Nosilla

My husband and I will be moving to the UK in March and plan to take a few weeks in April to travel before starting work. We got married August 2014 so this trip will basically be a belated honeymoon. The plan is to spend plenty of time in Italy and Greece before stopping in Amsterdam for a few days on our way back home. If we spend about 9 days each (excluding travel days) in both Italy, and Greece, will we have time to see Venice, Tuscany, Rome, and Athens, Mykonos, Santorini? We enjoy the outdoors, food, wine/beer, and the performing arts. We'd be interested in seeing artwork and museums but it's not a priority. We would also like to spend a day here and there just relaxing.

Do you recommend spending more time in one place over another? Do you have any recommendations for moderately priced places to stay? Is April late enough for there to be trees and flowers in bloom? We're originally from the southwest and midwest US so this is all new to us!

Jean

I'll let others comment on 9 days in Greece, but I think 9 days to see Venice, Tuscany and Rome means little time anywhere.

Since you'll be living in the U.K. with the potential for fairly easy, short trips to big European cities like Rome, Florence/Pisa and Venice, I think I'd concentrate on Tuscany and/or other parts of Italy that are better explored leisurely with a car. Link below to a list of a few festivals happening in Italy in April. Note the various holidays.

http://www.gobucketlisttravel.com/tr...endar-for-2015

For lodging reccos, you'll have to specify your idea of "moderately priced."

brotherleelove2004

My reaction's the same regarding 3 stops in 9 days in Greece. Athens and one island is about all you really have time for. Pick Santorini. It's amazingly beautiful and there's lots more to see and do there. Be advised that April 12 is Greek Easter and everything will be booked solid. If you're going to be in Greece that weekend make sure you have confirmed reservations for flights, ferries, hotels and rental cars.

Sassafrass

It is easy to get flights from the UK to cities all over Europe, so you will be able to do that for two or three days at a time and explore cities where a weekend would work well.

Of course, most every place could use more time, but both Amsterdam and Venice would make nice weekend trips, using cheap flights. Even Athens could be a weekend trip. Rome, IMHO, needs much more time, but is at least, easy.

Based on that reasoning, it makes sense to skip the cities for now and take Jean's excellent suggestion to take advantage of the big chunk of time you have now and explore areas that are not quickly reached by air or that require a car, and need more time to visit.

These are areas that would be great to explore at that time of year. Number of days is rough guesstimate, depending on your interests.
Tuscany (hill towns like Sienna and Luca, Pisa, etc. and vineyards, plus Florence) 5-8 days
Amalfi Coast (Pompeii, Positano, Amalfi, Paestum, etc.) 5-7 days
Andalucia area of Spain (Seville, Cordoba, Granada) 7-9 days
Two of the Greek Islands (?) 3-5 days plus two days travel.

mariha2912

Cyclades is one of the most barren islands in Greece. It is not what comes to mind about trees and flowers. While you mention two of the most popular/commercialised islands in the country, this is not where I would go on April, especially given your interests. I would enjoy mainland, in 9 days say Athens+Nafplion+Mystras or Monemvasia, or Athens+Pelion, or something along those lines.
If islands are a must, personaly I would pick one larg-ish one for around 5 days and enjoy and spend rest of the time in Athens. Cyclades or not, I would head for one not so easy to reach from UK.