European Honeymoon Ideas?

Whit825

Did anyone go or is anyone planning to go to Europe on their honeymoon? If so, where?  Any recommendations? 

glam70s

We are going in February.. It's hard to make recommendations because I haven't been there yet, but we settled on a few days in Paris and then the remainder of the time in Venice, Florence, and Rome. We've been advised that we're doing too many cities for a 2.5 week trip, but we're not really into sight-seeing and we're more going just to be there and enjoy the culture, so we're not worried about being rushed.

Snippylynn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_european-honeymoon-ideas?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:fda104cd-0d21-4afc-ba01-f1587164565aPost:5e3c6aa8-07f0-45f8-8190-467db61e11a9">Re: European Honeymoon Ideas?</a>:
[QUOTE]We are going in February.. It's hard to make recommendations because I haven't been there yet, but we settled on a few days in Paris and then the remainder of the time in Venice, Florence, and Rome. We've been advised that we're doing too many cities for a 2.5 week trip, but we're not really into sight-seeing and we're more going just to be there and enjoy the culture, so we're not worried about being rushed.
Posted by glam70s[/QUOTE]

Yeah... you won't be seeing culture, you'll be seeing "stuff"

OP, a lot of the recs depend on what you like to do, budget, time of year.

alithebride

I disagree. you can see culture in one minute or one week-it all depends on how you go about it.

OP-budget? time of year? interests?

belletop

We're doing a Med cruise leaving from Rome & visiting a few places in Italy, Greece, and Turkey.  You only get ~10 hours at each port so if you want to spend lots of time in one place a cruise is not for you.  For us it was perfect though, we just want to hit the highlights and move on. Also we're arriving in Rome 2 days early to see the city before departing.

Chasity08

We will be going on a 13 day trip to Europe (so really 11 days because the first and last day are spent flying). We are spending 7 days in London and 4 days in Paris.

 I did a cruise around Europe last year and we went to 8 different places in 11 days. It was so fast paced and I felt like I couldn't really EXPERIENCE anything. I just saw a lot of stuff. And by the end of it...I was more exhausted then when I started! So I can't recommend that.

I would say to sit down with your fiance and decide on a buget, how long you will be able to go, and depending on that, I wouldn't plan to spend any less then 4-5 days in each city if you plan on doing more then 1 city, and if you DO plan on going to more then 1 city, make sure that the travel times between cities aren't outrageous so you don't spend most of your trip traveling. Travel time between London and Paris is about 2 hours total, which is about my max. HTH! =]

teachermegs

Two summers ago I took a trip over to Barcelona, Florence, Rome, Sorrento (my fav) and Brussels.
They also have cruises.

Snippylynn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_european-honeymoon-ideas?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:fda104cd-0d21-4afc-ba01-f1587164565aPost:055bea1d-6602-438c-a9f0-a54d967fdd57">Re: European Honeymoon Ideas?</a>:
[QUOTE]I disagree. you can see culture in one minute or one week-it all depends on how you go about it. OP-budget? time of year? interests?
Posted by alithebride[/QUOTE]

I'd say that depends on how you define culture.

Snippylynn

Just to add-- You wouldn't say that someone who's visited the US, but only been to NYC, Washington DC and Boston have seen the culture of the US, would you?  No.  Because they've seen some very specific parts of the US and one's that are interesting to tourists.  Same thing when you go to Europe.  Culture has to be experienced, learned and understood.  Those ancient things you visit and the tourist cities-- in the areas you go to, they're specifically showing you a very small part of what it is to be Italian.  Or French.  That's not something you can figure out in a day wandering around the Uffizi. 

Whit825

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_european-honeymoon-ideas?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:fda104cd-0d21-4afc-ba01-f1587164565aPost:055bea1d-6602-438c-a9f0-a54d967fdd57">Re: European Honeymoon Ideas?</a>:
[QUOTE]I  OP-budget? time of year? interests?
Posted by alithebride[/QUOTE]

Thanks everyone!  Here is some further info:

Time of year - late August/early September

Budget - ~$8,000 but really we're flexible

Interest - This is the hard part because I'm the type of person who wants to travel everywhere and do everything, so I'm having A LOT of trouble narrowing down the possibilities.  I know my FI would probably prefer that our honeymoon be at least somewhat relaxing (rather than runnign around sightseeing 24/7), however, I really want to do the most we can since we're both attorneys who work long hours and never have any time off work.   I studied abroad in Paris so I don't want to spend the entire honeymoon (if any) in France.  My fiance would probably prefer a destination with a beach, but I think that's negotiable. I love the idea of a Mediterranean cruise and think that sounds perfect for us, but I looked into it and the dates don't work for us on any of the cruises I found. Barcelona and Italy are both options I'm considering, though I don't know that much about either one. Ok, hope that helps a little.  Thanks again to everyone who's posted so far!

Whit825

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_european-honeymoon-ideas?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:fda104cd-0d21-4afc-ba01-f1587164565aPost:5d5ee2ac-c38e-4a38-a05f-5b71b6dffaef">Re: European Honeymoon Ideas?</a>:
[QUOTE]I don't understand your problem with the dates.  Your bio says you are bring married in late August.  Try Princess Greek Isles cruise.  It was our personal favorite from the 11 cruises we've taken.
Posted by CMGr[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm not saying there are no cruises during the months of August and September in general, I'm referring to the fact that we only have about 8 days for our enitre honeymoon, so there aren't any cruises I have found that depart and return within our set time frame.  Either they leave before we would be able to arrive in Europe, or they return after we would need to be back in the US.

NotPersephone

For 8 days, I would think about staying more or less in one spot so that you don't have to pack up and move right after you get adjusted from the flights/excitement etc.  Depending on how your dates line up with the start of school in the UK and (especially) Germany, driving can be a project in parts of Italy right in the last weeks of August.  I've never had any problems with the train.

If you want great food and something unique, there is Scicily.  There are a number of superb white sand beaches (Taomorina), ancient cities and the lovely and volcanic Aeolian islands (see esp. Spiaggia Sabbie Nere - where the sand is black) are a short boatride away.  There are greek, roman and moorish ruins and some cites from even earlier empires.  It's unlike anywhere else.  I think Frommers is supposed to make the best guide to Scicily these days but I'm not certain. 

This just killed all of the excitement that I was feeling about Boston finally getting some snow.

sister2groom

If it's your first trip to Europe I would spend at least some time in a major city. 8 days in Europe on a honeymoon (i.e. you don't want hectic sightseeing) I would pick one main place and do little branching out from there. Or at least I wouldn't country hop.

I had a lot of fun roadtripping around England/Wales countryside for about a week and a half with my family. We did a couple days in London and then a couple days in several countryside towns, but because we stayed in B&Bs and did alot of walking rather than museum visitng, it was relaxing and leisurely. (Although, I didn't do any of the driving. Word of advice, get a GPS because those roundabouts are mind-boggling) If you really want to wander the countryside in England, a car is probably best. I really wanted pretty rural, and train/bus just doesn't get you that remote.

I could also see a pretty good trip starting with at least four days in Paris.

glam70s

Amoro, I don't think you and I have ever agreed on anything, it's unlikely that we'll start now... :-) I think if you visit Washington, New York, etc. you do see American culture, you just don't see all of it. People watching for an hour on a busy street in New York tells you loads about how Americans live. You'll at least see enough to know what you want to explore further on another trip. I spent 4 days each in New York and Boston and found out (and confirmed through later, much longer trips) that I love Boston and New York is just okay.. It's enough to test the waters.

Culture wasn't the right choice of words - what I meant was we're more interested in using a hotel as a base to wander aimlessly for a few days, people watch, etc., and then move to a new hotel to repeat. We're not going to be running around trying to cram in as many sights as possible, we're trying to focus on keeping everything low key and relaxed. Because of that, I think 4-5 days in one city is enough for our first trip. We'll choose the cities we liked the feel of and spend more time getting to know them later.

With travel time between cities, the trip between Paris and Venice is fairly long, so we're taking an overnight train, which means we avoid paying for a hotel for that night in addition to the train, and we won't waste daylight travelling. The other trips are only a few hours, which is fine for us.

Whit825

Glam70s - I totally agree with you. When I was living in Paris, I did weekend trips to places like Amsterdam and Nice.  Though spending two days in each place didn't make me an expert on local culture, it was still most definitely worth it, and I wouldn't have done things any differently.  You can definitely enjoy a destination even if you have a limited amount of time.

Sister2Groom - Not sure my FI would go for it for our honeymoon, but I love the idea of driving around rural England.  Thanks for the suggestion!

NotPersephone - I love the idea of Sicily.  I'll definitely be looking into that more. Thanks!

nicepenguins

You might also want to account for jetlag by staying somewhere easy to navigate for the first part (like London) and then doing a quick easyjet flight to another city somewhere in europe and staying somewhere more exotic. If you have eight days, you could do the first two in London (or another city), then somewhere else for four days, then the last two in London to do anything you've missed.

Flights to London (or Amsterdam) are often cheaper than flights elsewhere in europe, which means you can fly business class there on some airlines somewhat cheaply.

Our honeymoon is a flight to Madrid (used frequent flier miles), a couple of days there, 4 days exploring southern spain/andalucia, and then a couple more nights in Madrid. We debated doing a flight within europe but chose to stay regional. But I could have been persuaded to do a quick hop to Vienna, Prague, or Germany instead of Andalucia.

Watch some Europe travel shows and see what interests you. Good luck!

Whit825

nicepenguin - Spain is one of the places we're seriously considering!  We've eliminated Britain, and I don't want to go to France or Amsterdam because I've already been to both those places. I think we've pretty much narrowed it down to Spain or Italy.