European Honeymoon

[TDunk]

The "better" half and I are thinking of hitting up London, Paris, and maybe some parts of Ireland. I want to hit one major city and soak it in. She wants to spread it out and maybe hit other parts.

Advice? Suggestions? Is Europe worth the price?

 

[scooter1369]

Big Ben. Parliament.

 

[Taosman]

We did a lot of trips and found that hitting multiple sites/cities was a waste of vacation time.(travel time takes away from vacation time) Narrow it down a bit to just a couple places. That will leave more time to explore each chosen city/location.
Paris is obviously very romantic but notoriously expensive.
How about a combo of cheap, quiet Ireland and expensive, busy Paris?
:tongue2:

 

[exhawg]

I just wanted to relax on a beach for my honeymoon. Travelling was the last thing I wanted to do after the hectic week leading up to to the wedding. I needed the rest. It might have been the 90 degree Mexican heat, but we were in bed by 9 every night.

Personally I would save Europe for a year or two down the road when you are rested up and can spend a couple weeks travelling around. I'm not sure how long you have for a honeymoon, but I wouldn't want to go to Europe for less than 2 weeks and spend 2-4 days per city. It's a long way to go if you only have a week and even worse if you try to do London or Paris in a day or two to pack in a lot over a short time.

I went to Europe back in college (12 years ago) and went to Geneva, Venice, Paris, Amsterdam, London, and a couple smaller places over 3 weeks. All were good, but the best time was in Venice and Amsterdam. Paris had it's high points, but the people suck. Probably a must for a honeymoon. I've heard good things about other cities in Italy, but a couple guys that I went with got mugged by gypsies in Rome. If you get surrounded by kids holding up newspapers start swinging. We had a train pass which was nice and it took the place of a couple nights in a hotel, but I've heard there are plane tickets for less than train passes now. A night in a train compartment probably isn't how you want to spend your honeymoon.

 

[BIATCHabutuka]

Amsterdam is worth the visit without weed or hookers even.

First time I went there for business I thought about moving there and finding a job there and not coming home.

Great city.

Currency will likely be better for you in a couple of years than now I would think.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Big Ben. Parliament.

 

[BayBuck]

Eiffel Tower. The Louvre.

 

[BayBuck]

We did a European honeymoon five years ago, as I had traveled Europe a lot in my college days and wanted to take my wife there, and she had put together a Paris-themed wedding. We spend two weeks in a handful of spots from Paris to Rome: that is classic romantic territory the whole way down, great food and wine and culture. It does seem that most people want the beach-resort honeymoon to relax after the wedding, but we prefer to move around and see as much as possible--and we did fit in a few days on the beach in Italy.

 

[Muck]

The "better" half and I are thinking of hitting up London, Paris, and maybe some parts of Ireland. I want to hit one major city and soak it in. She wants to spread it out and maybe hit other parts.

Advice? Suggestions? Is Europe worth the price?

Pick one of the Greek 'seven sisters' (the islands on the Ionian sea). You won't have to deal with massive crowds of tourists, the locals will treat you like family, prices are reasonable and the scenario is beautiful.

Worry about checking off the big busy/noisy/impersonal Euros cities for some later point in your life.

 

[The KSB]

IMHO London and Paris are my Favorite European cities. You can have one hell of a honymoon at either or both. Rome, Prague, and Venice are fantastic as well. Rome is much more crowded if that bothers you. FWIW you have my vote. If you can limit yourself to London and Paris and still not run out of things to experience. From London you can strike out to Bath and see Stonehenge. Paris is simply breathtaking. Both cities have excellent subways. Ramble complete.

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

The "better" half and I are thinking of hitting up London, Paris, and maybe some parts of Ireland. I want to hit one major city and soak it in. She wants to spread it out and maybe hit other parts.

Advice? Suggestions? Is Europe worth the price?

How much time are you taking? Big factor, imo.

In general, Europe is worth it. I've been twice and loved it both times. First time we spent the bulk of our time in Germany, with bookend visits to Paris and London. London is far better than Paris, imo. I look forward to returning to London/UK some day - we weren't there nearly long enough.

 

[The KSB]

London is far better than Paris, imo.

Put the crack pipe down. London is great but Paris is on a whole other level.

 

[Brewtus]

Personally I would save Europe for a year or two down the road when you are rested up and can spend a couple weeks travelling around. I'm not sure how long you have for a honeymoon, but I wouldn't want to go to Europe for less than 2 weeks and spend 2-4 days per city. It's a long way to go if you only have a week and even worse if you try to do London or Paris in a day or two to pack in a lot over a short time.

I have a different approach when it comes to traveling to Europe. Years ago I agreed with your thought of spending no less than two weeks there and seeing as much as we could. However it soon became obvious that there was no way I could take a 2+ weeks off from work at a time and wouldn't get there until I retired. So instead, my wife and I have been taking 1 week trips to different parts of Europe about once every year or so. We limit ourselves to just one or two cities so we have plenty of time to see all the sights but still have a lot of down time to spend relaxing in pubs and cafes. Over the years this has allowed us to see over a dozen cities whereas if we had waited for the perfect time to take a long vacation, we probably still wouldn't have traveled to Europe yet. Anyway, just my $0.02.

 

[ScriptOhio]

The "better" half and I are thinking of hitting up London, Paris, and maybe some parts of Ireland. I want to hit one major city and soak it in. She wants to spread it out and maybe hit other parts.

Advice? Suggestions? Is Europe worth the price?

Since you asked, here's

worth.

It is no secret that Europe is fairly expensive compared to similar things (i.e. hotels, restaurants, tourist sites, transportation, etc.) in the US; however, if you want to go and can afford it, YES. There are a lot to things to see and do in Paris, London, and what's in between. If you go be sure to check out the American cemetery at Normandy. It is well worth a visit.

If you have to take out a loan to go and would be paying it off over the next several years at a credit card interest rate; I'll say NO it isn't worth it. You'll be better off saving your money for something really important, i.e. like a down payment for a house, new car, your children's education, etc.

 

[gbearbuck]

How much time are you taking? Big factor, imo.

In general, Europe is worth it. I've been twice and loved it both times. First time we spent the bulk of our time in Germany, with bookend visits to Paris and London. London is far better than Paris, imo. I look forward to returning to London/UK some day - we weren't there nearly long enough.

My thoughts exactly... the big question is how many nights do you have? My general rule in Europe is four or five nights in each city (this helps to reduce travel time and actually lets you get a feel for the city instead of just checking it off a list)...

Also if at all possible try to link them up using the high speed rail system (every major city has the rail station right in the middle of downtown so getting to the hotel is much easier... also almost all of the stations don't require security so the time spend in the terminal/station is reduced).

If staying in Ireland a couple three nights in each town is good as most of the towns are small and spending a week in one town could become boring... the west/south west is the place to be in ireland, if that is a top choice of yours. you will need a rental car (just fyi). Shannon airport is much easier than Dublin (and in the west so you don't have to drive across the country... although it is less than a two hour drive to get from the Dublin to the west so I guess it isn't that big of a deal).