Your honeymoon should feel like the perfect start to married life: a trip that’s all about the two of you. But what does that look like? A short and sweet mini-moon close to home or a long dreamy getaway where time doesn’t matter? After all the wedding planning, the last thing you need is more stress. So, here’s a look at different honeymoon styles to help you find a vacation destination in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa that feels right for you.
As always, check for travel guidelines and closures before planning your trip.
Find Your Perfect Corner of a Perfect Island
“No man is an island,” goes the saying, but it’s different for newlyweds. For just-married couples, cultivating a bubble of blissful solitude is what it’s all about—that’s why an island break matches honeymooners so well.
With its famously beautiful beaches, few islands conjure the feeling of leaving the everyday far behind quite like Sardinia. For the ultimate “do not disturb” mini-moon, W Sardinia – Poltu Quatu has it all. In the local dialect, poltu quatu means “hidden port,” and the description is apt for this resort cradled at the head of a fjordlike inlet on the Costa Smeralda, with the La Maddalena archipelago hazy in the distance. The decor of soft pastels, wood, and stone evokes natural rhythms, grounding you in here and now — you’ll never have another trip quite like this, after all, so every moment is to be cherished. Dine on the open terrace of TANIT, gazing across the Mediterranean and into your future together.
Honeymooners planning a longer stay can look to more distant horizons, including the classic island image of gently waving palms and tropical waters. If the very name “Indian Ocean” sparks your imagination with thoughts of coral-reef snorkeling and freshly grilled mahi-mahi, laïla, Seychelles, a Tribute Portfolio Resort calls to you. With its pretty crescent of a bay inviting arm-in-arm strolls along the shore, at laïla, the first precious moments of your marriage will feel charmed. You can even celebrate your love by dancing moutya together on the beach — the resort holds regular evenings dedicated to the island’s traditional Creole dance.
Hit the Heights of Love
Some relationships blossom on a snowcapped mountain or hiking trail. And if your heart is more easily won the faster it beats, choosing an adrenaline-filled alpine honeymoon might be the perfect start to your marriage.
Set at the foot of Mont Blanc, Le Geant, Courmayeur, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy is ideal for couples whose souls soar when they’re among dramatic mountain landscapes. It also makes a great mini-moon option for restless romantics, with superb ski runs just beyond the complex and a spa to wind down in after a day on the slopes.
Taking an extended honeymoon not only prolongs your newlywed dream, but also means you can fit more into your getaway. You’ll want to do exactly that at northern Türkiye’s Ceylan Splend’or Uludag, Autograph Collection, a gorgeously appointed alpine lodge. Hike together to waterfalls through stunning scenery before preparing for another romantic evening with a side-by-side massage.
Make Yours an Urban Romance
Some romances deepen by candlelight, others by the sparkling dance of neon and fluorescence in the big city. If yours is an urban romance, curate the perfect mini-moon by choosing from Europe’s cities. With so many urban delights, you’ll surely find one to match your love.
The classic lovers’ choice of Paris finds its full expression at Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe Hotel, where the guest rooms’ magnificent windows turn Paris into a picture. With some suites offering balconies and views of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Montmartre’s Sacré Coeur, there’s a sense of being amid the timeless and iconic here — for some couples, that will hit just the right note.
Farther afield, Marrakech’s legendary Jemaa el-Fna Square awaits, where storytellers draw rapt audiences to their expertly woven tales. The city itself enchants, too, with its labyrinthine medina offering a mirror to newlywed couples lost in one other. Rise above the medina’s heady ambience to the rooftop of AnaYela, Marrakesh, a Member of Design Hotels and toast one another with sunset drinks overlooking the ochre beauty of the city’s ancient core.
Stay on as guests at AnaYela to find all of the city’s essence distilled under one roof, with this former palace’s ornate traditional architecture and classic open-air courtyard pool dappled with rose petals. With just five rooms in its riad layout, two of them suites, this hotel is for couples who cherish tranquility and the personal touch. When the time comes to venture from your riad oasis, visit Jardin Majorelle to savor the garden’s glades and tinkling water features.
Bask Side by Side in Beachfront Bliss
Some couples want seaside sunsets, beaches, and boat-fresh fish without casting themselves away on an island. For this mood of honeymoon, there are options galore.
Romance laps at the shore of the French Riviera. It was during the 1920s that a glamorous expat couple, Gerald and Sara Murphy, cultivated a set of fashionable friends, setting in motion a see-and-be-seen culture that’s alive and well today. Mid-twentieth-century icons like Brigitte Bardot (whose iconic film “And God Created Woman” was shot in St. Tropez), Pablo Picasso, and Somerset Maugham are all associated with the region.
If that’s the kind of company you’d love to keep, enjoy a honeymoon fit for the silver screen’s heyday at JW Marriott Cannes, where the heady spirit of peak French Riviera lives on. The hotel’s very location on the Croisette is iconic — during the famed Cannes Film Festival, this seafront strip is embellished by a red carpet. Nothing evokes the honeymoon high life like a dip in the JW Marriott Cannes rooftop pool with its 360-degree panorama or an afternoon spent on the hotel’s very own private beach, followed by a glass of Champagne on the Sunset Terrace.
One imagines those original French Riviera jet-setters would have loved to experience 21st-century Dubai. Marriott Resort Palm Jumeirah, Dubai is a shining example of the city’s famous hospitality. Here is the beachfront resort experience at its very finest. Choose to have your breath taken away by vistas of the Persian Gulf or Dubai skyline from your room, and indulge in couples treatments at the world-class Saray Spa.
Fall Under the Spell of an Enchanting Resort
If proximity to one another is all that really matters, consider a resort honeymoon where every last detail is taken care of. You won’t even need to leave the property — just sink into the experience and enjoy being wrapped up in each other.
A jewel of the Balearics, The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort takes care of everything so you can enjoy yourselves, and each other, as much as a just-married couple should. Choose a suite tucked away amid lush gardens with a gorgeous Mediterranean view and a private open-sided terrace. Relaxing on your lounger, caressed by a gentle breeze softly scented with pine, rosemary, and rockrose, you’ll know these are days you’ll never forget. For a really special touch, arrange to arrive by yacht, and expect to be wowed by the resort’s cuisine, which is worth breaking eye contact for.
If you’re jetting away for a long, lingering resort honeymoon, you want to know your every whim will be indulged. You can be sure of that at The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert, an exemplary resort whose private villas feature pools just right for two. You’ll create memories as golden as a sand dune sunset, and what could be more romantic than a stargazing experience under skies as pure as this?
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