Hello all. Still working on on figuring out our honeymoon in Europe. We want to go right before the rush of summer vacation so I think 4/16 - 5/2 (17 days) would be good or should we go earlier?
Now in regards to Itinerary, we are open to suggestions since we have never been in Paris. We have been to Florence, but would want to return to see the outer cities like Milan, Sienna, etc... How should we breakdown the days to try to start building our Itinerary? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks
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The first thing that I would ask is, since you mention Tuscany, have you considered a France only honeymoon, substituting a stay in Provence instead of a stay in Tuscany? You could do a fantastic honeymoon in France for 17 days and never be at loss for something to do or see, including stays in Paris (e.g. 5 nights), Loire Valley (2-3 nights), inland Provence (3-4 nights), French Riviera (2-3 nights), and perhaps even a couple days in another part of France, depending on your interests. Just a thought.
To go along the line of your original thoughts, I might suggest the following:
Fly into Venice, stay for 2 nights, see St. Mark%26#39;s Square, the Accademia, Ponte Rialto, the Grand Canal, get lost in the alleyways.
Train to Milan, stay for 1-2 nights, see the Duomo and the Last Supper. Otherwise not much to see, really is a shopper%26#39;s city.
Could then take a side trip to Lake Como for a night or two, if that tickles your fancy.
Otherwise, train to the coast. I like the Amalfi Coast, staying in Positano, and trips to Capri, Amalfi, Pompeii, Sorrento, etc. Some might suggest the slightly less touristy Cinque Terre.
Train then to Tuscany. Where you stay depends on your tastes. Florence is obviously a great hub for day trips to the west and to the south, but if you are looking for a great rustic Tuscan experience, you obviously should consider staying in a Tuscan villa in a small town. My list of must see cities include San Gimignano, Siena, Lucca, Pisa. You%26#39;d also want to visit a small town or two, such as Montepulciano. You could spend 2 or 3 nights in the area or a week or more depending on what you are looking for. If it%26#39;s a flavor you desire, 4-5 nights is probably plenty.
Flight then to Paris for 5-7 nights, although you could stay for much longer.
One last option is to consider perhaps forgoing Milan and Venice, as I mentioned, as well as coastal Italy. Instead, fly into Tuscany and spend 4-5 days there. Then fly or train to Nice and spend 2-3 days on the French Riviera (don%26#39;t miss the hill towns, such as St. Paul de Vence, Tourrettes sur Loup, etc., above the Riviera, which I like better than the coastal cities). Then by train to Avignon, and spend 3-4 days in Provence, exploring the small towns (Gordes, Les Baux, Arles, Roussillon, Menerbes, market day in Isle sur Sorgue, etc). Then to Paris to wrap up the trip for 5-6 days.
Sorry I diverged from your original request a little, but you might feel that you are spending less time in transit and more enjoying yourself with one of the other options that I suggested. In any case, you won%26#39;t go wrong. And for what it%26#39;s worth, even though I love Tuscany, I enjoy Provence even more.
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Thanks for the info. We have been going back and forth on this subject for some time now. We originally started with just France and I posted some topics looking for help since we wanted to try to see North and South. We then found out it would be too much of rushed trip. We then said why not Paris and portions of Italy that we last enjoyed? So I posted this topic. I am still with you and just stay in France. Those 17 days are really 15 days since we lose one day traveling to and from the US. So going back to your original recommendation, any further help or guidance in building just a France Itinerary would be very welcomed. I would like to visit Normandy as well. Again any info greatly appreciated. Thanks again
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I don%26#39;t necessarily think that it is a bad idea to do part of Italy and Paris for your trip. Although I have been to many parts of each country, France and Italy, (some several times) and usually separately, I would point out that I took my wife on our honeymoon (as she had never been to France or Italy before that trip) to Rome, Florence, Venice, and Paris. If you do want to do both Italy and Paris, I would just say to focus on certain spots so that you are not spending too much time in transit. For instance, you might stay more central in Italy, with the Tuscany trip that you mentioned and perhaps a few days diversion on the Amalfi Coast before flying to Paris to finish the trip for 5-6 days. Although taste obviously differs for everyone, I find that Milan is passable until a later trip to Italy unless you%26#39;ve always dreamed of seeing The Last Supper. And it takes you quite a ways out of the way from the other parts of your trip.
If you do decide to stay in France, you will get a wide variety of opinions on where to go. My feeling is that if you%26#39;ve never been to France before, you should visit the traditionally most visited places (there%26#39;s a reason why they%26#39;re the most visited places). The difficulty is that so many parts of France are worth a visit, and you could obviously be spending quite a bit of time in transit alone. I%26#39;d probably decide what you most want to see: castles, wine country, the coast, etc., and base an itinerary around that.
My suggestion would be perhaps to start by flying into the international airport in Nice. Then spend 2-3 nights in one of the coastal cities of the French Riviera, making sure, as I mentioned before, to rent a car, a guide, or take a day tour to visit some of the hill towns (Tourettes sur Loup and St. Paul de Vence being my favorites) as well as taking the train or a tour to visit Monaco. Then I would take the 3 hour or so train ride to Avignon to serve as a hub for exploring inland Provence. The must-sees, in my opinion, are Gordes (incredible cliff-hanging city), Roussillon (ochre cliffs), Les Baux (highly visited hill town that you need to see from a distance as well as from within), Arles (Roman ruins), Pont du Gard (massive Roman aqueduct), St. Remy (Van Gogh), Menerbes (if you are a fan of Peter Mayle%26#39;s book), the lavender fields, Pont d%26#39;Avignon and the Palais du Papes in Avignon itself. There are endless other great spots as well. I would rent a car and drive or splurge for a guide. A tour is the other possibility although then you lose part of the charm of Provence, the slow pace. I would devote a good 3-4 nights here. Then it gets tricky. You would then probably transit by train and bus to Normandy, stopping perhaps for a night in transit to see Mont St. Michel. Probably 2-3 nights in this region is plenty. I would then transit to Paris by train and spend the remaining several nights of your trip in Paris. If you like the idea of seeing the Loire Valley, you could add that in somewhere in transit for a night or two or you could do it as a very long day trip from Paris, although of course that would be just for a sampling, as you wouldn%26#39;t be able to do it justice. A day trip from Paris could be accomplished by car, by train (you%26#39;d still have to rent a car on arrival by train), or by tour. The tours typically will take you to 2-3 castles, with perhaps a stop for wine tasting. The most visited chateaux tend to be Chenonceau, Chambord, Cheverny, Blois, and Amboise. When in Paris, a trip to Versailles to see the chateau as well as the gardens, Marie Antoinette%26#39;s Hamlet and the Grand and Petit Trianon is a must. Plan on an entire day. There are, of course, other great days trips including Chartres and Fontainebleu, but I would concentrate on Paris, since it is your first time there. Paris on an initial trip is about the art and sights, but don%26#39;t forget that it%26#39;s important to simply soak in the feel and romance of Paris. And for me, it%26#39;s about the food, as well.
I hope that gives you some ideas.
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A couple of quick thoughts...
First I would suggest you make this trip a little later if anything rather than earlier. The major rush of summer visitors does not really begin until late May or even into June and the weather is likely to be quite a bit nicer, especially in Paris. (E.Y. Harburg should have been handsomely rewarded by the Paris tourism authority for his highly romanticized version of Paris in April...)
Second, I think ParisDreamin%26#39; is on base with many of her (his?) suggestions, except that the overall plan strikes me as being on the ambitious side. With 17 days I would limit yourself to Paris and one or at the most two other areas. In May I think the Côte d%26#39;Azur and Provence make eminently good sense as the weather is likely to be beautiful and both regions are at their best in the spring IMO. Two little points I would question in ParisDreamin%26#39;s recommendations. If you are already renting a car in Nice — and I think you should for at least part of your time there — there really isn%26#39;t any point in taking the train to Avignon. You can actually drive it quicker on the Autoroute and, if you take one of several more interesting scenic routes, there is a lot to see along the way. Second, while St. Paul is certainly attractive it is also unfortunately very heavily touristed. There are many beautiful villages in the hills above nice (such as Peillon) that are much worth visiting, and in lovelier surroundings, yet are not nearly as over-run and/or filled with touristy shops and restaurants.
What I would suggest at this point is that you get your hands on a couple of good general guidebooks to France (perhaps Michelin and the Eyewitness guide) and decide which region(s) most attract you. Then you can get a regional guide (Michelin and/or Cadogan) for those and start putting together a basic itinerary.
And I do like the idea of flying into Nice and spending a few days there before heading on to Provence and then ending up in Paris.
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We are not going as long as you are, but to the same destinations at the same time and this is what we are doing:
We connect hrough Paris to Florence, stay in Florence 4 nights (Athenaeum hotel so far is my pick). Then since we have to connect back through Paris to get home, we are saying in Paris the second half of our trip so that when we return to the states we just have one fight to take. You are going longer so you have more time for side trips, but we don%26#39;t like to rush and move hotels more than once in our short timeframe.
For what%26#39;s it worth, I was in Paris at the end of May the only other time I went there and it was cold and rainy the whole time. Might be unusual though! Our anniversary is in April so I think we wil stick with that. Airfare was $400 per person higher in May for us.
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Is second going later in mid to late May. April can be darn cold (and wet) in both Paris and Northern Italy.
Also its best to avoid the school Spring breaks.
France
2 weeks – 2010
10 April – 26 April (zone A)
03 April – 19 May (zone B)
17 April – 03 May (zone C)
Italy
5 to 9 days
Between 29 March/01 April and
05/10 April 2010, depending on
the regions
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;03 April – 19 May (zone B)%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
I believe this should read 03 April – 19 April (zone B). Please correct me if I am wrong, Tren.
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Yes should have been April - need to read my emails before I post them!
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