Honeymoon to Europe in June
 

All, please help! I would like to honeymoon in Europe, specifically Amsterdam, Italy, and France this June before my husband and I try to start a family. Where should I book my trip and what is the best way to spend the least amount of money and days while getting to enjoy the best food, wine, coffee, and not miss significant places in each country. We don't mind traveling by train intercity and prefer staying at a 3 star minimum hotel. We probably can only take a 9 day vacation.

It's impossible to answer your question without knowing what you like to eat and which types of wine you prefer, and what you consider the most significant aspects of a country to viist. But overall, the best food, wine and coffee often does not equate with the most significant tourist attractions, and only you can set your priorities.

Unless you can be satisfied with selecting just a few places to visit in each country, a 9 day vacation spread out over Amsterdam, part of France and part of Italy will mean spending at least a day or two traveling between destinations (eating train station or airport food) and experiening very little of any place.

Rather than think about trying to cover "places", think about what kind of experience of Europe you and your new spouse would most enjoy. Cities or countryside? Active (bicycling? walking tours?) or relaxed (long lunches? random strolls)? Do you not want to miss world' famous sights (Eiffel Tower?) or would you rather spend time where the locals hang out, eating the same food and enjoying their traditions?

You probably want to do it all, and that is understandable, but with 9 days and not a huge budget, the best honeymoon in Europe might be a jewel box, not a big package.

Its easy to book these things yourself but will involve some time doing research.

With 9 days I would select 2 bases - Paris and Amsterdam, or Paris and Rome, or maybe Paris and Burgundy for example - and fly into one city and out of another. Open jaw or multi location search functions on airlines websites will allow you to price this (do not look for 2 one way flights).

I suggest browsing some guide books or internet sites to see what you are interested in seeing.

I'm sorry - in 9 days you just cannot see Amsterdam Italy and France - seeing even a few places would be a forced march - not a honeymoon.

You need to pick 2 CITIES, not countries, so you can actually see some of each. If you spend 3 days in Amsterdam, 1 to travel to paris and 5 in paris - you can do a day trip outside the city to see a little of the countryside.

Otherwise you will spend a large % of your time - and a lot of money - just rushing from one place to another - and exhausting yourselves to little purpose.

And YOU need to decide what your must sees are in each lace. Try the Michelin green guides - which not only rank sights but tell you how long it will take you to see them (many people underestimate not only how long it takes to visit many sights, but also how long it takes to get from one place to another).

if 9 days is what you have to work with i also strongly suggest limiting your destinations to 2 places. Paris and Amsterdam are connected by high speed rail so those are two excellent places to set up shop. You can always take a day trip if you prefer to see some of the countryside. you may be tempted to sneak another place in but resist this urge. Everytime you relocate you lose a half day plus you'll normally have to go to bed extra early to make an early train....and of course you'll want to arrive early for that. I'd save Italy for another trip. Take a look at www.europeandestinations.com and play around with different options. congrats to you both by the way

Hi t4,

How can we help you plan an itinerary if you haven't bothered to do your basic homework?

If you don't have the time to do your own planning, perhaps you need a travel agent.

((I))

THIS June, as in next month? Phew!

<<and not miss significant places in each country>>

You will miss 99.9 percent of significant places in each of the three countries, as you simply don't have time for much more than a cursory overview of a handful of sites.

Time to run out and get guidebooks and maps.

I agree with nytraveler. Two cities with a day of travel in between. Whether it's Amsterdam + Paris, Amsterdam + Rome (or Florence or Venice), or Paris + Rome (or Florence or Venice) is your decision to make...

It is late for booking tickets and hotels, but can be done. Expect to do some work. I just booked last week for first week in June, NY to Marseilles, France. I've done a lot of research and traveled a good bit, and still I am stressed working out the details.

Keep the trip simple. Pick only one or two places as bases, and you will have fewer things, like trains, hotels, etc. to plan.

Do you actually have 9 days on the ground or does that include travel time? A day or two makes a big difference in what you can do. Do you prefer cities or countryside or some of both?

Options:
7 days - Paris with day trips.
7 days - Paris and Amsterdam make a good pair.
7 days - Rome with day trips
9 days - Paris and Amsterdam with day trips from each.
9 days - Paris with Venice, Paris with Rome, or Paris with Tuscany.
9 days - Venice, Florence and Rome.
9 days - Rome and Tuscany.

If you do choose 2 cities or 2 countries, it would be better to book into one city and out of another (multi-city to save time backtracking.

You can do this, but will have to make decisions rather quickly. You can't see everything, must enjoy what you do see, and don't second guess your decisions, once made.

First of all, THANK YOU ALL FOR YOU RESPONSES! This has been very helpful. I did contact a travel agent but the agent is just giving me prices for what I ask, none of all of this valuable input.

My husband wants to go to Amsterdam, and I think I am more interested in going to Italy because I love Italian coffee and Chianti wine. I love French food and Cote du Rhone wine, too and can go to Italy or France.

Which combo do you think is better? Amsterdam + France (including Paris) or Amsterdam + Italy (Rome: Venice, Florence, Tuscany)? Definitely going to try to book this weekend.

Because your trip is so close, before you pull the non-refundable airfare trigger, I recommend you verify that you can line up crucial components. What are they?

For airfare, compare layover, departure, and arrival time look like for France vs. Italy plan. Are accommodations available at desirable locations at acceptable prices? Is there at least one verified way to connect your destinations? If you cannot identify at least one way to put together air-ground-accommodations, there may be a serious flaw with your thinking. Several people have come here after purchasing the airfares ASSUMING that they could easily complete the remainders only to find that it could not be done because they boxed themselves into certain flights.

Amsterdam can be done before or from Paris or after Italy as a "layover" depending on from where you are flying into Europe. I often create a very long layover (~23hrs) in Amsterdam after Italy or Germany without adding cost to the airfare. A stop of less than 24hrs is sometimes considered a layover at some airport while longer stop puts the segment into an expensive "one way" market pricing. There is no easy rule a priori which way it goes. You have to play with various layover scenarios to see what works. For this, you search by "schedule" instead of search by "fare." Travel agents don't like to do this type of what ifs. Ones I have dealt with only liked to deal with customers who would accept TA's recommendations at face value.

Combining Amsterdam with Paris is best if you want to stick to train travel between destinations. If you want to combine Amsterdam with a location in Italy, you can find cheap flights out of AMS to Venice, Rome or Pisa (in Tuscany, a 30 minute train ride from Florence). But in such a short time frame, I am not sure you should attempt more than one Italian destination.

Chianti wine is produced in the area around Florence, so you might definitely want to target that city if you pick Italy over Paris. Because you are going to Amsterdam, I am tempted to suggest that you fly into the other canal city of Venice, spend 2 nights there, leave late on the 3rd day for Florence (arriving by dinner time), spend 3 nights in Florence, then take the afternoon flight from Pisa to Amsterdam, and fly home from Amsterdam. There is great coffee in Venice, good wine in Florence and if it were me, I'd zip down to Antwerp for lunch on one of your Amsterdam days to sample the great food, beer, chocolate, waffles, etc.

You would obviously have a much more relaxed honeymoon if you combined just Paris and Amsterdam, spending far less time moving around. You could probably rent an apartment in each city to save money to spend on finding good food in Paris.

In the end, the best price of air tickets may end up determining where you go, and wherever you go, you have picked some really lovely places to be, so don't regret your choices, even if you end up in only 1 or 2 places.

Hi again:

Just wanted to make clear that when I wrote °in such a short time frame, I am not sure you should attempt more than one Italian destination", I was taking it as a given that you are going to Amsterdam, and are looking to combine it with another locale.

<<I think I am more interested in going to Italy because I love Italian coffee and Chianti wine. I love French food and Cote du Rhone wine, too and can go to Italy or France.>>

That's all very well and good,and I love all those things, too, but it's really quite irrelevant in the grand scheme of travel planning, as good French food, Chianti, and Côtes du Rhone wines can be found, purchased, and enjoyed the world over easily. I can find and enjoy all of those things within 6 blocks of where I live in the USA, so I would never plan an overseas trip around them. You need to hone in on a TRAVEL plan at this point, as you've left it to the very last minute.

We also might advise you better if you provide a budget. This late in the process most of the rooms in modest or moderate hotels will be booked (also budget).

What is your hotel budget and what amenities are you expecting (I am assuming you want private baths, elevators and AC - which will limit your choices in lower price ranges).

Just so people know:

The best Chianti wine is not exported outside of Italy, or even the Chianti region, so it can be quite a revelation to actually drink it. Chianti suffers a poor reputation in many places just because of this.

In addition, I have never tasted coffee anywhere in the world as good as the coffee in Venice, Napoli and Trieste in that order. I went to Trieste to drink the coffee, and I am so glad I did, and it is fascinating place to be in many other ways too.

If you have high standards or acute tastebuds, you might not be satisfied with what's available in the US (or wherever you live), and especially not once you have tasted the real deal best.

Even if you are just curious, many people plan an overseas trip around food and wine, and they take delightful trips. It is a perfectly valid reason to travel, and to make it a travel plan.

I've noticed in the past that an awful lot of people who post on travel planning boards are filled with anxiety about travel and they become even more anxious when others take all the time they need to plan a trip that isn't cookie cutter but is what they want to do. There is plenty of accommodation in the places you have mentioned and they are such rewarding destinations, I don't think you need to stress, even if people start yelling at you in capital letters.

Wow, again, thank you all for all of this input. I think I am leaning towards focusing on going to Italy and only quickly stopping by Amsterdam for a day or two, if I can find a flight. (Great advice stevewith!) I would like to stay under a $5k budget total for two people including airfare, hotel, all excursions and food. I am traveling from California. I saw some deals on Virgin and some on Costco. Virgin even has escorted vacation packages. Do y'all recommend those or I should really just plan my own itinerary? I actually have been to Europe before and went with my family when I was young and we were on a tour bus daily by 9am...that kinda sucked because we spent a lot of time on the bus and I hate waking up early. I feel like with the drinking I plan on doing I'm even more inclined to not want to wake up early daily haha.

With bus tours you often have to have luggage outside your room at 7 am and be on the bus by 8 am. And sit there most of the day.

Doesn't sound like a honeymoon to me.

But to do the trip yourself you need to do a lot of research and have very little time to do it in.

You need to make decisions and start buying tickets and making reservations now - or ALL the deals will be gone. the longer you wait the more it will cost.

Well...if it were me...I'd pick just one of those locations, and spend a relaxing and fulfilling vacation in one of them, and take a day trip here and there. You'll spend more money travelling from place to place, and getting adjusted than just settling into one place. Each of your cities have interesting diversions nearby. Since you're on a budget, you might want to think about an apt., buy some local foods and dine in a night or two. There are many apt. websites online to choose from....but it's getting late.

God, no, I'd never take an arranged tour on a honeymoon! Whats Calabria62 says rings true with me. But you gotta get going! You've left this to the very last minute!

And by the way, I have very high standards and very acute tastebuds and live in France part of most years (have a house there) and have traveled through Europe for almost 40 years, and while I appreciate Stevewith's pedantic but thorough approach to wine and food, you've only got a week or so, and you're not going to be able to to some micro-tour of authentic Chiantis or even coffee for that matter. It will all be wonderful...you don't need to be an expert on a mad-dash trip like this.