Still can't decide on a honeymoon

I'm still planning mine as well! We just booked our France tickets, and half our time spent in Paris. We are still undecided what to do with the remaining 5 days and also kind of torn between which parts of southern France we want to hit. Ideally it would be nice to hit all the cities on the coast but it seems too rushed. So hubby and I are considering if we should hang out in 2-3 areas and just stroll along.

I think maybe start with figuring out which sites you'd like to spend time seeing each time and breaking it up to hitting up 2-3 items of your list per day. that way you can go grab breakfast, go to site 1, lunch, go to site 2, do dinner and stroll around before heading back in.

We went to Greece and Italy, it was amazing! Only schedule we had was our flights, we booked our airbnbs only a day or two in advance so we didn't have to stress about arriving on time. We rented a car in Rome and drove wherever we wanted from there.

We were torn about our honeymoon as well. We want to do Ireland for two weeks as our honeymoon but my fiancé has never been anywhere tropical before so he wants to go to punta cana to do an all inclusive for our honeymoon. Currently we still can’t decide so we have agree that we will do a delayed honeymoon to Dominican in December (our wedding is May so it’s warming up here) and then will do our big Ireland trip as our one year anniversary. Which now has my fiancé discussing a “mini moon” to Tobermory for 3-4 days after the wedding.
It seems a good compromise to do both just spread apart.

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That's awesome! I hope you enjoy your trip!

View quoted message Yes, I’m hoping to plan it out correctly so that it’s not too hectic but still gives us a little excitement!

View quoted message I will most definitely be in contact with you! My sister has been to Portugal many of times and highly recommends it! I am planning to make a stop in Madeira(it looks absolutely beautiful) would love to hear your advice!

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That's unfortunate, but it sounds like you've thought of a solution. I think having a select few places will help get a more relaxed vibe if that's what your going for.

View quoted message I’ve taken some time to look into cruises and unfortunately the only one available around that time is on our wedding date, or a week later and our vacation is already booked. Such a bummer. So we’ve decided to just 2 countries in Europe; Italy, Portugal and if we can swing it, Prague in the Czech. Thanks for your suggestions - I hope you enjoy your cruise, it’s definitely on my bucket list now!

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That is fair! I guess it is reliant upon timing.

Amazing! How exciting for you both. I'm not sure if you've planned out all the stops and such yet - but I used to live in London and have traveled Europe extensively, so if you want any suggestions or tips on Italy (my favorite country) & Portugal send me a message I have to recommend Sintra in Portugal as some unsolicited advice. It is a MUST see, so romantic for a honeymoon. Have fun!!!!

View quoted message You will absolutely love it! We had initial plans to get married in whistler but unfortunately my dad isn’t able to make the trip out that way!

View quoted message I’ve looked into some cruises and unfortunately the only cruise available is leaving on our wedding date. So a cruise is not in our time frame anymore. We have decided to on Europe though! Only going to Italy and Portugal, and if we can swing it, Prague. We have a beach day at each country - that way we can get the best of both worlds!

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That ferry can definitely be rocky - especially at the end of the season (thanksgiving weekend).

I also get sea-sick but the cruise ships are usually large enough that you don't feel it. I have cruised the Caribbean in the past and loved it! We went end of October to avoid hurricane season as much as possible so it's when we're going after our October wedding.

I think a Mediterranean Cruise is a good compromise: you get the more all-inclusive vibe and don't have to pack/unpack in every city but you also have the option to disembark and explore the ports-of-call. I'm not sure if the Mediterranean Sea gets tropical storms, but is definitely something to consider if you go this route.

Another compromise is to pick one area and stay there but still be free to roam around.

For me, I always pictured my honeymoon to be more relaxing than get up and go see a million places, there are definitely ways to get a bit of both without getting bored/too hectic!

We were in the same predicament as you; indecisive!

We wanted to splurge and go to the South of France, or Ireland, then we thought Disney would be fun, then we thought an all inclusive would be more bang for our buck...

Unfortunately we had to use some of our honeymoon fund towards travel to my fiance's cousins wedding in July. So a big trip to Ireland or France wasn't realistic anymore. We decided to head to the Rockies/Okanagan for 2 weeks, and we just booked our accommodations last week. We love this part of Canada, and we know we'll have a great time.

I hear you on the boredom thing though. I'd go bonkers if all I was doing was laying on the beach for 2 weeks. I think our trip allows a really good mix of adventure and relaxation. There's lots of opportunities to go hiking, canoeing, white water rafting, but there's also TONS of vineyards, hot springs, and beaches to relax at.

South of France and Ireland will have to wait, but at least we have time to save up and do it right when the time comes!

My fiancé and I are more the sightseeing and exploring type, so we won't be doing an all-inclusive.

I second the cruise idea! We are doing a combo of road trip in Germany/Switzerland and then a Mediterranean cruise from Venice. The cruise is the best because you get to explore so much without having to do all the moving around work! There are some neat river cruises that visit some of the most eastern Europe countries, if you wanted to try that vs. a big cruise ship. Viking Cruises is one of the best river cruise companies.

I would definitely stick to the Europe plan and just play around with different travel styles. You don't have to go the backpacking route. You can also just pick one main area and explore around there (as previously suggested). Or commit to 3 nights min. in a city so then its less of a packing and moving around situation.

FH and I are exactly the same when it comes to being bored rather quickly, so we have to keep exploring and such. 1 day of sitting on the beach is enough for me! How exciting. Happy planning.

View quoted message That’s a great suggestion! We want to do something fun and exciting, but also don’t want to unpack and pack again and again. I think if we were to focus on just two countries is may be better! Plus it would be hurricane season in the carribean anyway (my excuse to convince my FH)

View quoted message That is exactly our thought! It’s hard enough planning a wedding, and to add onto it a back packing trip would just be too stressful!

We are doing a little bit of both!

We'll be going back to Costa Rica, in February, for about 10-12 days. We'll be staying in an area we didn't visit the last time we were in the country. We'll be staying at a beach surf resort for the whole trip, and plan on taking advantage of all of their activities. We also plan on going inland a couple of days to do some sightseeing (Volcanos, rainforest, hiking, coffee plantation, etc.)

We'll have chill days by the beach, but we'll also have some busy days too!

We had originally planned to do a tour of Italy, but the thought of packing and unpacking and packing again, moving from place to place, and trying to get everywhere we need to be on time has made us reconsider. We have gone on a few too many all-inclusives, though, so we've decided to focus on one area of Italy (still deciding between Venice and Sicily), only venture as far from our hotel as we can go in one day. Kind of a compromise? I did the same thing in college when I went to London for a month and even though I never left the city I didn't have a moment of boredom. There was actually TOO much to do!

I would do the Europe trip, you may not get the chance to do that kind if trip again all inclusive you really can do anytime. I backpacked and it was awesome, it doesn't have to feel rushed if give yourself some time in each place. Traveling around Europe is quick bc the countries are so close and the trains are high speed.

We are doing an all inclusive because we want to just relax.

we just did a euro trip last summer and it was exhausting. Carrying your bags from place to place (unless you did a cruise of course), always being time focussed on a tour or a reservation somewhere.

For me personally, I need 2 weeks of doing nothing!!! I’m looking forward to it!

View quoted message Oh that’s so helpful! Thank you so much! A couple years back we went to Tobermory and took the ferry to Manitoulin Island and I was SO very sick that day, but I know that the ferry is 6x smaller than the cruise ship! It is definitely something that has peaked my interest. Although I’m not sure how the weather will be in late September / Early October!?

View quoted message I get motion sickness as well. I've done one cruise in the past. Because the ship is so large, I didn't really notice movement on a day to day basis. The only day I had a problem was on the way back at the end of the cruise. We hit a storm and the ship was directed further out to sea. The waves were crazy. I had a tough time that day. My mom has worse motion sickness than me and she found the same, it was only bad if the ship is far out to sea. Cruises of the Mediterranean and such tend to stick closer to shore because they dock every day.

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Its soooooo hard! We love the idea of exploring, and seeing a lot of historical places, but just like you...we dont want to change hotels every now and then to unpack our things and pack a couple days later! I'm looking into cruises right now, however im so nervous because I get motion sickness!

My FH and I originally thought of a trip of England, Ireland, Scotland but the thought of changing hotel rooms every day or so, and all the moving around wasn't what we wanted for a honeymoon. And since we are getting married in the summer we also didn't feel to need to escape somewhere in the Caribbean...we decided that's more of a winter getaway...so we opted for a Mediterranean cruise! Then we still get to see the beauty of Europe, plus the convenience of all inclusive, we get to see 3 different countries and only have to deal with one room. It's worth looking into! You sound like we did when we were looking!

My FH and I are more into relaxing. We like the idea of an all-inclusive resort with the ability to do excursions and explore at our discretion.

I would do a bit of a hybrid - part beach do nothing, part explore the city, part fun activity.
We’re putting our honeymoon on the back burner but when it’s time to consider we’ll definitely do a hybrid.