We had the best time on our European honeymoon! If you haven’t had a chance to read about what we did each day, feel free to check it out here. This is just a collection of items I brought with me on our trip to Greece and Italy during this past June!
While I always strive to pack Instagram-worthy looks, this goal wasn’t practical in the heat and locations we visited. During our two week trip, we stayed in Santorini, Athens, Sorrento, Capri and Positano. These gorgeous cities are nestled into hills and mountains. While there are cars, you have to bring out your inner billy goat to climb everywhere! I knew we’d be walking 80% of the time we were awake, so I packed accordingly. That being said, I 100% brought a few impractical pieces (for dinners out or 6 am photoshoots). Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom to check out a few pieces I WISH I had brought/ knew about!
Swim Suits
I didn’t need four swimsuits, but did I pack all four? YES. I wasn’t sure how many days were water related activities and if I would have time to air-dry the suits in time. We had two boat tours (which included swimming) and a beach day, so I only used two suits! (I like options!)
These photos are from our day trip to Capri! If you want to read about our boat tour, snorkeling, and exploring, check out my post here!
Tops & Bottoms
Greece and Italy were HOT in June, so I tried to pack as many white shirts as possible (to reflect the sun 😂). I only brought three bottoms, but was able to create a variation of outfits with the white tops (plus the adorable token blue one).
Dresses
The MVPs of this trip were HANDS DOWN the short red and black dresses! During the day, these two dresses were my go to! I even bought the black dress in two sizes and brought them both so I could wear one when the other one was washed and drying!
The red dress hardly showed sweat (even hiking the ruins of ancient Athens), dried quickly, and was extremely soft. I went ahead and ordered the blue version, even though it’s backordered until September. The black dress is from, drumroll please, OLD NAVY. Simply amazed. The two sizes I took with me both fit well, just in different ways. And the dress has shorts (STOP) and fits even me, a 5’10 lady. Most of the other dresses I wore at night when the sun had gone down. They were all light weight and stylish. I choose to bring several maxi dresses, because it’s annoying to hold your short dresses down when there is wind (and there was!). Just one less thing to worry about and they all looked so cute!
Shoes
Probably the category where you see the most impractical items. All of the heels were paired with the long dresses, which I wore at night (I saved the heels for short trips, not all day excursions!). Not sure why I needed three tan heels! My “Greek” inspired black sandals were comfortable, stylish and affordable! I found them at Target for $30! The tennis shoes were clearly the most worn shoes on the trip. I choose to stick with neutrals, so I always had the appropriate footwear to choose from depending on the activity.
Accessories
I didn’t bring too many accessories, but I was happy with the ones I chose! The clear winner here is the belt bag! I never leave passports/ personal identification items in the hotel rooms (even if there’s a safe!). This bag easily fit: Chapstick, mini sunscreen bottle, money, credit cards, sunglasses, Band-Aids, two passports, scrunchie, and a hair clip. I even fit Tristan’s wallet in when we were in crowded areas (fear of pick-pocketers)! Equally important, my camera. I love taking photos and this thing NEVER left my side (except for when I swam lol).
Things I wish I had brought/ knew ahead of time!
- Italian beaches tend to be rocky: bring water shoes or a pair of cheap flipflops to get from your beach chair to the water’s edge! Honestly, I would just bring dorky water shoes (like these), to get in and out of the water pain-free!
- Not common to have irons in hotel rooms: our hotels only had ironing service for clothes, no iron rentals at the concierge. Due to a few laws, irons aren’t allowed in rooms. We didn’t want to pay to have clothes ironed (literally 8€ for one shirt!), especially when we moved cities every 3-4 days! Luckily, our organized packing (folding shirts) paid off on minimizing wrinkles. We also attempted to steam our clothes every time we showered, which appeared to help. I would also pack a de-wrinkle spray (like this one). Just a quick note for when you’re packing!
