Italia?!

KatJon14

We are thinking about doing a 2-week backpacking trip in Europe for our honeymoon!  Mostly Italy, maybe Greece, Germany, Switzerland...?  I went to Europe as a teenager for a short trip, and also studied abroad in Spain during college, but haven't been since!

We do a lot of outdoorsy stuff - cycling, hiking, camping.... Would love to do some of that out there, but also just RELAX  I'd really prefer to get off the beaten path and see some non-touristy stuff too.  We will be going late August or early September 2014.  

Does anyone have any suggestions for places (countries, cities, activities) not to miss out on?  There is just so much to see, and never enough time!  

alithebride

With only 2 weeks and doing backpacking is choose a few towns/cities in one country.

Pepper6

I just got back from 2 weeks in Italy (Venice, Florence & Rome) and there is no way we would've been able to squeeze any more locations into that time frame.  In fact, I would have loved to have a few more days in the cities we did go to because even that long wasn't long enough for just those 3 (Venice was fine, but I would have liked a few more days in Florence and Rome).  So with that time frame, I would DEFINITELY limit yourself on locations otherwise you'll be on a train all the time and not actually get to see/do anything.

However, we still managed to do a few great 'outdoorsy' activities that you might like too.  We did a day-trip out of Florence to the Cinque Terre and did the hike in between two of the towns (you can hike between all 5, but even just the one we did took about an hour and a half and was a fairly challenging level.  To see the rest, we took the train in between), which was awesome!  Also, we did a mountain bike tour of the Appian Way in Rome, which was a blast as well! 

Also keep in mind that August is the vacation month for most of Europe, so a lot of businesses will be closed during that time, so you may want to aim for more early September.

amyelise25

I second the recommendation for the Cinque Terre.  We stayed for three nights this past May in between time in Florence and Tuscany and it was incredibly relaxing.  We did some hiking that was gorgeous.  There are beaches in many of the towns, so you can get some down-time and relaxation after hiking. 

There were tons of people biking around Tuscany.  Some on their own, some in tour groups.  We stayed in a villa that was in the hills and was incredibly peaceful and relaxing. 

Something different would be taking a ferry over to Sardinia and hiking or cycling around parts of that island.  It's a ruggedly beautiful island that is probably adventure-friendly.   

KatJon14

Great recommendations!  Thanks so much

Yea, we would prefer to go in September because of the cooler weather and less crowds, but I am also in a wedding in mid-late Sept so I need to be back for that!