Italy and Greece
We went on our honeymoon in September of 2019. We were able to take a month (you heard that right) off of work and explore Italy and Greece. In the midst of wedding planning, I didn’t want to plan a big honeymoon excursion myself so I hired a travel agent. She found some great spots for us, and we supplemented with our own adventures. If you’re exploring Greece or Italy soon, I’m here to make it a lot easier for you! I’ll tell you what is a “can’t-miss” and what is a “okay to miss.” I have also put together a collage of vacation looks that you can access here! I loved flown sets during my vacation because it was so warm! Let me know what you think!
Italy
Italian Riviera
We flew into Genoa and stayed in Santa Margherita. It was a great central spot on the water. Located perfectly between Portofino and Cinque Terre so it’s a good spot to stay if you’d like to explore both areas!
Santa Margherita:
Vernissage Wine Bar at sunset- great views and good mojitos! It is built against the old castle, and is on a big hill right over the harbor!
Ristorante Antonio- Great spot for dinner, was open late!
Angola 48- They had rabbit stew that was incredible
Cinque Terre
You can buy a pass for the train and hop on and off between the 5 villages all day. You can also walk between the villages but that would probably take you all day to hit all 5. Make sure you look up the hiking trail availability before hand. When we went, 2 of the trails were closed due to weather so we had to take the train.
Definitely stop in Manarola for lunch. Overlooking the marina is Nessun Dorma. They have amazing bruschetta and aperol spritz. They also have misters going so it was nice to sit there on a hot day.
We chose to do the hike from Corniglia to Vernazza. It took us about 1-1.5 hours. It was very steep, but a good workout, with amazing views. There is a bar right in the middle of the hike so you know your half way there and can get a quick drink!
We needed the day in Monterosso! They have a few private beaches so we rented a lounge chair and took a dip in the ocean. Fun way to end the day!
Portofino
This was our fav spot in the Italian Riviera.
Lots of designer stores and mega yachts, it’s fancy!
We walked towards the Hotel Splendido (if you can splurge and stay a night here, DO IT. We wanted to but they were sold out by the time we got there) and we saw Parragi bay from overhead. SO BEAUTIFUL.
We ate lunch at Tratoria Tripoli, robert got the shrimp gnocchi and I got the pesto lasagna! Both were SO good. Def recommend stopping there for lunch.
On a whim, we decided to do a private boat tour through Portofino Taxi Boat. (Around 300 euro for 2 hours) Ask for Cristiano. He took us past the dolce gabbana house, to San Fruttoso to snorkel and see the Jesus Christ statue underwater, then drove us past some cute fishing villages and into Camogli. He knew the area really well and since it was just us on the boat, we got to spend more time in areas we liked!
SKIP Jolly bar unless you want to spend 25 euro on a mimosa and instead GO to Bar Stella for an afternoon drink!
Florence
Stay: We stayed at the Hotel Bernini Palace. It was an incredible, central location! Beautiful amenities.
Chefactory cooking class! This was so much fun. We learned how to make pasta and more. They also gave us a full book of the recipes we created so we could do it again at home!
1:1 Florence Tour with a woman named Elizabetta (if you DM me on instagram, I can track down her information. It was booked through an agency but I can connect you). She gave us a great overview of the history, was very knowledgeable, super friendly, walked us all over town! Town square first, saw all the statues, then got us straight into the Academia to see David. After the museum she took us around the Duomo. Then we stopped into a locals fave gelatos shop called Perche No!!! Best gelato we have EVER HAD!!! Lemon and pomegranate were amazing, Concord grape and fig were great too!!!! Family owned and they don’t use any preservatives. We walked to ponte vecchio, then took us to a classic Florentine jewelry company to see how they make all the jewelry from hand (no lasers etc)- Nerdi, Laboratorio Orafo Incisore
Mangiafoco Osteria Tartuferia for dinner. This was truly the best dinner we have EVER had. They are known for their truffles. They have an extensive wine list and can help pick a bottle for you. Food- the smoked salmon burrata was amazing, best smoked salmon we have ever had. For our mains we got the sliced steak with truffles and the ravioli with truffles and split them both.
SKIP the large tours. We were booked on a wine tasting to Tuscany (which I was so excited about until I realized the tour was for 150 people). If possible, try to do a private Tuscan wine tour. Cool spots we did get to explore were Siena and San Gimignano.
Rome
Food tour! One of the coolest things we did. Our tour guides name was Carla but you can find food tours online pretty easily. Started in Campo Dei Fiori. Saw all the fresh produce. Learned that Italians cook based on when things will be fresh... fishermen only come to the market on Tuesday and Fridays so they eat fish on those days.... market closed on Sundays so fresh pasta those days. We tried a bunch of cheeses, the porchetta street food sandwich (unreal...at the butcher counter), olive oils, and balsamic vinegars.
After we went to the older supermarket/deli by the pantheon. It was called Al Pantheon Pizzecheria Romana. Go to the very back room and order a meat and cheese platter. It was as really nice and cool in there.
Best coffee in town is by the pantheon. They brew all the espresso beans there.
Drinks: Enoteca wine concept by the coliseum. Had the best bottle of Pinot blanc.
Dinner: Li Rioni! Best pizza we have had. It is close to the coliseum.
Private Coliseum Tour. Again, if possible, avoid the big tours. There are a few private tour guides who have VIP access to the coliseum. I can try to find all the contacts if you message me. Our guide’s name was Stefania. Also toured Paletine hill, the forum, saw the secret keyhole, and drove around town with a driver seeing all the sites!
Vatican tour... as a Catholic I feel like I needed to do this but honestly, I wouldn’t do it again. It was crazy busy and SO hot. You also need to have your shoulders covered and more modest clothing.
Found the cutest little massage spot called Roma luxury spa. We asked if they had availability for a couples massage and they got us in right away. Their massage rooms each have saunas and showers so after your massage you can relax/get ready!
Dinner at il Fellini was amazing! Yummy food!!! They greeted us with Prosecco... had amazing ciabatta bread. Ordered mozzarella and ham for an app and the lava cake for dessert was so great! They also brought out cookies for us to snack on!!
Greece
We flew into Santorini from Rome!
Santorini
Stay at Agali Houses. It was in Fira but far enough away from the main area that it was quiet. Set along a cliff, and each room has a beautiful ocean view. We had a room with a private hot tub (highly suggest checking my instagram highlights for videos @mollyheinevetter). The resort also had a beautiful pool and breakfast was included. 5/5
FISH PEDICURES! There are places all over Fira. Such a weird feeling but worth it.
SKIP walking down to the old port. SKIP taking the donkeys down to the old port. You’re screwed either way. I had read that they treat the donkeys really poorly so I wanted to skip out on that but still see the old port. Someone had told us you can walk down the stairs to the port. What we didn’t know is that they also keep the donkeys on these stairs and that the stairs haven’t been redone in years. The donkeys butts are facing the stairs on both sides, and the stairs are fully worn down. Donkey pee/poop, worn down stairs, and donkey butts in your face make for a treacherous journey down to the port. We ended up taking the tram back.
Sunset drinks at Tropical for a pre dinner drink.
Dinner at Argo! UNBELIEVABLE! The tazitki was the best we have ever had. I had the kebab special which was more like little lamb tacos with the most tender meat I have ever had. Robert had some traditional Greek dish... was good too but I definitely won.
Murphy’s afterwards for some drinks! Great atmosphere and music!
Catamaran with Captain teds santorini sailing company. Lots of different boats available. We were on a smaller one (blue lagoon) which was nice. Only 12 people. There was one called dream catcher that had at least 30 and probably would have been too crowded. We sailed past the black, white, and red beaches. Jumped off at the red beach area. Water wasn’t bad, really salty. Sailed over to the active volcano and swam in that water... note, if you’re doing this... don’t wear light colored nice bikinis or silver jewelry. There are high amounts of sulfur in the water and it can stain your swim suits and also tarnish silver. The coolest part of this cruise was that they cooked us all a traditional Greek dinner on the boat!! Chicken, pork on bbq, Greek salad and pasta, mussels, shrimp, tazitki and tapenade.
Rent a side by side to explore the island! A lot of people explore the island on a quad but we chose to go with a RZR instead so we could sit next to each other and chat. I think it was 90 euros for a 24 hour rental! Cheap! We were able to go to Oia and explore. It was a lot quieter than Fira. We also went to the only brewery on the island, Santorini Brewing Company. The best stop was at Santo Winery! It has the BEST views and their pours were so generous!
Mykonos
We took the ferry from Santorini to Mykonos!
This was the last stop on our honeymoon so we wanted something super relaxing. We stayed at the Royal Myconian in Elia Beach. The resort was STUNNING but it was about 30 minutes from town. They had a shuttle that was free and came every hour so we went to town each night but you wouldn’t be able to walk it.
Eat: Avra’s, Mamalouka, Nikos! All spots were incredible!
We came to Mykonos too late. Mykonos is known to be a “party island” with incredible beach clubs. We were here the first week of October and half the town had shut down for the winter already. A lot of people that work in Mykonos fly back to winter towns to work after the summer is over. A lot of the beach clubs were shut down as well. We were totally okay with this because we just wanted to relax at this point. Be wise when booking your trip here, and try to come before October!
My DMs are always open on IG (@mollyheinevetter) if you have any questions! Inspire me with your travels, tag me in your pictures!
