Honeymoon Hot Spots
MAYBE IT WAS THE LUXURIOUS ROOM, the king-size bed or the couples’ massages. It might have been breakfast overlooking the ocean. Or the sandy beaches—some say the best in the world. The rainbows alone could have done it. But Jeniffer Mewett thinks it was probably the kiss she and her new hubby, Ryan, shared at the top of Haleakala volcano that made their honeymoon one for the ages.
The Mewetts were picked up at the Westin Maui at 3 a.m. and driven 38 miles and 10,000 feet up to the top of the volcano, just as the sun was rising. “It was just incredible,” she says. “It’s hard to describe how beautiful it was. It sounds corny, but it was truly a romantic moment for us.”
Jennifer and Ryan live in Rancho Peñasquitos, and she speaks of her time on Maui as if it were a dream. She’s not alone. Islands and dreamy romance come as a package. Like peanut butter and jelly, you don’t think of one without the other.
“Feeling like there’s a whole sea between you and the rest of the world helps honeymooners believe, for a few days, that they’ve escaped to their own little paradise,” says Paris Permenter, editor of Lovetripper.com Romantic Travel Magazine.
Based on the recommendations of local and national travel experts, here are 10 little paradises perfect for any honeymooner:
Aruba. If your idea of romance means dancing, parties and casinos, this small Dutch island in the southern Caribbean is the place for your honeymoon. San Diegans Ellen and Richard Brown go back every year for “second honeymoons” in Aruba, because of the nightlife, the beauty and the warm, welcoming Arubans.
“There’s something about the place,” says Ellen. “The first time we got off the airplane there, it was magical.” In addition to myriad clubs and restaurants, Aruba’s hotels are noted for their theme parties, which include entertainment, dinner and dancing. If you’re feeling lucky, the Crystal Casino is open 24 hours every day.
The island boasts the usual secluded beaches and diverse marine life, but it’s also known for its scuba diving, especially among shipwrecks (there are nine to explore). Possibly the most eerie is the German freighter Antilla, referred to by locals as the “ghost ship.”
Where to stay: Manchebo Beach Resort, 011-297-582-3444 or info@manchebo.com; La Cabana All Suite Beach Resort, 800-835-7193 or reservations@lacabana.com.
Bahamas. This archipelago of more than 700 islands and 2,500 cays stretches more than 100,000 square miles in the western Atlantic Ocean. Getting married here is so popular that the Ministry of Tourism established a separate wedding division to help out couples.
Priscilla Williams, the division’s weddings manager, recommends the outer islands for real romance. There’s Exuma, with its secluded beaches; Cat Island, the least inhabited of the Bahamas, with an 8-mile pink-sand beach; and Kamalame Cay, a private island just for couples. “It’s not a resort,” says Williams. “It’s a few villa and cottage suites, right on the beach. It’s just for romance, and when I think of romance, I think of quiet places where no one else is around.”
If you want a more glamorous honeymoon, try Harbour Island, 3 miles of powdery pink sand and charming New England–style pastel-color houses, picket fences and a lively nightlife. Where to stay: Club Med Columbus Isle, 800-ClubMed; Four Seasons Hotel in Exuma, 242-336-6800.
Belize. This tiny, English-speaking, Central America country, once ruled by the ancient Mayans, is a magnificent, exotic place to honeymoon. The island has pristine seas with mountains of coral rising to the surface, lush rain forests and primeval jungles with wild animals. More than one-fifth of its total land mass is a protected nature preserve.
You and your honey can charter a boat, either with a crew or “bareboat”—which means you navigate it yourselves—and explore the island’s beaches. Couples can also take a horseback ride along jungle paths to unexcavated Mayan temples, canoe on a lake, visit an orchid farm or visit Ambergris Caye, a 20-mile-long, 2-mile-wide tropical spit of sand covered with coconut and mangrove trees and sheltered by one of the world’s longest barrier reefs. No cars here, just golf carts, bicycles and your own two feet, with great places to dine and be entertained.
Where to stay: Cayo Espanto, 888-666-4282 or info@aprivateisland.com; Blancaeaux, 800-PINERIDGE.
Fiji. Smack dab in the heart of the South Pacific sit 330 islands known as the Republic of Fiji. Tom Hanks was stranded on the island of Nanuya Levu in the film Cast Away, but seclusion such as that isn’t life-threatening for honeymooners—not with all those papaya and coconut trees on the beach.
Fiji is beautifully diverse, with white-sand strands and black-sand beaches, lagoons, coves, volcanic peaks and jungles. The outer islands are the essence of romance, each a tropical oasis where couples can throw off their clothes, stick a hibiscus behind each ear and do anything they want.
On Nanuya Levu you can frolic in the same blue lagoon Brooke Shields once did. Several resorts are posh and secluded, strictly limiting the number of guests, so couples can truly feel they’ve entered their own little paradise.
Where to stay: Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji, 800-246-3454; Turtle Island Resort, 877-2-TURTLE or usa@turtlefiji.com.
French Polynesia. Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora are the three most popular islands in Tahiti, which has five archipelagos and 118 islands, all South Pacific jewels where giant curls of turquoise ocean break gently onto colorful reefs.
Tahiti itself, the largest island, has a mountainous interior with lush valleys, waterfalls and rivers, as well as ancient artistic and cultural sites. Lovebirds are found more often on Moorea and Bora Bora. Moorea has a wide, emerald lagoon and green mountains, where waterfalls tumble down velvety cliffs. Hidden in the meadows are fields of pineapple and vanilla, and the shore is dotted with tiny villages.
When Corona residents Robyn and Kraig Eckard honeymooned on a cruise to French Polynesia last year, they went to a private island—or motu—for the day. Locals from Moorea came out on small skiffs to bring them a traditional Polynesian picnic and help them swim with rays. “We had the most unbelievable time there,” says Robyn. “I even found snorkeling together romantic.”
Where to stay: Bora Bora Lagoon Resort, 800-611-5547, www.boraboralagoonresort.orient-express.com; S.P.I. Hotel Hibiscus, 011-689-56-12-20 or mail@hotel-hibiscus.pf.
Kauai. You don’t come to this tiny island, the northernmost in the Hawaiian chain, for wild partying or endless shopping—you come for romantic seclusion. Kauai is known for its tropical beauty. Its beaches, especially in the south, are often so deserted your footprints may be the only ones you ever see.
Poipu Beach in the south and Kauapea are two excellent, huge stretches of sand, with dolphins cavorting in the waves offshore all year long and whales in winter. The natural beauty of Kauai is hard to exaggerate: the cliffs, canyons, waterfalls and legendary sunsets, where sea and sky meld into a riot of gold and pinks. Hike the Kalalu trail together, or rent a kayak and float down one of the island’s three navigable rivers.
Where to stay: Hanalei Bay Resort, 800-827-4427 or www.hanaleibayresort.com; Hyatt Regency Kauai (Poipu Beach), 800-233-1234 or www.kauai-hyatt.com.
Hawaii’s Big Island. It is the most ecologically diverse of the islands with the world’s most active volcano, Kilauea; desert plains in Kau; rain forests above Hilo; the Akaka Falls (442 feet straight down); and the tallest mountain measured from an ocean floor, Mauna Kea. All this magnificent scenery forms the backdrop for long walks and talks, romantic picnics and secluded swims. Commune with each other and nature while hiking among cliffs, waterfalls and lush valleys, or head to the island’s southern tip and hike to Green Sands Beach, where the sand is—literally—green from the olivine of ancient lava flows.
Travel along Crater Rim Drive in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and look down onto Kilauea’s crater floor 300 feet below. On the North Kohala coast you’ll find miles of beaches; further down is Kailua-Kona, with its maze of shops, restaurants and hotels.
Where to stay: Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, 808-325-8000 or www.fourseasons.com/hualalai/; Mauna Lani Resort & Bungalows, 800-367-2323 or reservations@maunalani.com.
Maui. The second-largest island in the Hawaiian chain, Maui is filled with pristine sandy beaches, tropical rain forests, rolling green pastures and breathtaking cliffs. It’s also home to the world’s largest dormant volcano, Haleakala, with a crater roughly the size of Manhattan.
In addition to those natural wonders are man-made ones like golfing, luxurious resorts and world-class restaurants. For a real romantic getaway, charter a catamaran and head over to Maui’s little sister, Lanai, 9 miles away. Lanai was once known as the world’s largest pineapple plantation; couples now go there for a quiet day on a beach with waters so clear, visibility is 100 feet.
It’s just 18 miles long and 13 miles wide, and “Pretty much anywhere you go, you’ll be alone,” says Waynette Ho-Kwon, director of the visitors bureau there. Where to stay: Hotel Hana-Maui, 808-248-8211 or e-mail reservations@hotelhanamaui.com; Westin Maui, 866-500-8313 or maui.reservations@westin.com.
St. Barth’s. Isle de St. Barthelemy in the French West Indies is only 8 square miles but has 14 beaches—all are top-optional, and two are clothing-optional—protected from ocean swells by a fringing reef.
Forget about a happening nightlife here. St. Barth’s doesn’t even have a real movie theater, but it’s a beautiful, friendly island—once known as a playground for the rich and famous—with long stretches of uncrowded beaches. Lovers are often found sunbathing on Grand Saline, reachable after a short hike over sand dunes. Colmbier is the most secluded and most difficult to reach—you either take a boat from the city of Gustavia or hike down a scenic path for half an hour.
Where to stay: Hotel St-Barth Isle de France, 800-628-8929, www.isle-de-france.com; Hotel Le Toiny, 011-0590-27-88-88 or letoiny@saint-barths.com.
St. Lucia. Its dramatic twin coastal peaks, the Pitons, rise 2,500 feet above the sea and offer breathtaking views of the beaches below. This West Indies island has hiking and walking trails of spectacular beauty and turquoise waters lapping at the shores of palm-fringed beaches. Couples can walk right to the edge of the long-dead Sulphur Spring volcano and take a soak in the mineral baths there.
St. Lucia is part of the British Commonwealth. As such, English is the official language, cricket is a popular pastime, and elegant old plantation houses abound. But the most romantic feature of St. Lucia is its unspoiled beauty—you’ll find orange, lime, lemon, mango, pineapple, plum and coffee trees; vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon growing profusely.
1 comment:
You are right about Cat Island, it has beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters; all without the crowds. For a private beach house check out www.catislandboathouse.com.
This Bahamian style private home includes sea kayaks, canoe, and bicycles. Many anniversaries and honeymooners have stayed here according to the guest comments.
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