyjet and Ryanair have cheap one-way flights from Italy to France.

If you do want to do the rail thing, Rick Steves has some great railpass info here: http://ricksteves.com/rail/rail_menu.htm

He also has links to regional train sites. Trenitalia.com is the place to go for Italy tickets.

Have a wonderful honeymoon!

On a honeymoon, I'd pack in way more Venice, Rome and Paris and skip Amsterdam. Not that I have anything against it, it's just that the other three cities are ROMANCE!!!

A late thought: If you'll really, really feel deprived by skipping Amsterdam entirely, you could train or fly into Amsterdam at the end of the trip and schedule an intentionally long layover before your flight back to the U.S. (assuming that's where you're from).

Many people have said that if they have more than five hours between flights at Schipol, it's easy to take a train into the city for lunch and some quick glimpses.

I've never done it but intend to try it soon.