I'm getting married on December 16 and have a week before Christmas for my honeymoon. Has anyone got any recommendations of where to go to enjoy winter activities? We are not downhill skiiers, so no big resorts please. Ideally we'd rent a cottage in the middle of nowhere, where you can cross country ski from the door, ice skate on a frozen lake, go dog sledding and ski-dooing. A bit idealistic I know. We looked into lapland, but there's only 3 hours daylight at that time of year. I just think there must be somewhere out there, but I can't find it!
A little boutique hotel would be fine. We're not on a big budget, unfortunately.

&quot;<i>3 hours daylight</i>&quot;

I wouldn't worry about that on your honeymoon...

Lapland does sound nice for that. Maybe you would also see the northern lights. That would be so romantic!
Wish I could offer something more helpful but Lapland with 3 hours of daylight on a honeymoon sounds perfect. Lots of candlelight
Congratulations!
Annika

It is Polar night ;o), but Polar night DOES NOT mean that it is black. In fact many people go to Lapland because of the special light of that time of the year. It comes in different colours, and and when darkness starts to fall the blue moment is hours long.

Go to this page: http://www.lelawhisnant.net/kittilajournal/

And then check The Study of Arctic Light on the left, and you can see what I mean. Those are the pages of a Texan who has turned into a Lapland Crazy. (a name of a &quot;desease&quot; that some people catch from there).

elina-
Thanks for posting that link. What beautiful skies!
Annika

Well the dog-sledding, ski dooing and not on a big budget are throwing me, becuase you have listed this on the Europe board. You will find a little dog-sledding in Europe (but you usually have to hire the drivers as well), but very little ski-dooing at all. Finally, places I would recco like Switzerland or Austria are pretty expensive. I think you are talking about Canada, Alaska, Maine or parts of the northern West of the US. I think the dog-sledding would be hard to find in most places except Canada. YOu might consider Croatia or Poland where prices might be better.

I think Lapland is pretty expensive as Scandinavia is generally pricey.

&quot;You will find a little dog-sledding in Europe&quot;

You will find a lot of dog-sledding, reindeer-sledding and hundreds of kilometres of trails for ski-dooing in Lapland. And that is in Europe. Just look at the link I gave for the light conditions. There is more than just light conditions on that site.

There are several places where you can go dog sledding in the Alps in France and Germany (probably Austria too) but most of them are in or around ski resorts.

We are thinking about Oberstdorf for this year's Christmas holidays (perhaps a week there and a week in Vienna).

The only thing that worries me is that since there has been SO much snow this winter (DW TV yesterday said that parts of Bavaria are in a state of emergency due to all the snow), next winter will be warm and dry.
Scandinavia (Lapland) does sound like a good option and would certainly make for a unique honeymoon. Dogsledding is definitely available there.

Check out this BBC article from their Holiday show: it focuses on dogsledding AND snowmobiling in Lapland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/holiday/destina...el/index.shtml

And congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

FYI, the BBC link to arctic-discover.co.uk isn't valid. You need to go to
http://www.arctic-experience.co.uk/DTW/privacy2.htm

The Black Forest/Bavaria are beautiful in the snow.

That sounds like an idyllic honeymoon to me. Lapland sounds fantastic but if you don't want to travel to Europe you can experience the wilds of winter by renting a cabin in the US/Canada.
check out
http://www.whitetailranch.com/wtgr_whatsnew.html
http://www.smoothwater.com/
http://www.devilsthumbranch.com
good luck!

The Christmas markets in Germany will be in full swing that time of year.

Congrats on your upcoming nuptials! My husband and I were married 13 Dec and spent our honeymoon in Prague. The city is gorgeous, the food was exquisite, and the Christmas spirit abounded (plus it was on the cheaper side). This past Christmas, we visited Budapest and Krakow, both being very lovely (although Budapest being our hands-down favorite). Both are budget-friendly (Budapest more so than Krakow). Great public transportation, friendly people, and interesting things everywhere you look. If you're interested, send me an e-mail to: [email protected].

Thanks!

Thanks so much for all your replies! I live in the UK, so I was opting for Europe for budget reasons, but would certainly consider Canada/US. I am worried about the potential lack of snow, so would need to go somewhere where snow was guaranteed. Any ideas on that? I know that darkness is romantic, but we're quite active and keen to do some activities!