need help booking honeymoon itinerary Italian & French Rivieras
 

Hi,

I'd like to plan a my honeymoon in the French & Italian Rivieras from Aug 28 till sept 7 or 8th. I leaving from toronto ontario canada. I'd like some beachy areas and some sightseeing spots. I was wondering also if bed and breakfast stays are also recommended. I'm looking to get my best bang for my buck. The total amount of places\stays I'd like to do is 3 and at the most 4. What also are the best ways to get to each spot by car, train, bus?. Any tours I could book while I'm at my stays. My budget is about $5000 to $6000 for the both of us.

Any ideas recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Looking to book with a week. Hope anyone could help.

I could be email also at [email protected]

tks,
mario

Mar - first of all a few questions:

do your dates of aug 28th to Sept 7th/8th include air travel days? even if they aren't you still have only 11/12 nights - which means 10/11 days, which isn't very long for all you seem to ahve in mind.

Where in the area can you fly to from Toronto? - Nice? Milan? or will you have to fly into Paris?

Does your budget include flights?

have you got a guide book? a map?

I can fly out a day earlier and fly out a day or two later if i have to. I don't necessarily have to stay at every hotspot. Say even Amalfi, Sorrento, Capri (these are all close so this could be one stop for 3-4 days), Florence(Livorno)(2-3nights), Portofino (2-3 nights), and maybe rome if we have time. Sorry don't mean to be difficult just looking to see what works best.

In terms of flying into somewhere doesn't really matter for us. Even if my stays are only in Italy then that's fine also. Yes my budget would also include flights. If we have to bump up the budget to say $7000 I don't mind but that's the max.

No guide book or map. I've heard people using these travel guide books (ppl who traveled to these places and recommended certain places to stay and published books about it)

i was thinking of doing a round trip airfar into rome. Its central to the places I want to visit. I could start off in Florence then to the capri, sorrento, amalfi regions. After my stay is complete head back to rome. I could do Euro rail to get around to the major stops and buses/taxi's while in the cities. Good idea? I was hoping maybe these guides would assist with whats best to take.

There's no such thing as euro rail. Each country has its own railroad system. Italy's is trenitalia.

There's a wealth of guidebooks out there to help you plan: Fodors, Frommers, Eyewitness, Michelin Green Guides, Let's Go, Lonely Planet...just to name a few.

You are confusing your geography. The Italian Riviera is not the Amalfi coast or anywhere close to it. It is Portofino and the Cinque Terre, on the coast between Pisa and Genoa---which do you want? I truat you mean 2012. If so, you are already late. Set your dates and and decide where you really want to go---do all of that yesterday. And, Rome may not be your best flight option--it may be Pisa or Nice---depending.

oooh, slow down.

you started with the French and italian riverias, [which to me means roughly the coast from say, Nice to Genoa] and now we've segued to the amalfi. Nothing wrong with that, [unless you want to do both] but with less than 2 weeks [even if you add the odd day either end] you need to make your mind up which you want.

if you are leaning towards florence-amalfi - Rome, it might be better to fly into Pisa, go from there to Florence, then the amalfi, and ending up in Rome. 3-4 days in each.

you won't need eurorail to do 3 train journeys [Pisa to Florence, florence to Sorrento, Sorrento to Rome] and buses/local trains will get you to most places you want to go to in between.

<<No guide book or map. I've heard people using these travel guide books (ppl who traveled to these places and recommended certain places to stay and published books about it)>>

???? - I'm not following this. a guide book that you can peruse at leisure will give you ideas about what you might want to see and do and what is achievable in the time available.

I thought Cinque Terre and Portofino are on the Ligurian Coast?

In any event, we were disappointed in the very expensive and tiny Portofino harbor. We were glad we'd just day-tripped there from Santa Margherita Ligure. Also day-tripped to Cinque Terre from Santa Margherita Ligure.

We also stayed in Nice, and like it a lot.

PS. You are talking about THIS August? Planning a honeymoon kind of late, aren't ya? haha