Where to Moon the Honey?
Noxy
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Registered User regular
So, I'm scheduled to be a husband in early October and we were trying to brainstorm ideas for honeymoons.
I'm basically looking for ideas on cool places to go that aren't really over-crowded. We are trying not to worry about money right now so most things are fair game.
So far we have looked at the islands of Hawaii and St. John. But we have also considered a cabin getaway in Yosemite. Does anyone have any good ideas or experiences to share? Also, if you suggest a place, let me know the season/s to go.
Thanks.
(Update 3/8/2011) Cold places are a no go. The lady wants to go somewhere warm.
I'm basically looking for ideas on cool places to go that aren't really over-crowded. We are trying not to worry about money right now so most things are fair game.
So far we have looked at the islands of Hawaii and St. John. But we have also considered a cabin getaway in Yosemite. Does anyone have any good ideas or experiences to share? Also, if you suggest a place, let me know the season/s to go.
Thanks.
(Update 3/8/2011) Cold places are a no go. The lady wants to go somewhere warm.
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Within Belize you can hit some ruins, go diving, go fishing, go snorkeling, go ziplining, cave tubing, on and on. The prices are much lower than in Hawaii in our experience, and minus the crowds. Belize has the second largest barrier reef in the world - this fact makes for amazing snorkeling. The marine reserve - which they will not let you visit if you are from a cruise ship - had too many forms of life to name. We to multiple ruins where the trip to and from the ruins was another event in itself. For about $100 bucks they boat you from the island to the mainland, feed you, bus you on these small hand painted buses toyour destination, feed you lunch with all the booze/beer you can muster, then after the trip give you all of the booze/beer/drinks you desire on the way back to your dock. Mini-booze cruises if you are into that, but they have plenty of non-alcoholic drinks as well.
The boat trips to the destinations also tend to go through areas with abundant wildlife, so there are tons of photo-ops. Since we were not on a cruise we also were able to take advantage of the longer cave tubing trips. I think we floated for close to two hours inside tall caves filled with bats, fish, formations, and in some areas artifacts. The dining scene is excellent. For example, we were seven miles down the coast from a "fancy" restaurant on Ambergris Caye. We made a phone call and they sent a boat to come pick us up at our dock and brought us back after the meal for no extra charge. It was fantastic! Many of the restaurants do this around the island. All of the ice cream we had on the island was made by either Mennonites, or locals and is fantastic!
If you are interested in even more info visit: There is tons more information about all of Belize and the forumers are locals and frequent visitors who are extremely helpful.
We had an amazing time and cannot wait to go back!
VisionOfClarity, we are open to a lot of things. We want to see something new and don't travel much. We would like to do some fun activities but are not set on anything. We just don't want to be SO busy that we can't just have time together alone (frisky time). Mostly we are just looking for any ideas we can get right now.
That sound pretty awesome. I am a historian and love Mayan/Incan/Aztec history and seeing ruins could be a definite plus.
Are there any safety concerns around that area? Crime or anything?
Also, I think you meant to like something near the bottom and it didn't show up. Thanks for the info.
We put that on our list of strong possibilities.
We went snorkeling, explored the volcanoes, went petroglyph hunting, took a helicopter ride and just relaxed a lot. I believe there's a lot of golf courses in the area if you like that, as well as spas.
If you plan on going to the big island, definitely check out Mauna Lani Bay. It's regarded as one of the best luxury hotels
Another place is Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. They filmed the opening to the Shining there. They have something called the Silcox Hut which is up further on the mountain and is fun to rent out. From timberline you can snowboard, hike, relax. Or you can drive to Bend or Hood River, and or Portland with in 45 mins or so.
No real safety concerns. You only really need to worry about crime if you take a tour that includes going into Guatemala - at that point you will probably be escorted by military on both sides to your tourist site because of Guatemalan bandits.
I meant to link http://www.ambergriscaye.com
Your money stretches much farther there, too.
Although, if you want to head to the South Island (depending on your varying level of geekdom) I believe that there are tours and things for Lord of the Rings movie locations. Just, stay clear of the Christchurch areas.
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That said, we went to Rome a couple of years later, and that was *amazing*. T-shirt weather warm in November. Classical ruins *everywhere*. Amazing architecture. Ice cream to die for. Everything in walking distance of the hotel. Renaissance churches and Merchant's buildings. Amazing. On the other hand, we're both historians, so YMMV. The Italians also generally speak god english (especially the younger ones). So if you're looking for a 'cultural' holiday, it's hard to go wrong with Rome.
Of course, there's also London, though most of what I said above re: Rome applies, though there's more history crammed into the British Museum than anywhere else. It's one of the great capital cities of the world, and full of exciting things to do. They (we) also mostly speak English, too :-p
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London for a few days, take a short flight, Dublin for a few days.
London for a few days, take the train, Paris for a few days. Once you are in Paris, the Europe train system is amazing and you can get to other places very easily. We went to Amsterdam.
Disneyland for a few days, rent a nice car for a few hours, drive to Las Vegas.
We think we have hit on a good vacation strategy: Spend half of the trip on interesting and active things then try to spend the other half relaxing. On that last trip, 2 days in Disneyland was enough to see all of it but was pretty active. Then we went to Las Vegas, drank, saw a show and got massages.
The worst is when we got back home and feel you need a vacation from your vacation.
I know those seem like the classic stereotypical places, but they are beautiful places and great locales for this type of thing.
If you're looking for a more casual, laid-back yet party atmosphere i'd pick Hawaii; the beauty there will only compliment that sort of vibe. Cancun is more of an elegant type of honeymoon; there's party areas to be sure, but the nature of the shoreline isn't so in-your-face-exotic as Hawaii is. There are softer sand tones that really bring out the vibrancy of the water, so there's not as much competing for your attention like Hawaii's over-the-top nature.
http://www.schoolhousecreek.com/- The Mendocino Bed & Breakfast
I read about this place on a wedding forum and became smitten. It's just gorgeous, I love the different rooms and there are a lot of activities in the area. This is my laid back honeymoon choice.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/AllReviews-g642245-Terre_de_Haut_Guadeloupe.html Terre de Haut
I saw this on Yahoo travel once and fell in love. It's off the beaten path with lots of beach activities and cheap to stay at but expensive/difficult to get to. Scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing, kayaking, this is my crazy beach choice.
http://www.honeymoonthailand.com/package/fascinating_14_days.htm- Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Phuket
Chiang Mai is my main drive for visiting Thailand. I want to visit during Loi Kratong or Tam Boon Khan Dok. I also want to see the Mekong and try fishing for some crazy fish at one of the sport reserves. This is my structured, planned out choice.
And lastly, in college I lived abroad for five months and spent part of the time backpacking. I absolutely loved it and wouldn't mind an upgraded version of that for my honeymoon. Instead of the cheap train seats get reserved ones, trade the 12 person mixed gender hostel rooms for a private room, try some nicer restaurants, things like that. This would be the longest one as I'd want to hit roughly 5 countries again with a least 4 days in each. This is my adventurous choice.
We did Kauai. Super mellow and you have the option of doing outdoorsy stuff ike hiking kayaking etc or taking a lazy day and snorkeling or chilling on the beach. not a very touristy hawaiian island either so its not all clubby. that being said if you want nightlife it really isn't the place, but considering you were thinking of doing a Yos cabin, you probably wouldn't mind that.
That said, though, urahonky's Alaska cruise advice is pretty excellent, too. My family did an Alaska cruise a few years back, and I thought I'd be stuck on a boat for a week surrounded by geriatrics and bored out of my mind, but it was actually fantastic. The scenery from the ship was great, the stops along the way were all interesting, the couple of shore excursions we did were cool, the food was fantastic. The awesome thing about a cruise is that you can do as much or as little as you want, but none of it is stuff you need to *worry* about. You don't have to cook anything, or clean anything, or sit down with a map trying to figure out where to go next: you just sit back and relax, and everything is taken care of for you. You can sleep when you're tired, eat when you're hungry, and if you want to spend an entire day at sea sprawled in a deck chair reading, you can do that - or, if you prefer to be more active, you can go for a jog, or watch a movie, or treat yourself to a spa package, or attend an art auction.
The only problem with Alaska cruises is, the season only runs until late September. We went in August, and even then, it got a little chilly sometimes out at sea.
Phuket, and specifically Pi Pi Island, made Hawaii seem disappointed by comparison in terms of natural beauty, and that's not to say anything bad about any of the Hawaiian islands I visited.
If it wasn't for the insane flight time, we'd go back sooner.
I have an update. She wants to go somewhere warm. So we'll postpone the trip to one of the cooler locations or national parks until another time.
Thailand and Belize have been put on the list but we might save those for vacations later down the line. Especially Thailand. Though Thailand is relatively safe, apparently there is an election coming up and that is causing the political unrest there to get a bit volatile. I know the violence is easy to avoid but she'd rather not take the chance. I really appreciate the time you guys are taking to help me out, thanks again.
Yeah, like a month after we left Thailand there was a sit-in in the airport that shut down air travel for a bit. However, because it was Thailand, 1) no one was injured and 2) everything went back to normal when the King went on TV and suggested that he would prefer the protests to stop.
ProTip: If you like Thailand, say something bad about the King while you are there. You'll never have to leave the jail they put you in.
I gave her a list of the suggestions so far and she was checking them out online. She seems to really like Tahiti at the moment. We'll see. Seems quite and peaceful and I could maybe see some Polynesian ruins if I had the craving.
This is kinda fun, heh.
but i can promise that if you stay on the north island, there won't be any snow. Also, black sand beaches. hiking trails.
oh, and the country could use the tourism moneys. :P
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This is the tour:
http://www.goaheadtours.com/tours/AUN/australia-new-zealand-tour.aspx
It was very active, but we saw lots, had tons of fun, and they put you up in fairly nice hotels... We added on a Fiji extension for 3 days and that was just what we needed after our 3 week adventure. There were chill days as well as busy days. For example, we walked around Melbourne one day and just shopped and did a few small things. Another day in Rotorua, we went to the hot springs and... got hot... so to speak.
So it's probably a little more active than what you've shared so far, but we really enjoyed it, and it kinda goes along with lonelyahava's recommendation.
A few places of interest:
Istanbul -- no description needed here, really
Büyükada -- a really pretty vacation spot on the Bosporus and a quick ferry-ride from Istanbul
Ephesus and Pergamon -- the sites of two ancient Greek-then-Roman cities, relatively near each other. Awesome places to visit even if you're not an ancient history buff.
Cappadocia -- out-of-this-world natural scenery, local wine, great opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, great place top pick up ceramics and onyx or turquoise jewelry, underground cities where ancient Christians hid out from the Romans, and hot-air balloon rides available every morning. Plus your honeymoon suite will be part of a cave complex! (cooler than it sounds)
Safranbolu -- a UNESCO world heritage site and all-around gorgeous, Old World town with some great examples of Ottoman architecture, great bed and
breakfasts, and a wonderful local market to explore. Plus all the saffron candy, tea, rice, etc you can eat... it's one of the world's largest exporters of the stuff.
Kaş -- one of Turkey's best-kept secrets IMO, this is a relatively unspoiled seaside town on the Mediterranean. It's got some wonderful bed-and-breakfasts, great beaches and hiking trails and such, and is near a bunch of points of interest... particularly the sunken cities and caves, where you can go scuba diving and snorkeling. And if you want some more lively nightlife, the bigger resort towns like Antalya and Side are relatively nearby (along with a bunch of Greek/Roman ruins in the area). Plus you can catch a ferry over to the Greek island of Kastelórizo, which is a great place for a day trip.
Olimpos -- really neat place to spend a few days. Beautiful secluded beaches, hiking trails taking you by "eternal flames" (fire-breathing geysers...really cool!), and you can stay in treehouses! It's closeby to Kaş and Antalya, if you happen to go to that region.
ChopperDave - Turkey has been on my top five places to visit for a long time. I love ancient history and it offers one of the most accessible ways to experience it. Especially with Northern Africa erupting. I didn't think of going there on a honeymoon and I am not sure I would want to. I am afraid I would keep myself too busy trying to see everything. I think I will look into it though. It might be affordable and if we end up having enough time for a longer honeymoon, it might be ideal.
If you're worried about that then I'd say restricting yourself to one region with a relatively limited "ooh let's go here!" factor might be ideal. In that case I'd definitely recommend the Antalya/Side/Kaş region. You've got a good amount of interesting ruins (especially the underwater ones, super cool) and some nice historical museums in the area, but you can cover it all in a few days -- many tourism companies in the area organize day trips covering the highlights. You can spend the rest of your time relaxing on the beach, enjoying lazy boat rides, exploring the gorgeous towns, partying at the beachside clubs, and stuffing your face with Turkish food
I never had the time/money to do this myself, but if you and/or the wife-to-be aren't the seasick types than I'd recommend looking into a ""blue cruise." Basically, you charter a small, traditional, fully-staffed Turkish vacation yacht and sail down the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, stopping at beaches, resort towns, ruins and other points of interest. For a little extra money you can hop over to to the nearby Greek islands, as well. Seems like a pretty nice, relaxing, semi-structured way to spend a honeymoon without murdering your wallet.