Non-Traditional

katiesthilaire

My FI and I want to do something differnet than the traditional honeymoon as he is not a fan of the beach. We tossed around the idea of California starting in LA and driving up to San Fran and ending in NAPA but I am really hoping to leave the country. I was thinking maybe Ireland. We are on a small budget, $4k for the trip (excluding spending money).

Any suggestions you guys have would be awesome.

We are looking for an exciting honeymoon with lots to do both day and night!

cwaggoner07

Depending on the time of year, Canada can be beautiful! We were so close to going to Banff National Park for our honeymoon, but FIL offered his all-inclusive membership to a resort in Mexico that we couldn't pass up.

Also, Oregon has a lot of fun wineries that are lesser known than the Napa wineries.

I think you would be hard-pressed to fit Ireland into a 4K budget, but maybe some other girls have some tips on doing it with that budget.

Good luck!

bride2beNCG

I suggest subscribing to Travelzoo.com. They send weekly top-10 deal updates with a lot of really fun all-inclusive trips. (Safari in Kenya, Cambodian adventure, India, South America, etc.)

I've taken a few trips with them before and highly recommend. Very affordable and different.

Fi and I have plans to visit Easter Island and Machu Picchu, because we are not thrilled by the idea of going to Hawaii or Sandals like everyone else who is newlywed.

JaxJ128

we are also looking into doing something other than the beach thing, we live in florida we have that here all year long! We wanted to do something in the mountains and stay in a cabin in the US...maybe even Canada?

sparkellyy

Alaskan Cruise! Our cruise with prepaid gratuities, airfare, night before accommodations is just about $4k. Of course this does not include drinks and spending money for excursions, but we also have a balcony cabin.

hoffse

We're probably going to costa rica for a week on a similar budget.  We are also not super beachy people because we go to the gulf all the time (I live in Alabama).  It's not novel.  Assuming costa rica doesn't fall through, we will be going to the Arenal region, which is rainforest and volcano territory.  We also played around with the idea of Canada, but we will be honeymooning the first week in May and we were worried it would be 10 degrees too cold for us to really enjoy it.  If we were going a month later, Canada would have been a huge contender.  Google pics of Montreal and Quebec - they look incredible.

I also second the Alaskan cruise - this was also an idea we tossed around but dismissed for the same reasons as Canada.

Finally, if you want to go to Ireland check out travelzoo.  There's a deal that pops up there every few weeks that's basically ireland for $1000/person including airfare.  It goes up from there depending on upgrades you want to make, but I'd be surprised if it ever doubled in price.

hz80408

I would highly suggest Ireland and it is possible to do in your budget.  As mentioned in a few other posts, we just got back from a trip we booked with Sceptre Tours via a Travelzoo deal.  When all was said and done, we paid ~$1,100/person for direct flight, 7 nights hotel, rental car and insurance.  For food/drink/activies; we spent around $150/$200 per day (but we did a ton of drinking).

Our 8 day/7night trip cost us around $3400 for everything. Check my blog for reviews of our trip (I'll be posting day 1 later today). Ireland was GORGEOUS! and I totally recommend it!

Sceptre Tours has also been offering deals through Groupon and Living Social. Keep your eyes peeled.

eta: Wanted to clarify that this isn't a tour group.  We were completely on our own the whole time.

anssett

Ireland is amazing. If you don't like tour groups you should still look for flights, then rent a car and drive yourself around. The country isn't THAT big and you can see a lot of diversity and beautiful countryside (and sheep) in a week.

G2SoccerTaz

We did Yellowstone.We stayed at a ranch just outside the park that offered horseback riding and fishing excursions if we were interested. We also went to a Pro Rodeo. We had a blast. It still was warm during the day, but got a little chilly at night. Also, the total cost was not that much either.