Honeymoon in the U.S....any good ideas, besides Hawaii??

cpink14

My fiance and I would like to go on a honeymoon after our wedding in Oct 4, 2013, but we are on a limited budget. I would love to go back to Hawaii, but I know that it is not possible right now.

Where are some other good locations for a honeymoon in the U.S? I do not want to go to Disney World because of the large crowds and I would like to have a more relaxing honeymoon where we can enjoy the outdoors together, but not too far from an area where we can be "tourists." I was thinking about maybe California, somewhere in New England...but I really do not know where to start. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

MamaBear904

Last summer, my FI and I spent 5 days in the mountains in Blue Ridge, Georgia. It is about 1-1.5 hours north of Atlanta and we had a blast.

I rented a cabin and we schedule one or two activities each day, leaving plenty of room for sightseeing or relaxing. One day we did kayaking in the morning, had a picnic lunch by the river and then did white water rafting that afternoon. Another day we did a spa day followed by a visit to a local orchard. Another day we took the scenic railway tour from Blue Ridge to the Georgia/Tennessee line where there are great local shops and places to eat.

When I was thinking of having a honeymoon here in the US, I started picking states and requested travel brochures online like visit california, etc. You'll get lots of great information there and is a great way to get inspired

MoonlightSilver

New England will be beautiful, but not really beach weather. If you like visiting small towns, Mystic, CT is cute- on the water, there's an aquarium (where I got married) and a Seaport (historical representation of life in the past), plus ice cream shops and pizza shops. The casinos are about 20 minutes away if you're into that; otherwise there's always wooded areas to wander in CT.  

White Mountains in New Hampshire and Stow, Vermont might also be places to check out. 

MrsGandthebeag

Do you want beach or cooler weather?  If you want a beach, or warm weather, I'd suggest Miami, Fl, or Austin, San Antonio or Corpus Christi, Texas.  Weather up in new england is going to be pretty similar to your weather in PA in October.  You could come to Boston or if you want farther north, I'd suggest Burlington, VT.  

orangehills

New England would be beautiful if you headed out on October 5- the foliage would be mid change. Vermont is gorgeous- check out Basin Harbor Club- that is a cute resort right on Lake Champlain and near Vermont and cute towns that I've stayed at. Maine would be beautiful too- those 2 states just seem more romantic to me because they seem to have less people!

If you are looking for beachy weather- Florida has a lot of great resorts on the ocean and the airfare probably wouldn't be too bad from PA.

freebread03

What about the Outer Banks?  It would be a little chilly then, but it's off season and you could probably rent a great house for a week at a really good rate.  If you're not set on getting IN the water, I think it could be really relaxing.  Also consider San DIego--always beautiful, though the water will be a little chilly then (but not too bad hopefully since it's still on the early end of fall).  Also consider Los Angeles area--really cheap flights from PHL if you're on a budget.

Do you have to stay in the US?  You might want to consider Baja California--it could be cheaper to stay there than San Diego, and is a short drive down from San Diego if you were to fly in there.  

CrystaH11

Try the Florida keys. Beautiful weather all year around, great sites and activities, and touristy things you're looking for.

Summer2011Bride

We did northern California this summer and absolutely loved it (and Oct. is even warmer there-it's their "summer"). We did SF, Napa for a day, then drove down to Carmel and Big Sur. It was the perfect mix of activity in the city (SF) with relaxation (Carmel and Big Sur-which is the most gorgeous place I've been including Hawaii!)

petesmpls

Another vote for Puerto Rico! There is tons to do and you don't need a passport. We've been there once before and it's on our list for a possible honeymoon destination. The food is great, you can lay on the beach and relax, there's a ton of ourdoorsy things to do and a lot of hisotrical sites to see. The first time we went we rented a reasonable condo on homeaway.com. Good luck!

Kristin789

San Diiego (we HMed there - had a blast)
Mackinac Island, Michigan

cpink14

Thanks for the great ideas! I will have do some more research, but this is very helpful. I really don't mind cooler or warmer weather. I used to live in Boston and I loved the area, but I never actually "visited" Vermont. I'll have to ask my fiance if he wants to be in a warmer climate...or cooler.

Peledreamsofrain

We ended up going to Red Horse Mountain Ranch in Ceour d'Alene Idaho, which is tucked up in the Rocky Mountains.  We got our own private cabin, and it was the BEST experience!

The ranch is more like a resort, and had all sorts of activities available if we wanted to come out of the cabin (lol).  We went kayaking, ziplining, horse riding, fishing, geocaching, visited a casino via lake-ferry  and got serenaded by a cowboy poet at a giant campfire almost every night.  They had a REALLY good chef there, and one of the nights they had a 5 course meal paired with wines.  We also had a hot-tub right next to our cabin, so we usually sweet-talked the staff into giving us a bottle of wine to drink while soaking away our horse-riding aches before bed.

It broke my heart to leave at the end.  I will definitely be scheduling another visit for an anniversary in the future!!

hoffse

I will second Charleston and Savannah.  If you go for a week, you can easily see both - most people from outside the area don't realize they're only about an hour and a half apart, driving.  Very romantic, lots to see, but not flooded with tourists.  If you go to Savannah, it's totally worth taking a ghost tour - usually I'm not into that, but the ones in Savannah are quite good.  Unbelievable food as well for both spots.

If you want a gorgeous place in Florida, I recommend Seaside, FL - it's in between Panama City Beach and Destin, near Santa Rosa Beach.  Seaside is gorgeous.  It's actually where they filmed the perfect world for the Truman Show, and yes it really does look like that (only more cars).  People do ride bikes and visit the tiny one-person post office, etc.  Again, food is amazing (Cafe 30A, Bud & Alley's, Goatfeathers if you want to cook yourself), and they tend to serve whatever was caught from the ocean that morning.  There are tons of vacation rentals on or near the beach that you can rent out for the week.  I haven't been that time of year but it should be perfect.  The gulf is very very warm - sort of like lukewarm bathwater in the summer.  That's what I was used to and when I took a dip in the Pacific for the first time I nearly froze to death.

California is always worth a visit.  Wine country is beautiful but it may be out of your budget.  FI and I priced it out and realized that staying at an AI in Jamaica (sandals no less) was a lot less expensive than doing the wine country B&B without some crazy special.  The bay area is great, though, as is san diego.  If you go to san diego take a day and go to the zoo.  It's arguably the best in the world.

Allison1690

Florida has been mentioned a couple times, and specifically the Florida keys. My fiance and I went to Marathon in the Florida keys this past summer and stayed in private rental house that was beach front with a private pool and hot tub for less than the resort we usually stay at. We found the place on www.vrbo.com that is vacation rentals by owner. There was a real estate place in town to pick up the key and they told us about some local places to check out. Marathon is a cute town with the dolphin research center just down the road and easy driving distance to the theater of the sea and to key west. We had an amazing vacation. The house we rented was called gerry's Florida house listed on that site. Everything was great and they even had beach chairs in the garage we could take to the state park beach down the road. If you are interested just message me and I can give you pictures and more information. 

[Deleted User]

I will 3rd Charleston and Savannah. Lots to do. Beautiful places. I live in Charleston if you have any questions.

happywife2b

I was just thinking New England, when I read it in your post. I think Vermont would be the most amazingly lovely and relaxing place to go. It is fairly calm, the sort of place you can bebop around in without a hastle. Not to mention incedibly beautiful. If you go after your wedding you will get to see the changing of the leaves. People travel from all over the world to watch this happen in New England. Bring a sweater though!

If you want warm weather, Miami is super nice in October. But it is also the beginning of our tourist season, so prices on everything go up like crazy. Book at least 3 months in advance to get good deals on hotels and flights.