Late Honeymoon Around Europe - need suggestions!

LeahMI

We went on a mini-moon for a couple of days and we're planning a real honeymoon to Europe in the next year or two. I've been to Europe twice (England/Norway/Scotland with family when I was young, once to France by myself in high school) but my hubby has never been. We're hoping to hit as many places as possible without feeling rushed or over-doing it.

We're estimating on spending 7-10 days. The places we have to hit are Ireland, Germany and UK. The places we want to try to hit are Poland or Austria.

Any suggestions for airlines, cheap but cute/clean places to stay in any of those areas, travel suggestions to and from other countries (train, plane, car)? Also, anyone have a suggestion for a budget, considering exchange rates, etc?

All suggestions and opinions are welcome! I'm a little overwhelmed!

bonjourbelle05

With 7-10 days I would probably just pick 2 countries, so you can really enjoy them and not feel rushed.  In your case I would probably either do Ireland/UK or Germany and Austria.  For what it's worth when we went to Ireland we spent 7 days just in Ireland and still felt like we could have had more time!

alithebride

i think with only that much time either stick with one country and see a few places OR 2 countries right next to each other  (england and scotland) and split the time. any less time, imo, you just go to go. save those for anothe time. they're not going anywhere.

GilliC

Have you done the research to decide what you want to see in each of those places? If there's just a few things in one city in each country, you may be able to pull it off, but you'll be spending a lot of time traveling. I agree with the others that one or two countries would be a better fit in a 7-10 day trip.

Also, is that 7-10 days on the ground? Or 7-10 days including travel? Even if you're a jetlag pro, if you land after an overnight flight, you'll be moving at a slower speed than usual. I'm great at sleeping on planes (I can even sleep through takeoff and dinner service in economy) but I never feel as rested as I'd like when I land. Add to that the general stress of finding your way around, and that's going to be a very exhausting day. And on the way back, a lot of Europe-US flights leave mid-day, so depending on the flight schedule, that could eat up most of another day leaving you with 5½ - 8½ usable days. Give up another half day or two to get out to the airports to catch flights (or get through UK immigration) and you're looking at even less.

jjbmstinco

We did 6 days (travel time included) in London. There was plenty to do.  My H would have liked to travel the country side of the UK.  We stayed Here-http://www.hotelsavings.com/booking/1016139.

It was a quick walk to the lube and 1-3 stops from everything.  There is a small store right by the station where we got fresh breakfast every morning to eat on the train.

We got a 7 days Oyster card once we got there.  We just used that to get around. 

Use Kayak.com to search for fares. I ended up booking ours through orbitz.com.  I would also check out ebates.com to see if any of the websites have a cash back option to save a little bit of money. 

We had a layover in Germany. We got there a little later than I wanted but there are like 12 checkpoints in the airport.  Just a side note.

MariaBend25

I would advise for you to take more time, if at all possible or affordable. 7-10 days is hardly enough to really enjoy a few cities let alone a few countries. With the amount you are probably paying in airfare maybe a couple more days will be worth it to see more sights?

I have been to many parts of Europes, and where to go/see depends on what you like to do...see historic sites/castles/landmarks? Or meander around big cities/museumsect? Or a bit of everything?

If you can't do more days I would say just do Ireland and the UK. If you want to go somewhere new (for yourself) then just go to Germany and Austria/ Germany and France/ Germany and the Netherlands. If you go to mainland Europe getting a Euro rail pass is worth it only if you will be traveling a lot between mulitple cities/countries.

amyelise25

You can manipulate the budget a little bit by visiting during off or shoulder seasons.  I have been to Ireland in Oct/Nov and Italy in May.  We saved a lot of money and the temps were comfortable.  I also did Berlin/Amsterdam in March.  We saved $, it was cold.  You can stay farther out in the city and take public transportation into town.  If you want a typical Holiday Inn type hotel, make sure to stay at three stars and above. 

If you travel off/shoulder seasons, you might want to budget for around $4-5K.  DH and I went to Italy last May and spent about $5K for 9 nights.  Our most expensive hotel was $150/night.  We are looking into a trip to Spain this May and right now my research has us about about $4K for the same amount of time.  It'll go up when we add in little things like taxis, admission to attractions, meals.