Too many stops on a honeymoon??
 

Hi everyone. My fiance and I will be going to Italy for our honeymoon in mid june for one month and we plan to hit cinque terre, tuscany, rome, lecce and sicily. This seems pretty doable in a month, however he really wants to see amsterdam (me too, ive never been) and also I am really wanting to go back to paris (which I know he will love). So we are now thinking of flying out of sicily on ryan air and seeing paris, amsterdam and then flying out of london. (these last 3 we can do on eurostar)
Does this sound too crazy and whirlwind-y? I've been to Europe before and I always try to cram in too much and I end up being mad at myself for spending so much time traveling between places and not enough time IN them. I really want to relax and sit in the piazzas and sip coffee and lay on the beaches but I also hate to go all the way over to europe and not see amsterdam and paris.

I think going between most of my places will be somewhat quick and easy, except sicily-france, and getting to/from lecce..

any thoughts or useful advice?

thanks!

Europe will always be there. And if it's not then it won't matter.

Ryan air? Have you not read about the customer service for this airline? It could ruin your honeymoon.
Yes too many stops.
Slow down and see something of the country.

I missed the Ryan Air part. This is your honeymoon, skip Ryan Air.

Perhaps consider flying into Amsterdam and spend a few days there then fly into Rome (on a legacy carrier -- you can get a direct flight on KLM for less than $200 each) and see Italy for 21-24 days then return to AMS to catch your flight back home. Paris can wait until next time.

Be aware that on some of those "legacy" carriers you had better book way ahead to get that fare mentioned above.

Ryanair is not the only budget carrier flying between Italy and Amsterdam; you could also use Easyjet

Go here for budget airline possibilities:

www.whichbudget.com

www.skyscanner.com

Count at least 1 week each for Tuscany, Rome and surroundings, Apulia (Lecce is not the most attractive place there) and 2 weeks for Sicily. If you are not interested in culture and prefer to stay at beaches and in pizzerie only, you can do it in much less time.
5Terre: time to spend depends on the number of hikes you plan to do.

Low cost airlines in Italy:
http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Book/
http://www.Meridiana.it
http://www.flyairone.it
http://www.blu-express.com/
http://www.ryanair.com
http://www.neosair.it/
http://www.volotea.com/fr

Aother way to look at Ryan Air is if you survive the Ryan Air, the rest of your life together would be a peaceful bliss :-)
And why London when it is not on your destination list?

<< I've been to Europe before and I always try to cram in too much and I end up being mad at myself for spending so much time traveling between places and not enough time IN them. >>

If this is true, why would you do the same thing again?

You have 4 major cities (Rome, Amsterdam, Paris, London)
A very big island that takes lots of time to get around (Sicily)
A large region with lots of great towns (Tuscany)
A town that will take lots of time to get there and back and is not on the way to or from any place else on your itinerary (Lecce)
Another place also not on your route to or from any place else (Cinque Terre)

<< any thoughts or useful advice? >>

Cut your destinations in half and enjoy your trip. If you want beaches why are you going to London, Amsterdam, and Paris?

Whenever a poster has a post titled "too many stops?" or the like, I can be sure that there are indeed too many stops.

If you want to lay on the beaches, don't go all the way to Europe to do it or expect that just because a destination is on the ocean that it will have lovely sandy beaches. Instead decide whether you want to spend time seeing your destinations or travelling between them.

Consider cutting your stops in half. Fly into Paris (or Amsterdam), spend 5 days; fly to Pisa, spend 3 days in Cinque Terre, 5 days in Tuscany, 10 days in Sicily, the rest in Rome and fly home from there. It will be rushed but you will have time to enjoy your honeymoon.

Ryanair is an easy target, flying in the face of one argument-stopping fact: It is the biggest carrier, by volume, in Europe. I doubt it has reached that status through unhappy passengers avoiding its flights.
No, it is not Club Med in the air, playing cozy with its clients. But on short flights, neither are the old national-flag carriers. Ryanair's website spells out exactly what you get, and what you will pay for it, and customers crowd on because the tickets can be such bargains.
Still, I think easyJet is a fraction more gracious, and just as efficient.

You are about to commit the same mistake and be mad at yourself again.

Sicily especially is an outlier - requiring a decent amount of time to see anything and a lot of time getting to and from.

To do London, Paris, Amsterdam and bunch of places in italy is just too much for a honeymoon in a limited time.

I would want to probably spend one week relaxing somewhere (probably seaside) and then hit perhaps 4 more hotels/cities. You're trying to stuff in 8 destinations - 4 of them major cities that could each take a week - and a whole island - as well as multiple other places in Italy - just too much.

Drop Sicily and Apulia for this trip, unless you have some particular reason, such as family, for going to them.

I'd also think about going to Venice, as it's your honeymoon. At nite, it's magical.

Why would you keep repeating the same mistake? Slow down! It's your honeymoon for gosh sake! I would be going to one or two places for a month, and you're considering 8????? Crazy, just crazy.

thanks for all the replies and advice! it is crazy, i know especially for a honeymoon. i should try to remember how stressful it felt always catching a train or bus..

sicily is not a must, however i have a family friend who has a second house there that we can stay in so i thought that would be nice for a week.

lecce is not nice? i thought it was called the florence of the south??
so we should skip puglia?

We loved Puglia last year - our pics are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...57635047994978

Not sure I would call it Florence of the South though...in what way?

Puglia is lovely but you kin of have to seek out the beauty more thn other areas of Italy. And it is more difficult logistically...like Sicily so I would probably drop them and plan to visit them another time...

"i thought it was called the florence of the south??"

Sounds like a Chamber of Commerce slogan. I haven't been to Lecce, so I had to google the supposed connection between the two. Most of the hits mention Lecce's "rich Baroque architecture" and "warm sandstone buildings." That is the opposite of Florence on both counts. Lecce has art galleries and museums, but I doubt their totality comes even remotely close to the abundance and quality in Florence especially with regard to the Renaissance.

Which is not to say Lecce isn't worthy of a visit, but whether the visit is on this trip or another should definitely be considered.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/08/11...anted=all&_r=0

Italy is our favorite country, and we've been there six times. We've yet to go to Puglia or anywhere south of Paestum (except to Sicily and that was on our sixth trip.)

Sicily is very nice, but as everyone above has said, you're trying to go to too many geographically diverse places.

So the alternative is to save Amsterdam and Paris for another trip. You'll save some money by staying in your friend's house in Sicily and by not flying back to northern Europe. Put it in the savings account for next European trip. If it were my honeymoon, that's what I'd do. Sicily, unlike the rest of Italy that I've been to, does have some beaches, although not as nice as those in southern Cal or on the Gulf Coast of Florida

Ultimately, the title to this post is a question that answers itself.

Slow down and try to enjoy the honeymoon. Part of making the new life together is figuring out what you'd like to do in the future . . . including where you want to go back.

I never said that Lecce should not be visited, I only pretend that there are tons of other at least as attractive places in Apulia. That's not the same.

If you go down up to Apullia, don't miss
Termoli and it's trabucchi
Tremiti Islands
Vieste
Baia delle Zagare
Matera
Castellana Grotte
Ostuni
Alberobello
Cisternino or Martina Franca
the St Nicola cathedral at Bari
the Torre Guaceto Park
the many fine beaches between Otranto and Gallipoli
the meny Svevi fortresses
and, of course, Lecce

London is awesome but might be the odd man out. I mean its YOUR honeymoon and all but I would think your trip should have some kind of identity. You have an opportunity to avoid the stress of relocating every other day so do that. I think the others are right in that you should trim the destinations in half at the very least. I would also spend some time with google earth or maps to see where these places are geographically .