Hi, sorry this is a long one, but I'm getting so confused trying to plan my dream vacation/honeymoon to Italy, France and Barcelona for 30-40 days from mid Mar 05. We hope to find a charming village and get quietly (or not so quietly) married, but are unsure as we are not Catholic if this would be possible? We Love ambiance, getting amongst the locals, good food, wine, places of great beauty & stunning architecture (& for me shopping for bargains). We are young minded late 30's. Any suggestions on what not to miss, places to stay (100-150Euros flex)walking distances to restaurants etc. Would be so greatfully received. I had thought to fly Australia to Rome 3, Naples 3, Orvietto 1, Florence 3, Santa Margherita Ligure 2, Aix en Provence 1?, Barcelona 4, Have 2 nights spare here to stay somewhere on our to Nice? Nice 1, Milan 2, Lake Como 1, Venice 3, Paris 4, Reims 1? then home. We were going to hire a car from Rome & drop it off in Venice which saves $$$$ droping it back to Italy. I have read with great interest the comments on a similar query staying 2 weeks for a honeymoon & hope we arent travelling too much but want to see a lot & believe the driving will be scenic & interesting. Hope you have time to help

You need to get out some decent maps, and narrow down your itinerary. I'm not trying to rude, but it's almost impossible to offer help when you're crissrossing Europe with such short stays, and very little thought it seems to the travel and time distance inbetween cities. Please post again once you have rethought your plans.

Hi lean,

Congratulations on your honeymoon.

This is a somewhat adventurous trip for a honeymoon. There is a huge amount of packing and unpacking.

Are you a couple who have taken long motor tours together?

Sorry-- that's what I get for not previewing my post! Anyway, get out some maps. Check the distance between cities. Skip the 1-nighters, unless absolutely necessary. Think about which places are must-sees on your list. Then come back and re-post your itinerary.

Good luck!

Good luck!

I did give this a lot of thought & based it on maps. The one night stays were to break up the distances not because we wanted to spend one night there. We were flying from Venice to Paris. Taking out my toiletries bag and the clothes for the day was the only unpacking I was thinking of doing. The only other alternative is to zig zag Italy a bit more then go in one direction to Barcelona, pay $1500 more to drop the car off in a different country and fly to Paris from Spain?

Hi, leanab,

From what I understand, you want to get married somewhere in Europe during your trip.

I just want to tell you that in France as well as in some parts of Spain, there are residency requirements. So, you cannot just choose a village you like and get married. Although you will not have the same problems getting married in Italy, you have to prepare a few documents and have them translated into Italian. You also have to look for witnesses and translators for the ceremony (unless you speak Italian). That said, if you really want to do it, you have to make up your mind and start the paperwork. You have only 3 months left!

Congratulations and good luck.

leanab, if your one-nighters are just to break up the driving, I guess you don't really care about going to Aix or Nice. This means you are driving all the way across southern France and back again, just to spend 4 nights in Barcelona. Doesn't seem worth it to me, just my opinion. With such few nights in each place, most of your honeymoon will be spent in the car. This whole trip could be done with trains and cheap flights, especially since you're not including Tuscany & Umbria in Italy.

It seems like it would make much more sense to do all your Italy stops at the beginning of the trip (doing Orvieto on the way from Rome to Florence), then get one of those cheap flights from northern Italy to Barcelona. Then either take a train or another cheap flight to Paris. I think you could do Reims as a daytrip from Paris (someone can correct me if I'm wrong here).

Getting rid of those one-nighters in Orvieto, Aix, Nice and Reims means you can add those nights to other places, perhaps one each to Rome, Paris and Barcelona. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Of course, I only added three nights to replace the four one-nighters, so the extra one could be added to Florence to give you time for a daytrip to Siena.

Then those two spare nights you mentioned could be added to Lake Como. However, I'm not sure about the lakes at that time of year, someone else could give more info on weather there in March, same for SM Ligure.

Hi leanab,

Have you looked at www.whichbudget.com to see if you can fly between somewhere in Italy, Barcelona and Paris?

There are flights between Naples and Barcelona.

As well as Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan.

Perhaps I should ask about driving conditions and how many km's an hour we could hope to cover. I see the distance from Rome to Barcelona is only 1470km's We do further than that here in a DAY TRIP just travelling within our state up to the Great Barrier Reef for a week and we dont have your high speed limits so going thru towns is a 50-60km & this trip is for a month & a half. I travel approx 400kms round trip pick up & drop off my daughter to school or go shopping a few times a week. The replys make it sound like it is not worth it to experience a whole day in towns I've heard so much about, but instead suggest driving to the town from a central base, seeing it for a number of hours & driving back again - which means one of us cant drink! transfering to train stations, lugging (excess purchases) baggage, having to keep schedules, not being able to stop the car & get out whenever just isnt us.

Hi lean,

>... how many km's an hour we could hope to cover.<

www.mappy.com estimates that Rome to Barcelona will take about 13 hr, practically all of it on highways, to cover 1365 km.

Thanks Ira, that sounds great!

Just a thought - we have done numerous road trips by car in europe and one of the prime benefits IMHO is the opportunity to explore all the small towns and vilages, churches, castles you just run into on the way. For that reason we usually figure no more than 4 hours driving per day - and that's exploring on local roads - not highway - unless there is one day we need to really cover ground - and then we may do up to7/8 hours - switching drivers.

Frankly, if I had to spend 13 hours driving around europe in a car I'd shoot myself - it's really a complete waste of time - and you might as well be anywere if you're just sitting interminably in a car.

Also, I'm not sure if you have factored road/traffic conditions into your plans - we have been on highways in parts of Germany and southern France when either road construction, accidents or simply a local holiday have reduced us to 25/30MPH for long stretches of time - frustrating if you're planning on 3/4 hours - fatal if you're already planning on all day.

Really agree that you separate the Italian section (car) from the Barcelona and Paris sections (easy/cheap to fly from one to the other). I think you will enjoy the honeymoon much more.

Just a thought: You may not want to spend much time in Naples, but go over to the Amalfi coast to spend 3 of your days. Stay in Positano, it's beautiful. Definitely add a day each to Rome and Florence, and if you have to, subtract a day from Venice. It's beautiful, but there is more to see elsewhere.