Honeymoon Advice July 2015

shuffles03

Hi,

Myself and my fiance are getting married next July and are planning to go on our honeymoon next August for 2 weeks. We're having a hard time choosing a destination and were wondering if anyone could offer a bit of advice?

Initially, our first thoughts were to go to somewhere like Mauritius and stay in an all-inclusive resort. Also, based on the time of year we were looking to go, Trailfinders suggested this location as an ideal choice.

However, now we don't think we want to go on a package deal at all. We basically came to the conclusion that it wouldn't really be that special. If someone like Trailfinders didn't sell the package to us, they'd sell it to someone else and we have a feeling that a lot of these typically honeymoon destinations will be jammed full of other hooneymooners.

We now think we want to book it all ourselves, not go through a travel agent at all. Instead of going to the other side of the world, we were thinking it could be really nice to go to somewhere like Italy, rent a really nice villa with an amazing pool, rent a really nice car etc.

Thing is, we don't know where to start looking. We like the idea of staying somewhere private but as it's our honeymoon, we'd like to be taken care of too. Is something like that possible?

Our budget is €5K - €7K

Thanks in advance.

You could go to italy anytime,
better off doing a once in a lifetime trip that you'll remember.
Me and the missus went to Japan a few months back .
Bloody fantastic

Just Janice

Here is a suggestion.
India has a bit of everything and you can also have that great adventure and be pampered at the same time. I'm not sure if August is the best time though regarding monsoon. I think it depends which part of India you visit as different parts experience monsoon at different times.
Flights booked through the U.K are really competitively priced (try thompson travel etc) especially around the Indian community hubs of Birmingham and Manchester. You can hop over to these airports for exceptionally reasonable prices when booked in advance.
Will a little planning you can stay in some really diverse places and be pampered in 5 star hotels for a fraction of the price elsewhere.
Its a great adventure.
Have a great time wherever you go!

Deise67

Vietnam ! Hanoi to ho chi min , planes trains n automobiles ! plus a cruise or two one in halong other on the Mekong Delta , fab honeymoon did it four years ago !

shuffles03

Cheers for the replies! We went on a RTW trip 3 years ago which covered quite a bit: India, Thailand, Singapore, Bali, NZ, US. India was brilliant but I think you're right - August isn't the best time to go.

whiskeyman

If you've already done a RTW, don't knock something like the idea of Italy though.
You may not 'always get the chance' to do an honeymoon style holiday if kids come along!
You could include rental of a nicer car, stay in spa resorts, etc... and avoid the more family friends areas.

sillysocks

We did South Africa that time of year - it was amazing. Booked a few things off the beaten track and then some that were more touristy. Would highly recommend it. It was 'winter' over there but still high teens, early twenty's most days and I think one day of rain in the three weeks. Prices are much better value then too so you can get great hotels for reasonable prices.

shuffles03

whiskeyman wrote: »

If you've already done a RTW, don't knock something like the idea of Italy though.
You may not 'always get the chance' to do an honeymoon style holiday if kids come along!
You could include rental of a nicer car, stay in spa resorts, etc... and avoid the more family friends areas.

This would potentially be a great option. I've been searching the past 2 days but not sure where to look.

I found places in Santorini Greece but not sure:
http://www.altavistasuites.com/

Avianto Suites:
http://www.aviantosuites.com/

I also found Mr&MrsSmith but on closer inspection, it was working out at over €10K unfortunately:
http://www.mrandmrssmith.com/luxury-hotels/astra-suites

Any good sites to search Italy?

bodonnell

Bermuda should come within your budget, lovely island, direct flights from Gatwick.

bungaro79

we did a 10 day safari in tanzania and a week in zanzibar for around those prices op. we also did a few days in rwanda to see the gorillas which added about 2k onto the trip but it was the best thing we ever did.

cooperguy

sillysocks wrote: »

We did South Africa that time of year - it was amazing. Booked a few things off the beaten track and then some that were more touristy. Would highly recommend it. It was 'winter' over there but still high teens, early twenty's most days and I think one day of rain in the three weeks. Prices are much better value then too so you can get great hotels for reasonable prices.

I second South Africa, it would make a great honeymoon destination and the exchange rate o
is great!

Just Janice

bodonnell wrote: »

Bermuda should come within your budget, lovely island, direct flights from Gatwick.

Its peak hurricane season Aug to Nov. Might be a bit blowy.

magicmushroom

We flew to Athens and then used the ferries to go Island hopping around the Cyclades - we had no plans, just went where we wanted and stayed in each place for a couple of days.
We found accomodation when we got to each place, all the hotel owners come down to the ports and have signs saying what they are offering and have little minibuses to take you there.

The only place we did book accomodation and plan for was Santorini - views were amazing but I wouldn't go back as it was so overrun with tourists and didn't feel special. We were due to stay for 4 nights but only stayed for 2 in the end as we didn't like it much.
The best Island was Naxos.

So yeah, I would recommend avoiding a generic package deal.

Italy sounds amazing, go for it!!

patmac

We flew to Calgary back in 2008 and drove to Banff and Jasper through the Icefields and back to Calgary still the best holiday ever, you could carry on and drive to Vancouver, we stayed a week there and did an Alaskan cruise but I wouldn't recommend this as it rains 300 days of the year so it's unlikely you will get good weather. Driving is easy in Canada and the scenery is stunning.

solerina

Deise67 wrote: »

Vietnam ! Hanoi to ho chi min , planes trains n automobiles ! plus a cruise or two one in halong other on the Mekong Delta , fab honeymoon did it four years ago !

Totally agree with this, amazing country which has everything !!! Make sure to allow a decent bit if time for Hoi An if ye go...loved the beaches there !!

shuffles03

So after 2 months of trying to look into/book our honeymoon with various travel agents, we have decided to go alone. Every agent gave us the exact same spiel with the exact same price regardless of what option or location they suggested. If they were trying to send us to the Indian ocean, they were sending us to Dubai for 5 nights (don't ask me why) and then charging us €5K for what appeared to be a glorified beach hut. The word "Honeymoon" is the worst thing to mention it seems when trying to book a trip through an agent.

We're definitely set on Italy and are in the process of trying to map a 14/16 day route with hotels/ amenities.

I was thinking of flying into Venice, spending 2 nights then heading north to somewhere like Villa Barberina http://www.villabarberina.it/en/index.html for 4 nights, then head west to somewhere like Hotel Castello Di Sinio http://www.hotelcastellodisinio.com/ for 4/5 nights, then maybe fly out of Milan?

We were thinking that we'd like to do some of the following options:

- wine tours (the above hotels are in their own vineyards so this option might already be covered).

- hire a chef for an evening meal (this would only work if we were staying in a villa)

- spa treatments

- bike tours (when I say bike tours I mean leisurely cycling to a nice restaurant/ vineyard at our own pace).

We were thinking of renting a car the entire time. All in all, the above seems more personal to us and the quality seems to far outstrip anything any travel agent had suggested to us with a far lower price (allowing us to up the quality, add in some nice excursions/trips etc).

Is the above route a good one? Is there anywhere else we should include? Are there spa hotels etc along this route that are recommended? The above hotel examples are just one or two we happened to stumble across (we don't really know the region at all).