Honeymoon in Europe - beach holiday destinations

ash2008

Hi everyone,

Im getting married next year in Ireland - we are coming from North America to do so, so cant really afford to jet off somewhere too exotic afterwards. As such, we were thinking of sticking to Europe where flights wont be too dear.

Ideally we want to do a beach holiday, where we can just relax...somewhere with sandy beaches and nice clean water (while avoiding the typical package holiday destinations which would be overrun with drunk tourists). Can you even get those type of beaches in Europe? I initially wanted somewhere like the Caribbean or Indian Ocean, so that would give an idea of the beach holiday I was dreaming of. When I google European destinations, the beaches arent that sandy and they're always packed. We'd be going in September.

Three places ive been looking at are Dubrovnik, Malta and Corsica...but Ive no experience of any of them.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

drunkmonkey

If your coming from the states would you not have a lot nicer beach holiday in the Caribbean if you flew back that way. The water is not near as warm in Europe.

rossie1977

the algarve has some really good beaches especially lagos but yes the main beach resorts in europe will be packed come august

golden bay in malta is very nice but i was there in february so not sure how busy it gets in august, never been to Dubrovnik but the water in northern croatia is stunningly clear

Evenstevens

I've been to Malta and it's really beautiful and well worth a trip but it doesn't really have that many beaches. There are resorts like St Julian's etc that do have some beaches but there's not that many. It's quite a rocky coastline so places to swim aren't that readily available. It really is lovely though, nice people and food and you can do a trip to Gozo too where you can swim in the "Blue Lagoon".

ash2008

ash2008 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Im getting married next year in Ireland - we are coming from North America to do so, so cant really afford to jet off somewhere too exotic afterwards. As such, we were thinking of sticking to Europe where flights wont be too dear.

Ideally we want to do a beach holiday, where we can just relax...somewhere with sandy beaches and nice clean water (while avoiding the typical package holiday destinations which would be overrun with drunk tourists). Can you even get those type of beaches in Europe? I initially wanted somewhere like the Caribbean or Indian Ocean, so that would give an idea of the beach holiday I was dreaming of. When I google European destinations, the beaches arent that sandy and they're always packed. We'd be going in September.

Three places ive been looking at are Dubrovnik, Malta and Corsica...but Ive no experience of any of them.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

have been to Corsica - pretty nice - great for hiking / walking too. Should be pretty quiet that time of year too. not sure about white sands beaches in Europe though - you don't really get them. Croatia doesn't really have many beaches - coastline is pretty rocky there for the most part. You can still swim though and it's very nice. Maybe go to Dubrovnik and then onto Hvar by boat.
maybe consider Sardinia and / or Sicily also. I've heard that Sardinia is nice.

keithclancy

Mainland Greece at the Peninsulas near Thessaloniki have lots and lots of unspoilt beaches.

Its definitely the best place i've been to comparing it to Bali, Curacao, Gran Canaria etc.

mel.b

I'd look maybe at the Greek Islands somewhere.

Also last year I went to Sicily and did a couple of day trips to San Vito Lo Copo - it's a gorgeous sandy beach there and great water for swimming. The beach was packed, but it had a relaxed vibe. I don't know what it would be like at night. It was stinking hot in July and there are other day trips you can do if you don't mind the heat.

mfceiling

Italy, Italy, Italy....maybe Italy!!

Seriously it's a beautiful country, relatively inexpensive and can be reached on a cheap flight. Best of luck.