No holiday you'll ever book is more important to get right than your honeymoon. Here, honeymoon planners from The Turquoise Holiday Company share some suggestions for holidays which you'll remember as much as the big day itself.
The phrase ‘trip of a lifetime’ is thrown around all too frequently these days. Flick through the average holiday brochure, or scroll through a run-of-the-mill website, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that a fortnight on the Algarve would somehow be a transformative experience.
Not that there’s anything wrong with such a trip of course, but when it comes to your honeymoon, you really do want to make a trip of a lifetime — and there’s only one surefire way to make sure your trip fits the bill: talk to the experts.
That’s where companies such as Turquoise Holidays come in. It’s a specialist tour operator that lives and breathes romantic travel, which really understands how to help you make the decisions that turn a good holiday into a great one — and the little touches which, in turn, transform a great honeymoon into an unforgettable one. The goal is simple: to help you book a trip you’ll remember half a century from now, as you sit on the porch next to your now-silver-haired loved one, reminiscing about the amazing adventure you shared.
Turquoise Holidays have dozens of different options for honeymoons and their expert team will help you find the one that’s simply perfect for you and your bride or husband-to-be. To give you ideas and inspiration they’ve shared some of their favourite destinations, with superb special offers on each one as well as exclusive extras they provide to create those amazing memories.
Thailand: Anantara Rasananda, Koh Phangan
You’ll need to catch a boat just to reach the island of Koh Phangan, a few miles north of Koh Samui, but the effort is worth it. Backpackers have long trekked here to take part in the famed Full Moon parties on the southern peninsula, but the secluded north-east coast of Thailand’s fifth-biggest island is ideal for couples seeking romance and rejuvenation after the ups and downs of putting on a wedding are finally over.
A 40-minute speedboat from Koh Samui will drop you off at Anantara Rasananda, a gorgeous boutique hotel whose stylish villas are situated right on the beach and where cocktails, spa treatments and relaxed sophistication are the order of the day. Turquoise’s offer for honeymooners includes a ‘Dine by Design’ night, in which a table for two will be set up for the couple either on the beach or at another secluded spot within the resort.
Turquoise’s special honeymoon offer at Anantara Rasananda is for 7 nights B&B in a Pool Suite from £1,385 per person (saving £845 per couple) including international flights with British Airways and private airport transfers. Valid for travel from 20 April – 15 July 2020. Find out more at www.turquoiseholidays.co.uk.
Maldives: Gili Lankanfushi
The almost absurdly perfect specks on the map which make up the Maldives have long drawn honeymooners keen to enjoy a ‘no shoes, no news’ trip — and that is right at the heart of the appeal of Gili Lankanfushi. This beautiful resort of 45 villas has everything you need to get the most of it without the gimmicky underwater-restaurants and so on which have started to spring up elsewhere in the Maldives. It’s a place created with a green conscience: the resort is built from sustainable materials with minimal plastic allowed on the island.
After reaching Gili Lankanfushi via speedboat from Male, you’ll arrive in a villa on the water where your own butler — a ‘Mr Friday’, as they call it — will be on hand to cater to every wish.
Honeymooners are given extra-special attention. As well as a complimentary upgrade to half-board, they’re also presented with a wedding cake, a special dinner menu one evening, a ‘sleep under the stars’ experience one night and a choice of spa treatment: either a ‘jetlag massage’ for two within a day of arrival, or a couples massage plus a romantic bath with Champagne and strawberries.
Turquoise’s honeymoon offer for a week at Gili Lankanfushi from £3,299 per person, saving £3,500 per couple, until 30 June 2020. The price includes international flights with Etihad, speedboat transfers and accommodation in a Villa Suite and complimentary upgrade to half-board. The exclusive honeymooner offer via Turquoise Holidays includes complimentary wedding cake, ‘Shoreline Dinner’ at the Main Restaurant (Honeymoon Set Menu) including 1 Bottle of House wine (white, red or rose), a ‘Sleep under the Stars’ experience with romantic bed set-up, honeymoon welcome amenity and honeymoon departure gifts, a 60-minutes couple’s massage and a ‘Sunset Sailing Cruise’ on a traditional Dhoni inclusive of a glass of Champagne and canapés. See more details here.
St Lucia: Calabash Cove
If you’re after a honeymoon where you can enjoy the local culture as well as utter relaxation after the excitement of the wedding, Calabash Cove is ideal. It’s just a 10-minute drive from Castries, the capital of St Lucia, where you can find out more about the history, culture and cuisine of a Caribbean island which changed hands a dozen times in the 17th and 18th centuries.
You can even get married at Calabash Cove — this is the wedding gazebo.
Calabash Cove itself is a true haven: an adults-only resort whose villas are tucked sensitively into a lush hillside above a delightful sandy bay, with a spa and fine dining restaurant. This is no sprawling resort, either: there are just 26 open plan suites and cottages, each beautifully furnished in traditional Caribbean style with dark wood, crisp white linens and flashes of colour.
Honeymooners are offered a free upgrade from B&B to All Inclusive at Calabash Cove when booking via Turquoise, with a week’s stay coming in at £2,649 per person (a saving of £3,000 per couple). The price is based on a Sunset Ocean View Junior Suite, including international flights and private airport transfers. Valid from 11 March – 20 December 2020. See the Turquoise website for more.
Kenya: Ol Seki Hemingways Mara Camp
Mixing beach relaxation with safari is a perennially popular choice for honeymooners, and Turquoise’s team have a perennial favourite camp on the Masai Mara: Ol Seki Mara. It’s tiny: a collection of half a dozen tents located in the Naboisho Conservancy, a private reserve which borders the Masai Mara and enjoys the same density of wildlife, but with far fewer vehicles than the main reserve. There are game drives twice a day, while you can also enjoy walking safaris and night drives with staff who’ll bend over backwards to make your stay memorable.
Turquoise’s nine-night suggested itinerary trip also includes time before and after to relax and unwind, with two nights in Nairobi and four nights in Watamu where you can go scuba diving, play golf or simply kick back on the white sand beach. Perfection.
Turquoise Holidays’ exclusive nine-night Kenyan Winter Sun and Safari Adventure is an incredible 9-night holiday that combines three iconic properties in Kenya. It includes two nights in a Deluxe Room at Hemingways Nairobi on a bed & breakfast basis, three nights at Hemingways Ol Seki Mara Camp on an all-inclusive basis (with two daily game drives) and four nights in a Deluxe Ocean View Room at Hemingways Watamu on a half board basis. The price also includes all transfers, domestic flights and return international flights with BA from Heathrow to Nairobi in economy class and an exclusive romantic bush dinner for 2. See www.turquoiseholidays.co.uk for more details.
Tahiti: Conrad Bora Bora Nui and Hilton Moorea
Nothing says getting away from it all like visiting the far side of the world, and this truly sublime spot — accessible via 20-minute boat ride from Bora Bora — is about as far from Britain as it’s possible to imagine. This resort of Polynesian-inspired villas has a mix of ‘horizon view’ villas and over-water bungalows with glass floors — a nice balance, and it’s good to see that Turquoise’s itineraries can split your nights between the two options.
The spectacular mountains give the islands around Bora Bora a real visual drama, and the views from the Hina Spa on the hilltop are unforgettable. But the Conrad Bora Bora Nui has another trump card: its own private island, Motu Tapu, which the honeymoon couple can visit on an exclusive basis. Trips can either be daytime picnics where you choose to be be marooned, Robinson Crusoe-style, or evening trips where you’ll be accompanied by a chef and butler who’ll serve up a Champagne and caviar dinner on the beach. Incredible.
