Hi,

Looking for some help with planning our honeymoon. My fiancé is very well travelled but I'll be the one planning the honeymoon. It'll be for 2.5 weeks in the summer, in the beginning of August/end of July. We've skeletonized some of the plan together and already purchased a flight from LA to Lisbon to start us off and then a flight from Rome back to California to end the trip. We'd like to spend most of our trip in Italy, but I'd like to get some ideas of fun/romantic/interesting sites to see. Here is a tentative list of sites we'd probably visit in chronological order:

Lisbon (few days)

Barcelona (2 days)

**any good sites to see in between? Perhaps Monaco?**

Venice (2 days)

Florence (2 days)

Rome (2 days)

Naples/Pompei (1 day)

Sorrento/amalfi coast (2 days)

Rome (1 day)

I was told by a friend to look into getting a train between Lisbon and Barcelona, and then a flight between Barcelona and Venice, unless there was another city we should visit in between.

Likes: we enjoy exploring cities, experiencing their cultures, art, restaurants, and wine. We'd like to include some relaxing elements like beach or two.

Any suggestions or good/trustworthy sites that I should visit on the internet to help me plan this trip out? Thanks!

I'm sorry - that's not a honeymoon - it's a forced march. With all of those cities you will need to allow probably 6 days or more just for getting from one place to another - meaning you have practically no time anywhere - except perhaps Lisbon. (It is not possible to see how many days you have actually for the trip -since you can;t count the day you arrive nor the day you depart).

IMHO it makes no sense to stay in Rome twice. Instead go directly form Florence to Naples or Sorrento and then put all of your days in Rome at the end.

Also, just stay in Sorrento (no need to move hotels) which has easy access to all places in the area (but you won;thave time to see everything you want in just 2.5 days - or 2 days - I can't tell what you have.)

You need to make a list of each day and put in where you will wake up, where you will travel to (and how many hours it will take - always add 3 or 4 hours to flight times and at least 2 hours to train times) and where you will sleep that night. That will give you an idea of how much time you are wasting just getting from one place to another and how much you have left for actual sightseeing - or just relaxing.

As for adding a city between Barcelona and Venice - doing this and making a stop is practically impossible by train - if you leave both of these in you should fly.

For realistic travel times go to bahn.de - there is a drop down box for english - and get an accurate time for trains between these places. (For instance, to get from Lisbon to Barcelona by rail requires going through Madrid and will take aproximately 13 hours)

Impossible itinerary. Too bad you already purchased tickets for Lisbon.

Better itinerary would have been to fly into Venice and out of Rome and skipped Lisbon & Barcelona.

Stu Dudley

Exactly what Stu and NYT have said!

Forget Barcelona - too much time lost in travel and not enough time other places, or give up a couple of places in Italy.

How much time do you actually have total on the ground, or exact dates with arrival and departure times?

Don't divide time in places close together or in the same place.
Put all time in Rome together at the end, since you are flying home from there.
Just stay in Sorrento longer, not Naples.

>>Barcelona (2 days)<<

To get 2 days in Barcelona you need 3 nights, 2 days in Venice = 3 nights, and so forth.

So your plan is not possible in 2.5 weeks. You have not built in ANY time for travel.

Since Lisbon and Rome are the givens . . Do 3 or 4 days (5 nights) in Portugal, 3 nights in Venice, 3 nights in Florence, a couple of days in Naples or or on the AC, and finish up in Rome.

Pick the four cities that most appeal to you, and spend 4-5 nights in each of them. That way, you can actually experience the culture, art, restaurants and wine you say you are hoping to enjoy. Buon viaggio!

How many hotel nights in Europe do you have?

You should combine Naples/Sorrento/Amalfi into one location (depends on what you actually want to do/see). It takes to much time to check in/out of hotels and change locations especially in places this close together. I agree you need to put all of Rome at the end instead of spending time checking in/out and getting to/from hotels there twice .

Hi,

If you will be flying into Italy from another part of Europe, look for flights into Venice, but also look for ones into Milan, Verona or Treviso to see if they might be considerably cheaper or easier.

Here is what I would do:

Fly to Lisbon, and immediately take a flight to Venice. There is an 8:30 am flight, and another one too late at night. These are on major airlines, but try to find an easyjet or another small carrier if the 8:30am won't work. Or spend a one-nighter in Lisbon.

- Four nights/3 days in Venice. First day to recover from all the flight time & jet lag. We're from San Francisco, and it takes us a few days to recover - and we've been traveling to Europe every year since 1977.

- Take one of the many 2 hr trains to Florence and stay for 4 nights/3 1/2 days

- Take one of the many 3 hr no-train-change trains to Naples, get yourself to Positano by bus, and spend 4 nights there. Perhaps an overnight to Capri.

- Bus to Naples and train to Rome. Spend your remaining time in Rome. Find a day-trip tour to Pompii from Rome.

Stu Dudley

>>>Bus to Naples and train to Rome. Spend your remaining time in Rome. Find a day-trip tour to Pompii from Rome.<<<

That doesn't make sense to go all the way back to Rome and backtrack to Pompeii (after spending 4 nights in close proximity on the Amalfi coast).

I assumed that it was easier to locate an organized day trip from Rome than from Positano. Close friends did the day-trip from Rome. We had a car, and visited Pompii & Herculenium by car on the way to/from the Amalfi coast.

Stu Dudley