Rebecca

My fiancee and I plan to spend our honeymoon (2 weeks)in France and Italy during the month of May. Can anyone recommend cities in Italy and France we should be sure not to miss? (we are already planning to hit Paris, Venice and Florence but need some other ideas of places to go).

Bob

Check out the lakes area of Northern Italy. Just returned from Bellagio. Beautiful area. St Paul de Vence is a nice town in France near Nice.

elvira

In France: Rouen; Chalons-sur-Marne; Bordeaux, St Emilion; Carcassonne, Perpignan. St Paul de Vence, Eze, and a dozen other hilltowns 'behind' Nice - as well as Nice itself, and the towns along the coast (like Beaulieu-sur-Mer). Skip Cannes. Then there's Lyon, Dijon, etc. Eeks! And then there is Mont St Michel. <BR>You can't do them all, so you'll need to pick an area to explore (are you driving or training? that will make some difference in your choices...) <BR>

martha python

Are you definitely doing Paris, Florence, and Venice? That's really two weeks right there. <BR> <BR>Second Bellagio and Dijon (Dijon offers fairly easy access from Paris) and Nice (again, easy-ish access). <BR> <BR>Have a wonderful time--France and Italy are great choices.

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

Rebecca, The more you travel in Europe <BR>the more you realize that it is not about big cities whose name you may know. It is really about regions. If I had 2 weeks for a honeymoon I would do <BR>4 destinations that would make a good <BR>geographic itinerary. I would pick these <BR>four to maximize the romance factor. <BR>The French Riviera <BR>The Italian Lakes <BR>Tuscany <BR>Venice <BR> <BR>You could reverse the order as well. <BR>Look at your map to see the ease of transition from one to the other. <BR>Let me know if you want specifics. <BR> <BR>

Michelle

Just returned from Italy and found it to be the most romantic place in the world! Try to get to the Amalfi region - on the coast, just south of Naples. We stayed in Positano at the Hotel Poseidon and found it magical. All the rooms have large terraces overlooking the cliffs and the sea - breathtaking!!

Maira

For romance in Italy I found that the Umbria Region (Assisi) and Venice were tops. <BR> <BR>The "pick-a-region" approach BOB and Elvira mentioned is the best advice for an unforgettable European honeymoon.

Jennifer

Rebecca - I definitely agree with Bob the Navigator regarding finding your piece of Italy and staying there to soak it all in! My husband and I just returned from a whirlwind tour (1st trip to Italy) of Rome, Florence, Venice and Bellagio. I loved seeing the priceless art, exquisite architecture, breathtaking churches and electricity of the big cities, but my soul found solace in Bellagio. It is absolutely exquisite. Our next trip we plan on making this our only destination! The Hotel Belvedere was the ideal place to stay for us. Very quiet, awesome views, new rooms, and a semi-private grass terrace where we spent hours lounging with a bottle of wine and a good book! If you seek activity, you can tour the other lakes, take the ferry across to Varenna and then drive into Switzerland, hike, boat, shop - or you can just "be". For a honeymoon, you can't get much more romantic!

rebecca

Thanks for your advice. I think we are going to focus on a few specific areas. We'll probably forget France this time and spend the first part of the week in Florence and Venice (maybe a couple nights in Lake Como) and the second week beginning in Rome and then traveling down the Amalfi Coast. If you know of any spectacular places to stay along the Amalfi Coast, please let me know. <BR>Thanks again!