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Honeymoon Discussions
Seeking city & beach exotic March ideas!
We are getting married in early March and it's up to me to figure out the honeymoon. I thought it would be pretty simple. Wrong!
We have 2 weeks to spare, give or take a day or two, for our honeymoon and would both like to do something kinda different. We both think it would be cool to do the touristy kind of city/adventure/exploring type of thing for about 5-7 days and then go somewhere nice, quiet, beachy and realaxing for the rest of the trip.
Both of us would rather not be at a beach for 2 weeks. Granted, it would be nice to relax, but it would probably get boring and repeditive after a while.
The general idea would be something like home to Paris to Trinidad to home or home to Spain to Canary Islands to home. Something like that. I've also looked into Brazil, Italy and Africa.
We would like a balance of something new and adventurous and stimulating and then relaxing and romantic. We have about $5k to work with. I've contacted a travel agent, but don't like the suggestions so far. Please help!!!
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Re: Seeking city & beach exotic March ideas!
[QUOTE]We both think it would be cool to do the touristy kind of city/adventure/exploring type of thing for about 5-7 days and then go somewhere nice, quiet, beachy and realaxing for the rest of the trip.
We have about $5k to work with. I've contacted a travel agent, but don't like the suggestions so far. Please help!!!
Posted by ned4spd8874[/QUOTE]
have you looked into Costa Rica? You can get everything you are looking for in one country, and for 5k, you can stay in some very nice places! Its a very safe, beautiful and affordable country!
Africa, or Europe and the Caribbean in the same trip might be a bit tough on 5k, considering airfare.
1300 a person.
venere.com and tripadvisor.com are great resources for hotels in italy.
i stayed at the albergo del senato in rome and the grand hotel cavour in florence if that will help you out.
I'm curious about whether or not you have considered Asia? You could easily do Japan or Hong kong and get to see a new city and have a good adventure. Half of your budget would probably go to airfare, but Japan and Hong kong are industrialized, safe countries so you wouldn't have to worry about having top notch all inclusive hotels.
Also, depending on the level of adveture you want, may I suggest Belize instead of Costa Rica? Belize is the second most "developed" country in central America ( a distant second to Costa Rica), and is very stable. However it does have a kinda tropical wild west feel to it. Almost everyone speaks english (I believe it's the official language) even when you get into the less touristy places. Also, there are TONS of ruins from the Maya. It's my understanding that Costa Rica doesn't have many ruins as it was on the outskirts of a couple civilizations not not a main area.
Oh Also, theres the Blue hole, The second largest Barrier reef, and an extensive cave system.
The downside would be that there isn't a large city, and the largest, Belize City, is only 80,000 and not the safest area but I would say you'd get more "adventure" out of Belize and more relaxation out of Costa Rica.
We booked our London and Paris honeymoon using EuropeanDesinations.com and it was by far the cheapest that I found. You are able to select dates and your city of departure to get exact prices. Otherwise check out TravelZoo as they have deals going on almost all of the time.
I think you two will be tight no matter where you go though. And hopefully you have spending money on top of the 5k. Decide for sure where you want to go first though. Europe is very different then Central America. But all the posters above have great suggestions and this is where you can get a ton of information!
06.09.2012
I would get yourself a Frommer's guide for Spain and the Canary Islands - it has invaluable advice on hotels, what to do, local culture, etc.
[QUOTE]thanks for the great replies! I'll look into Florence more. But I've heard is very noisy and busy. That does not appeal to either of us. I'm thinking Sicily too. Again, I guess my problem is that although they seem very nice, they seem very busy. We wouldn't mind that at first, but still want to get relaxation, 1 on 1 time out of more touristy, hussle and bustle places. I would love to go to Japan or Hong Kong! But my fiance isn't as keen on it. She said that she wouldn't mind going, but it wouldn't be near the top of her list. The same with Central America, not on her top list.
Posted by ned4spd8875[/QUOTE]
Rome is noisier and busier than florence. florence is much smaller-more of a saunter around place. FAR FAR FAR more easy going than rome. you might also want to consider staying in tuscany someplace other than florence or alogn iwth florence like siena, radda, etc... and spending some time at wineries.
Sicily is great. i've been a few times. Siracusa (on the s.e. shore is fabulous) and agrigento, selinunte and sciacca are gorgeous.
Just because there's a lot to do doesn't mean you have to do a lot. I usually do half a day seeing stuff and the other half at a wine bar enjoying the scenery. every trip is what YOU make of it.
If you don't know Spanish very well, bring a phrase book. I bumped into a lot of locals that didn't speak any English (including waiters in tourist areas and taxi drivers). And be prepared for some words (like the one for bathroom) to be different than the phrase book because most phrase books are geared towards Mexican-Spanish and not Span-Spanish.