Honeymoon - help please

[Newlywednearly50]

Hi
were planning our honeymoon and combining my 50th (yikes)! We got married on June 30th in Portugal and plan a long haul trip for Feb 2023. I’d really appreciate some help with destinations please.

background
I want luxury, a spa, beautiful beaches, good food/wine, yoga and the chance to see the country/city outside of the hotel. It needs to be safe.

OH likes above but needs hiking, preferably with some good hills, history & activities or else he will be bored out of his brain. He will want to go off ok his own rather than as part of a tour so safety again is important.

Thailand is a no, as is Bali. We’re considering Costa Rica but I feel there is far more for him than me.

Budget 5-7k max.

suggests for destinations and hotels appreciated. Would like 2 weeks so happy to do 2 centres. Was thinking 1 week all inclusive and then maybe a week in a villa/condo so we can eat out but also cook if we want to.

TIA

Need to think about this. My birthday is Valentines day! This also makes things more expensive.. Will defo look for adults only a love kids but I’ve done the family holiday thing.

Madagascar, never been but looks beautiful

What puts me off re Mexico is safety. My OH will want to explore, maybe hire a car/ moped and it’s just not the place to do that IMO.

Look into Epressions Holidays, you can give them a budget and what you want then they can suggest suitable holidays
We've booked a few with them and their reps are great
I've honestly no connection other than a customer @Newlywednearly50

*as a customer

How about Mauritius? . We did hiking, a lot of visits to the hotel spa and amazing days out sightseeing. We stayed in a 4 star hotel that cost about £3300 for a week, with your budget you could probably get something even nicer. My brother recently went a rented a villa so you could do a twin centre holiday there. The roads are really good there or at least they were where we stayed.
Also years ago I did a family holiday to St Lucia and spent the first half of the holiday in a rented town house and explored the area each day, went on boat trips, did zip lining etc and ate out somewhere completely different each night. Then for the second half of the holiday went to an all inclusive hotel and enjoyed using all the facilities such as water sports and the spa. This was about 17 years ago but I can’t see why the same holiday couldn’t work now.
Both these suggestions have beautiful scenery.

Or the Seychelles, I haven’t been but it looks amazing?

Grenada in the Caribbean?
You could rent a villa on the beach and hire a car. There are some very Lux hotels that have spas and also some amazing hiking for DH. We walked up a volcano and also jumped off an amazing waterfall. Beautiful beaches, lovely people and some great restaurants.

Mexico?

So we have decided it will be St Lucia! Thanks @PuckeredArseFace we love the sound of it, ticks both of our boxes and we can visit Dominica where my mum is from which will be wonderful. Booking flights this weekend and then we will sort accommodation. Will go for 12 days, 6 in some sort of apartment & 6 lux all inclusive. Very happy 😃 . Thank you to everyone who suggested ideas x

Yaaay! Another thing I've just remembered , just double check which side of the island you want though as the other side is no good for swimming - it's too rough
So happy & jealous of you, enjoy!

New Zealand. Very safe, clean, Green, great outdoor activities, English speaking, fascinating landscapes, history and culture.

Body Holiday in St Lucia - luxurious, nice beach, spa treatment every day, lovely food and yoga/ Pilates / meditation . Also do more adventurous trips like hiking up the Pitons and waterspouts.

Ah I came on to say St Lucia and see it's now your choice!
It is beautiful. Places like The Body Holiday are mega money but there are cheaper places. We stayed at Coco Palm which is very typical mid rating Caribbean hotel just off Rodney Bay. It was a good hotel the only thing I would say re food was it wasn't as refined as we have found generally on other islands eg Barbados, Jamaica, it was a lot more chargrill! I'm sure at the posh end it would be more refined but just compared to elsewhere food was more basic.

One thing we did that was fantastic was the west to east horse ride you go to an isolated beach with a bar called Marjorie's where apparently Amy Winehouse used to stay and it's just incredible.

You can obviously hike the Pitons (can't say I would want to in that heat!) and lots of nature trails, volcano, botanical gardens etc.

Also forgot to say you can hike at either side of Rodney Bay as well. Piegeon Island one side and the area by Coco Palm/Papillon the other. Papillon is also reasonable and beachfront.

Philippines. DH and I went there on our honeymoon and it was absolute heaven.

We honeymooned in St Lucia and stayed in the body holiday. Ticks all your boxes and was very luxurious! We had a private tour of the island which was great, locals are so lovely and could get involved with everything.

What about Sint Maarten/Saint Martin in the Caribbean. It was great fun - the two sides of the island are so different, and there is a lot of explore. We also took a boat over to Anguilla and ate at the lobster shack on the beach which was just amazing. Actually, come to think of it, that was our honeymoon as well!

I far preferred it to St Lucia (although an earthquake, sunburn and a pickpocket who then tried to get into our hotel room in the middle of the night, did not really help that particular holiday)

I know you have now decided OP but Mexico is fab.
DH has local friends now but they started out as his 'guides' when we first went there. It does add cost to the holiday but it was worth every penny as he now see's so much more, I stay in the hotel and chill.

Definitely not ofc the list forever just this trip so this is a great tip. I too like to just stay in the hotel and chill!

It does indeed look wonderful and would be the dream… however it’s £1000 a night! We have maybe a budget of £500 a night which seems like a lot but isn’t.

Has anyone stayed at any of the sandals properties? Can get a week within budget, still leaving enough budget for the rest of the stay in a villa/cottage.

I haven't stayed at the Sandals there but have elsewhere. It will be great accommodation and have all the facilities you want spa, great food etc. they do tend to be very American - doesn't bother me but does some. It would be a good choice. One is quite near the Pitons as well.

@Newlywednearly50 Good morning! Just read the thread and hoping you had a wonderful honeymoon. Did you go to St Lucia? I am looking at the Caribbean now for honeymoon in August .... any suggestions much appreciated

Hi
we didn’t go to at Lucia in the end. We went to America and the Bahamas and it was fabulous but expensive once you’re there.
Enjoy planning your HM, I want to do it all over again 😂… I would say August in the Caribbean can be quite rainy.