Planning a honeymoon, have no concrete ideas - so give us your ideas!
July 6, 2012 7:31 AM   Subscribe

Need honeymoon recommendations in the Caribbean, Central America, or South America. Give us your recommendations!

My fiancee and I are looking for honeymoon destinations for the last week of may / first week of June in 2013. We like to be active - hiking especially, possibly some kayaking, snorkeling is unlikely but maybe would be a good option to have. It's not necessary, but bonus points if there are historical sites we can visit (my favorite part of Cancun wasn’t the all-inclusive, it was visiting ruins). Since we've both been to Mexico before, we would like to explore somewhere else.

We don’t want to be tied to staying a a resort all day. We’d like to stay at a nice hotel or resort, but we want to feel free to leave it on our own for a hiking tip. With those pretty broad requirements, give us some ideas to pick from!
posted by Tehhund to Travel & Transportation (13 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've never been, but Costa Rica is rich in outdoor activities. Puerto Rico also has opportunities for hiking and kayaking, along with some neat old sections of San Juan.
posted by Fig at 7:38 AM on July 6, 2012


My first thought is Peru. Gorgeous, lots of active stuff to do, Machu Picchu, etc. Are you set on Central/South America or the Caribbean? If not, I'd consider Iceland! My husband and I went for about 2 weeks earlier this year and it was amazing. There's some interesting history, TONS of great hiking, and it's beautiful. The hotel options do get limited once you leave Reykjavik so Iceland might not be a good choice if a luxury hotel/resort is important to you.
posted by tealcake at 7:46 AM on July 6, 2012 [2 favorites]


Well, please check out Belize! I go annually, and it fits all your requirements (with Mayan Ruins, a rainforest, a jungle, a barrier reef) and this gorgeous place!
posted by thinkpiece at 7:47 AM on July 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


Costa Rica, def.

Also, while not specifically per your question, but Hawaii has all that and more (though it might be slightly pricier).
posted by pyro979 at 7:49 AM on July 6, 2012


We loved Ecuador when a friend and I went to visit a friend in the Peace Corps. If you're thinking South America over the island then it's well worth considering. I'd only do it if you're thinking 1 week + with regards to duration though.

It easily meets all your requirements.
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:59 AM on July 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


We went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon, and it was the perfect combination of relaxation and adventure. We spent the first few days at a beach resort on the Pacific coast, swimming and being lazy and recovering from wedding stress. Then we went inland to a resort near a volcano, that had hot springs and ziplines and hiking opportunities nearby. And finally we went into the cloud forest where we did lots of hiking and wildlife watching. It was fantastic. We didn't go, but Costa Rica also offers opportunities for snorkeling, surfing, kayaking, coffee plantation tours, a visit to the sloth rescue center... So many fun things.
posted by vytae at 8:02 AM on July 6, 2012


Galapagos Islands. There's no place like it on Earth, and it's going away (according to the naturalists who work as guides there). It's my favorite trip of all time.
posted by malhouse at 8:15 AM on July 6, 2012 [3 favorites]


I'm currently sitting in a hammock on the shores of lake atitlan in guatemala, which has kayaking and hikes up the volcanos that surround the lake. The most expensive hotel in town is like thirty dollars a night, with gorgeous lake side views. You can take 2-3 days to go visit the Mayan ruins in Tikal and actually camp out on site, if you want. the people here are super nice, and there are a lot of foreign owned bars and restaurants, so you can get by with only english pretty well.

I'm actually going to climb to the top of San Pedro volcano tonight with a tour group to see the sunrise from the top.

For a long stay, you can rent your own apartment for a hundred or two hundred dollars a month.
posted by empath at 8:47 AM on July 6, 2012 [2 favorites]


Depending on how much you want to spend, I might recommend a cruise. Don't freak, I'm I know what you're thinking, but hear me out.

What's cool about a cruise is that you get to do as little or as much as you like. They have tons of shore excursions, and you don't have to worry about meals, or the water or electricity.

There are itineraries that go to Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize and tons and tons of Caribbean islands. If you don't like a place, no problem, tomorrow is a new day and a new island. If you do like a place, it's somewhere you can your SO can plan on going in the future.

Sure, cruises can be tacky, or full of yutzy people, but they can also provide a very nice, stress-free vacation, and trust me, after a wedding, you'll want that.

If you can afford that Galapagos Islands, I'd do that in a heartbeat. I'm uber-jealous of Malhouse for that one!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:40 AM on July 6, 2012


Response by poster: Thanks all for the great ideas! Hawaii's off the list as we've been there too recently. Thanks for the Iceland suggestion, but this question is focused on Central/South America and the Caribbean - we have some ideas outside of those areas (e.g., Scotland), but Central/South America and the Caribbean is where we're having difficulty narrowing down the choices and that's why I'm posting this question. So let's stay in that (very large) area.

3 things I'd like to ask about any of these locations, in case anyone is still in this AskMe:

1. Neither of us speaks anything but English well enough to use, so we're effectively monolingual. So any idea of how well we can get by speaking only English in any if these countries would be very helpful.

2. I hear hurricane season starts in June, so I assume that's a rainy season in general. Are we setting ourselves up for major disappointment due to rain if we go in the last week of May and first week of June?

3. We occasionally read warnings about X place being dangerous and Y place being a good place to get robbed, and since I've never been to any of these countries I have no way to judge whether this it's an alarmist story or something to actually be concerned about. So I would appreciate any reassurances you can give that you're recommending a place where 2 tourists can travel alone (i.e., just the two of them) without being worried.
posted by Tehhund at 12:44 PM on July 6, 2012


We went to Belize at the end of May/beginning of June 2007, and I can't recommend it enough. To answer your questions:

1. English is their official language.

2. We had a huge thunderstorm roll in on our last night there, but otherwise the weather was hot and sunny. IIRC we went during the tail end of the dry season, and it was starting to transition over. So I guess that's a risk, yeah.

3. The folks in the village near our little resort (a bit less fancy and polished than your Cancun resorts, which was to our liking) were nothing but friendly to us, but we never really traveled off-base without a guide.
posted by hishtafel at 4:13 PM on July 6, 2012


Well, I haven't traveled too extensively in South America but I can tell you about Peru!

You can definitely get by with very little or no Spanish. I speak OK Spanish (not fluent, but enough to hold a simple conversation) and found that I didn't need/use it very often. My husband doesn't speak or understand a word of Spanish and he was very comfortable, even when he was by himself.

June is actually the start of high season in Peru. It should be a little cooler (relatively!) and drier. I wouldn't worry excessively about hurricanes that early in most places.

Lima is the only place in Peru I would really worry about getting robbed. We met a couple who had their camera snatched out of their hands through an open cab window. To be honest, I didn't really enjoy Lima. It was really dirty, crowded, and chaotic. They do have some cool Inca (I think) ruins in the city limits. Just make sure to check the hours for that, we had one day in Lima (a Tuesday) and the ruins were closed on Tuesdays. Anyway, everywhere else in Peru I never experienced or saw a theft or felt unsafe.
posted by tealcake at 4:19 PM on July 6, 2012


Re:rainy season

At least in the highlands of Guatemala it rains every afternoon almost, but it's like a shower, with very little wind. No problem at all walking around in it. It's a warm rain. It's not like the miserable thunderstorms you get in the us.

Re safety:

The roads between cities in Guatemala are not safe at night, or in some cases, ever. Most tourist agencies know which roads are safe though. At least in Antigua and lake atitlan, I feel very safe walking around inside the town, even at night, even alone. No one wants to fuck with the tourist dollars, and everyone in town knows each other.

Re language: I spoke zero Spanish when I got here, but I've been taking classes for a week. I had no problem getting along before that, although I hooked up with some backpackers in a hostel who spoke spanish when I got here, which helped, but it would probably good to memorize some stock phrases. (where is the, I want, how much, etc...). The nicer hotels will have people that speak English. If all else fails, you can always look for a tall white person to ask, something I had to do a few times the first few days I was here. There are quite a few tourists around town, and they're generally happy to be able to speak English with someone. A couple of times, asking for directions turned into a night at the bar and new friends.

The Lonely Planet books, btw are super useful, as are the forums. Also, if you're signed up with couch surfing, you can organize a meetup if you want.

Lake atitlan is definitely for the adventurer. The road in is a bit scary, the accommodations are a bit rough, but the land and the people are absolutely beautiful so far.
posted by empath at 4:35 PM on July 6, 2012


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