Honeymoon in Italy. Tuscany, then Naples,then Sciliy.

oldscoil

Hi Folks.

I am hoping to honeymoon in Italy in late September.

The (very loose) plan is, head for Tuscany for about a week.

Head south towards Napoli, Sorento, Amalfi Coast, then down to Sciliy.

Just a couple of questions:

Has anyone does this kinda of trip before.

Would you recommend, driving, trains, both etc.

Any black spots we should avoid at all cost.
Any places we should see without fail.

Any good websites that will stir us in the right direction etc etc.

Thanks in advance Folks.

bensoneb

Hi Oldscoil,

We did Italy for our honeymoon last year so I have a few tips for you some of your locations below.

Would you recommend, driving, trains, both etc.
Definately not driving around the Amalfi Coast. We did and were demented from the roads. They are really narrow and hairpins bends every 100 meters. Once you're at your resort, Amalfi or Sorrento, you definately won't need a car. Renting a car was our biggest mistake.... The best way to see the Amalfi coast is to rent a boat (around €160 and spend the day going up and down the coast, visiting the villages like Positano, etc).

Any black spots we should avoid at all cost.
Napoli is a really ugly city. Probably once was beautiful but they've left it go to rack and ruin. Even though we were booked into a really nice hotel/area, the concierge made me take off my jewellry and leave it in a safe went we were going out. Really not worth seeing.

Places to see
If you can you should definately go to Capri. A beautiful place and very special for honeymoon. While you're there, visit the Blue Grotto, it's amazing and again something that you'll remember.
While in Sorrento, make sure you visit Pompeii and Herculaneum. Ancient civilisations buried for hundreds of years. The stories and places are fantastic.

I could go on and on and on but suffice to say, Amalfi Coast including Sorrento is very special. Enjoy!

Daci3029

Hi Oldscoil,

We are getting married mid-April. We want to do something similar.

Fly into Florence - stay in Florence/Tuscany for 5 nights - Then Rome for 3 nights - Then Sicily for 5 to 7 nights.

Having been there in September, could you recommend any nice places to stay/see in Tuscany? And in Sicily?

Thanks

Mr. Presentable

OP, can I come with?

Sounds fantastic.

tinkerbell

We've been to Amalfi twice and it's beautiful, I would definitely recommend it. Avoid Naples completely, it is a horrible city and full of crime. The only times we were in the Naples vicinity were when we went to the airport and also Pompeii.

Do Pompeii in the morning if you are there during the summer as it just gets way too hot in the afternoon.

The roads on the amalfi coast and very narrow and rally-like (think Conor Pass in Kerry). You just need to take it slow and you'll be fine. It takes about an hour by car to get from Naples airport to Amalfi.

sweetie

We honeymooned in tuscany/florence/venice in 08 and also visited rome and sorrento a few years previously. I loved florence was not mad about Tuscany.
Yes, the scenery is nice but it became a bit boring after a while. We did a week there, maybe three days is enough. We did a few day trips in the car to Sienna etc and I found the driving fine but would not recommend driving from tuscany to verona. Took half a day and it was a bit stressful on the motorways and then trying to find the city centre to leave the car was difficult. They all speed, even the little Fiats! We loved verona (stayed in Hotel Art biblio - amazing) and found venice to be lovely in june and not overly commercial (avoid the obvious!) Sorrento/capri/amalfi cost is a must see and pompeii/vesuvius are amazing. Avoid naples like most advise and be careful of dodgy characters in train stations trying to help with luggage. Rome is also well worth 4/5 days of your time. Enjoy!

Edit: Will be going to a wedding in Sicily in june but also really recommend Sardinia, spent a week there before and loved it.

hunnymonster

It might also be worth asking in the rec>travel & holidays forums for opinions from people who have been there on non-honeymoon holidays?

BC

Florence is a great city. You can get the train from there down to the amalfi region quite easily too. We got a direct train from Florence to Naples and then switched to another train from Naples to Sorrento, it was all very straightforward.

I know lots of people love Sorrento but i really didn't like the place. Too much like a benidorm type holiday resort for my liking.

Capri is beautiful if you can make it there. We stayed a night in Anacapri which i thought was much nicer than Capri town itself.

I agree with the other comments about Pompeii. It can get very very hot so try to do it early in the morning.

bills

florence is beautiful. You can also do pisa and lucca from there- both worth a luck.
tuscany is beautiful- make sure you spend time there & check out some vineyards.

barbiegirl

Use the trains they are great and cheap and you can book your seat ahead of time, plus upgrade if you want.
As to where to go. We did Tuscany, around Cortona, Venice, Verona and then Positano. All were fantastic. Florence and Rome of course are brilliant, avoid Naples itself, and I have to say I found Capri boring and not that romantic.
Just relax and go with the flow.
This year I think we're going back to Cortona, then Florence and then maybe the lakes. Also thinking of Rome as a surprise birthday pressie for the hubbie. We adore Italy so we'd happily just go anywhere.

oldscoil

…….Part one.

Hi Folks.

aaaaaahhh it all seems like a distant memory now......


Anyhoo, we ended up doing the following.

Flew to Catania in Sicily, which wasn’t. People we met (directions etc) were really helpful, which is contrary to a report I read somewhere. .

Catania has a fantastic fish market. We used the Rough Guide for all our restaurants and it never steered us wrong.

Then we went to Taormina, which is a real cool little medieval village. With loads of boutiques and restaurants J , but not that tacky.

After that we stayed a few days on Lipari which is part of the Aeolian Islands. That was deadly. Took a day boat trip to Stromboli, which is an active volcano, nothing huge bit still pretty cool.

We then took an overnight ferry from Palermo, (like Naples, Palermo is a complete dump!!!!) The Ferry was the one thing we wouldn’t do again. We accidentally booked the Ryanair of the sea. It was horrible, but fun to look back on.

Arrived in Naples and got the bus to Piranio, which is the next town after Positano.

I actually really enjoyed driving in that area, but its exactly as Bensoneb described it.:pac:

Pompeii is really really cool, quite mind blowing when you think about it as you’re strolling around.

More to come......;)

Claurose

Just few lines to tell you my unforgettable experience! I got married in Tuscany and then I spent 3 days at the Regency Hotel in Florence ...we had such a wonderful time there!
the hotel is beautiful!

good luck!

Heineken Helen

I've been to Italy a few times and absolutely love it, especially Tuscany. We're contemplating Sicily for honeymoon... any tips on accommadation and stuff like that?

The Big Red Button

Avoid Naples at all costs! Horrible, ugly, dirty place.

I was in Italy the summer before last, and we stayed in a little village called Praiano just between Positano and Amalfi. We stayed in Le Fioriere, a lovely little hotel, really personal service and great value, would definitely go back. They have a little beach there, but there are plenty of buses also that go to the bigger towns such as Positano which also have beaches.

Capri is really lovely. It's expensive too, particularly the Blue Grotto - but worth it! Just make sure that you give yourselves at the very least a full day to see all of it, it's much much bigger than you might expect! Make sure you climb to the very top, it's tough going, but the views are well worth it.

As for travelling - I wouldn't recommend driving there at all. You won't believe the roads there til you see them, narrow windy little roads built into the side of crazy high cliffs with a straight drop down to the water, and only a flimsy little guardrail in between and no view around the corners - eek! I actually used to have my eyes closed on bus journeys, it was terrifying! It would probably actually be much less stressful, and safer, to use public transport.

It really is a beautiful part of Italy, and I can't wait to go back there Enjoy!

Heineken Helen

My own personal highlight of Italy is seeing Turandot at Torre Del Lago for a Puccini festival. Sounds pretentious but I'd never been to an opera before and hearing nessun dorma sang open air overlooking a lake at the place Puccini was born was absolutely amazing!

If in Tuscany, Florence is the prettiest city in the world, Pisa is great, Siena, Lucca and San Gimigniano are well worth a day trip.