Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
How about Sri Lanka?? You get nice beaches too but it also has national parks,ancient cities and so on:
http://www.roughguides.com/destinati...a/where-to-go/
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
neonplanet40
the idea of just sitting around of 2 weeks doing nothing doesn't appeal to her.
I think she's misunderstanding what a Honeymoon is about then ;)
I guess everyone's different - to some it's a glorified holiday. For us it was a chance to get away from life's distractions and spend some quality time with just the two of us. So we went to a cottage in the middle of the Welsh countryside :D
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kalniel
I think she's misunderstanding what a Honeymoon is about then ;)
:naughty::innocent:
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
What sorts of activities are you thinking about? Historical, scenery, shopping, etc? That would affect the suggestions somewhat dramatically I suspect!
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Malta. LOADS to do - eg 365 churches, one for each day of the year. If it's sightseeing you want I can totally recommend Malta, did our Honeymoon there March 2011
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jim
What sorts of activities are you thinking about? Historical, scenery, shopping, etc? That would affect the suggestions somewhat dramatically I suspect!
Well the other option is New Zealand which is packed with things to do - outdoor type things! SO somewhere in the middle. So Maldives with lots to do!
No resorts in Maldives that offer more etc?
I am still trying to convince her. Yet, this far, I haven't had much of a say on anything to do with the wedding haha!
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Cancun? You can relax by the pool, drinking if you want, but there's also loads of Mayan sights to see, watersports, wildlife watching, etc
Or 'er indoors and I went to Sandals in Jamaica, and it was ace. Some days we sat around the pool getting drinks brought to us, some days we went tubing, another we went on a Dunns Falls expidition - that's the area where a lot of Dr No was filmed... If it's your honeymoon, I would definitely go all inclusive...
Edit - what about Australia? Doesn't take as long to get to as NZ, you can stop off in Singapore/Hong Kong/Dubai/Thailand for a few days, plus there's plenty to see and do. The wife and I went there for our honeymoon, did a week in Sydney, a week in Port Douglas (inc a visit to the reef), then back to Sydney and the Blue Mountains (which we couldn't see because of the fog!) then home via a 3 day stay in Singapore.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
neonplanet40
Well the other option is New Zealand which is packed with things to do - outdoor type things! SO somewhere in the middle. So Maldives with lots to do!
No resorts in Maldives that offer more etc?
I am still trying to convince her. Yet, this far, I haven't had much of a say on anything to do with the wedding haha!
Taking a look at Trip Adviser and Lonely Planet there are a few things to do on the island but 90% of stuff is either Dive or Spa related :P
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
In the same boat and we're actually pondering one week in Sri Lanka followed one week in the Maldives. Lots of culture and wildlife to see in Sri Lanka.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
If anyone whats advice about where to visit in Sri Lanka ask me - I lived there for a few years.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
The budget?
To me that is the real question, as ultimately it will dictake options. If you want nice beaches and amazing things to see and do, why not mix things up a tiny little bit. Go to Thailand for one week, then nip across the border to Myanmar (Burma) for a week. The former has got high end luxury beach resorts, or even the little Islands, but the latter has adventure and frankly a dawn hot air ballooning across the old little temple spires is going to be incredibly memorable.
Or how about Brazil... I mean the list is practically endless. I enjoyed my few days in Langkawi, and it's definitely the kind of place you need to be with a partner, it's kind of quiet.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TheAnimus
The budget?
To me that is the real question, as ultimately it will dictake options. If you want nice beaches and amazing things to see and do, why not mix things up a tiny little bit. Go to Thailand for one week, then nip across the border to Myanmar (Burma) for a week. The former has got high end luxury beach resorts, or even the little Islands, but the latter has adventure and frankly a dawn hot air ballooning across the old little temple spires is going to be incredibly memorable.
Or how about Brazil... I mean the list is practically endless. I enjoyed my few days in Langkawi, and it's definitely the kind of place you need to be with a partner, it's kind of quiet.
I would say around £10k - £12k but I really wanted to fly business class as I am 6ft 6 inches and said at some point of my life I would try and fly in relevant comfort - might as well be my honeymoon :P
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Singapore it is! http://dereklow.co/what-its-like-to-...-suites-class/
(joking)
Is that £10-12k for two, or each? Business class tickets for a 12 hour flight are normally £2k per person. You might be able to redeam some airmiles in a companion voucher form or something, but either way, if it's two of you, and 10k total, that's over a third of it just on the air fare.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Unfortunately that is for us both. yes I saw the flights for around 2k each, leaving 8k on the holiday. If I can persuade the missus to forgo the wedding - I could use that money as well. however, not going to happen :(
PS - I looked that that blog before - it looks amazing! I will never have the money for that :( lol
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TheAnimus
That is insane! I want to some how blag my way into that when in dirty backpacker mode! :D
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Have you considered Mauritius? We had our honeymoon there, booked with Mercury Direct, staying at The Sands Resort and Spa and it cost around £3500 (June 2012).Around 22-24C typically in June (winter for them). Mountainous island with great beaches and tropical seas so it allows you to mix relaxation with day trips.
There's a protected part called Casela which has some great activities. We did quad biking around a savana (visiting ostrich, zebra, giant tortoise). A zip line adventure (treking through the low mountains and doing some zip lines across canyons, with BBQ lunch), walking with lions. This was all at Casela. We also had a day out at sea swimming with wild dolphins in the morning, visiting a deserted island for a lobster bbq lunch and swiming in the shallow coral reef in the afternoon (this was a particularly awesome day).
The hotel was great with onsite spa and massage facilities.
Here's a few highlights:
Hotel private beach:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...247712a84311c4
Hotel gardens (outside of apartments):
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...1bcba411a55f49
Zip lining in the mountains: (Casela park)
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...f4&oe=55625957
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...d84de1032277fc
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...4efc8eea139009
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...54f0fc6804e57f
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...41&oe=552E7A3E
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...16f8f78a990813
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Try Premium Economy, more legroom, half the price of Business and also a chance of upgrade to Business. We booked Premium Economy with BA to Aus. It was rubbish, but they merged two 747s onto a Qantas a380 on the way home and we got bumped to Business. By the time I'd finished playing with everything we were there. Plus they got us blind drunk!
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Disney orlando! Haha, we actually went on a Caribbean cruise on ours in 2012. Visited 3 islands, only one was a lazy beach type day, other two we spent walking around and shopping. But plenty of time to relax on the ship on the sailing days.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
If you don't mind going economy class, look at the Conrad resorts in Maldives
it's the only one I know with an Underwater Restaurant, amazing Link here
One thing that separates Maldives from others, is the ability to have Water villas. I have a fear of Mosquito's and they were perfect as they were mossie free. They were also amazing in the morning, you wake up to the sound of the sea literally. Brushing my teeth with the sun rising and the Water splashing is something to die for and indeed should be on your bucket list.
tell your missus, this is the only chance to go to Maldives before it is gone indefinitely as it is sinking :) Also if she wants a busy holiday she has the next 50 years or so to do it. Maldives is a once in a life time!!
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
My wife and I mixed the Maldives and Dubai as part of our honeymoon as we wanted that split between relaxing and doing things. We did the week in the Maldives at Kuramathi, which we can both highly recommend, which is exclusive through Kuoni in the UK. It's a bigger island and had 7 fantastic restaurants over and above your standard all inclusive, which you can go in for ultra all inclusive to get part of your package, it was good as it kept the variety. It had plenty to do with island hops back to Mali, sailing, and smaller watersports, diving, snorkelling, spa etc. It was Dubai that then kept us busy with other activities, but equally Sri Lanka as mentioned has plenty to see and was on our shortlist. The one thing we found in that one is there is a lot of traveling around between places, so can be less "relaxing" if that is what you are after, but different opinions. Personal highlights were the sea plane back in the morning, and the snorkelling is fabulous. We really wanted sea villas, but couldn’t quite stretch to it, but we had a fabulous beach villa, which was a nice 10 seconds walk into the sea.
Couldn’t agree more that it is the best place we have been and stretch if you can, and to keep interesting that’s why we split in two, I think we did 9 and 3 nights. Good luck, and if you can book Emirates, they were great to fly with, and the A380 out to Dubai was a great pleasure, even in economy.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
So far we are looking at doing a 2 week break. 1 week in Maldives and 1 in either Sri Lanka or Dubai.
That would get a nice mix of both :P
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
csgohan4
One thing that separates Maldives from others, is the ability to have Water villas. I have a fear of Mosquito's and they were perfect as they were mossie free.
You get those almost everywhere in the tropics. I've stayed at a couple in Malaysia, and nearly stopped off at one once in French Polynesia on my way to Aus, before I realised how hard flights would be.
On a different note I'd just like to say how boring Dubai is. I normally say that a place is what you make of it, and it's often the mark of the man who decries a place, but imagine if slough had money. That's Dubai. It's a collection of all the worst morality and hypocrisy in one place, I visited it a little too much when I'd made friends with a stewardess, it's a detestable place that makes me sad that I've wasted a dozen weekends of my life there.
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TheAnimus
-snip---> I'd made friends with a stewardess, it's a detestable place that makes me sad that I've wasted a dozen weekends of my life there.
I'm sure they weren't completely wasted! :D
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Smudger
Try Premium Economy, more legroom, half the price of Business and also a chance of upgrade to Business. We booked Premium Economy with BA to Aus. It was rubbish, but they merged to 747s onto a Qantas a380 on the way home and we got bumped to Business. By the time I'd finished playing with everything we were there. Plus they got us blind drunk!
If you collect miles, it's usually relatively cheap to upgrade premium econ to a confirmed business seat using Avios.
Similarly, those Singapore Suites are bookable with miles, and not nearly as many as I expected. I could probably transfer some MR's....
Re: Maldives - Honeymoon?
I have just finished a 3 month honeymoon starting italy, india, sri lanka, Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia. (emigrated to australia so had to have a long honeymoon as my visa was delayed so were on budget in most places except Japan)
I would highly recommend some cultural experience rather than just a beach, start life with each other on an experience to a place you may never see again rather than a beach and sea. Japan was the highlight for us, expensive accommodation and transport but the food is dirt cheap and the culture shock will give you things to remember.
If you want something a little cheaper then Vietnam you can have 5 star accomodation and eat some of the best food in the world while experiencing asia at it finest.
