The 5 Best Honeymoon Destinations
1. Scotland
Scotland may very well be the wise choice for honeymooners between June and August, when Santorini and St Lucia are overflowing with brides heated in their fluffy gowns and every terrace in Venice and Ravello is clinking with newlyweds.
It’s true that August in Edinburgh is jam-packed with festival chaos. Beyond the city, meanwhile, are miles and miles of breathtakingly gorgeous scenery, some of Britain’s most magnificent beaches—on sunny days, even more so than those in the Caribbean—and the lovely rivers and gurgling streams that bring Burns’s love songs to life. And when storm clouds drift across enormous skies, how many locations in the globe are equally beautiful in the winter?
2. Comporta, Portugal
Comporta is the kind of beachside, back-to-nature exclusive that has lured everyone from Louboutin to Sarkozy. It is stylish and understated. Situated on Portugal’s windswept west coast, it is just an hour’s drive from Lisbon. It has been kept immaculate and private by stringent preservation regulations and the care of a wealthy banking family. Singular scenery ranges across bright-green rice fields, scented cork forests and 12km of thrillingly elemental beaches, all icing-sugar sand and thundering surf. It is, in reality, far less glamorous and all the better for it than pre-fame Ibiza or St Tropez. At a few modest eateries on sun-bleached boardwalks, kick off your flip-flops for sunset dining. Try the fresh, garlic-steeped clams and coriander-spiked local arroz served with cool jugs of white sangria.
3. Bora Bora
Wide-open volcanic vistas, turquoise lagoons, and sand that has been sieved for flour are hallmarks of French Polynesia’s Bora Bora. Luxurious overwater villas that ring the island, just offshore, and complete the ideal honeymoon picture add to the tropical package. It is, in short, a tried-and-true recipe that has worked wonders for couples soaking up the post-wedding glow (and exhaustion).
Away from the throngs of other popular honeymoon spots like Hawaii and the Caribbean, resorts here are renowned for putting on a show for guests celebrating their marriage. Anticipate exclusive island barbecues, small-group snorkelling trips, and opulent spa treatments.
4. Tokyo, Japan
Refer to it as the taste capital. You have found Shangri-La, foodies and drink connoisseurs, design aficionados and culture vultures. More stars than any other city according to Michelin. (Yes, and by a wide margin, Paris comes in second). From Tadao Ando’s Omotesando Hills austere concrete shopping mall to those all-glass Prada and Dior boutiques, architecture doubles for art. Sumo wrestlers scuttle in stadiums, and kabuki performers flaunt around theaters while mixologists at small 10-seater bars prepare artisan cocktails with laser precision. Eighth-generation noodle counters, traditional tatami workshops, indie fashion boutiques, and slow-drip coffee businesses abound on little back alleyways. Everything handmade, much before it became fashionable. When that’s quite enough refinement, neon-lit streets whirl with robot-staffed eateries and goat-filled cafes.
