jessicaridella

Hello! My fiance and I are planning our honeymoon for the end of August 2022. We are getting married in Boston on 8/20/2022 and are thinking of flying to Italy shortly after the wedding because it makes more sense than logistically flying back to where we live in San Francisco. A few notes; we do not want to see Venice on this trip and we are flexible with the amount of days we are traveling. I am shooting for 18 days but if we need to add more that is fine. Would love thoughts on our rough itinerary and any suggestions! I know that we definitely want to do florence (culture), tuscany (wine), rome (food & history) and amalfi coast (relax and more high end luxury at capri and sorrento). We have never been to cinque terre and that was suggested as a place to see...we were also told that portofino could be a nice way to break up the trip from lake como to florence. we also don't need to do cinque terre if it makes more sense to spend more time in tuscany. We have always wanted to see lake como and figured if we want to squeeze it in, it might be best to do that first hence why we are flying into Milan. Thanks in advance!

Agenda: Looking at leaving Boston 8/24 and returning to Boston on 9/12

· Arrive to Milan, private driver or train to Lake Como on 8/25

· Days 1-3: lake como (2 nights in lake como)

· Days 4-6: private driver to Cinque Terre (2 nights in levanto or moterosso)

· Days 7-10: Florence and Tuscany (2 nights in florence, 1 night in tuscany)

· Days 11-13: Train to Rome (2 nights)

· Days 14-17: Private driver to Amalfi coast (3 nights)

· Day 18 private driver back to Rome to fly out on 9/11. Arrive to Boston on 9/12

Traveler_Nick

You're going to be seeing a lot of car interiors while rushing around. Check your travel times but you barely have any full days in any of your stops.

Is that what you want?

Falcio

I wonder if you looked at a mapping site before planning.

You can go from Milano Centrale to Monterosso by a direct Intercity train, so a private driver all the way from Lake Como would be an expensive waste of time. Hire a driver from the Lake to either Como or Milano centrale stations.
Be aware that transferring between trains inside Milano Centrale is easier than walking from the taxi area out of the station to the tracks area. It should be explained in your travel guide.

Same for Day 18, sorry but nobody but an American tourist would pay a driver from Naples to Rome. There is an high speed train doing the same route 3 times faster and if you get train tickets in advance, you can also pay a lot less. Hire a driver from the Amalfi Coast to to either Napoli Centrale or Napoli Afragola stations.

For these two rides on a private car you'd pay, more or less, as much as you paid for a single flight ticket from Boston. If you really want to, bargain with the drivers having in mind the real cost of trains: I mean the cost of discounted train tickets purchased well in advance, not the walk-up fares published on re-sellers' sites.

As a side note Florence is in Tuscany. It's like writing: "Days 7-10: Boston and Massachusetts" Tuscany isn't the tiny rural area where Americans love to drive around reading silly books about renovating an house in the countryside. It's an industrial Region whose administrative capital is Florence.

Traveler_Nick

Naples to Rome bought in advance is under €10. No driver is going to take that drive for anything even close to that. The one way tolls alone will be more.

cdnyul

Equal number of nights in Como and Florence might lead some to think that Clooney is equal to Michelangelo.

Five nights each in Florence, Rome and Naples, with day trips from each place

jessicaridella

I must say the tone of some of these responses is very harsh and I have not experienced this from Fodors forums in the past.

I know that Florence is in Tuscany. I separated them out because we want to spend a few nights in the city center and another night or two for a full vineyard experience.

I was hoping for some more productive suggestions other than statements disparaging “American tourists.” We will be following a suggestion from a separate forum to cut out lake como, CT, and Amalfi coast and instead focus on Tuscany/Florence, Rome, and a flight to Sardinia to hit aspects of art/history, wine country and beach.

Jean

It's your honeymoon. If you want to splurge on private transfers between points, that's your business. (Even if it wasn't your honeymoon, you can spend your money however you like.) If you're less interested in Renaissance art, that's ok too. It's YOUR trip!

But it's your honeymoon, and a slower pace would, at least to me, feel more honeymooney after what I assume would be a busy/hectic several days of wedding activities. Consider also that you might find high temps and humidity slow you down, esp. in the middle of the day.

If you want to keep all of your destinations, I think you need to add more days. As we here often point out, two nights in a place gives you only one full day of sightseeing. Transfers between destinations can easily take a half day and sometimes involve dropping luggage at the next hotel before you can check in. For cities like Florence and Rome that offer so much to see and do, one full day will barely give you enough time to get oriented, let alone see the historical sights and leisurely enjoy the food. One night in Tuscany (will you have a car?) would mean less than a day which would be more of a drive-though. I would rethink Portofino or the Cinque Terre between Lake Como and Florence as either would be a time-consuming detour even with a private transfer and the area will likely still be drowning in tourists.

Jean

OK, I've just read your update that you'll focus on Tuscany, Florence, Rome and Sardinia. I think that's wise.

Will you rent a car to explore the Tuscan countryside? If so, you'll want to think about where/when you'll pick up the car and return it.

Check which routes are the easiest for getting to Sardinia (3 airports). I'm not seeing a lot of options just now, but summer schedules may open up in a couple of months if Covid news is good. FYI, Sardinia like Tuscany is best seen by car. It will still be crowded in the most popular beach spots.

You might also look at whether you could fly Boston to Pisa (to see Florence/Tuscany first).

Travellingtoeast

Hello
Just a quick advice for the best place for Honeymooners is Zanzibar Island in Tanzania and Tanzania National Parks for unforgatable memories in your life.
This is a short safari plan11 Days Essential Tanzania & Zanzibar Beach Holiday & Seychelles

Day 1: Kilimanjaro Airport (JRO) - Arusha
Day 2, 3 & 4: Arusha – Serengeti National Park
Day 5: Flight from Serengeti – Arusha - Zanzibar – (Tembo Hotel )
Day 6: Fumba Village Zanzibar
Day 7: Jafferji Retreat or Smiles Beach or Albatross Ocean View
Day 8: Zanzibar – Seychelles
Day 11: Departure

jessicaridella

Thank you for the productive suggestions and positive commentary. Yes we would absolutely have a car for Tuscany (pick up and drop off in Florence) and would like to have one for Sardinia as well! Right now we are evaluating which itinerary makes the most sense…. Florence-Sardinia-Rome OR Rome-Florence-Sardinia. I would prefer to end our trip in Rome if it is feasible (less time in bikinis more time to eat all of the pasta haha). Thank you for the Pisa suggestion, since we do want to do the north of Sardinia we would want to fly into Olbia and Pisa does have direct flights but like you mentioned, we are too early to see all of those options.

mjs

I agree with Jean. Would be easier to do the Amalfi coast instead of Sardinia. The Amalfi is a good place to relax and unwind and fairly easy to get to from Rome.

Jean

Now that I know you'll be driving a bit (and assuming you haven't driven in Italy before), I highly recommend you learn about ZTLs (zona traffico limitato). Nearly every town in Italy has established areas within their historical centers that you can't drive into for many hours of the day without permission (for example, to reach your hotel). The citation is mailed to you long after you get home. The Florence city car rental offices are all, I think, located within the ZTL, but the rental company can give you driving directions for departing the city. Picking up/dropping off the car at the Florence airport in Peretola would eliminate the ZTL issue at least with regard to Florence. Depending on how the Sardinia flight options go and where you decide to drive in Tuscany, another idea would be to pick up the car in Florence and return it at the Rome airport. The most southern part of Tuscany is closer to FCO. As you research Tuscany, keep in mind that driving the secondary roads is slower but much more interesting than speeding along on the autostrada.

https://italybeyondtheobvious.com/do...ith-ztl-zones/

Falcio

Some of The rental offices in Florence are dangerously close to the ZTL, one is surrounded by it on 3 sides, but none is actually within the ZTL.

The Miracles Square in Pisa is far from the city center, but it is in a ZTL.

Speed traps on motorways check the average speed of each car between 2 points. It's called Tutor System.