Italy for Honeymoon? Anyone done it?

ennui

So glad you asked this as it's giving me ideas! Good luck!

YoungBaker

Whats your thoughts ennui? Where are you thinking of going etc?

In terms of rough costings, we are looking at a flights being about £150 - £200 return using easyjet and jet2 (could hopefully get them cheaper throughout year) and then trains between seem to be fairly cheap. so travel costs not that great really, but think the hotels will fairly bump it up

ellay864

Avoid Naples! Sorrento is lovely and a much nicer base for doing Pompeii. On the Overseas holidays board there's a whole thread on that topic at the moment.
Lake Garda is a beautiful area and when I stayed there we did day trips to Venice and Verona, and could have done Florence from there too. Italy's a lovely choice for your honeymoon

YoungBaker

Haha ellay the thread on the overseas forum is mine :P Thought id double barrel it as I knew some other honeymooners would be considering / would have been on this board.

The same theme of dont stay in Naples definitely seems to be coming through!

I think we both always thought of having a relaxing holiday somewhere beachy typical hawaii etc but the prices are coming in extorionate so trying to weigh up whether the tour of italy would be worth it!

cathy_j87

We're just back a week from our honeymoon in Italy We did 4 nights in Rome and then a week in Sirmione (S. Lake Garda). Rome was definitely worth going to, it's all so amazing but 3 days would have been plenty. It was about 35oC for us every day so depending on how you are with heat and lots of walking I would maybe factor that into it!
Sirmione was just so beautiful I didn't want to leave! It's about a 30 minute drive from Verona so day trips there and to Venice are very doable, in fact my parents did day trips from the North of L.Garda 3 weeks before we went! However it was all I could do to leave the pool to dander into town for food!
I'm very glad we did Rome first as it gave us a week to relax afterwards which we really needed!

I'm very jealous, I would love to be able to do it all again!

YoungBaker

Where did you stay in Sirmione Cathy?

Another option would be doing something as you say, a few days in Sorrento for the trips we want to do, then a couple of days in Rome before heading up to Lake Garda way (gives us the more beachy type of holiday we want) and can relax for the second week, with a couple of trips to Venice and Verona...

cathy_j87

We stayed in Hotel Olivi which is pretty much at the end of the penninsula (http://www.hotelolivi.com/lake-garda-hotel/hotel-sirmione.html). It's a 5 minute dander from the main restaurant bit by the castle and there's a public beach 5 minutes away too. It's a gorgeous hotel, lovely food, lovely surroundings and on arrival we got a bottle of fizzy, raspberries in chocolate and a congratulations card

neneromanova

If we were having our wedding in June time (october for us so a little too cold) We were going to go here. All Inclusive, Adults only and near Pompey.

But we've been to Rome for a long weekend in September time and it was gorgeous!

YoungBaker

Cheers everyone, a lot to think about!

magfo

We did it 5 years ago. We stayed in Saint Agnello, which is on the outskirts of Sorrento. Absolutely loved it! Weather was fantastic all the time - it was August, so not sure about June. The hotel was wonderful, not massive, but perfect for us and the type of holiday we wanted. There was a bus that took you into Sorrento right outside the hotel, although we did walk it back one day as they have siesta time and no buses run in afternoon - we timed it wrong! Was a hot walk but do-able. There are also shops in Saint Agnello anyway and restaurants. We did 1 paid for excursion and 1 on our own. Paid one was to the Island of Capri, it was brilliant although very expensive really. You got a ferry over from Sorrento to Capri, then we had another boat tour right round the island and when we got back we went up the funicular train to the top of the island and then just had the time to wander round ourselves. It is full of designer shops and lots of restaurants etc. We could have joined the group for the evening meal but we chose to find our own. Then we met up again and geaded back over, think it was about 11pm by the time we were back to the hotel, but it had been a good day. Would maybe do it independantly if we were to go again (which we really really want to do!)
The other trip was Pompeii, we were quite chuffed that we managed to do it on our own. Got the train direct to Pompeii and a short walk took you to the entrance, then we spent the day wandering round there. I wasn't so fussed, but my hubby was and it was still a good day out.

We had an evening meal in Sorrento one night, in the main Plaza, that was lovely and then a stroll round the shops in the evening afterwards.

The meals at hotel were great, quite traditional italian but was all waiter service and from a menu every night, although I am fairly sure they would have tried to accomodate if you didn't like anything.

Overall it was just wonderful, a small hotel but not over run with lots of kids. We will go back one day!