For as long as we both can remember, we’ve wanted to go to Italy for our Honeymoon. However, Italy in late December is not ideal for someone who’s never been before [me]. So we pretty much wrote off Europe completely and started toying with the idea of a tropical oasis, something south of the border, perhaps a remote island, or something right in our own backyard. And with the help of our lovely readers’ comments we really started to narrow down our options. But after pricing everything and realizing how expensive everything was going to be for a trip we really weren’t all that excited about. We knew we couldn’t do Italy, but why not London? or Prague? or Germany? We consulted our dear blogger friend who travels for a living to find out how to make the best of cold weather in Europe, and what some secret warmer places would be that time of year. She suggested to just embrace it. Choose a place that is beautiful and whimsical that time of year and live it up. So after researching a bunch of different countries, we realized that something was wrong. It wasn’t Italy.
Derek has lived in Italy before so he knows the cities inside and out, but it was in the spring/summer so we weren’t 100% positive on how things would look in December. So after lots of google imaging one city took our breath away.
Rome!! We started googling photos of Rome at Christmastime, and holy bananas is it beautiful! And by beautiful I mean magical. Because we’re automatic adventurers we naturally want to hop around from city to city, but we also know that after trips like that we need a vacation from our vacation. I mean Chicago just about killed me, so I can only imagine what exploring all of Italy would do! So we wanted to choose one city to stay in for our Honeymoon, and tackle the adventuresome city hopping during a warmer visit in the spring or summer. This way we could explore at our leisure, and not feel guilty about just wanting to stay in and curl up by the fire. After more research we discovered that the average temperatures are lows in the mid 30s and highs in the mid 50s, which pretty much sounds like Texas, so I think we can handle that. And after looking into flights, they are fairly reasonable. And also, winter is a very unpopular time to visit Rome so there should be fewer tourists. Win! I’ve already downloaded an app to learn some basic Italian, so I’m ready!
Now we need your help! Have any of you been to Rome? Where should we stay? Where should we eat? Any shops that are a must? I think we have a handle on the whole Architecture/Landmark side of things being huge Architecture nerds, but we’re totally lost when it comes to lodging. So any tips would be greatly appreciated :)
Good choice, Rome is beautiful whatever time of year you go and although it will be winter it shouldn’t be bitterly cold like we get it. Rodney and I were in Rome this year for our summer holidays – I wrote about it here http://madeinmorningside.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/travel-tuesdays-rome-and-gaeta.html but please get intouch if you want anymore tips. xox
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the girl Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 10:53 AM
Ohhh thank you for sharing that post! Do you remember which hotel you stayed at? You have me itching to go to Gaeta now!
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Ashleigh Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 11:03 AM
heya, Gaeta was gorgeous, but maybe a bit boring if its not warm enough for laying on the beach.
In Rome we stayed in 2 places, one was Franks house http://www.frankshouserome.com, which was near the train station so a bit further out and not such a nice area, but the place was lovely. Him and his wife rent out two rooms which are beautifully decorated. Maybe not special enough for a honeymoon.
The other place we stayed when we came back after gaeta was Cinquantatre but I wouldn’t recomend it, the area was nice, pretty close to the trevi fountain, but the hotel was tired nothing special, despite being almost double what Franks house was.
Unfortunatly Rome is expensive, but you only go on honeymoon once so treat yourself. Also check out the apartments for rent, there are some really lovely ones and you might find a better deal.
xox
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Can ya’ll take me? I can be the 3rd wheel. Don’t worry, I will walk 50 feet behind, you won’t even know I’m there! :P
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the girl Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 10:45 AM
You can be our paparazzi! That way we won’t have to ask strangers to take our picture all the time :D
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Oh Rome!!!!! Such a romantic city. Don’t try too hard to follow what people tell you to see. Discover all on your own! That is the best way! Next thing you know you turn the corner and there is the Trevi fountain.
So when we were there we stayed at the hotel primavera near the campo del furae. It wasn’t bad for a bunch of students but I think for your honeymoon to could find something better within that area. It was a great location to start off at for any adventure you want to take.
Congrats!!!! N n
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