How to Choose the Perfect Destination for Your Honeymoon

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It’s exciting to plan not only your wedding but also your honeymoon. A honeymoon is a time to relax after the whirlwind of the festivities and spend time with your new spouse before you begin your lives together. 

Choosing the ideal destination is important. You want to find a destination for your honeymoon that speaks to both of your interests and will help you create lifelong memories. 

There are plenty of popular travel destinations in the U.S., or you might decide to go out of the country. 

To get you started, the following are tips to think about as you pick the perfect destination. 

Start Early 

One important general tip for planning a great honeymoon is to start the planning process as soon as you can. Don’t get so swept up in the wedding planning that you put honeymoon planning on the backburner. 

You should start planning your trip and making specific bookings at least several months out from the dates you hope to go. 

For example, it’s best to book your plane tickets around two months out from your trip dates. That keeps you far enough out so that you don’t have to face last-minute hikes in pricing, but it’s also close enough to your travel date that the airline feels an incentive to sell seats. 

Along with starting to plan, set a pretty rigid budget. There’s not a guide you should follow as to how much to spend on a honeymoon—it’s different for every couple. You should think about what’s realistic for you. 

Consider using points or miles if they’re available to you or having people donate to your honeymoon fund instead of traditional wedding presents. 

Your budget is going to guide a lot of your decision-making as far as a destination. 

There are trips that can be $1,0000, or there are trips that can be tens of thousands of dollars. There’s so much variance in the price of travel options that unless you have some idea of your budget, you’re not going to be able to create a solid plan. 

You might decide as a couple that you’re willing to spend less on your wedding and more on your honeymoon, so that’s an option worth considering. You have to prioritize what’s important to you as a couple. 

You might also be wondering who traditionally pays for the honeymoon. If we’re basing things on tradition, the groom’s family pays. However, we know that no two couples or weddings are alike. Who pays for your honeymoon depends on your family and your preferences.

If you decide you’re going to pay for your honeymoon as a couple, there are some benefits even though it might not seem like it.

First, you have complete control over everything on your trip. You plan it together, and you can set the budget that feels right for you. You’re also not going to have to depend on someone else’s approval or feel like you have to listen to their opinion, which can happen if a family member pays for the trip. 

Start Brainstorming

Planning your honeymoon might be one of the first places in your life as a couple where you’re really compromising. Compromising is a skill you’ll use throughout your marriage, so why not put it into practice when you choose a destination?

You can start by brainstorming and making lists of your priorities for your trip. Each of you should list the things that are most important to you. 

For example, do you want an urban location or the beach? Maybe you want the mountains or the countryside. Or you may want to seclude yourself in nature and soak in one of the steaming waters of Iceland hot springs.

Do you want a luxurious resort or a rustic cabin rental?

Both of you should take the time to write about what’s important to you and what appeals to you. 

You can, from there, also each come up with a shortlist of some of the destinations you think are in line with what you listed. 

 Find The Overlap

Once you’ve made your lists on your own, you can start to focus on where things overlap. 

For example, maybe you take a couple of the experiences or types of scenery that each of you prioritizes and figure out if there’s a destination that meets both. 

How Much Time Will You Have?

Planning a honeymoon isn’t entirely about the destinations you prefer. It’s also about what’s realistic for you. 

For example, how much time do you have for your honeymoon? If you only have a couple of days, you might not want to spend two full days on a long flight getting to and from your destination. 

If you have a longer amount of time, more options can open up to you, but you still might not be willing to take an ultra-long flight. 

Something else to consider as far as the schedule is whether you’ll want to leave immediately after your wedding or if you’d like to take some time to decompress. 

Consider What Kind of Couple You Are

When you’re choosing a trip, you want to think about what kind of couple you actually are versus what kind you’d like to be. Sometimes, we may feel like we want to be active and outdoorsy, but in reality, we like sitting by a pool with a cocktail.

That’s perfectly fine, just be honest with yourselves as you plan your trip about what you actually like and enjoy doing. 

Consider Weather and Current Events

Finally, you want to think about what the weather will be like in different destinations at the time you plan to travel and how current events could impact things. 

The weather could help you narrow down a long list if it’s off-season in some of your proposed destinations. 

As far as current events, do some research on destinations and consider getting travel insurance as well. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, and that can impact your travel plans now and in the future. Travel insurance can give you some peace of mind as you plan. 

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