My fiancee and I are planning a two week European honeymoon for this August. We're going through a travel agent... but I don't really think she knows much about Europe, outside of booking pre-packaged tours, which we do not want to do.

Anyway, right now our itinerary is to fly into Barcelona for 3 nights, go to Paris for 4 nights, then to Venice for 2 nights, and then Rome for 4 nights and flying home from Rome. We planned on taking trains from city to city, which I was just pricing out. I now realize we will need to take overnight trains from Barcelona to Paris, and Paris to Venice - meaning we'll have to eliminate a couple nights hotel stays... our travel agent didn't plan for this...

So now I'm debating whether we should go so far out of the way to Paris. Maybe we should stay in the south of France instead.. a 4 day crawl across Provence...? I've been to Paris before and loved it, but I could forego Paris for somewhere new. My fiancee has never been there and really wants to see Paris.

Can anyone tell me how comfortable overnight train trips are? Is it crazy to do an overnight flight, followed by two overnight train trips, and expect to pack a lot of activities in between? Remember, it's our honeymoon, so we don't want to get too irritible with each other.

What are your thoughts on going up to Paris versus staying in the south of France... especially given that it will be end of August?

Thanks for your thoughts!

You've picked nice places, but they're not convenient to one other. First thought, look into cheap flights between your destinations. A good web site is www.whichbudget.com.

That said, I would prefer to base in fewer places and take day trips. Especially after a hectic wedding and pre-wedding period, something more relaxing and easy going is better. If you want to go to Provence, a car is desireable. The same is true for the Dordogne, which is the new popular destination in France, and closer to Barcelona.

I think I'd be inclined to skip Italy this trip and include Paris, since your future husband wants to go there. (And I love Italy, especially Venice, which I think the perfect honeymoon destination.)

<<Can anyone tell me how comfortable overnight train trips are? Is it crazy to do an overnight flight, followed by two overnight train trips, and expect to pack a lot of activities in between?>>

yes, it's crazy. Your itinerary is (I"m sorry) crazy.

forget Italy or forget Spain at least. I'd forget Italy in August myself.

Actually, my future wife wants to go to Paris... I'm the future husband

Thanks for the link. That site has some amazingly low prices! It looks like it might actually be cheaper to fly between cities. And probably faster, too... barring any strikes.

I vote for the South of France. Paris is too far out of the way. On the other hand, your fiancee's vote should count way more than mine.

If you do decide on Paris and Barcelona and Italy, it definitely makes more sense to fly on the ubiquitous budget airlines within Europe than to take overnight trains. The site mentioned earlier, www.whichbudget.com, is a great resource for finding such flights. And make sure you book your flight overseas "open jaws", so that you arrive in the first city and depart from the last one, without backtracking.

Congratulations!!!
What a nice honeymoon. We only went across town

Harderthenyou,

In "Amadeus' the Emperor says to Mozart his symphony has "Too many notes." In my opinion your trip has too many stops.

I suggest two alternatives:

Barcelona-Provence-Paris "BPP"

Paris-Venice "PV"

BPP-On the first suggestion August is a time when Europeans are on holiday and these areas may be quite crowded.

If you go you will need a car in Provence to truly enjoy it. We have gone to St. Remy many years and love Provence in general. You could fly to Barcelona, get a car for Provence then drop it off in Avignon and take the speed train to Paris only takes 2 1/2 hours.

PV-The second suggestion focuses on Paris which to me is the most romantic city in the world. While I have not visited Venice it is reputed to be a great place for honeymooners.

I do all my own travel planning because of the kind of problems you are experiencing. Let me also note--you are late in the day for making arrangements no matter how you scope out your trip. You may be forced to use (another) travel agent.

Your priorities should be:

1. Flights
2. Hotels

I would avoid overnight trains as too much time is wasted in relatively cramped quarters.

Best wishes.

Anthony

I would stay all the period in Paris, and make same day trips by train. You can visit for instance: Fountainbleu, Chantilly, Chartres, Reims, Amiens, Vaux-le-Vicomte, St-Germain-en-Laye, Versailles (each in one day). I think that all these places are very nice and interesting. All of them are at maximum 1 hour from Paris. In this way, you do not waste your time on long travels, do not change the hotel every 2 -3 days..

Any case, whatever you decide to do, have a beautiful honeymoon!

Hi H,

>.. a two week European honeymoon for this August.

I agree that you are doing too much traveling, especially for a honeymoon.

If you could wait until after Labor Day, you will find lower airfare, fewer crowds, cooler weather.

I would fly into Venice for a week, fly www.myair.com to Paris for a week, fly home.

'Way 'way too much travel and not enough enjoyment. Fly to Paris. Spend a week and soak it up. Take the TGV to Provence. Soak it up. Take the TGV back to CDG and go home. Have a really great memory of a great honeymoon rather than if it's Tuesday it must be Venice.

...and sweet groom - remember for a long happy marriage.
"If Momma ain't happy - nobody is happy". If your bride wants to see Paris, she wants to see Paris.
It IS romantic. And, since its August, you'll find hotel deals...you probably won't find too many deals in Provence...

I'm with Gretchen -- too much travel on a honeymoon. I would fly into Paris, stay for a week, take the TGV to Avignon, and stay in St. Remy (or somewhere in the area) so as not to be traveling far distances each day to the various villages, and then the TGV back to Paris for your return home.

Although not on a honeymoon, I will be in Provence late June and Paris early July. We are staying in a B & B in Pernes-les-Fontaines which is a nice middle area. For a northerly daytrip, we're going to Vaison-la-Romaine and the vineyards one day, another day east to Roussillon, Gordes, Menerbes and environs, southerly to Aix (and perhaps Cassis), another day to St. Remy and LeBaux, and perhaps west to Pont du Gard (including all the little villages in each area).

With a car, you can travel as much or as little as you want in a day, come back to your hotel/B&B, and prepare for a nice leisurely dinner.

I wouldn't want to pack up every couple of days and schlepp suitcases, etc., onto trains, find hotels, stay a short time, and then do it again (and again!)

Enjoy your honeymoon. Whatever you don't see this time, plan to do the next time!

There is so much to see, to do in Paris.
Even doing nothing is something, like walking along the Seine, sitting at cafés.
And soon you will have an anniversary and you'll see Provence, and on another you'll celebrate in Venice...and...

Another vote for Gretchen's suggestion: spend one week each in Paris and Provence, linked by TGV and car only needed for Provence. You will find this the most relaxing and therefore romantic combination, and isn't that what it's all about? Bonne chance!

Here's another vote for the paris /provence option. You can TGV straight into avignon. i've not done it yet but it's very fast - you can go there and back in a day. Or go onto Nice and explore the cote d'azur, whre you'll have the sea breezes, i hope. But you'll need to get on with booking, if you're determined to go in August. Good luck!

Thank you all for the input.

Our travel agent has already booked the international flights and hotels for the itinerary I mentioned before. I don't think I had made that clear in my first post. And she had set it up with one night without hotels between Barcelona and PAris, and again between PAris and Venice, so we're already ste up to take overnight trains. Which, after all this, I'm thinking is a bad idea.

Despite all of your warnings, I think my fiancee still wants to stick to the original plan. My job now is to not worry about it, relax and not stress out about it.

Tell the travel agent to cancel those and make the trip YOU want. All he/she is doing is making money and probably on absolutely NO knowledge.
Overnight trains are a boon to travellers who want to "save" money by not paying for a hotel room. They are not restful and can be rather disquieting. This is a honeymoon!!!

It sounds like you can still replace those trains with flights on your own. You could see whether the hotels you have booked in Paris and Venice could add on a night, or you could try to change the hotels. Most likely the hotels are cancellable even though the agent already booked them.

well, if you feel you can't change plans now due to things being booked, why were you asking the question in the first place and saying you might change plans?

Anyway, I never would have wanted such a trip as its too spread out over a short time, and I like to focus on areas more, or countries that are neighbors, rather than going all over Europe to various countries. However, if your fiance really wants to do this, I think you just have to go with it, and as you said, relax and take it as it comes. It is possible you'll enjoy it, some people do like itineraries like that and maybe even don't mind so much time on trains. It's just in a 2-week period that is a lot of hours on trains, overnight or not. One might have been okay.

This will be a good story, in any case, and you should have experiences to remember and laugh over -- at your anniversary in the future, or maybe divorce after the honeymoon (ha ha, just kidding).