My fiance and are I belatedly trying to plan our June honeymoon in Europe. Ideally we'd fly to Paris (stay a few days), fly to Marseille (stying a day or 2), then crusing up the French and Italian Riviera to Genoa, where we'd take the train to Florence, Venice , then Rome (each for 2 days). Then we'd fly from Rome to London (stay 4 days) and back to the US. I think that I've figured the air portion, but I'm looking for a budget-conscious cruise to take along the riviera. And, depending on the train costs, we may switch a few of those to flights via easyjet and ryan air. Any suggestions on how to do this w/o breaking the bank?

Hi RK,

Is this the sort of expedition you have undertaken before?

You have six destinations plus a cruise.

3 days of your trip is taken up with getting to/from transportation.

You are not staying anywhere long enough to do more than the highlights of the must sees.

What is your budget, and how long do you have?

I see your point. We could narrow our itinerary. We'll have almost 3 weeks in Europe. Out of the places that I mentioned, where do you think that we'll get the most enjoyment (scenic, historic sites, nightlife) if we spend 4 days in each area. We're also willing to rent a car and tour the countryside. We'd also like to get a couple of scenic train- rides in too.

I think you need to decide which cities/destinations are most important to you, then post again. I would recommend nixing the cruise idea, and possibly doing an open-jaw ticket into Venice and out of Paris. ( Or do you need to fly out of London for some reason?)

My suggested itinerary would be:

4 days Venice ( one day is pretty much lost to travel/jet lag

Train from Venice to Florence

4 days Florence with day trips into the Chianti countryside

Train from Florence to Rome

4 days Rome

Fly Rome to Nice

4 days Nice with day trips to: Eze, St. Paul de Vence, Cannes, Monaco

Train from Nice via Marseille to Paris OR fly EASYJET from Nice to Paris

Paris- 5 days and fly home from Paris

Post again when you figure out what you really want to do. You need to get on this right away since June is a very busy month in Europe!

Good advice from Weadles.

You can fly from Rome FCO to Nice on http://www.flyairone.it/en/index.asp

HI,
Sorry for taking so long to reply, but we've got our trip together now for the most after having taken many of your suggestions. We're starting w/ 4 days in London, train to Paris (4 days), train to Nice (we'll visit Monaco and Cannes on day trips), train to Florence (we'r still looking for a hotel (suggestions greatly appreciated), train to Rome (4 days). If we have a chance, we'll do te sea portion on various ferries in the area. My fiance wanted to see the countryside instead of flying, and it doesn't really eat up that much of our travel time so I said ok. Any sugestions on reasonably priced hotels in Florence?