We plan to honeymoon in Europe first two weeks of June 2008. Florence, Swiss Alps, Austria & Prague all on the list of ideas. Any recommendations for what is possible yet relaxing in only 14 days? Thank you!

Austria is a whole country, so is Switzerland. Either one could occupy 14 days.

How are you traveling? Train, car?

Covering that much ground in such a short time could be stressful. How familiar are you with the territory?

You will spend quite a bit of time getting from place to place.

Where do you intend to start and end and how are you getting to Europe?? Airplane

Maximum two of the four mentioned. Anything else will be a rat race instead of a romantic honeymoon.

Personally, I'd pick either one of the cities and its surroundings or one of the countries.

I agree that it's too much. I confine my trips to one county and assume that I'll be coming back to see places I didn't see first time around. In general, I allot two to four days for each city.

Hi C,

>We plan to honeymoon in Europe first two weeks of June 2008.<

A. Fly into Florence - 3 nights, train to Venice - 4 nights, take www.myair.com to Paris - 6 nights. Fly home.

B. Do the above in reverse.

I would avoid Italy in June as much as it my favorite country it is so overrun with tourists in summer it is not worth it.

Limit yourself to no more than 3 hotel changes and do some day trips. Packing to too much is not conducive to relaxation.

I love Austria and would suggest 3 nights Vienna, 4 in Salzburg paired perhaps with Prague.

If you do choose Florence, stay in a smaller and special property like Antica Torre Tournabuoni ($$$) or Il Villino ($-$$) and book early. Base there and do daytrips instead of moving around.

I prefer Rome to Venice so would likely choose to fly into Florence for six nights and then spend the other week in Rome. Or, perhaps the Dolomites would be a relaxing alternative. Cavallino D
Oro fits the bill for small and romantic in a beautiful location.

I think it can be done, but it might be shockingly expensive (in time, money or both) to get from A to B to C to D.

One might ask - - why these destinations, so diverse, and so far apart from each other? If a friend of yours (from Europe) planned to go to...

Savannah, then
the Blue Ridge Mountains...
then "Pennsylvania"...
then Buffalo...

...wouldn't you ask "why?" and don't think you're skipping over a lot of interesting stuff?

An important difference between your Europe itinerary, and my hypothetical Savannah-to-Buffalo itinerary... is that you will find it very difficult or very, very expensive to rent a car in Italy and return it in Prague.

Have you been to Italy before? If yes... then can you scratch your "Italy itch" somewhere else? (closer to Austria?) - - and if no, then why "share" Italy with any other countries, in just two weeks?

Here's a proposal - - still not all that cheap - - but it might fit your desires:

1. Fly into Vienna. If this is a "right-after-the-wedding" honeymoon, you need some down time, to catch your breath, each other, and really settle. Spend five nights... more than I might ordinarily propose for Vienna, but you need this time. And if you're restless, there are plenty of day trip opportunities from Vienna... Melk, Bratislava, Gyor... just to name a few (best with a rental car - - which you don't need if you're not day tripping).

2. Now, do two 4-day loops, in either order. Either by car (perhaps best for Italy), or train (especially if just to Prague and back, roundtrip). Include any or all of the following in Italy: Trentino, Bassano del Grappa, Sirmione and/or other Lake Garda destinations, Verona (lots of other Veneto destinations alternatively). If you do the Italy loop first (car or train), then you could train to Prague and fly home from there.

Does that come close to your objectives?

Whatever your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

June 2008, Switzerland and Austria are hosting the European Cup. The cup begins on June 7th in Basle Switzerland and runs through both countries till the end of June.
If you want more info, go to UEFA European Cup 2008 and check out the schedules. The hotels in the cities will be sold out on these dates.

I understand trying to do all of those is too much; they're all just on the "ideas" list. I've been to Cinque Terre and the Swiss Alps, but the future husband has not. Still, would be nice to go to new places together- so I'm liking the Prague/ Vienna/ Salzburg/ Innsbruck idea.

Has anyone done these 4 cities in as little as 14 days? Could we stay as much as 7 days in any of those places? Maybe Prague? (We have 7 free nights anywhere, but have to be in the same place.)

Thanks again!

And thanks to Rex for the Vienna detail and "girlonthego" for the European Cup info!

Hmmm ! Honeymoon, June, 2 weeks.
I see 4 destinations in the Swiss Alps and the Italy lakes. All close together and certainly romantic. Think the Berner Oberland, Luzern, Bellagio, and Lago Orta---hard to beat !

Car or train

or car and traini

or fly and train

or fly and car

method of travel makes a different in answering this OP Q

We most likely would utilize trains (and maybe flights) to travel from place to place.

Bob, thanks for the Swiss Alps/Italy itinerary. Never heard of a couple of those places- but they do sound romantic- will look them up. And then will have to stack it up against the Austria/Prague ideas...

I'd leave out Innsbruck & add Cesky Krumlov. Depending on where you are departing from, it may be easier to fly into MUC as well. You can do this entire trip easily w/out a car, if need be, as well.

cintikate, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

I have no advice about your destinations since I haven't visited them yet, but I did want to chime in about the amount of travel and limiting it on your honeymoon!

We learned the hard way - we decided on a 3-week honeymoon in Spain and Portugal. In and out of Barcelona, renting a car, driving down to Andalusia, then to the Algarve, then back up north of Madrid and back to Barcelona.

We were on the road almost every other day, and the longest stays we had were 3 days in Lagos (Algarve) and 3 days in Barcelona. Those were heavenly! And I was exhausted when we came home!

So if you have 2 weeks, I recommend visiting a maximum of 4 places, ideally 3, that are fairly close together so you're not spending all your time travelling. Take at least 4 or 5 days in each place to explore and relax. So important after your wedding!

June is a problem- because of both tourists and weather. I spent a month in Florence once and didn't begin to scratch the surface. Prague and Vienna will probably be better for weather- but if it does get hot (and I've been in Prague when it was 100 degrees!) there's not much air conditioning. Still, it's a safer bet- Cesky Krumlov is lovely- but overrun by tourists. If it were me, I might do Prague and then Vilnius or Riga. Neither one is overloaded with tourists yet, the weather should be fine, and they are charming cities- Riga is very cosmopolitan with lots to do for a young couple. Rather than going to the places that every American goes to, go see some places that can be your discoveries!

hi, cintikate,

congrats on the nuptials. like the op says, my very vague recollection of mine suggests that you will need plenty of time to recover afterwards.

I would suggest mixing town and country thus: [working in your 7 day in one place requirement]

fly into Geneva - stay 7 days on the lake. you can use it as a base for exploring the area, using the boats and trains to get around. very relaxing.

train to Venice - enjoy the culture.

train to Rome. shop and eat.

Home.

I know you said Florence, but I will spend the rest of my life kicking myself that I waited til I was 50 to go to rome.

good luck,

regards, ann

Hi bobthenavigator, I too am planning a trip to Switzerland and Lakes Region of Italy. Looking for something VERY romantic. Berner Oberland, Luzern, Bellagio, Lago Orta. Have you stayed in all of these locations?

Of course---more than once at 3 of them. The lakes are my favorite destination in Europe. We will be back at Orta in Sep for the 4th time.

minuitive Orta is the only i haven't been to and it's high on my list - a real sleeper i think