European honeymoon at start of May, ideas please!

[OldGreyBoots]

Hoping for some help with honeymoon ideas if anyone's up for it!

Getting married end of April 2027, and wanting to go on our honeymoon straight after.
I feel like we've looked at a thousand places and need some new ideas!

• Looking for a really nice hotel, a pool or spa is a must.
• Destination must have some things to do, fans of history and nature; castles, cathedrals etc are ideal. Not nightlife people beyond enjoying a cocktail somewhere pretty!
• Decent weather at the very start of May, doesn't have to be terribly hot but preferably dry!
• To complicate this, ideally looking for Europe rather than long haul.
• General "romantic" vibe
• No strict budget but under £5k would be ideal for hotel+flights, this is flexible though!
• Around 12 nights, likely.

I love the look of Vienna, Florence, Budapest type vibes, but don't think the weather in any of them will be quite warm enough.
Loved Barcelona but think we want somewhere we've not been!
(We're not well travelled so that should be easy to find)

Weatherwise we were recommended the Canaries but not sure if the vibe is quite right for honeymoon.

Apologies for the absolute essay! But just in case anyone here has been to this holy grail of a place. Thank you!

Malta ?

Madeira?

A friend swears by Las Palmas on Gran Canaria

El Lorenc Parc de la Mar in central Palma de Mallorca. It was where we were due to go for our honeymoon at that time of year until the pandemic had other ideas. Palma is a fabulous city, plenty of history, great shops and restaurants, beaches etc

Azores - around Furnas then island hop maybe to include Flores. Octant Furnas has hot water springs spa swimming pools and another similar hotel by it.

Surely Rome would have everything you want and more. For 12 days I would split it and do a few different places in Italy such as Florence or Sorrento too.

Seville or Malaga? Weather normally reliable, history, hospitality, culture, both airports are close to their city and lots of day trips if you want to explore further.

Italy - Amalfi coast then you can go to pompeii with Rome on your way home. Beaches aren’t great though.

Barcelona? It’s a beach city.

Greece?

Sorrento

Sorrento is beautiful as is Florence. You could do a two centre holiday as the train network is brilliant.

Croatia, some island hopping, fly into Split and out of Dubrovnik, possibly a quick trip to Montenegro. Would be pleasant in May, historical, island hopping, boat trips, vineyards, lots to see and do with relaxation options too.

have a fabulous trip whatever you decide upon.

Malaga with a few day trips to Ronda etc.
Highly recommend Aurea Palacio hotel, slightly out of the centre but only a few minutes walk to moorish castle, Roman amphitheater, cathedral etc.

More central Palacio Solacio is beautiful too but only a pool, no spa.

Cinque Terre? Could combine with Florence, Pisa, Siena, etc.

Ljubljana?

Lake Como - you can't get more romantic!

Just noticed you said 12 days so you could split this with the Esplendido in Port Soller.

I think Budapest is perfect for a honeymoon. Couldn't be more romantic. Beautiful spas with outdoor thermal pools, from Roman through to Baroque Beautiful ornate cafes for coffee and cake and lounging with a good book or planning the day, strange ruin bars for a beer or elegant bars for a glass of champagne overlooking the lake opposite the zoo. Danube cruise, spice markets, fabulous cultural things to do like the cave hospital museum, candlelit cave church, the musical fountain and Japanese garden on Margrit island, the opera and art gallery. Endless beautiful walks around Fisherman bastion, the river, the spice markets or take the cute children-run railway up into the mountains and come back down by ski lift. There are jazz cafes for late night music and street music in little squares. It manages to be vibrant and tranquil at the same time, and SO beautiful.

We did Seville, Grenada and Cordoba for our honeymoon. I think it was late May (it was a while ago and not straight after the wedding!) and weather was lovely.

The budget for 12 days is a bit tight for some of these recommendations. But, in general, you can't go wrong with Italy - maybe 3 locations, with train travel between them?

Barcelona immediately jumped to mind until you said you had already been there. Agree with those who say Rome where you could have a few days and take the train to Sorrento or Ravello or Positano - all very beautiful, and then fly home from Naples.

Croatia. Beautiful country with plenty of places to explore and weather should be warm.
Malta would be good too.

We had a brilliant 12 days in Cascais in the Pestana Citadela hotel this year. It is a modern hotel, very arty, built inside the old fortress. Good breakfast but no restaurant for dinner, but Cascais has loads of good restaurants. It has a spa, indoor pool, outdoor pool, right next to a modern marina. It is also only 30 mins, and €5 on the train to Lisbon, so very easy to get in and out for a bit of culture.

Rome was my first thought. Maybe a train down to Sicily for a few days?

Thoughts on some of the options:

Madeira
Definitely loads of History.
Food is great because there's an Afro Italian Anglo mixture
Can get a proper cup of tea.
Didn't always feel as foreign as other places I've been because English was so common and essentially you could also get e.g. proper tea and there was an M&S.
Super easy to get around, just get Bolt (European Uber).
Visit the Neolithic temples if you go.

Madeira
Absolutely beautiful!
We had great food again.
Amazing seafoods.
There are definitely kind of interesting cultural things like some beautiful botanical gardens. There may have been more museum-y things but we went to two botanical gardens, a boat trip to see dolphins and a walk along a "levada". I think we could have made more of this with more planning but only decided to go 2 days before.
The weather at sea level in Funchal is vastly better than at the top of Funchal. I would stay at the bottom of Funchal and travel out I think. Or maybe do a week there and 5 days on the other side of the island/somewhere you can get to the amazing waterfall type walks as they are meant to be spectacular.

One other option I don't think has been mentioned is Jerez, perhaps combined with a trip to Seville. It's got loads of amazing things going on in it including mega cathedrals, the Alcazar de Jerez, amazing sherry houses (absolutely fabulous drink and completely different from e.g. Bristol cream, it's my favourite alcoholic drink having gone and tried the good stuff). You can get the train down to Cadiz. Great food.

Istanbul and Cappadocia?

Sorrento, Italy.

You will fall in love with the place and want to go back though! ♥️

Definitely the Andalusian cities, which ones depends on how much you want to move around and what flights you can get.

You could go to Seville for a few days and have day trips to Jerez and Cadiz by train, then go over to Ronda, Granada and Malaga for a few days in these areas too and fly back from Malaga.

I don't know about spa hotels but there's traditional Arab baths day spas in all the cities and for some of the accommodation you could stay in the Paradors which are hotels in historical monuments like the Alhambra in Granada and the Gibralfaro in Malaga.

At that time of year the weather should be perfect, warm but not hot hot 40 C plus that you get in the summer.