Honeymoon Ideas - Sydney & somewhere tropical?

[SunnyD]

Looking into honeymoon ideas for next spring we'd like a tropical beach break (of Mauritius, Seychelles etc calibre) mixed with a city, and want the city location to be Sydney. So what tropical location can we tack-on?

[havoc]

Whitsundays is the obvious one.

Cook Islands / Fiji might be worth looking at if you've the budget and don't mind another 4-5hrs in the air. We absolutely loved Aitutaki - felt like genuine paradise (think Maldives but without the artificiality), but that was 3-4hrs from Auckland to Rarotonga, then another hour-plus from RAR to Aitutaki itself on a little puddle-jumper.

Thinking cheaper, Bali/Lombok are an obvious option, Thai beach resorts ditto (beautiful on the west coast, if right time of year).

[Cheib]

Hayman Island in the Whitsunday's......some of the rooms were a bit dated when we were there in 2006 but it's on it's own island and it's absolutely bloody brilliant....I believe a lot of the rooms have been updated since. Absolutely loads and loads to do if you want or of course you can just chill.

http://www.hayman.com.au/

If you do go though you really do need to take the seaplane trip to Whitehaven beach (the seaplane picks you up from the hotel) and take a helicopter trip out to the reef. Both absolutely unforgettable.

I proposed to my wife there and we went on out honeymoon to Bora Bora 18 months later but we much preferred Hayman.

[SunnyD]

I went to the Whitsundays a few years ago. It was nice (although it rained the whole time) but it would be good to go somewhere new together (although I've also already done Sydney!) I just got back from Thailand a few weeks ago, I loved it there, but, same reason as above, somewhere new would be good. Looked at Fiji but concerned about travel time. Bali's a possibility although I associate it with backpackers!?

[havoc]

Bali - the SW coast IS backpacker country, albeit there's a "posh stretch" around Legian. Peninsula is family-stuff, E.coast quieter but IMHO not 'honeymoon' special* if you've already done Whitsundays and similar. Ubud is nice and chilled though - we liked there a lot. Lombok is the less-travelled island opposite too - probably more developed now though than 6 years ago, worth researching as still likely to be less-touristy.

Might be worth researching somewhere a little unusual too - Philippines is starting to hit tourist-radar, and is supposed to have some superb snorkeling/diving in a couple of locations - BBC Travel did an article a week or two ago about somewhere there with (IIRC) limited-numbers access.




* Although we did 6 years ago - 4nts Sanur on the East, 3nts Ubud (at the Alila - now THERE is a special place!), 7nts Kota Kinabalu on Borneo (Tanjung Aru - also very good - see pic below - but KK town nothing special - recommend use as a luxury base).

Sunset @ Tanjung Aru


@ Sepilok


Alila, Ubud

[wax lyrical]

Hayman Island in the Whitsundays.

Private and relatively quiet.

[Cheib]

SunnyD said:

I went to the Whitsundays a few years ago. It was nice (although it rained the whole time) but it would be good to go somewhere new together (although I've also already done Sydney!) I just got back from Thailand a few weeks ago, I loved it there, but, same reason as above, somewhere new would be good. Looked at Fiji but concerned about travel time. Bali's a possibility although I associate it with backpackers!?

What about French Polynesia ? We did that for our Honeymoon. It's a long way but if you don't do it for your honeymoon you probably never will

We flew to LA and stayed overnight here http://www.shuttersonthebeach.com/

Then flew to French Polynesia (8 hours overnight) and stayed here http://letahaa.com/default.asp and here http://www.fourseasons.com/borabora/

You could do it in one hit without the layover in LA but that means spending 5 or 6 hours hanging out at LAX. It's about the same as flying to Sydney in terms of hours in the air. We did the stopover in LA on the way and on the way back.

[Dan_1981]

I'd suggest French Polynesia too - you could fly the other way - Sydney first, then I'm not sure if you'd have to fly via NZ or direct to Tahiti.

I did similar to the poster above but flew to Tahiti from Chili via Easter Island and then on to NZ afterwards.

[Cheib]

Dan_1981 said:

I'd suggest French Polynesia too - you could fly the other way - Sydney first, then I'm not sure if you'd have to fly via NZ or direct to Tahiti.

I did similar to the poster above but flew to Tahiti from Chili via Easter Island and then on to NZ afterwards.

Yes I remember a few people we met out there were doing it like that or flew out via LA and back via Auckland or somewhere like that.

[onny]

Why not Mauritius! Mauritius airline fly from London to Sydney with a stopover in Mauritius.

[mattdaniels]

Whitsundays are not called the Wetsundays for no reason . Take your waterproofs if you are going in what the northern hemisphere would call spring. The wet season is supposed to end at end Feb / beginning of March but this year it ended several weeks later. It's also stinger season at that time so you really don't want to go in the sea.

The humidity is stifling. I went from Ayres Rock to Palm Cove in mid-March. 32 degrees in both locations but totally different kind of heat. Went swimming in the pool in Palm Cove, hung shorts up in apartment patio to dry, two days later the shorts were still wet