For Paris hotels, your absolute best bet is to get your hands on the Starwood American Express credit card which comes with a 30k points sign up bonus. Make it your daily spend card for the next few months until you rack up an additional 30k points for a total of 60k points in your account. Transfer these 60k Starwood points to Marriott at a ratio of 1:3 in exchange for 180K Marriott points. Use these 180K Marriott points to book 5 free nights at a great Marriott property in Paris (I recommend the Renaissance Vendome, which goes for about €450/night in June). Once the Starwood/Marriott rewards programs combines into one (due to the merger) at some point in 2018, this sort of excellent redemption value for points won't be available. So take advantage of it now. Not a bad way to get $2,500 worth of free hotel stays by doing a bit of up front work. Let me know if you want a referral link to the Starwood Amex card.
I did something similar recently except we went through London instead of Rome. You can max out Rome in around 4 days. If you add a day, take a train and do a day trip somewhere. I'd recommend Tivoli to see Villa d'este and if you have time Hadrian's villa (and to spend some time in the countryside). There's a direct train into the town from Rome or a bus that takes you straight to Hadrian's villa. You can also go west to Ostia Antica (and go a little further west if you want to see the beach). You can also take a train to Naples and hang out there for a day. For a Rome itinerary, here's what we ended up doing: 1 day at the Colosseum/Roman Forum/Palentine Hill (keep in mind if you go in summer you get extra time since they close 1 hour before sunset) 1 day at the Vatican (pay for a tour to see the gardens which comes with a ticket into the museum so you skip the absurd lines to buy tickets). 2 days to walk around and see random things (Pantheon, Spanish Steps, the baths, villa borghese, various piazzas, old churches, etc..)
I have the blue Amex already. The one with the travel benefits. I'm close to 40k points to get a $500 credit on the plane tickets. Sister in law works for Starwood. I'm hoping I can get some special rate for European hotels.
I think 12 days is more than enough time for Rome and Paris, you'll have a blast. London is a great place to visit but I'd recommend not trying to pack it in as the other places have more than enough on their own. A day trip to Florence from Rome would be well worth it though.
Those recommending Italy. Would you recommend car or is public transportation pretty good there? How about for within the larger cities like Rome and Milan? Going with a 2 year old for a week. Really hoping to see northern and southern Italy. Do not want to waste a lot of time at the usual touristy stuff.
Public transportation was fine when I was in Italy for six months, pretty cheap and reliable most of the times. Have to say the buses and trams were packed as f*** tho, so it could get annoying when you're travelling with a 2yr old. Going by car depends, most of the Italians become agitated at everything and you can hear the cars honking/people cursing at fellow drivers 24/7. Parking can also be a bad experience, pretty much every car I've seen had bumps and scratches.
Public transport in Milan and Rome are great, but if you want to explore the lake region north of Milan (near the Swiss border), I'd recommend renting a car. I rented a car from MXP this summer and drove to Switzerland. Watch out for the 50 Euro toll charge though.
I would recommend renting a car. I drove all the way from the north down to Sicily, not a problem. Just in the big cities, might just want to valet park it at your hotel and take taxis or Uber or tourist buses. More relaxing. Tuscany is beautiful, of course, but you can pretty much not go wrong in Italy. Asolo in Veneto is also beautiful.
In case you haven't, take some decent time to learn a little about French customs and their ettiquette before you get there. This applies elsewhere, but you'll meet more French willing to break outside that stereotype they have if you take a couple of steps to try to learn their culture. They don't want fluency, they want acknowledgement.
Northern and southern Italy in one week sounds a bit ambitious. I'd suggest that you pick one city (I'd pick Rome) and do a few day trips (via a good tour company who will do all the driving) to mix things up a bit. Public transportation will be more than capable of getting you everywhere else. I don't know if I'd recommend bringing a two-year old, however. Like all cities, Rome and Milan can be very crowded, and I can't imaging trying to take in the sights/sites while also trying to keep track of a two-year old. Given that the youngster probably won't remember anything of this trip, I'd budget for a babysitter to watch him/her while you're gone. If you're not interested in the usual touristy stuff, then skip the big cities and find a tour that specializes in whatever it is that you want to do/see and will handle the transportation.
I lived in a Italy for a year and agree with everyone else, ITALY FOR HONEYMOON is a no brainer. You can't find any other country in Europe that has a combination rich history, incredible food, beautiful scenery, and culture. London/Paris/Dublin are all great cities in their own respect but they are very expensive and too busy that it doesn't make for great honeymoon experience. I personally prefer southern Italy as it gives you a more relaxed atmosphere. The trains in Italy are very affordable and runs hourly to just about anywhere on the mainland. I LOVE Sicily, which gives you a slightly different twist to the rest of mainland Italy. The food in Sicily is ABSOLUTELY the best! Fresh ingredients and big portions for minimal $$$. If I had to plan for a two week vacation in Italy, I'd fly into Rome and do 2-3 days there. Then I'd take the train to Naples and try their world famous pizza (it's the home of pizza) and visit Capri/Positano/Ischia. I'd then spend the rest of my trip in Sicily where you can visit some well known town like Siracusa, the Aeolian Islands (highly recommended), Cefalu, Taoromina, climb Mt. Etna, and Palermo. Sicily is quite a large island where you can easily spend 7-10 days to see all the sights. The only thing you need to consider is when to go to Europe. If you go to southern Italy, I'd recommend any time after mid-to-late April. The weather gets warmer, the beaches will be nicer, and the more stores/restaurants will open. If you go during winter time, you can still see stuff but colder weather and lots of businesses closed during the winter season.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but wanted to know if anyone knows anything about Madrid? Gonna take the Mrs. during spring break. 5 days in the city.
ehh...I know that's the old cliche, but it depends. I'm in Paris now. Some get frustrated at my pathetic attempts to speak french and just launch into English. At work they're insulted if I try some French, as they think you don't believe they can speak English.
