Where's quiet and not too hot in August?
Discussion
My fiancee and I are starting to think about honeymoon options for next year.
We've been together for nearly six years, but a lack of time and money has meant this will be our first proper overseas holiday. As a result, we don't really have any favoured haunts and we're very much open minded on where we go.
Assuming we have the honeymoon shortly after the wedding it would be in August. I'd prefer to avoid anywhere stupidly hot or humid and we'd probably struggle to fund a nice trip to anywhere really long haul like Australia or New Zealand.
I know this is a ridiculously open-ended question, but where would you recommend? It could be a traditional beach holiday, quiet country retreat, city break, anything...
I've always quite fancied going to Iceland or Scandinavia, but I can't claim to be basing that on anything over than a whim. Also - while my holiday time has usually been spent doing something active until now - I might be open to the suggestion of a beech holiday if it was somewhere a bit off the beaten track with some character and manageable temperatures.
Over to you. :-)
We've been together for nearly six years, but a lack of time and money has meant this will be our first proper overseas holiday. As a result, we don't really have any favoured haunts and we're very much open minded on where we go.
Assuming we have the honeymoon shortly after the wedding it would be in August. I'd prefer to avoid anywhere stupidly hot or humid and we'd probably struggle to fund a nice trip to anywhere really long haul like Australia or New Zealand.
I know this is a ridiculously open-ended question, but where would you recommend? It could be a traditional beach holiday, quiet country retreat, city break, anything...
I've always quite fancied going to Iceland or Scandinavia, but I can't claim to be basing that on anything over than a whim. Also - while my holiday time has usually been spent doing something active until now - I might be open to the suggestion of a beech holiday if it was somewhere a bit off the beaten track with some character and manageable temperatures.
Over to you. :-)
Geoff Stilwell said:
Silly question....why don't sell one of your cars so you can have a fab honeymoon. Anywhere south will be hot in August...what about Canada...go visit the Rockies.
I wouldn't say my cars are preventing us having a fab honeymoon, but seems you asked... my dad and I have just finished painstakingly rebuilding the TVR, so that's staying. And it's not a suitable daily driver for London so I need at least one other car. The 924, however, will be up for sale once I've put it through an MOT and partly funding the wedding. 
Anyway, back to the issue of travel...
Canada is a possibility. I love mountains - virtually all my previous overseas holidays have been skiing - but my fiancee isn't quite as outdoorsy. She's also not that keen on flying, so British Columbia might be a tad far.
Sticking with long-ish haul I did think about South Africa. It'll be out of season down there, but still quite nice, I believe?
And then there's something in Europe... the French Riviera or somewhere. As mentioned previously, Iceland has always quite appealed. Maybe even Bavaria.
You need to look at how far your fiancee will fly and then divide the holiday options into US/Canada, the Carribbean, India, Africa or Europe etc
Some areas will be affected by monsoons at certain times of the year so you need to check where they are in August and avoid those places.
A budget would be useful.
We went to Zanzibar and quite enjoyed it though the excursions were expensive but good though we visited Kerala in India later and found that offered similar for far less money.
You can have a honeymoon anywhere from the Maldives to Disneyland so you need to be more specific. If it's a one-off, I'd do the maldives as once you have children, this will not be an option and you are far more likely to be taking family holidays in Europe. So while I personally love certain areas of Spain, for a honeymoon I would be more inclined to go somewhere I couldn't when I had kids though have done Florida with and without kids.
Some areas will be affected by monsoons at certain times of the year so you need to check where they are in August and avoid those places.
A budget would be useful.
We went to Zanzibar and quite enjoyed it though the excursions were expensive but good though we visited Kerala in India later and found that offered similar for far less money.
You can have a honeymoon anywhere from the Maldives to Disneyland so you need to be more specific. If it's a one-off, I'd do the maldives as once you have children, this will not be an option and you are far more likely to be taking family holidays in Europe. So while I personally love certain areas of Spain, for a honeymoon I would be more inclined to go somewhere I couldn't when I had kids though have done Florida with and without kids.
Fair point. Well, she's going to be getting in a plane for the first time since she was a kid next week, so I guess we'll find out then!
Budget is a tricky one. It certainly won't be huge by honeymoon standards, but until we've seen what's out there it's hard to say how far we want to dip into savings, credit cards etc. I travel quite a lot for work, but it's ages since I've actually booked anything myself. If we say £1,250 for a week for two people including flights and half board, do you think that would get something half decent?
I know that's still a bit vague, but this is the first time I've ever really considered 'a' holiday, rather than having a definite idea of what I wanted to do when I get there. Well, barring the obvious.
Budget is a tricky one. It certainly won't be huge by honeymoon standards, but until we've seen what's out there it's hard to say how far we want to dip into savings, credit cards etc. I travel quite a lot for work, but it's ages since I've actually booked anything myself. If we say £1,250 for a week for two people including flights and half board, do you think that would get something half decent?
I know that's still a bit vague, but this is the first time I've ever really considered 'a' holiday, rather than having a definite idea of what I wanted to do when I get there. Well, barring the obvious.
£1250 won't take you far in August during school holidays. Flights are a lot more expensive now though you can probably still find budget flights to somewhere like Spain.
On a budget, I would suggest Mallorca finding cheap flights and possibly an apartment with a shared pool and a small hire car to see all the amazing sights round the island which has a perfect blend of sightseeing and romantic places to see like Valdemossa. On a budget, that would be my choice every time.
On a budget, I would suggest Mallorca finding cheap flights and possibly an apartment with a shared pool and a small hire car to see all the amazing sights round the island which has a perfect blend of sightseeing and romantic places to see like Valdemossa. On a budget, that would be my choice every time.
Madeira?
We went last summer in August.
Not too hot (just nice). Lush and green, great walking up in the highlands, a very classy, cosmopolitan feel, plenty of good food (especially if you like sea food) and lots of high quality hotels (especially in Funchal) at affordable prices.
Fairly short flight time too.
Downsides? Only 1 sandy beach (and the sand is imported!), but plenty of hotels have jetties to dive from and the water's beautifully clear and full of sealife.
Maybe not that much to do at night if you're the partying types - I might be, we're not, so I can't say
One of the nicest places I've visited in a long while.
M.
We went last summer in August.
Not too hot (just nice). Lush and green, great walking up in the highlands, a very classy, cosmopolitan feel, plenty of good food (especially if you like sea food) and lots of high quality hotels (especially in Funchal) at affordable prices.
Fairly short flight time too.
Downsides? Only 1 sandy beach (and the sand is imported!), but plenty of hotels have jetties to dive from and the water's beautifully clear and full of sealife.
Maybe not that much to do at night if you're the partying types - I might be, we're not, so I can't say
One of the nicest places I've visited in a long while.
M.
marcosgt said:
Madeira?
We went last summer in August.
Not too hot (just nice). Lush and green, great walking up in the highlands, a very classy, cosmopolitan feel, plenty of good food (especially if you like sea food) and lots of high quality hotels (especially in Funchal) at affordable prices.
Fairly short flight time too.
Downsides? Only 1 sandy beach (and the sand is imported!), but plenty of hotels have jetties to dive from and the water's beautifully clear and full of sealife.
Maybe not that much to do at night if you're the partying types - I might be, we're not, so I can't say
One of the nicest places I've visited in a long while.
M.
Sounds interesting. After the stag do and the wedding I think I'll be all partied out for a bit, so lush and idyllic sounds good.We went last summer in August.
Not too hot (just nice). Lush and green, great walking up in the highlands, a very classy, cosmopolitan feel, plenty of good food (especially if you like sea food) and lots of high quality hotels (especially in Funchal) at affordable prices.
Fairly short flight time too.
Downsides? Only 1 sandy beach (and the sand is imported!), but plenty of hotels have jetties to dive from and the water's beautifully clear and full of sealife.
Maybe not that much to do at night if you're the partying types - I might be, we're not, so I can't say
One of the nicest places I've visited in a long while.
M.
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