I am getting married in August, and would love to hear honeymoon experiences or ideas.
We will probably go somewhere for a week and my current point of view on the budget is <=$5,000, because I’m just a hacksaw corporate finance guy and we are already paying for the wedding itself…But we did an 8-day trip around a few European cities (Milan, Zurich, Munich, Venice) last year for something like ~$3k, so I don’t think that range is unrealistic.
Any thoughts?
Yeah, was going to say Europe because it is quite cheap. Portugal or Greece are quite popular at the moment. Presumably Central America is a no go due to Zika virus. Asia or Maldives or something might be interesting, but probably harder to do due to flight cost.
A friend honeymooned in The Canary Islands a couple of years ago and loved it.
What Ohai said. Flight cost is going to be the deciding factor and then the whole Zika thing, which for me would point me towards Europe. I always wanted to go to Spain.
Have heard amazing things about Prague, planning to go in the next few years myself. Figure I will hit Munich when I go there as well.
Europe cheap? I thought the hotel prices are very high.
I did a Euro tour through Contiki for mine. Fairly inexpensive and you get to meet a lot of folks while still having your alone time.
Wait till early November and go to south of Spain. It’s cheap at that time, weather is still nice (high 50s - low 60s), not too crowded. I went for 2 weeks with this itinerary: Madrid-Cordoba-Seville(very romantic)-Granada(pay for drinks, food is free)-Barcelona(best city in Europe). Our total cost including all the flights and trains and hotels was under $1600 per person.
Edit: we also did a day trip out of Madrid to see the monestry, but I am blanking on the name. El Escorial I think.
Err, everything is relative… Is Europe vacation “cheap”, well that depends on definition. Is it cheaper than any other time in the past 5 years? Sure of course.
Anyway, since LivingSocial keeps offering me Greek or other vacation package for $1300 including airfare, I will assume that it is doable for $5k with two people.
You could still make Thailand or something work, with plane tickets $1500 to $2k, and everything else being inexpensive once you are there. It will be a bit of a different experience of course.
Spain is pretty wicked, I’m going to vote for that. Sevilla and Barcelona are amazing, I haven’t been to Madrid but I have some friends from there who say it’s great (possibly biased though).
My Spain trip was originally supposed to be first week in Spain and the second in the Canary Islands for some sun. But then multiple people told me those feel very much like the Caribbean just with longer flight, so we chose to stay the whole time in Spain instead. No regrets.
Madrid is alright. I wouldn’t spend more than 2 days there just to cross it off the list. The other two are awesome, esp Barcelona!
Southeast Asia has some great deals but the flight to get there could be quite expensive.
Do not go to Seville in August, it’s f’ing hot.
^Europe in general is not best in August since all the locals are on holiday. You will definitely not get the full experience, plus there are many inconveniences (shorter hours, fewer restaurants/shops, lesser interaction with locals).
Prague, Budapest, Istanbul always struck me as amazing cities I’d love to visit if western Europe is out because of the time of year. Istanbul may not be a great option in the current environment though.
I heard the Azores is wassup.
My biggest advice is to slow it down. Instead of racing from city to city, take your time and settle in a bit more.
really? There are nice parts of each of the islands for sure but it’s a long way to go from the US for a decaying beach resort.
+1
Madrid is a cool place, great food and bars but unless you’re a huge fan of fine art there isn’t a great deal to see for a big european city.
Barcelona is awesome though. if you can get a table try out Cellar de Can Roca.