Hello Everyone. First, I must say I am very impressed by the responses from this site, thank you in advance for anyone that can give me any advice on an itinerary.

We are planning a honeymoon in October, and need some help in planning the Italian portion of our trip. We have never travelled to Europe, so keep that in mind. Here are the details so far:

-Arrive in Paris, Tuesday Oct. 10.
-Stay in Paris 1 week (we already booked an apartment for the week).
-Leave for Italy Monday or Tuesday 16/17.
-Return to Paris for a departing flight Monday Oct. 30 (we were using FF miles, and this was the only deal we could get).

So, 2 questions.

1. What's the best way to get to Italy from Paris? There is a 4 day rail pass for around $300 each - I thought of taking an overnight from Paris to Italy to save time (assuming we'd be able to sleep).

2. Where do we visit in Italy? We know we want to go to Venice & Rome, that's all that is definite. We basically have about 14 days. Should we book an apartment for a week in each and plan day trips, or? Is there another city we should add?

We'll probably want to be back in Paris on the 29th and stay at a hotel, so we can get up in the morning and make our flight out on the 30th.

Hi K,

You can fly cheaply on www.myair.com from Paris Orly to Venice Marco Polo.

You can do Venice, Florence and Rome very comfortably in 2 weeks.

See www.whichbudget.com for flights back to Paris.

See Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

for tips on what to see/do.

Have a great honeymoon.

So:

1. 16th-Flight from Paris to Venice.
2. 16-20 - Venice
3. 20th, Venice - Florence (train?).
4. 20-24 - Florence
5. 24th, Florence - Rome (train?).
6. 24-29 - Rome.
7. 29th, Rome - Paris (flight).
8. 30 - fly home from Paris

Does that sound right? Should I increase days at one, and decrease at another?

Also, what would be the best places to be on the weekend, or is the 'weekend' (i.e., going out, having drinks, bar-hopping, etc.) not the same in Italy as it is in America (we are late 20s early 30s, and haven't quite "grown up" yet).

I looked at myair.com and it looks like a flight from Paris -> Venice is about $110 each. Would train be the best method of travel between Italian cities? I am looking at not getting a car, but if a car makes sense, it is possible.

Thanks for the first response! Would love to get more!

Hi!
My husband and I took the overnight train from Paris to Florence and had absolutely no trouble sleeping. The only hiccup would be coordinating your arrival time of your plane with the departure time of the train. Personally, I really enjoyed this part of the trip, as we got to relax after our flight and see alot of the country. I recall that the cost wasn't that much more that a hotel room would be for that night accommodation, anyways.
As for travel between Italian cities, the train would be your best option. With two weeks, your itinerary sounds fine. You might find that 5 days in Venice are a bit long -- I might try Venice for 3 days, and increase the time in the other two cities. Also, flying from Rome to Paris is great, but it is really convenient to fly from Florence to Paris, as the airport is fairly close to the city centre, and you can easily bus to the airport for approximately 3 Euros. It takes about 30 minutes by bus and the bus leaves from the station right next to the main train station (you can also catch a train, but the schedule is not as conveninent). I recall that getting to the airport in Rome from the city centre is a far greater production (Now would be the time for ALL of you who want to dispute this, but I won't name names...), with respect to time and actual transportation (i.e. to the train station from your hotel) especially with your luggage. You might want to fly to Venice, then train to Rome on the Eurostar (approximately 4 hours), do Rome, then travel from Rome to Florence by Eurostar (the fastest, usually most direct trains available-- see www.trentialia.com and click on the English button at the upper right side of the screen) which will take you approximately 1.5 hours, then catch the train or bus from Florence to the airport.
Have fun!

Ok, so here is what I have now:

October

10-16 Paris
16 Paris - Venice Flight $136 pp
16-20 Venice
20 Venice - Florence Train $50 pp
20-23 Florence
23 Florence - Rome Train $53 pp
23-29 Rome
29 Rome - Paris Flight $43 pp
30 Paris - Home flight

Hope that makes sense.

My questions now are, why is there such a discrepancy on the flight from Paris->Venice (MyAir.com = $136) vs. Rome->Paris (easyJet.com = $43)? Am I doing something wrong (like reading the currency symbols wrong?).

When you add everything up, flying to/from Paris-Italy is about the same $ as getting a 4 day Italy/Paris rail ticket. Obviously, you're saving on time, so is it safe to say that flying to/from Paris-Italy is the best bet (rather than going all-rail)?

One more question (for now), do train reservations go up in price the nearer to the reservation date similar to airline $, or does it remain more steady? I want to get an idea of when I need to book these reservations.

Thanks!!!!!!

Also, one more thing. For our 1 night back in Paris on the 29th, any suggestions for a nice hotel? I would say somewhere in the $200 range? We are staying in the Bastille area earlier in the trip, so maybe a different area?

Thnx

So, obviously this message title did not spark much interest to actually respond to. I guess my itinerary is golden, so there is no one to say anything different? Sorry for the sarcasm, but I'm just not sure how to ask for info and actually get responses (thanks for those that did respond though, it helped greatly)