"Short Haul" Trip for Honeymoon

npham · February 9, 2014

We are getting married late June 2014 and planning to take 7-10 days off in July for a short honeymoon. We both have job commitments that prevent us from taking a longer honeymoon, so we were looking for ideas on where we could go. We'll do longer trip Oct/Sept to make up for this.

Here is our criteria:

- Does not have to be golf centred, but playing 2-3 rounds would about the right amount. If we don't golf, it won't be a failure.

- Short Haul, that is, somewhere that won't cause us serious jet lag, and we can get to within half a day or so.

- Maui/Hawaii is not an option, we have been there 3 times in 2 years. While it's probably the first suggestion I would give anyone looking for the same advice, we've been there done that.

- Budget, between $5-10,000. Pretty flexible on this, but doing Bora Bora on this amount is unlikely given how expensive the over water bungalows are.

- Great food options would be a bonus.

So many options, but we can't narrow it down to 5 choices, let alone 1. What does everyone think?

SilverBullets · February 9, 2014

Cabo.. Easy to get to, great weather, beaches, golf, beautiful resorts, a ton of night life and good cheap food.

jaskanski · February 9, 2014

Hello? July? The Open? UK? Enough golf to satisfy any taste but not a major problem if you don't. Plenty of other stuff to see and do (if you haven't been to the UK before) but probably doesn't meet your distance criteria. You could be boring and go somewhere in the US, but you did say great food.

duffer987 · February 9, 2014

Monterey and San Francisco.
Pacific Ocean. Awesome coastline down to Big Sur and beyond. Great city. Great restaurants. Great smaller towns. Should be good weather. Great golf. Good spa and shopping options, if I can stereotype the missus for a second. Fits in $5k-$10k budget. Simple flight from Calgary.

You can completely remove the golf aspect and it's just as good of a destination. When I relocated here, me and my GF at the time, spent a lot of time going all about the greater Bay Area. Restos, wine tasting, beaches, incredible coastlines, rain forests, excellent accomodation options, etc... You cannot go wrong IMHO

Clambake · February 9, 2014

Echo ^^^, with a slight modification. Split the week between Carmel/Monterey and Napa. My wife and I did this for our 20th anniversary and it was absolutely delightful. A bit of golf, some great scenery, and a lot of good food and wine - a great combo for a honeymoon. As duffer indicated above the flights from Calgary to SF are not long and easy to do, so it helps take some of the stress out of the travel.

doubleBZee · February 9, 2014

I liked Punta Cana. Sadly I did not take my clubs. I regret that to this day.

npham · February 9, 2014

UK - This isn't a bad idea, but if we are planning on going to Europe we would want to hit up a few places; 7-10 days wouldn't really be enough as there are 2 days "wasted" on travel.

California - Again not a bad idea, and one I was considering before making this thread but we were in SF last year. We could fly into SFO, but I wouldn't stick around that area. Once you see the sights, it's not worth making a 2nd trip to go an see. Food here was great. Monterey/Napa is an easy choice with the Pro Am happening/finishing right now.

Punta Cana, Cabo - I'll have to do some more research to see what options would fit us. Thanks for the ideas.

doubleBZee · February 9, 2014

There are a lot of great all inclusive in Punta Cana. We stated at the Excellence Punta Cana. The resort was great and the food was great. The only downside about that place is that it's on the Atlantic and not the Caribbean. Plus the drive it a little further to some of the golf attractions.

SilverBullets · February 9, 2014

Cabo is a pretty cool spot. It really has a little bit of everything. Last time I went I stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos. It's a little out of the downtown which is great because it's a lot more peaceful. It doesn't attract the rowdy college crowd. They had a free shuttle running down town and back. I forget how often it ran but getting on it was easy. If I went back I would opt to stay there again instead of being right downtown. Again, it's nicer than most every resort in cabo and it's a lot more peaceful.

Also, we rented a car for a day and drove it through Mexico back to the Hotel California. It's a pretty cool drive that takes you to a little town called Todos Santos. Little art shops and restaurants. Great little town. Plus the Hotel California is pretty cool. Maybe an hour from Cabo San Lucas.

npham · February 10, 2014

Looks like California is going to win. I talked to the woman, she had already thought about this area, so it seems like it's a done deal. Flights are cheap, $400 round trip to San Diego, which gives us more money to spend on accommodations, shopping and activities.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to do some research and then start another topic later on about what to see, play and do in the SD, Monterey, Carmel area. Stay in some smaller inns/cottages might be fun too.

Bubb · February 10, 2014

[quote name='npham' timestamp='1392063264' post='8638495']
Looks like California is going to win. I talked to the woman, she had already thought about this area, so it seems like it's a done deal. Flights are cheap, $400 round trip to San Diego, which gives us more money to spend on accommodations, shopping and activities.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to do some research and then start another topic later on about what to see, play and do in the SD, Monterey, Carmel area. Stay in some smaller inns/cottages might be fun too.
[/quote]
The drive from San Diego to Carmel is about 7 hours. Did you mean San Francisco?

duffer987 · February 10, 2014

Fly into San Diego and out of SFO. Easily fit into a week's holiday.
Take Hwy 1 up the coast, the stretch from Santa Barbara through Big Sur and to Monterey is great

Of course maybe he did mean SF, haha

zer0 · February 11, 2014

http://www.leblancsparesort.com/eng/

You'll thank me later. Le Blanc Spa and Resort in Cancun, #1 rated all inclusive in Mexico, #3 rated all inclusive in the world. Just got back from our honeymoon last week, place is unbelievable. And here's the kicker, they have an option where you can either get $1500 in resort credit to use at the spa or for tours or you can get free unlimited golf at two Jack courses, Moon Palace and Riviera Cancun.

Its not cheap, but definitely within your budget. Plus you can go online and find people who bought time shares selling their weeks for much cheaper than going directly through the hotel.

Cabo may have better golf, but the combo of the amazing honeymoon resort + golf is the best you're going to find without a doubt. And the golf is good, don't get me wrong, just not world class like in Cabo.

npham · February 11, 2014

[quote name='Bubb' timestamp='1392083269' post='8640883']
[quote name='npham' timestamp='1392063264' post='8638495']
Looks like California is going to win. I talked to the woman, she had already thought about this area, so it seems like it's a done deal. Flights are cheap, $400 round trip to San Diego, which gives us more money to spend on accommodations, shopping and activities.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to do some research and then start another topic later on about what to see, play and do in the SD, Monterey, Carmel area. Stay in some smaller inns/cottages might be fun too.
[/quote]
The drive from San Diego to Carmel is about 7 hours. Did you mean San Francisco?
[/quote]
[quote name='duffer987' timestamp='1392086072' post='8641249']
Fly into San Diego and out of SFO. Easily fit into a week's holiday.
Take Hwy 1 up the coast, the stretch from Santa Barbara through Big Sur and to Monterey is great

Of course maybe he did mean SF, haha
[/quote]

Yea we were thinking about going to check out a few places up the coast. Fly into SD, check out the zoo, other attractions and make our way up the coast. Spending a couple days here and there. Going to take far more work to plan out, but I think we will have a better time with lots of great places to visit, incredible food and wine, plus some amazing golf courses to try.

duffer987 · February 11, 2014

That's a trip that's up my alley. I cannot stand commuting, but I genuinely enjoy just driving around and exploring.
Set a few markers/milestones along the way and then otherwise just go at your own pace and whims

Good luck with the trip, you'll have a great time.