Grooms, fess up: Isn’t the honeymoon the wedding-related event you’re most looking forward to? To get away, relax, indulge, and celebrate your love as husband and wife? Read on for dozens of ideas that will inspire you so you’ll be able to enjoy every minute of this special vacation.
Consider how each of you handles long flights and how much travel time you are willing to dedicate to reaching your honeymoon destination. For example, if you are focusing on a tropical locale and your wedding is on the West Coast, Hawaii might be a better pick than the Caribbean.
If you would like to use a travel agent, find one whom you can trust or who has been recommended by other honeymooners.
Go to your local bookstore or the Internet and read, read, read.
If you cannot get enough time off for your honeymoon due to busy work or school schedules, consider a short weekend getaway following your wedding—then plan a bigger trip for later.
When you have narrowed down your choices of hotels or regions, compare what travel critics from books and magazines have to say about specific properties.
Don’t rely solely on glossy hotel brochures to give you all of the information you need. Remember that they are marketing pieces, and do your homework.
Remind your travel agent to book your tickets and hotel with “honeymooners” attached to the reservations. Or do so yourself if you make your reservations directly.
Take your agent’s emergency contact number with you on your honeymoon, just in case any complications arise.
At check-in, remind the hotel attendant that you are on your honeymoon. You may get a complimentary bottle of champagne or be upgraded to an especially private corner room or suite.
If you plan to go to two different resorts and one is significantly more luxurious than the other, go to the fancier one on your second destination. Save the best for last!
Consider a “couples-only” resort where everyone there will be in love and showing it! Plus, most activities at those types of resorts revolve around couples, romance, and love.
Check to see if your honeymoon resort allows young children. Many family-oriented properties may disappoint you if you are trying to spend a secluded, romantic vacation together.
If appropriate, plan what one travel expert calls a “hybrid honeymoon”: a vacation where you make both of your dream honeymoons come true. For example, if your bride wants a quiet, relaxing, lazy vacation and you prefer action-filled sightseeing adventures, find a place that can accommodate both of your visions, or plan a two-part honeymoon.
If you are having a destination wedding, you’ll already be at your honeymoon spot after the event. Be sure to visit a hotel other than the one in which you were married—for variety, and so you’ll feel as though there is a distinction between your wedding site and your honeymoon locale.
Hawaii is a super destination if you want to feel exotic yet remain in the United States. The Hawaiians love honeymooners and will demonstrate their aloha spirit time and again.
Europe is classy and offers total variety, since you can travel by rail from country to country depending on your preferences in food, language, scenery, and atmosphere.
South America and Mexico are also popular honeymoon destinations, especially when the U.S. dollar is strong.
Take the Honeymoon Survey below to help narrow your focus.
Ask yourself some of the questions below to help decide where you want to go on your honeymoon.
Do you like lots of other people around or do you prefer your privacy?
Do you like adventure and the outdoors or prefer a quiet escape?
Do you have different interests and vacation goals?
Do you want to plan your trip together?
Do you want to use a travel agent?
Head to the Poconos for an inexpensive and cheesy but also romantic and fun honeymoon. Many hotels offer heart-shaped bathtubs, private swimming pools, and fireplaces in the rooms.
Las Vegas is fun for honeymooners who want an active night life, great spa amenities, fabulous shows, and romantic honeymoon suites.
For total privacy, how about renting a houseboat or sailboat? Call your local visitors bureau and ask for the names of marinas and agencies that handle such boat rentals. Make sure your bride is not prone to seasickness, though!
Borrow or rent an RV and drive around the country. Maybe you have generous relatives or friends who will let you convert their RV into your own honeymoon love nest. Chill champagne in the refrigerator daily and enjoy!
If you get married in the United States, staying domestic and driving instead of flying is often worth it. How about combining sightseeing major landmarks and hitting the most romantic bed & breakfasts along the way?
Rent a private cabin in the woods or go camping to get away from it all.
Go to an all-inclusive resort where you pay one flat fee up front, so there will be no surprises or shocks at the checkout counter. Most all-inclusives offer accommodations, meals, activities, drinks, and even honeymoon goodies for one fixed price.
Check into the major discount travel Internet sites for great air and hotel package deals.
If your wedding date permits or if you choose to postpone your honeymoon until a few months after the wedding, plan to travel during your destination’s “off season” or “low season” for cheaper rates. Seasonal discounts are not offered everywhere and will differ by destination, so consult your hotel and plan your honeymoon travel accordingly.
If you are traveling by air, fly on off-peak days of the week. Sunday through Wednesday are the cheapest days to fly between cities for both departure and arrival.
Use frequent-flyer miles for your honeymoon. They are free and offer great flexibility (except for high-season blackout dates that may apply).
Whenever you book a hotel (or car rental), ask for all possible discounts. For example, check to see if they take the Entertainment card; have any promotions related to Diners Club, Visa, or other credit cards; offer any frequent-flyer-mile deals; or offer student, AAA, military, or government discounts or reduced honeymoon rates.
Read the fine print when booking any hotel’s honeymoon package. Often the added perks, such as airport transfers, champagne, and hotel robes, wind up costing more than if you just booked directly with the hotel and paid separately for those extras.
Be sure to pack some romantic items to have on hand. Scented candles, bubble bath, oils, chocolates, body paint, an instant camera, a book of love poems or romantic stories, a blank journal to write your romantic stories in together, lingerie, romantic CDs, feathers, and soft silky robes are some fun ideas.
Pack music and mini-speakers for your portable CD player so you can enjoy your own romantic music in your hotel room.
If your room will have a VCR, bring a “how-to” massage or other sensual video and practice with your partner.
If you arrive at your hotel and find that your room does not meet your expectations, speak up immediately. Where you sleep (and play!) makes a lot of difference in the mood and tone of your honeymoon.
Decorate your room to enhance the romantic mood. For example, put some scented oil on the light bulbs as soon as you check in. When the lights heat up, the fragrance may inspire romance.
Book a special couple’s massage or other romantic spa treatment you can do together if your resort offers it. Two masseuses or masseurs can even come to your room with soft music, candles, and scented oils and give you massages simultaneously.
Spray your favorite special perfume or cologne on your sheets and pillows.
Take a bubble bath.
Light scented candles.
Order room service, a fruit basket, or champagne and strawberries, and feed each other.
Get traveler’s checks for your trip. Have them in both your name and her maiden name so either of you can cash them.
Book your bride’s tickets in her maiden name or, if you must use her married name, take a copy of your marriage certificate with you on your trip for identification purposes.
Make photocopies of your tickets, passports, traveler’s check receipts, and any emergency phone numbers or other information you may need. Take these with you on your trip, and keep them in a separate place from the originals.
Don’t write thank you notes on your honeymoon. This is the time to focus on the two of you and not do “homework.”
Honeymoon disasters have been known to happen. If you experience one, just be sure to keep your sense of humor. They make for great stories afterward.
Grooms beware: Your wedding band may feel strange at first if you are not accustomed to wearing jewelry. Keep it on your finger at all times and be sure it is tight enough. One groom lost his while snorkeling and another lost his on the beach. Don’t fiddle with it!
Keep a honeymoon journal together where you two can record your memories and save fun, small items such as ticket stubs from shows you watched or sightseeing you may have participated in, restaurant match-books, or other small souvenirs.
Be sure to pack a deck of cards, some good books, and Scrabble or any other games that you two will enjoy playing on your honeymoon. Things will be hectic and busy when you return to the real world, so enjoy this opportunity to drop out and play together.