Where should we go?!

DH and I are already looking into vacations for next year (our 1 year anniversary). DH's job requires him to submit all his vacation time by the 1st of the year, so unfortunately we have to plan far in advance. I already booked a mini vacation to Montreal for us in June to go to the annual beer festival. We are looking to go away in either late august or september or october for 10 to 12 days. We narrowed it downt to these:

Italy (rome, venice, florence)
Greece (Athens,mykonos & santorini)
Spain (Barcelona & Madrid)

Any suggestion where we should go and what month etc? If you think somewhere else is better you can throw that into the mix too.. right now we are in the very beginning stages of planning.

We are going to try and narrow it down to two then speak to a travel agent and hopefully pick a date by December.

ETA: I know we could just pick the week and book a trip around it but I think all the places above are better in different months, so its making it hard!

I vote Italy for no other reason then I would love to go there I looooove planning vacations!!

i voted greece! but austrailia would be pretty amazing toO!

um actually any of those places would be pretty amazing!

We went to Greece (those exact places) for our honeymoon and we loved it. A perfect mix of site-seeing and relaxation/beaches.
If you are gonna go to Greece I suggest going in mid-Sept or later. That is the end of their 'high season'. We go there Sept 8 and it was still a bit crowded so I can't imagine what it would be like any earlier then when we went.

GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me know if you need rec's. I also recommend the time of year we went, it was PERFECT.

If you have never been, go to Italy. It is amazing.. the art, the food, the culture. Its really beautiful.

We went in end of June/ beginning of July, it was a little hot in Rome but perfect in the other cities. I would probably go in May/June.

Go to Milan too, fashion capital of the world.

I went with my family a few years ago. We flew into Rome and spent about 5 days there seeing roman ruins, seeing the gorgeous churches and the Vatican, sitting at cafes, visiting the Treve fountain, shopping by the Spanish steps, and shoe shopping (great shoe stores).

Then we drove to Verona for the day and then drove up to Florence along the sunflower fields. We were in Florence for the 4th of July which happened to also be the Florence music festival, so we got our fireworks. Florence has amazing museums and art. Then we went to Pisa for the day and headed up to Venice.

Only thing about Venice is you have to be careful getting from the huge parking lot to your hotel, its easy to get ripped off. A lot of people complain about the smell. You grew up on LI, it won't bother you. Its just the smell of low tide that people who are not used to the water don't know. In Venice you can see the glass blowing, take a gondola ride, go visit the lace making island of Burano. Its pretty amazing.

Milan... well its the fashion capital of the world, what else can I say. Just don't go there on a Sunday. What a waste. My dad took us there Sat night (we went to La Scala for the opera) and we flew out of Milan airport Monday morning, so we were only there on a Sunday. All we could do was window shop and see the Last Supper. Last Supper was cool, but not being able to shop was so depressing.


And food is so good. Its always 5 course meals too. The Italians know how to eat.

Greece - this is where I orig wanted to HM.....drool...............

How about a cruise and do all threee!

We went on a cruise for our honeymoon and it had more countries. Best thing ever! If you have never gone to any of those places, a cruise may be a good start. Then you could always go back to the places you like. DH and I really liked certain places and plan to go back and explore more.

If cruise is no option, out of ALL three- budget wise- go to Spain. If you go to Greece- SANTORINI. Athens was really nothing special. And if you want to really explore alot- see Italy. Rome is fantastic. Venice is magical and Florence is beautiful as well BUT my fave was the Amalfi coast. TO DIE FOR VIEWS! Good luck with planning. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!

Well I wanted to go to Greece for our hm but we plan on going there for 5 yr anniversary. We are going to Spain next year and then in 2011 we are going to Italy so my vote is any of them

I love Italy too and I am Italian as well. I've been twice..but they're two totally diff places unless you do Amalfi in Italy....

So it depends on what you're looking for...touristy stuff or relaxation?

GREEEEEECEEE

But i am bias- i'm greek..

But i would love to go to italy!!

ooh I would really say depends on what you want. . i LOOOOOOOOVE spain . . also went to greece for our HM and loved it. . went in June and there were NO crowds but it was still a little windy and water was chilly (outside was great temp tho) and I have always wanted to go to Italy so would vote for that too. . so No help here but have fun!!

I say Italy....only because Im going there and I guess i have a bias towards it