Ideas for honeymoon within our budget?

elbow23

Hi everyone!  I'm a relatively new Knottie looking for some input.  My FI and I are currently brainstorming ideas for our honeymoon, and we're kind of stumped.  I was hoping someone here might have a suggestion or two for us.  Here is some relevant info:

1. Our budget is ~$5,000, and we'd be leaving out of New England (NH/MA/RI).
2. We're getting married on July 20, 2013, so the honeymoon would be taking place in late July/early August.
3. We're hoping to stay for 7-10 days.
4. While we enjoy the beach, we don't want to do nothing but that.
5. We've already done cruises to the Caribbean and Bahamas, so we want to try something new.

Our dream idea was a Mediterranean cruise with a few extra days spent in Monaco, but that's out of our price range, so it's back to the drawing board.  Thanks in advance!

Summer2011Bride

Northern California--San Fran, Napa/Sonoma, Carmel/Monterey/Big Sur. We just did this trip for our one year anniversary and it was wonderful! Four days in SF and three in the Carmel area with a day trip to Napa mixed in. Carmel was a very relaxing town, while SF was more of a "go and do activities" type place. Nice best of both worlds situation. SF is a pricey city, but I do think it'd be doable on $5000. That's about what we spent for the whole trip, everything included.

Chicago is a fun city. It's got beaches but also a lot of other activities going on. Shopping, shows, comedy clubs, tours, baseball games, etc. I grew up near there so let me know if you have any more specific questions. Chicago is cheaper and closer than SF, so you could definitely do it for under $5000.

Or what about Florida? The Clearwater/Tampa area is really nice. Or Marco Island (though I dont know how many things there are to do besides the beach). I've also heard good things about Key West.

Lilshell812

Our budget is $5000 (flying out of Philadelphia...or NYC if it's cheaper) and we're trying to make Peru work. We really want to see Machu Picchu and from the research I've done so far, I THINK $2500pp is doable for about 8-10 days (not including money spend while there).

We want an adventure and any other place in South America was INSANELY expensive.

MrsGandthebeag

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_ideas-for-honeymoon-within-our-budget?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:c73751ba-ebc9-4121-8aa8-c66436ed8c2cPost:588c2992-9d40-4e0d-8cec-3cae5a867968">Re:Ideas for honeymoon within our budget?</a>:
[QUOTE]Honestly, I did Mediterranean cruise this summer, and I would NOT recommend it for a honeymoon.
Posted by Sleeper2013[/QUOTE]

<div>I'm interested in why you said this.  While I would probably never do a cruise again, we did enjoy our mediteranean cruise for our honeymoon.  Just curious.  I discovered I'm definitely not a sit on the boat with nothing to do kind of person (those days at sea).  </div>

JoanE2012

How about Belize or Costa Rica?  Nice mix of beaches and activities.

alithebride

well if the med cruise is your dream then why not go when it is within your budget? take a mini moon after the weddign and then go on the cruise during a cheaper time of year.

MrsGandthebeag

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_ideas-for-honeymoon-within-our-budget?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:c73751ba-ebc9-4121-8aa8-c66436ed8c2cPost:d4e07d3c-e716-4d5b-88d8-e4a51e88736a">Re:Ideas for honeymoon within our budget?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re:Ideas for honeymoon within our budget? : I'm not a person who likes to just sit or lay around on vacation either, but I found this cruise anything but relaxing or romantic. Some of the ports were not so bad, like Toulouse and Naples, where you could just hop off the boat and explore at your leisure. But others like Florence and Rome, were not as enjoyable. I just didn't like those days where we had to be up and ready by 7:00 a.m., ride on a bus for an hour and a half to get to the city, where we only had very short spans of time to see each site or landmark. I personally prefer less rushed more leisurely travel.
Posted by Sleeper2013[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Got ya.  We went to different places than you.  We chose tours that weren't super long or super far away from the ports.  What I thought was good about the cruise was going to multiple places on one trip.  I agree with you about being kind of rushed though.  We definitely would've liked more time in Sicily so we are planning another trip to go there specifically.

</div>

elbow23

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!  We had actually briefly tossed around the idea of San Francisco, so that might warrant further investigation.  Belize, Costa Rica, and Peru sound interesting as well.  We also do agree with the idea of saving the Mediterranean for later - I'm currently starting the third year of my PhD training, so we're thinking of gradually putting aside money and going on that trip in a few years to celebrate my graduation.

jacquiroxx

We're going to Puerto Rico for a week then taking a cruise for a second week.  I am learning that Puerto Rico is divine.  I can't wait to go.  We are renting a studio apartment from a person we found on homeaway.com (and spending about $500 for 7 nights.  Our flights were affordable- about $200pp (we're flying out of Newark and back into Philly because it was the cheapest way to do it).  So far, we've spend $900 and I can't imagine that food and entertainment will add up too high.  Definitely something to look into at least   We are going during hurricane season since we're getting married next month, so I'm sure prices are lower than they are during the summer, but I still can't imagine it costing $5000.

Sue-n-Kevin

If you are interested in CA, I'd recommend doing a road trip, which is what we did last August for our HM (but over a longer period). We flew into San Fran, stayed there a few nights, then rented a convertible and drove down the coast with 1-2 night stays at various places like Carmel, Santa Barbara, LA, all the way down to Coronado Bay across the bridge from San Diego. We then turned in the car in San Diego and flew home from there.

"3 city" trips, instead of roundtrips into and out of the same city don't always cost that much more. I think for us it was maybe $50?? My trip was covered with my Delta Sky Miles, but we did pay for my hubby's.

We delayed our HM a few weeks because we are major Detroit Tiger fans and wanted to see the team on the road, which we had never done. We stayed at the same hotel they did in San Fran, and I took a baseball and got tons of autographs. The players are really approachable when they are on the road, and many of them laughed when we said we planned our honeymoon around their games. Anyway, teams don't release their schedules until late in the year before the season, but it's something to think about if you guys are Red Sox fans (which I assume you are). We had already been talking about California, then I checked the schedule and voila!

Lilshell812

I actually second Puerto Rico. I only spent a short time there (it was a stop on a cruise) but it was awesome! We visited the rain forest, ate delicious food, and had a great night on the town in Old San Juan!

Swazzle

We're staying at the Royal Playa del Carmen in Mexico for 12 days, flying out of NJ & we're paying about $4700. We wanted to go somewhere it didn't take too long to get to, where we could relax half the time, & go out & do stuff the other half. 

allychase

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_ideas-for-honeymoon-within-our-budget?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:c73751ba-ebc9-4121-8aa8-c66436ed8c2cPost:f9694651-f9a5-43d2-ac16-aeabab6f6082">Re: Ideas for honeymoon within our budget?</a>:
[QUOTE]We're staying at the Royal Playa del Carmen in Mexico for 12 days, flying out of NJ & we're paying about $4700. We wanted to go somewhere it didn't take too long to get to, where we could relax half the time, & go out & do stuff the other half. 
Posted by rdr716[/QUOTE]

<div>RDR, can I ask where abouts in NJ you are? I'm in Atlantic County and noticed we're getting married the same month. yay for april weddings in NJ!</div>