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Here's a fun question today: Where did you go for your honeymoon, Very Romantic Vacation, or the best vacation of your life? (Was your honeymoon the best vacation of your life thus far?) If you could take two to three weeks right now to go anywhere in a perfect world (free of COVID and conflict and climate change woes), where would you go?
I was updating an older post on wedding registries and this struck me as a good topic, and one I don't think we've discussed before. Where would you recommend people go for their honeymoon?
For my $.02, we were married in 2009. We went to Aruba for a week, in part because my wonderful FIL promised to pay for it, which was amazing, but I felt a bit more constrained in budget than if I'd have planned it myself — I might have sprung for a two-week trip somewhere farther flung like Bali or the Maldives. (Looking back, I wish I'd just asked him for a budget contribution or something that we could then build off of, but… ah well.)
Aruba was a lot of fun, and honestly just what we needed after the stress of the wedding and week prior. My “I'm going to plan the entire wedding myself with lots of small, thoughtful details” devolved into us imposing on close friends to complete projects, like the seating chart, the night before the wedding. (Thank you, Martin!) There was also some fun with the blog — I was still Very Anonymous, and the big NYT article that really put us on the map came out about a week before I got married. The reporter's email went to spam… my hosting site shut us down because of too much traffic… fun! My husband also got sick right before the wedding and lost his voice.
In any event, with all the stress of the wedding, there's no way we could have done a big sightseeing vacation with multiple stops or complicated travel — sitting on the beach with piña coladas was kind of just what the doctor ordered, you know? It was lovely, but more because of new husband + beach + cushy accommodations + finally being able to eat garbage after being, perhaps, overly strict with my diet before the wedding.
In terms of what my BEST vacation ever was, it's hard to say — my Sedona girls' trip is up there, so was the first time my husband and I went to Paris together. After being disinclined to travel for the past year or so, now I feel pressure to plan the Best Trip Ever.
So readers who've been on the Best Vacation Ever, please shower me with some ideas! In general, though, I'd love to hear where everyone went on their honeymoon, what it was like, and where you'd recommend other people go…
Stock photo (Maldives) via Stencil.
Jeffiner
We were married in 2012, and spent a long weekend in New Orleans for our honeymoon. One of our goals for our future together was to travel the world, but for some reason I felt like keeping the honeymoon low key and simple, and not one of our BIG TRIPS. I want the big trips to be about sightseeing and new experiences, not romantic or relaxing like a honeymoon.
In New Orleans we stayed at a B&B in the garden district, and did a few tours in the city and surrounding areas, ate some yummy food, and I remember sitting on the balcony with my husband just reading a book. It was lovely. Since our marriage we’ve spent 3 weeks backpacking in Japan, done a ring road trip in Iceland, went to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and visited Ireland, Cuba, and Canada. The pandemic put a halt to all that, and I’m eagerly awaiting the day when travel is safe again.
Anonymous
We went to Spain for two weeks, and it was really awesome. Low-key but fun, with great food and wine! We stayed in AirBnBs in three different cities, and it was a great mix of exploring and experiencing a new place while also relaxing and enjoying spending time together. It was also the only vacation I ever took while I was in BigLaw where I could actually unplug from work 90% of the time.
Anon
Our honeymoon was two weeks in Greece – Athens, Santorini and Mykonos – immediately following our wedding. It was wonderful and a perfect mix of adventure and relaxation, but if I could redo it I would sub a different island for Mykonos, since that one wasn’t really our scene.
I think our best trip ever was an anniversary trip to Bora Bora and Moorea. We also did two weeks in Alaska (a week on our own, followed by a week cruising Glacier national park) and that was amazing as well.
We’re hoping to spend our 10 year next August in Switzerland and we have family trips planned to Italy and Amsterdam + a Norwegian fjord cruise in 2022 assuming a new Covid doesn’t mess everything up.
My dream trips are 1) Antarctica, 2) safari in Africa, 3) Galapagos and 4) Patagonia but we’re until our kid is older for all of those. Hoping to do safari for my 40th in four years.
Jeffiner
I had a Galapagos trip scheduled for the last week of March, 2020. Can’t wait for that trip to actually happen.
Anon
Is it creepy that I remember that? I hope you get to go soon!
Anon
Thanks for including all the single people in this post….
Anonymous
Yeah, it’s a off-tone post considering all of the discussion this week about marriage-as-life-achievement and the pressure it puts on women in particular. I really hope that people are taking wonderful vacations whether or not they get married!
I enjoyed my honeymoon, but I think my best trips were a 3 week college EU backpacking trip and several trips I’ve made to European cities since.
Anonymous
Maybe try being less bitter? A honeymoon is a specific kind of vacation. It’s not the same as asking about best vacation ever stories. If Kat posted about best beach vacation you wouldn’t complain about not asking about best ski vacation.
Anon
Meh… in the first sentence, she broadens it to “best vacation of your life”. You can only have so many words in the title
Lyssa
Not every post can be for every person.
Anon
+1. Plus if you’re not married you could say where you’ve always dreamed about going on your honeymoon.
Anonymous
I have never once dreamed/daydreamed about going on a honeymoon.
Anon
Congratulations, here’s your gold medal for independence (or bucking societal norms, or whatever you were trying to virtue-signal about with this post).
Anon
Married but this definitely feels exclusionary to single people, due to what was said above about a honeymoon being a very unique type of vacation.
IMHO, it also feels exclusionary because so much of honeymooning depends on factors that aren’t normally what you think about with “the best vacation ever.” The exhaustion of wedding planning leads many people to want a relaxing vacation, not one that is filled with amazing adventures. More, ah, inexperienced couples often find a more remote location; they aren’t doing all that much sightseeing anyway. Sometimes, couples are able to spend more on the honeymoon than they would spend on a vacation (gifts, parents paid for wedding, etc.); others are so stretched by the wedding budget that their honeymoon options are limited.
Anonymous
Strangely, not everyone needs to be included in everything.
Anon
Y’all are fragile AF.
Anon
Sometimes I’m smugmarried, sometimes I’m fragileAF. My poor husband.
Anon
“IMHO, it also feels exclusionary because so much of honeymooning depends on factors that aren’t normally what you think about with “the best vacation ever.” The exhaustion of wedding planning leads many people to want a relaxing vacation, not one that is filled with amazing adventures.”
But isn’t that precisely why asking people about their honeymoons – using that word – is relevant? Some people seem to be saying this should have been phrased as “where did you go on your best trip ever?” to be more inclusive. But you’re saying that a honeymoon is unique and often very different than other kinds of “big trips” so I’m not sure what you’re asking for – Kat do just not cover the topic at all? Is it also objectionable to you to talk about wedding registries and wedding dresses and wedding guest lists and stuff like that? Because there have been tons of posts about that stuff without any uproar.
Anon
Eh, I think this post had an air of “talk about your awesome honeymoon” and not so much “let’s talk logistics of a honeymoon.” I find the logistics posts interesting even if they have no applicability to my life.
Anon
Personally, I find threads about wedding logistics way less interesting than anything related to travel. I’ve taken one honeymoon, I don’t plan to take another one, but all of this is inspiration for future travel for me and I’m sure many people who haven’t been married could say the same. Reading about other people’s dream vacations is fun! I loved hearing about family travel even when I was childless and not sure I was having kids. If you don’t care about the topic, skip it, but I think it’s weird to single out this thread as excluding single people when there have been hundreds of threads here about weddings and wedding planning.
Anon
Do you always expect everything to be about you?
Anon
I love people who read the headline of something and instead of being like, huh, obviously that’s not aimed at me they come into the post, read it, and comment anyway. Next time, just move on. You didn’t even have to click the link if you didn’t want to.
Anonymous
2 week driving tour of Germany and eastern France. We rented a VERY nice car and spent a lot of time on the autobahn.
Anon
mini moon in Mexico and then a year later did a honeymoon in Africa – South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe (it was combo romantic/relaxing, sightseeing and adventure). and while i am not single, you could have changed the post to also include Bar Trips, or other big trips to be more inclusive.
Anon
She has “best vacation of your life” in the first sentence! Do people not read?
Anon
Hiking/walking through Arches, Bryce, and Zion National Parks! It was so beautiful and different from my daily life. Day hike and a night hike just to see the stars. The parks are close enough to do all in a week.
Another anon
3 weeks in South Africa and the Seychelles. Hands down the best vacation of our lives.
Anon
Me too! Identical trip. It was incredible and definitely the best vacation of our lives, as well.
Jules
Our honeymoon was very short – I was in a one-year federal court clerkship in Va. and had no vacation time, so I scheduled it for Juy 4 weekend, adjacent to the 4th cir. judicial conference when my judge would be out and to coincide with my sister’s HS reunion, so she could come back to our Midwest hometown from SF for both events. We also were broke and paid for 95% of the wedding ourselves so had to do it on a shoestring. We spent a lovely night in a historic inn in a nearby college town – although there was some kind of polka festival going on, so lots of oom-pah-pah came in from the adjacent town square, it was hilarious – and then spent the honeymoon meandering back to Va., with some low-key hiking along the way. We spent July 4 night in a lodge in the Shenandoah natonal park, high enough up that we looked down on the fireworks in the little towns below; it was kind of magical.
So, not the overall best vacation of my life, and not the kind of honeymoon that most people have, but it worked for us. (And, hey, we stayed married 15 years.)
Jules
* We stayed married 25 years
Anon
We got in the car and just…left. Spent a month driving across the entire continential US. It was amazing in ways I will never be able to duplicate, now that I’m older and creakier.
Mrs. Jones
Immediate honeymoon was 2 nights in Asheville at Grove Park Inn. Two months later, 9 days in Hawaii.
The best vacation was/is Rancho la Puerta.
Lyssa
I live pretty close to a very low-rent (kind of redneck, tbh) tourist destination, and I’m always surprised when people go there for honeymoons, because, while it’s got some great features, it seems so not-special. But to each their own, I guess.
We were very young and poor when we got married, so it’s definitely not the best vacation I’ve been on now, but it was at the time. We went to Hawaii, and just generally explored beaches and luaus and other Hawaiian stuff. If I were to do it again, I’d pick a nicer hotel, though. Ours was OK, but I had really wanted direct beach access, which I didn’t get, which was a disappointment. Views were very pretty though, and we had some wonderful experiences. I do think there’s something to be said for keeping the honeymoon fairly low-key (beautiful location to just experience) verses something where you want to go-go-go and pack a bunch of activities in. But again, to each their own.
JTM
We accidently did 2 honeymoons which was very cool. We got married March 2015 which is prime spring break season, so we postponed our Caribbean honeymoon until late May to take advantage of cheaper pricing. Immediately after our wedding, we did a mini-moon in New Orleans for 4 days, and stayed in a delightful B&B. A few months later, we did a week at one of the Sandals properties which was really great. We especially loved being able to go visit the other 2 Sandals properties.
Anon
Today’s my 9th anniversary, so good timing ; )
We paid for wedding and honeymoon in cash, 5k budget. We went to martha’s vineyard for 5 days. We’ve gone back since, with no awful hotel room that’s on a truck route night 1 and AC that bangs constantly day 2, we found a last minute replacement of hotel in day 3 and took a bus to that B and B.
We barely remember that but a good way to start a good life!
Anon
5k budget for both!? I’m impressed!
Anon
Fwiw, we stayed at and loved the Hob Knob Inn in MV. Gorgeous place, great afternoon tea and honor bar and breakfast. The Vineyard Haven hotel (big old hotel) was where the staff was rude ( you mean you want us to replace the sheets that have blood on them? Why can’t you just deal with the AC noise? ) though I’m sure others have had better experiences.
KateM
We got married in 2018 and went to Greece (Athens, Naxos, Santorini) for 11 nights (plus 1 redeye). Leaving 2 days after the wedding was a great decision not to be so hectic the day after. It was fantastic and very expensive (for us). We did a mix of relaxing (beach house with a pool in Naxos, cliffside with a deck and amazing view in Santorini) and exploring (Athens museums and monuments, hiking all over Santorini).
However my more favorite trip was in 2019 for our 1-year anniversary when we went to Portugal (Lisbon/Sintra, Coimbra, Porto) for 9 nights (plus 1 redeye). I wish we had been able to add more of the southern beaches and see the inland cork producing area but we didn’t have enough time. For some reason that trip just sticks out more in my mind. I would go back to Portugal again for sure.
[2nd and 3rd anniversaries have been during COVID so we just did weekend nearby Airbnbs and left the kiddo with grandparents. Hoping that perhaps in 2022 we could do another real trip, and eyeing Belgium/Netherlands for that.]
Anon
Left the day after our wedding and recommend it!
Anon
A two-week road trip up the California coast. It was amazing and I loved almost every minute of it (except for the white-knuckle drive along Hwy 1 from San Francisco to Mendocino in the pouring rain!)
Anonymous
We got married in 2018. Two weeks in Tanzania, mostly on safari (which I highly recommend) and a few days at an all-inclusive beach resort in Zanzibar (which I do not). We knew our honeymoon was about the only time we could take two weeks off from work and wanted to do a trip we couldn’t easily do in just a week. It was awesome. Husband’s more of a cultural/city vacation type, though, so I promised him our first anniversary present to ourselves would be a trip to Italy, which was also awesome (Venice, Florence, Rome), and our last vacation before Covid. Hoping we can go to Paris for our 4th anniversary next year, but we’ll see what Covid does.
Anon
Funny to see several who also honeymooned in NOLA. When I got married, I was pregnant and it was the height of Zika so we didn’t want to travel too far away from home or anywhere tropical. We stayed at a historic hotel on Magazine Street (I think?) for four days, ate well, listened to jazz, and walked and explored a lot. I had been a bunch of times before so I probably would have chosen a different location.
Pompom
We didn’t take one, really. We were both like 4 weeks into new jobs (mine was a clerkship), and just couldn’t swing it. But we DID go stay with family a year later in a fabulous vacation location a year later…which we “count” as our honeymoon, but good lordt I do not suggest that. Family and romance do not mix.
We’ve since made up for it with a lot of luxurious vacations and alone trips!
Jen
We went to the Maldives and it was incredible. So incredible that we went back the next year for another vacation. The only problem is that the Maldives will ruin all other future beach vacations
Anon
Got married in 2017 and left the day after our wedding and spent a week in Greece (Athens/Mykonos/Santorini) and then a week in Egypt (Cairo/Aswan/Nile Cruise). Like a previous poster said, we’d skip Mykonos if we ever did the trip again because it wasn’t our scene, but Athens and Santorini were both amazing. The Egypt half of the trip fulfilled both of our lifelong dreams of seeing the pyramids and ancient temples — but it was definitely more of an adventure trip than a romantic one. We were glad we did the romance half (Greece) first.
ElizabethCS
We had a few days, off-season and mid-week, at a nice hotel in Ocean City, MD! We were very young and had no money, but I love the beach in all seasons. We ate well and had fun, rested after a whirlwind wedding planning.