Honeymoon Itinerary

McToughers

New member
Hi,

We are looking for some advice on planning an itinerary for our honeymoon in July/August 2018. It's our first trip to Italy so we are keen to visit as many places possible but spend some time in each place and take it all in.

We are spending almost three weeks in Italy. We have booked a 4 night stay in Rome to begin and a 6 night stay in Positano to end our trip.

We have 10 nights in between from 20th-30th July and plan to visit Tuscany. We would like to spend about 3 nights in Florence and possibly visit Lucca. There is a music festival in Lucca when we will be there and ideally we would like to go to a concert there on 26th July. We would also like to spend a few nights in the Tuscan countryside but would prefer to travel by public transport rather than hire a car. We are considering staying in the Chianti Greve area which looks beautiful as we have read that you can travel to and from Florence by public bus. Ideally we would like to stay somewhere with gorgeous countryside views but also a few cafes or restaurants that we can walk to. We would love to do some cooking classes and vineyard tour. Would Chianti be the best place to stay do these things?

We are keen to make the most of our visit. Any thoughts on places to stay in Tuscany, the order of our itinerary, how long to stay and how easy it is to travel around by public transport would be greatly appreciated.
 
As I read your post, the first place that comes to mind is the wine estate with farmhouse apartments called Viticcio just outside Greve. It is about half a mile outside of Greve in Chianti, so definitely walking distance to town for restaurants, cafes and gelato, but the farm itself is surrounded by its vineyards.

The bus stop for the bus to and from Florence is not too far away so makes it easy enough to not have a car.
Make sure to read this page on the town which has highlights as well as links to the bus schedule - https://www.chianti.com/greve-in-chianti/what-to-see.html
Once you have bus hours, remain flexible in your itinerary. You can definitely head back to Florence more easily that seeing nearby towns on the bus, they are not that well connected. So my recommendation is to use Florence as a base longer if you want to do other day trips to other main towns - Lucca, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano - and then move on to Chianti more to enjoy the countryside for a few days, enjoying staying put and relaxing by the pool ;-).
Here are some of the day trips you can do from Florence: https://www.visitflorence.com/itineraries-in-florence/top-day-trips-from-florence.html

If you want to make it to Lucca for a music concert, maybe you should also plan to move from Florence and spend the night there, at least. So that you don't have to worry about getting back on a late train. And if you want to get tickets to the concert, make sure to buy them ahead of time -- big names sell fast!

Hope this helps in sorting some basics out, let us know of any other questions or doubts you have.
 
Honeymooning without a Car

Buongiorno,

Getting anywhere in the countryside without a car does have its pros and cons. It leaves you stress free as far as navigating the roads yet, you are tied to the frequency of the local transport.

One of my favorite places is Casa Podere Monti (however you will see others on this link: http://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/no-car-needed/) I have actually visited them and the hosts are fabulous...btw, they now have on site cooking lessons - love it.

Definitely book your tickets for the Lucca festival as soon as possible, and you if you don't find affordable availability you might want to check out some of the other possibilities in Tuscany.

I also suggest you try to actually stay that night in Lucca - not only is there the excitement in the city, so you live it a bit differently but it also cuts the hassle of trying to get back to your accommodations outside of the city. Besides that you can definitely spend a day enjoying all that Lucca has to offer.

Buon Viaggio,

Donna Denise
 
Top