Two Week Honeymoon in Italy- Itinerary Help!
 

We are headed to Italy on a Sunday night in June (arriving in Florence) the next night (Monday). We would then fly back home out of Rome about two weeks later, early Saturday morning. This is what we are thinking: Florence Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights and then rent a car and head to the countryside (north) for Thursday and Friday nights. Head to Cinque Terre via the car still(?)for Saturday and Sunday nights, then take a train(?) to Venice and stay Monday and Tuesday nights and then fly(?) to Rome Wednesday and end up there for the last three nights. How does this sound? If it sounds good, what town between Florence and Cinque Terre would be good to stop in the countryside? If this does not sounds good, what would be better? And, how are the ideas of getting around, would you suggest something different than our thoughts? Should we stay in Cinque Terre longer than Florence? We have never been to Italy, FYI. Thanks in advance for any input!

Hi, RTH,

congrats on your nuptials and on deciding to consult this forum to plan your honeymoon. you'll find some real experts here, in which category i do not include myself!

Given the time of year and the amount of time you've got, I woudl tweek your plan slightly, leaving out the CT.

Day 1,2,3 - Florence.
Day 4,5,6 - pick up car. Drive to lake garda - stay at sirmione or nearby.
Day 7,8,9, - Drive to Venice, return car.
Day 10 - train to Rome.
Day 11,12,13, - Rome.
Day 14 - fly home.

IMO this gives you a good mix of town/countryside, and rationalises your route and travel time.

Alternatively, if you really want the CT, I would cut out Venice, staay longer in the CT and from the CT head south, staying in an agrotourismo somewhere in tuscany before heading to Rome.


in 2 weeks, you really don't want to stay in more than 4 places. every time you move you lose at least half a day.

I would not fly in Italy when you can go on the train much more easily, and I suspect, cheaply.

for trains see www.trenitalia.com.

good luck!

regards, ann

We could advise better on how long to stay in some places if we knew more about your interests . . . art? museums? hiking? relaxing? . . . things ike that.

I'll comment on making your schedule work better as you've presented it.

Florence Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights

Head to the countryside (north) for Thursday and Friday nights by car.

Head to Cinque Terre by car, turn in car in La Spezia and take local train Cinque Terre for Saturday and Sunday nights.

Then take a train (4-5 hours) to Venice and stay Monday and Tuesday nights.

Then take the train (4.5 hours) to Rome Wednesday and end up there for the last three nights.

My big changes to your plan:
= Ditch the car as you arrive in the Cinque Terre area--you won't need it there.
= Take the train from Venice to Rome. The train stations are in the city centers, while the airports are out of town. Between security check-in times and traeling to/from airports, the train will be about the same amount of time (or faster!) with less agony.

I just returned from Italy and the CT was THE best thing there in our opinion. We are hikers. It was fabulous.

I think you should sty in CT muhc longer tha Florence. Florence was boring and oppressively packed at the end of October. i can't imagine it in June. One day in Firenze was enough for me. We stayed in Impruneta and it was fantastic. Very easy bus ride into Florence (30 minutes 1.2E).

We drove from CT to Florence and it is not a long drive. Lucca is between the those 2 and it is fantastic. We had our car with us the entire time in CT and needed given where we were staying. We got lucky on parking in Riomaggiore just about every time. in the summer I'm sure parking is impossible there.

I'd shorten Firenze and stay longer in Venezia. Also, driving to Venezia and dropping the car off at Piazalle Roma was extremely easy. And then we were able to walk from the rental car place to our hotel on the Grand Canal. I recommend it.

Thanks for the advice thus far. As for interests, we are hiking enthusiasts (from Colorado), but also love exploring historical aspects of Europe: ie: architecture, museums, other monuments of significance,etc. We also love the water, beach and relaxing in the sun. We most definitely LOVE italian wine and food, cheese especially, as that is all we cook. As you can see, this is why I chose the various destinations we did. Florence for the art, countryside for wine and relaxing, CT for water and beauty and I also have a personal interest in CT, as a dear friend of mine died there falling off one of the cliffs in august 2002. Venice is Venice and sounds romantic and comes highly recommended it seems. Rome, I need not explain, and we are flying out of there anyway. So, with that being said, any other feedback is great. I have friends who studied in Cortona, which also sounds amazing, but...

FYI, I visited France for about 9 days in college, visiting Marseille, Avignon, Aix en Provence and then Paris, and it was a lovely trip. I was solo until Paris, so more on the move, but wide-eyed all the way. I have also been to London for a ten-day vacation. My fiance has never traveled to Europe. We have both traveled the whole of the US and some Central America too.

Hope that helps! Thanks again!

I found the CT to be overwhelmingly packed with Rick Steeves book carrying tourists and totally without charm. It was also oppressively crowded.

I am not a hiker but walk miles every day. The CT was the biggest let down in 30 years of travel to Italy.

I would never go back.

I am just back from 2 weeks in Italy, including one week in Florence and the countryside and yes, areas were very crowded but many others were not.

It all depends what you are looking for. We were there (me for the 16th time) for food, wine and art and were thrilled with the experience.

I also would recommend against June but that appears not to be an option. All parts of Italy will be packed then, at least those that are tourist meccas.

Congrats on your upcoming honeymoon! Italy is the perfect choice.

We just returned from our romantic(19 day) 1st trip to Italy which included Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre and Tuscany. I will be posting a very long indepth trip report in the next couple of weeks.

We absolutely loved the Cinque Terre and stayed in Vernazza (La Mala...HIGHLY recommend room #26)for 3 nights and hiked all the towns including a long hike up to Volastra. The majority of the "blue trails" (this is the popular trail linking all 5 villages) were not crowded since it was mid-October, but on the last day we hiked Vernazza to Monterossa and were impacted by alot of hikers going the opposite way. It was a bit daunting to have to constantly stop to make room for others to pass. I can only imagine how busier it would be in June. Since you're avid hikers, I'd recommend checking out the longer less traveled trails that are above the "blue trails".

We trained to CT from Florence which was so very easy and a nice 2+ hour ride. You won't need a car in CT. I'd recommend dropping the car off in Florence (tip: get very detailed directions to the rental car office...this can be a nightmare driving in this busy city filled with one-way streets which names change frequently).

Here's our itinerary:
Flew into Venice (4 nights), train to Florence (2 nights), train to Cinque Terre (3 nights), train to La Spezia (I would not recommend picking up the car in this town. We had to drive to Pisa to exchange it since it was a wreck...literally) where we picked up the rental car and drove to Tuscany (7 nights). Dropped the car off in Florence and stayed 1 night before flying out.

Happy planning.

Congratulations!

The Cinque Terre is beautiful. Possibly my all time favorite hike. I personally would stay at CT or somewhere in the Italian Riviera longer than Florence, but that's my preference. I love the Ligurian Sea and the food in the region. We stayed in Santa Margherita which is a good base, but were also smitten by Camogli during a day trip there.