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!

Palma/ Port de Soller

I was going to suggest Sorrento or Malta.

I’d look south. Probably not Croatia, we went late May and it was quite cool. Foolishly, I only realised later it is a lot further north than places like Greece, Sicily.

id recommend Sicily

No hesitation, this place has everything you’re looking for. It’s a fabulous hotel and a wonderful place for a special honeymoon. The Dior Spa is exceptional and the food is incredible. So much to see and do and I have been in May. The weather is perfect. Not too hot for exploring.

https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europe/italy/venice/belmond-hotel-cipriani

Italian lakes. Any number of glam hotels up there. Bars with huge terraces overlooking the water. Beautiful walks and boat rides and gardens and mountains to explore. Still have fond memories of our honeymoon there back in the 1980s!

We loved Dubrovnik in May, though the sea was chilly. Dubrovnik Palace Hotel was lovely, but this was about 15 years ago.

Both Sorrento and Florence are great but the weather isn't reliable ( in my experience) until late May. Problem is they are both insanely crowded when the weather settles down. Trains are fantastic in Italy so a two centre holiday would be easy.My choice would be to stay in Florence and use the excellent trains to visit Pisa, Lucca and Sienna. Fly into Pisa though as Florence airport closes a lot something to do with wind direction and short runway.

I'd say Italian lakes (although the weather would not be guaranteed, or the Amalfi coast of Italy. Beautiful places and very romantic.

Dubrovnik - look at Valamar President.

All of this. We were in Tuscany in May and it was perfect.

Florence will be great and hot

With warming temperatures all over Europe, Italy is pretty good in May.

I think there’s lots of choice and I’d look at flying to Pisa, to get to Sienna. Definitely hire a car and look at the fantastic hill villages. Then get the train to Florence. Spend some time there and finish off in Rome. Italian trains are good when inter city.

The other option is fly to Bologna. From there you have great access to Ferrara, Parma, Ravenna, and Modena (plus the Ferrari museum). It’s a great base and you can get the train to Florence, Rome or even Venice. I’d definitely do two centres.

Another option might be Nice and tour around the villages and towns in that area of France. You could also look at Sicily and tour in a car. It’s fantastic and not too busy in early May. We found it had a great combination of hill towns, restaurants, history and Roman/Greek buildings to visit.

I’d go to Italy and go to Rome and Sorrento or Amalfi

in the other direction Granada in Spain is wonderful and should be lovely that time of year. Bet there are some lovely boutique hotels there. No beach but could be combined with Marbella or similar easily

Go on a cruise, especially adults only. All different destinations to explore and there is always space on the ship.

Sicily, has the history and the sitting in beautiful places sipping a cocktail type nightlife - mostly Italians there when I went to Taormina. It’s far south so weather is often good though nothing is guaranteed then. Classy definitely compared to many European destinations, think men in chinos and shirts rather then grey joggers of some Spanish resorts! Italy more generally is your best bet for European honeymoon vibes. I don’t have a hotel suggestion as we stayed in a b&b, but there’s a gorgeous one I had a drink in near the theatre.

Alternatively, a bit of a different approach think about taking the train to Milan via Paris then take the train north up lake Como - it’s a rental not a hotel but I highly recommend Lierna Castle for perhaps 4 or 5 nights, it’s literally on the banks of lake Como, there’s a little cafe a few minutes away to buy breakfast and a couple of lovely (not posh but authentic) restaurants within 5 minutes walk. You can swim from the beach and rent a boat too. Spend the rest in Milan and Paris. Will be a very memorable honeymoon, and if weather isn’t perfect cities are better, but the place i recommended had a storm one day and watching lightning from bed was amazing, the windows are above the sea wall,