Over the past year and a half, you may have noticed that I haven’t been traveling nearly as much as I’d like. The biggest reason, as I’ve mentioned before, is that I got married earlier this year, and prioritized saving for a wedding over return trips to Europe, weekend trips in the States, and even overnights in neighboring Florida cities. Now that the wedding has come and gone, and Dan and I are able to spend and save a little more freely, it’s time for us to focus at last on figuring out our (very delayed) dream honeymoon plans. While we have finally decided on a destination, when we first started planning, we had a hard time choosing just one place to explore as newlyweds. Our wish list of places to visit is stuffed full of beautiful islands, scenic vistas, and romantic cities, so choosing just one place for this once-in-a-lifetime vacation took a little extra thought on our part.
With limited vacation time and an even more limited travel budget, many of our top contenders quickly fell off the list when we realized the time and cost involved in say, flying from Florida to Greece and taking multiple ferries to go island hopping for ten days. Yikes. Still, we had such a fun time putting together our top honeymoon destinations, I wanted to share our favorites with you today! What better excuse to indulge in a little fantasy trip planning?
Greece
Is there a honeymoon destination as dreamy (and admittedly cliché) as island hopping in Greece? The very thought of Santorini, with its endless expanse of blue water, charming collection of traditional blue and white buildings, and incredible cliffside hotels has captured my imagination for years. The idea of waking up to that beautiful view, spending some time exploring the city streets with my camera, and trying all kinds of fresh local food with my new husband was a hard one to resist. Greece as a whole has such a rich and interesting history, not to mention thousands of islands and cities to explore, so I knew our trip would involve more than just lounging by the pool and eating freshly grilled seafood with exotic white wines. While we aren’t going to Greece this time around, a week or two of island-hopping, sightseeing, and trying new cuisine still takes the number one spot on our list of dream honeymoons.
Suggested Post: The Most Romantic Honeymoon Destinations in Greece
Croatia
As with Greece, Dan and I were drawn to Croatia by its beautiful coastline, fresh local flavors, and abundance of things to do. We are huge Game of Thrones fans, so visiting the stunning old town of Dubrovnik and the nearby island of Lokrum was a must-do. Beyond that, Croatia is a relatively small country with plenty of diverse and beautiful regions, easily reachable by car. The hardest part of our honeymoon planning in Croatia was simply trying to narrow things down to just two or three places. We wanted to visit the sun-soaked Dalmatian Islands, go wine-tasting in Istria, and see the natural beauty of Plitvice Lakes National Park. In the end, we decided to save Croatia for a trip when we could afford to take more time off of work and really explore the country, rather than rushing around to see several places in a week. The goal of honeymooning, at least in our case, was to relax and enjoy, not to wake up early and hurry from one place to the next. Which brings me to my next dream honeymoon…
Suggested Post: Croatia’s 5 Best Honeymoon Destinations
A Mediterranean/Greek Isles Cruise
Visiting several of our dream destinations by boarding a Mediterranean cruise presented us with a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, the cruise itinerary we’d picked out would allow us to see Greece, Croatia, Montenegro and visit Venice for the first time. We’d be whisked around in style, never worrying about train transfers or driving or packing up all our luggage with each new destination. And, we’d be fed and live in relative luxury while aboard the ship. What’s not to love? Answer: the minimal time spent in port. We would only have a few hours to explore each new port, and have to rise early to join the shuffle off and back onto the ship. It seemed like a lot of hustle and bustle just to spend a few hours in places where we would prefer to spread out for days. I’d love to be proven wrong about cruising one day, but I wasn’t willing to lay our trip on the line this time around.
Suggested Post: Europe: 8 Bucket List Spots You Can See on a Cruise
France
When Dan and I visited France together in 2016, it was hard not to compare our trip to a honeymoon visit. We stayed in a nice part of Paris, shared several unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences (dinner cruise on the Seine, anyone?), and ordered a bottle of wine with virtually every meal we ate. The trip was romantic and carefree, and something we are eager to repeat in the future. While we absolutely love Paris and can’t wait to return over and over, I’m also dying to get out and explore more of what France has to offer. My dream honeymoon to France would involve driving around for a few weeks and visiting several of the places on my lengthy French wish list, from the dreamy towns of Provence to the coast of Normandy. I’d love to visit Strasbourg, Mont Saint-Michel, and even see Mont Blanc, but the reality is that it would take several trips and a lot of vacation time to even begin to do all those places justice.
Suggested Post: Wanderlust Wednesday: Exploring Montelimar, France
Costa Rica
I’m a bit of a Europhile, as you can see, and would move to Europe in a second if given the opportunity. My list of dream honeymoons reflects that, but there is one place closer to home that I’m also dying to visit: Costa Rica. Just a short trip away from our home in Florida, Costa Rica seems like a natural paradise with plenty for us to do and see. I’d love to check into a romantic bungalow for the week and divide our time between lounging around and pursing more exciting activities like hiking or horseback riding. Plus, I could finally live out my dream of visiting the sloth sanctuary, or even better, seeing some sloths just hanging out in the wild.
So where are we actually headed this spring? If you’ve been following along on Instagram, then you already know that we are headed back to…
France!!!
It all started when we saw a good vacation package to Paris offered on Expedia, and we started to wonder…would it be so terrible if we just returned to a place we love, rather than finding a brand new one to explore together? It’s not as though Paris is some crummy consolation prize, after all, and Greece will still be there for us in a few years. Now that the plane tickets have been booked, I’m super excited to get back to France and spend some time just relaxing in one of the world’s most romantic cities. Stay tuned for more trip planning posts as we get closer to departure day, and if you’d like to read about our previous trip to France, you can see all of my French posts here.
Leave a Reply