Where did you go for your honeymoon?

[Y0rkshirePudding]

My OH and I are getting married next year. Today we were discussing honeymoon options.

I'm looking for some destination inspiration and interested to know where you all went. What was great about it? What was bad about it? Would you recommend your destination or advise against it?...

Ooh orangutans, I loooove them! Only ever seen them looking a bit unhappy in zoo's. Would be a dream to see them in their natural habitat.

I love anything historical too... so attracted to the idea of lots of sightseeing. Or thrills and experiences we wouldn't normally have at home... new zealand sounds rather exciting. I genuinely thought it was boring over there! Just imagined it was like Wales lol

New Zealand. We hired a car too, and also preferred South Island. We like outdoorsy things and good food and wine. We loved it so much we neatly moved there.

I would also recommend Costa Rica. It's very safe, lots to do, and probably better for two Wells than NZ.

How about Mexico, there lots of ruins for sightseeing trips and activities like ziplining too? Plus you could go for 10/11 nights.

It is quitea lot like Wales! I love Wales

Luxury cottage in the Lake District with hot tub and views if the mountains, we drank a bottle of bubbly every night in that hot tub for a week! We love the outdoors so wanted to do lots of active stuff and relax in the eves. Beach hols just not my thing. The best thing was to be able to have a calm journey, not having to rush off to an airport and just take our time getting there.

Barcelona, it was fabulous.

Borneo sounds amazing, it was our second option after Costa Rica. I hope we'll get to go there in future. The howler monkeys in Costa Rica are awesome.

Cakebaker - love the lakes too, and sounds devine. But we could do that anytime really (child care permitting! ). We're never going to honeymoon again so want it to be overseas. Doesn't necessarily have to be long haul, just memorable.
Chickenfajita - we actually considered getting married in Mexico but the family got upset because they wouldn't be able to come.

We went to Cyprus.

We chose there, because I had always wanted to visit the holy land, and from Cyprus you could do a cruise to Egypt and Israel. Unfortunately between booking the holiday and going on honeymoon, fighting broke out and all cruises were cancelled. So we just did the cruise to Egypt.

Cyprus is also the home place of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. So we went and explored 'her' birthplace, some well connected to her a temple and so on.

I'm not really a beachy sort of person, so didn't want the Maldives or anything like that. I wanted somewhere with a lot of history that we could have fun exploring and somewhere that wouldn't be too hot (I get terrible prickly heat, and just get miserable when it's too hot). This worked for us - a few days by the pool combined with a rich history to explore, loads of museums to look round, and we did the same in Egypt - the pyramids, museums etc.

We want to go back for our 15th wedding anniversary. Had wanted to for our 10th, but it didn't quite happen!

Op we couldn't do it anytime as it cost an arm and a leg to stay there but I know what you mean. My second choice was the Italian lakes, we've been several times to lake Garda and como which are just so beautiful, romantic etc. not long haul, plenty of active stuff and some amazing hotels the cost of which would make your eyes water but worth it for honeymoon.

Well I've spent a couple of hours googling all your suggestions... wow wow wow!

Some of these places are just A-MAZ-ING! You have been very lucky ladies(apart from the caravan on the drive of mums - I
I didn't google that one lol)

Going to have a problem choosing now. Going to have to do some real research and base a choice on our budget (as I reckon most of these destinations are going to cost a fair bit!), and what the weather will be like there when we go. I noticed some were 'monsoon season' in August - that would put somewhat of a downer on things!

Venice. It was perfect.

We had 5 nights in New York!

We did a Mediterranean cruise. It was lovely once dh had taken sea sickness tablets. Lots to see and totally different to any holiday either of us had ever done before.

We've both agreed no cruises. Im a bit claustrophobic - knowing Im stuck on a ship for days on end with nowehere to escape to would do my head in big time! And those little cabins - ARRGH!! And if this happened...

...I'd have to be referred to the nearest PTSD therapist!

CharleyBarley - I saw the Top Gear episode that was filmed in Vietnam a couple of weeks ago, and said to my OH "I have to go there one day". It looks absolutely spectacular. Have just googled Laos and Cambodia too - O.. M.. G.. this totally looks like my kinda thing! Definitely some more research going to be done on this one

Lake Como
it was beautiful weather (May), not too busy, not too long stuck in airports/flying and we really splashed out on the hotel so we had luxury.

I was actually going to suggest a luxury cruise with your own balcony. Choose the ship carefully and the cabins are the same size as many hotel rooms. One advantage of a cruise is because everyday is so different a week seems much longer and you remember it so well as no days blur into one another.
Realistically do you think your MIL will babysit for longer than a week?

No I really don't think I could do a cruise, I don't think id sleep, I'd be a nightmare for my OH due to me constantly obsessing about sinking and drowning!

Realistically I think we could talk her into 2 weeks if we plead and beg. But that would be the max. No month long treks or island hopping for us. But I think I'd muss my ds too much anyway if it was any longer.

We got married in Rome so we had our honeymoon in Italy. We spent a week in Rome (one or two days were spent on wedding-related activities) and a week in Sorrento. We figured we'd have a hectic week sightseeing in Rome and then a more relaxed week in Sorrento. Some of our family and friends joined us in Rome for a few days.

Sorrento was lovely. We had a fab view of Mount Vesuvius from our hotel balcony. We did a day tour to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius which was fascinating. We also did a day trip to the Isle of Capri. Capri was amazing - lots of stunning views. Some of our favourite memories (and photos) are from Capri. I'd love to go back and actually stay on Capri for a few days as one day just wasn't long enough. I suspect the hotels there are mega expensive though as the shops were all designer shops and the cafés and restaurants were really expensive. Another day DH hired a motorbike and we went for a long ride (sounds a bit rude!) along the Amalfi coast.

The food was obviously great - lots of pasta and pizza and wine.

The only downside was that Sorrento doesn't have a beach. To be fair, the travel agent told us this before we went but we didn't really grasp it until we got there. The hotels are all situated along a cliff top. Our hotel had a pool but the water was freezing. If I wanted a cold swim, I could do that here in Ireland. I would have liked a romantic walk along the beach with my new husband.

Also, it's maybe more of an older person's destination. There were lots of people in their 50s and 60s and a sprinkling of honeymoon couples. It didn't bother us particularly as we're not into clubbing and nightclubs etc. but it might put others off.

We had a fab honeymoon but if I was doing it again, I'd probably choose somewhere a bit more exotic and probably somewhere further afield. I didn't appreciate how tied and broke you become when you have children. Some of the honeymoons described here sound amazing.

Anyway, enough about me. Are you any closer to making a decision?

Zanzibar in September 2012. Pongwe beach bungalows then langi langi hotel. So utterly amazing it was beyond description. We organised it ourselves and was about £3.5k all in, food and drinks too, for 12 nights

I think one of the more romantic cities to visit is Italy. I personally went there on my honeymoon and my husband and I loved the food and the people there!

I would strongly suggest Rome and Florence. Although it can get very touristy, especially in the summer, they are very beautiful places with so much history and culture.

To break free from the tourist crowd, I would suggest you to try some home-dining options. We went to dine with one of the local hosts on BonAppetour, and were treated to a fancy meal at their homes on the rooftop! It is very simple to book a dinner with the hosts on their website too! Other than that, I would also suggest you to try taking one of those Vespa tours, especially in the Florence country-side. Riding on the vespa with your partner across the green landscape is actually very thrilling and romantic!

Hope this helped!

I think one of the more romantic cities to visit is Italy. I personally went there on my honeymoon and my husband and I loved the food and the people there! I would strongly suggest Rome and Florence. Although it can get very touristy, especially in the summer, they are very beautiful places with so much history and culture. To break free from the tourist crowd, I would suggest you to try some home-dining options. We went to dine with one of the local hosts on BonAppetour, and were treated to a fancy meal at their homes on the rooftop! It is very simple to book a dinner with the hosts on their website too! Other than that, I would also suggest you to try taking one of those Vespa tours, especially in the Florence country-side. Riding on the vespa with your partner across the green landscape is actually very thrilling and romantic! Hope this helped!