Super excited to have a guest writer on the blog today to share her honeymoon itinerary! My adventurous sister Allie is sharing her non-traditional honeymoon with you all! This really sounded like a trip of a lifetime! I’ll let her get started.
Hello! My name is Allie, and I am Brooke’s middle little sister. I am also the sister who helped get the girl and the kiwi together! Shortly after those two got together, Derek came into my life, and he was the best man at Brooke and James’ wedding. Derek and I were married on June 2, 2018, and as close as we are to Brooke and James, we chose not to bring them on our honeymoon. But I still wanted to share our amazing European honeymoon adventure with you!
*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*
We went to Italy, France, and Switzerland on our Honeymoon, and no, we didn’t see the Eiffel Tower, or the Colosseum, or the city of Venice. We instead chose to spend 3 nights in 4 locations: Lake Como- Italy, Zermatt- Switzerland, Chamonix- France, and Cinque Terre- Italy. We chose these places because we aren’t big city people. Give us mountains and beaches any day, but we also don’t speak any other languages and wanted to relax.
These towns are tourist towns so they felt safe, there are lots of hotel options with amenities, there’s no shortage of activities, and there are plenty of English speakers. This really was the trip of a lifetime, and we would tell anyone to take this trip again and again. Let me tell you how we did it!
Getting There
We flew from Toronto, Canada (it saved us almost 50% on flights to drive to Toronto from Detroit- a no brainer) into Milan, Italy. From there, we rented a car, but it would have been just as easy- and cheaper- to take a train to Lake Como. The train would’ve gotten us to Varenna, and from there the ferry is not too far away to get to any town on Lake Como. But you don’t know what you don’t know, and we drove to Bellagio!
Allie brings up a good point! Look at near by airports, sometimes driving a few hours away can save HUNDREDS on airfare! Get started at Cheapoair.com – BrookeR
Related: The Ultimate Long Haul Carry-on
Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy
We agreed- this was the most romantic place we had ever been, and we don’t think it was because we were on our honeymoon. Picture cobble stone streets, colorful walls, wine cheaper than water, friendly Italians, restaurants on the water, and a huge lake surrounded by mountains.
It’s the ideal setting for a romance novel. Because it is so mountainous, you have to use stairs to get anywhere, and there aren’t really roads for cars in the towns that we saw around Lake Como (another reason to just take the train).
After exploring the many restaurants and shops Bellagio had to offer for a couple days, we took the ferry to Varenna, where we found a castle to hike to, and rented kayaks for a few hours. Because Bellagio is on a peninsula, there wasn’t much hiking or any other towns to visit, so we would recommend Varenna. Bellagio was quiet, though!
Like these Go Pro photos? Go check out why we love our Go Pro here.
Zermatt, Switzerland
We drove to Switzerland. Quick tip: You have to purchase a Swiss highway pass. Do this online before you go, we couldn’t find a place that sold them! We were only there 3 days and didn’t get caught, but we were on edge looking for the Swiss police while driving!
Anyways, this is my favorite country I have ever visited (sorry James, it narrowly beat New Zealand in my book). To get to Zermatt, you have to park (there is a huge and safe structure) and take a train because there are no cars in the city. This town is settled between two mountains right under the Matterhorn, there are views everywhere you look, and the food was delicious (which we were excited about, because we can’t say the same for Lake Como). You could live here for 3 months and still not hike all the trails. We settled on the 5 Lakes Hike, and found some sweet Swiss animals along the way.
There is skiing year-round here, so of course we had to ski in Switzerland! Unfortunately, we were skiing post-winter season, and pre-summer season, so there was only one chairlift going. They were planning to open a lot more later in June for summer season. But hey, we can still say we skied in Switzerland.
On our way out of Switzerland, we stopped in Randa to hike the longest suspension bridge in the world- The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge. It was well worth the hike! But, we probably should have made it an out-and-back, because the subsequent bridges for the circular hike were out, and we got a little lost in the Swiss Alps. Thankfully, my mountain man guided us down to safety (4 hours later…), and we were off to France!
Related: AirBnb Pros and Cons
Chamonix, France
As legend goes, this is the town where mountaineering was invented, and looking around at this city nestled between sharp peeks, it is easy to see why. Apparently a must-do here is to ride the cable car to the Aguille Du Midi, which is essentially a VERY high peak. But, it was broken while we were there.
It was raining a lot of our time in Chamonix, so we took the Montenvers train to go inside the Mer de Glace glacier tunnels. There were guided glacier tours to go for hikes on the glacier, and even ice climbing. If we go back we will definitely take one of these.
After walking through the tunnels, we hiked up to Le Signal. Now, Derek and I have been on a lot of hikes, but this was my favorite hike of all time. When hiking up, everything was so cloudy we could barely see 20 feet from us.
When we reached the lookout point, we sat disappointed and imagined the view. Now, this seems fake, but butterflies took flight all around us, and the clouds began to part. Within 10 minutes, all the clouds had gone and we could see the Mer de Glace below us, and the mountain peaks all around us. We wondered if we had died and gone to heaven! This hike is a cannot-miss in my opinion.
The next day, still raining, we went kayaking in the freezing cold glacier runoff river that went through the town. It was much more exciting than we originally thought, and our boat actually flipped! Aside from a couple bruises and a cut hand, we were ok and on our way back to Italy. We went back to Milan to drop off our rental car and took the train to Cinque Terre.
Related: How We Save Money to Travel
Cinque Terre, Italy
An old fisherman town that has become very popular to college students thanks to Pinterest and the open-carry laws, but no less beautiful. We chose to stay in Riomaggiore, because it was the only town that sees the sunset. Monterosso had the best beach, but Vernazza also had a great swim spot and was far less busy than Monterosso.
Corniglia seemed to be the smallest, and had the least water access due to being on a high cliff. We liked Riomaggiore because it seemed less busy than the other towns. The beach was rocky, but you could still swim and the sunset was everything we wanted it to be.
The popular hike between the towns often has parts under repair, but the train is a cheap and easy alternative to get around. During our time here we rented a boat for a couple hours, swam, drank wine and ate cheese on the balcony of our Air BnB, and hiked.
Allie and Derek stayed in AirBnb’s through their whole honeymoon! You can read more about why we love AirBnb here, and use our referral code for $40 of your first stay! – Brooke
Derek found a secret beach, called Guvano Beach, that had a poorly marked trail between Vernazza and Corniglia. (The old way to get there that we read about on blogs- going into the old dark train tunnel- has been impenetrably closed. However, this made it far less busy). Now, this trail was not for the faint of heart- it was steep, muddy, and when we finally reached the bottom we had to rappel down a 15 foot rope to get to the beach. But being only 2 of 4 people on the beach, we thought it was well worth it!
Ok, I have one more favorite to share: my favorite restaurant of all time. Up the stairs by the train station there is a gourmet outdoor restaurant with a cliff side, sunset view. There are only 7-10 tables, and they are only open for 2 seating’s a night. We arrived 20 minutes before they opened and got the last table. When the sun went down, our waiter brought me a blanket. Dream. Come. True.
There you have it! Our not so traditional, adventurous, and romantic honeymoon through Italy, France, and Switzerland! If you are headed to any of these places, leave a question in the comments!
Travel on,
*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*
What a great trip! I felt like I was there! I am definitely going to on THIS trip- minus the tipping in the kayak; but absolutely the restaurant on the cliff! Thank you for sharing your not so traditional honeymoon!
I also want to do this exact trip!!