Cool places to go for a honeymoon ?

In My Humble Opinion
1

As some of you may know, the beautiful Shayna(Hi Sweetie!) and my humble self are going to tie the proverbial knot in about two months, provided the fates and the INS will smile upon us. They’d better.

Anyway, we thought this board would be an excellent place to ask for honeymoon location input - we’ve kicked a few ideas around, but nothing really stood out as the ultimate place to go.

We’re rather firmly decided against cruises, we’re not the sort of people who hang out on beaches for hours (but if there happens to be a beach near some interesting stuff, excellent!), and we do not have unlimited means at our disposal, sad as it is. Oh, and we’ll be starting our trek from LA.

So, teeming milllions: Any tips, warnings, hints, suggestions ?

S. Norman - awaiting the double entendres with stoic calm.

2

This may be a bit far afield but my wife and I honeymooned in Santa Fe, NM. We stayed at La Fonda which is on the plaza and had fantastic room service breakfasts and ate dinner at some fine restaurants - Coyote Cafe, Pasqual’s, Rancho de Chimayo (in Chimayo, not Santa Fe, but there’s a quiet little bed and breakfast across the street where you can sleep it off!). There are galleries, museums, the Ten Thousand Waves Japanese Health Spa. Up the road is Taos. There’s Bandolier National Monument out near Los Alamos, various pueblos if you’re into that sort of thing.

If you’re starting out in LA there’s Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon. Sedona AZ on the way. You could go up north to Big Sur.

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Mrs. F. and I went there last November, and if we could go back in time and have our honeymoon again (with the present bank account, though actually it was surprisingly affordable), that’s where I’d go.

Right now, roundtrip airfare from the East Coast is $882 on United, so it should be at least slightly cheaper from L.A. Once you’re there, some people like resort hotels, but we liked the room and privacy of a cottage. Nice stuff is available in the Kihei/Waileia area for under $100/night. (On Maui, you’d either want to stay there, or in the Lahaina area: better selection of beaches in Kihei/Waileia, more nightlife in Lahaina. They’re only about an hour apart anyway.)

We rented a cottage about a 15-min. walk from the beach for about $600 for the week, I think. Feel free to email me for more detailed info.

4

Mrs. Blackhand and I just got married 6 months ago. Our choice for a not too expensive honeymoon was Disneyworld. We got one of their packages that included just about everything. It was a great time. The package included all our meals so we could go to a variety of nice restaurants and not worry about the price. During the day there was plenty to do at the parks and at night there were a variety of nightclubs and shows and of course a nice quiet hotel room…

5

I got married about 5 months ago and we went to Barbados. Great place if you ask me. It’s outside of the hurrican belt. For those who drink, there is a large Rum factory there that gives a guided tour with free rum samples all throughout it. The beaches are wonderful and the food is excellent (I recommend the resturaunt Carambola- best rack of lamb I’ve ever had.) There are locations that allow you to ride on the backs of turtles as well as an open zoo where you can literally walk into all sorts of animals. There are small monkey’s in the zoo as well, but you have to come early in the morning or after 4 in the afternoon. Such a great place.

6

I got married almost 2 years ago, and we decided to go to Tahiti. We spend 4 days on Moorea and 5 days on Bora Bora. It was quite possibly the most beautiful place i have ever been. I would strongly recommend it.

I would be happy to offer any hotel or general recommendations if you wish.

7

How about Sequoia National Park ? It is about a 6 hour drive from LA (if I remember correctly) and is amazingly beautiful. My husband and I spent part of our honeymoon there when we were married.

You can hike and camp, you can rent a “rustic” (read one room, no bathroom, wood stove) cabin, or rent more hotel like accomadations. The site of so many Sequoia trees is incredible and you will probably see a wonderful array of wildlife too (mule deer, black bear, marmots, etc.).

8

Not as exotic as Bora Bora, perhaps … but I honeymooned and frequently vacation in Charleston, South Carolina. I enjoy the beach, but it’s a lovely historic town with many things to see and do. Spoleto USA, a performing arts festival, is scheduled for May 24-June 9 this year. There are houses to rent on outlying islands, or intimate beautiful B&Bs. Plantations to roam through. Low-country cooking (Mmm mmm!) I love it there.

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My wife and I honeymooned in Seattle - and it was great. All told, we spent about $5000 for a whole week staying in a nice hotel and eating almost every meal in expensive restaraunts. If we had tried to budget a little more, it probably would’ve come in around $3000, but hey, we had fun. Even if we are still paying it off.

If you go, I have recommendations for things not to miss:

The Owl and Thistle Irish Pub, and TirNa Nog Irish Pub, both on Fourth Street, near the waterfront if I remember correctly. Both excellent little pubs, and the Owl and Thistle has great food and live music.

The Pike Place Market, and a little Greek gyro kiosk there. The market is mind-boggling. The gyros are tasty.

Eat dinner at least once at the Crab Pot, on the waterfront.

If you’re interested in this sort of thing, as I am, The Museum of Flight at Boeing Field is a must-see. Schedule about 4 hours for it. Skip the cheezy “flight simulator”, it sucks. Everything else there rocks.

Go to the Space Needle on a clear day. Enjoy the view.

Go to Bainbridge Island and drive around. Enjoy the scenery. Try not to worry about the occasional stray Sasquatch…

It doesn’t rain nearly as much as everyone says - we were there six days and it rained three times - and only one of those was for more than an hour and more than just a drizzle. Other than that, it was clear and beautiful the whole week.

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Mrs. Cliffy and I aren’t the types to lie around on beaches all day either, but that’s what we did on our honeymoon and loved it – it was so relaxing. If that’s appealing, we were in Grenada and it was lovely.

–Cliffy

11

Hey, this was my honey moon over 11 years ago. I would go back in a flash. I’ve been to lots of places on this earth and this is right up there as the most beautiful place. I did not want to leave. Wake up, walk out of your hut on the beach and get into a hammock under the trees and relax. Do some snorkeling. Be dropped off on a deserted island for the day. Doesn’t get much better.

12

Congratulations!

Sr. Tortuga-to-be and I are going to the Yucatan Peninsula for our honeymoon in June. We’ll be checking out the Mayan ruins and snorkeling and lounging and…

We expect to have a great time, but we always do together.

I’d tell you more, but it’s a wedding present from my Dad, and thus sort of a surprise as to what all we’ll be doin’.

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  • I’m furiously taking notes, here. Keep’m coming!

Thank you very much, guys! :slight_smile:

S. Norman

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There is always the village along the railway between Trondheim and Storlien called Hell. :rolleyes:

15

I’m getting married next month (one month and 3 days actually… yikes!) and we’re going to go to Branson for our honeymoon. We were going to go to Las Vegas but we decided we’ll do that next year for our first anniversary. We wanted to go somewhere close to home and we just plan on kicking around the strip and relaxing in our condo.

Since you guys are going to be in California I’d suggest going somewhere semi-close like Las Vegas. Inexpensive flights, inexpensive meals, lots to do and lots to see. I can’t wait until we go there next year.

Congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding. When exactly is the happy day?

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Well like cblackhand me and Mrs. Z honeymooned at Disney World. We didn’t do the meal option. We both felt that it would be cheeper to just pay as we went. We stayed at the Port Orleans resort which was really nice. The restaurant there had french toast that was so good Mrs. Z actually dreams about it to this day. A great money saver because you don’t have to rent a car.

If WDW, Epcot, and MGM isn’t enought for you, rent a car and you can easily drive to the beach, NASA, and Universal Studios.
Plus if you get the Bride and Groom mouse ears everybody treats you like royality.

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Since I don’t know the OP or the OP’s spouse-to-be, I won’t suggest where they should go, only where they SHOUDN’T go and what they SHOULDN’T do.

If you’re having a big wedding, you’re likely to be exhausted by the time it’s over, and you’re likely to make yourself nuts with all the details that have to be attended to on the wedding day and the few days leading up to it. So, the LAST thing you want to do is make a lengthy flight somewhere the next day.

My suggestion is, unless you’re both VERY energetic, don’t make your honeymoon the vacation of a lifetime. Make it something a little more low key. Even if you’ve both always dreamed of, say, a vacation together in France (or Tahiti or Australia or wherever), your honeymoon isn’t the time for that. You’ll have the rest of your lives together to do BIG trips. For your honeymoon, choose a tranquil spot someplace RELATIVELY close by, that you won’t have to spend a full day travelling to and from.

18

I would suggest New York-for the theatre, restaurants, and culture it is hard to beat! Plus if you like jazz, there are many excellent nightclubs, and just about any cuisine known to man is handy. Of course, it scores a mite low in terms of beaches-but then, you can’t have everything.:smiley:

19

Mr. Stargazer and I went to Savannah, GA for our honeymoon last October. It was great! I wouldn’t go in the summer, but in the spring it’s supposed to be beautiful. We didn’t want to lie on the beach either, and there was plenty to do – but not too much. It was perfect after the busy-ness of the wedding. We live in Seattle, and the whole trip cost us less than $2,000 (not counting airfare, though – we used frequent flyer miles). I highly recommend it: Savannah’s a beautiful city, and its slow pace will be just what you need.

FYI – in Seattle, Tir na Nog has changed hands and is now called Fado, and both it and the Owl & Thistle are on 1st between Marion & Columbia. :slight_smile:

20

Fiji!! Go to Fiji.

Cervaise and I went to Fiji for our honeymoon 3 1/2 years ago. I’m a grad student, he’s an artist with a day job, so we didn’t think we would be able to afford much. I wandered in to speak with my travel agent one day, and gave him some parameters (it would be nice to really get away, a beach and some snorkeling would be great but that can’t be all, buget restrictions).

He came up with Fiji. He had actually stayed at the place we went to. For 2 people, round trip airfare, airport transfers, all food and lodging for 10 days, taxes insurance etc, we spent $3200. It would have been less if we hadn’t had to fly from Seattle to LA for the flight to Fiji.

We stayed at a small place on the coral coast of the bigger island (Vauna Levu, I think). They had 28 bures (self-contained hotel room equivalent traditional-type dwellings), a restaurant/bar, a tiny gift shop, and nothing else. We had to go on trips to find ways to spend money.

There were daily snorkeling trips, expiditions to the Capitol (Suva), other towns (Sigatoka and the pottery village), guided jungle walks, and the amazing reef-protected beach. The reef was about 3/4 kilometer from the beach. At low tide, the water between the beach and the reef was about thigh deep, and you can wade out to the reef. We found an octopus one day! The only really stupid thing was the evening entertainment, but we were on our honeymoon and found other ways to occupy our evenings.

I could go on and on about how great it was, how you could look down the beach and see the next town around another cove in one direction and no more towns the other direction, how friendly and not crushingly poor the locals were, …, but I won’t. I also won’t mention the millions of different kinds of crabs we found and chased, the sunsets, …

We loved Fiji. The flight getting there and back is a bitch (~11 hours), but worth it. Fiji. Wow. Fiji. I want to go back.