Honeymoon ideas -- July 2012
 

My fiance are trying to plan our honeymoon for July 2012. We need help! We can go for 3-4 weeks. Ideas we have had so far are Australia and New Zealand, Greece, Africa (he is more into that one than I am), Ireland and Great Britain. We haven't been able to settle on anything and need advice from experienced travelers.

In terms of Australia and New Zealand, we understand July will be winter and in some spots it can be quite cold.

In terms of things we like to do, we are very into wine and if we go to a country that produces wine, we want to include winery tours. We also like spas and cities (we live in Manhattan and are city people). We aren't particularly into beaches although we would consider including 1-2 beach days wherever we go. However, we certainly would not want to pick a spot that is all about beaches. We would probably be considered foodies -- when we travel, we like to enjoy some fantastic dinners on some nights while on other nights we go to local markets and grab a nice bottle of wine to enjoy at the hotel.

We have both been to China. While there is more to see we want to go somewhere new.

We want to put together a truly special trip, knowing that it will be a long time before we can go away for this long again. We do not have a budget for the trip. While sky is not the limit, we think that wherever we choose to do, we will be able to fit it into the budget we decide to spend.

Any ideas are welcome!

If you're into wine and food, why aren't you considering France?

You are likely to get better responses if you post on the Europe, Africa, and Australia forums.

No clue bout your budget but a romantic

french chateau like in the past for me

Chateau D'Esclimont in the Loire Valley

venere.com 140 euro per nite in the Chateau for me last then

TGV seat61.com/france down to www.beaune.com

Capital of Ancient Burgundy best reds in the world

TGV on down to Italy seat61.com/Italy

stop at Portofino www.metropole.it then

www.lucca.info best vineyards town overto Venice-tourism.com

www.bauervenezia.com romantic for us last from $250 Otel.com

perhaps a little Chianti along the way Florence and Rome.

Intercontinental.com Rome Ville for me last $180

betterbidding.com awesome for me last on top of Spanish Steps

Frascati a trivial white is made in the Alban hills there

worth a vist kind of touristic for me though much prefer

the others... IF you are afoodie/wino France/Italy the way

to go... puts all your other areas to shamefor food romance.

www.slowtrav.com www.ricksteves.com2 other good

sites we go a lot always get best valuestraining self

guiding... but many reputable agents to help zicasso.com good

Congrats!

Walking from room to room recalls a bygone era when Château d’Esclimont Hotel was the home of the Rochefoucauld Small Luxury Hotels of the World http://www.slh.com/.../st-symphorien...t-hotelChateau d'Esclimont (Saint Symphorien le Chateau, France) …

Venere.com Best Prices & No Cancellation Fees for me

Have you been to San Francisco for the city stuff and the California wine region? Maybe a drive down the coast hwy with a stop in Monterey etc?

Thanks for the suggestions. We did a 2 week France trip this past summer so we were looking for something elsewhere, although we know we will be back for shorter trips to France in the future. As for California, I assume we will do a Napa trip at some point but we want something bigger for this.

In terms of budget, we have no particular budget. We like staying in nice places. We will probably do some splurge nights and some just regular. I doubt we will be looking at budget hotels.

no sure where you are, but check www.bookchinaonline.com good trips

G'day elysag,

Thank you for your question.

I live in Australia and I can advise that the major wine regions, while cool, would certainly not be cold. The four major wine regions are the Hunter Valley of NSW, South Australia especially the Barossa Valley, Victoria especially along the Murray and the Margaret River region of Western Australia. I would seldom snow in any of those regions and never snow in the Hunter, South Australia and Margaret River. You can find more info on Australian wine regions here.

http://www.winediva.com.au/regions/regions2.asp

July August is also the best time of year to visit tropical Australia with warm, dry eweather if you wanted a few days on the beach. The Great Barrier Reef is certainly worth a visit.

http://www.great-barrier-reef.com/gr...f-weather.html

South Africa also has a good wine region although I haven't been there. South Africa has colder winters than mainland Australia on the whole because it has higher elevation above sea level on average.

http://www.wineanorak.com/saregions.htm



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