Honeymoon where? Mauritius, Maldives or Seychelles

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 16:37

Well we got engaged a little while ago and probably be getting married next april/may. I have been looking out of interest at some honeymoon options and the above 3 seem to be some of the most popular places.

We have been told that for the time of year Mauritius would be the best bet. We want decent weather and just the most magical place for this once in a lifetime trip.

Is there anywhere else apart from these 3 that we should look at? Any recommendations from those who have visited these places would be good.

Not got a set budget in mind but anything up to £5k i'd say.

Edit: I should have mentioned that we were considering a few nights in Dubai first then heading on somewhere else.

Tripnologist · 8 Mar 2010 at 16:51

I went to the Maldives for my honeymoon and it was absolutely amazing. That was in June 2008 and we're going to go back next year. Cannot wait.

We stayed at hakuraa huraa and it was like having an island almost to ourselves. You'd walk around, swim in the ocean, sit on the beach, etc and it would seem so secluded. Then at meal times, you'd see how many people were actually on the island and be quite shocked.

Our villa was on stilts over the ocean so we'd wake up, go onto the patio and down the steps directly into the water.

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 16:59

Looks like a nice spot that. As long as there is sun, luxury and plenty to do then I'm happy. Not totally sure that there is that much to do when staying on a very small island in 'stilt houses'.

Mauritius weather sounds a bit dodgy in May so maybe that will influence decisions. There just is so much choice!

JK1 · 8 Mar 2010 at 17:01

I went to Mauritius for my honeymoon. It was fantastic. Stayed on the Le Morne peninsula.
Went in April last year. It is getting into their autumn/winter so some days were a bit cloudy but on the whole it was very hot and sunny. Soft sandy beach and clear blue sea

A lot of hotels do honeymoon deals. Ours was an upgrade to full board, transfer to and from the airport, a bottle of champagne in the room and a free massage in the spa.

We stayed here: http://www.dinarobin-hotel.com/

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 17:05

Lovely spot that also. Really can't wait to get away to somewhere like that. Was there lots to do in Mauritius outside of the hotel complex or is it all very barren and poor?

oOYoDaOo · 8 Mar 2010 at 17:06

Just so all three of your options have a mention, I am going to the Seychelles on honeymoon in June this year. We are stopping at the Labriz hotel. We are having a 3 day safari in Kenya and then flying to the Seychelles for 7 days.

JK1 · 8 Mar 2010 at 17:13

We spent most of the time just relaxing by the pool or on the beach. There is not much to do round the hotel but there is the golf course. There was a big party on the beach one day which was a lot of fun.
There were various trips and excursions. We did a tour of the island, up to the capital, a museum/old sugar mill, a park/wildlife reserve. Lunch in a restaurant which used to be an old colonial house. The grounds have a lot of old British cars parked in them.

The one thing the really blew me away was the clear nights. The amount of stars in the sky was simply staggering.

Tripnologist · 8 Mar 2010 at 17:29

ringo747 said:
Looks like a nice spot that. As long as there is sun, luxury and plenty to do then I'm happy. Not totally sure that there is that much to do when staying on a very small island in 'stilt houses'.

You probably wouldn't like it then. It's somewhere you'd go if you want sun, sand, water, relaxation and peace and quiet. For me, it was heaven being so secluded in a tropical paradise.

J1234 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:08

Dubai for a few nights then on to the Maldives would be an excellent honeymoon.

Me and the girlfriend went on holiday to the Maldives in July last year. How long do you plan to go for? It cost us over £3.5k for a week so £5k should get you a decent holiday.

Absolutely loved the place and will definitely be returning as many times as I can. Despite us going right in the middle of the southwest monsoon season (rainy season) the weather was excellent and if it did rain it would only last a few minutes then dry up pretty much instantly.

I wouldn't recommend going if you enjoy doing a lot on holiday as there really isn't much to do apart from relax, eat, dive and visit uninhabited islands. It's an ideal place if you love to relax and just chill out on holiday though.

We stayed at Bandos Island Resort in a deluxe villa.

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:14

Plenty of useful info there. I think we would go for 14 days so maybe a few nights in Dubai and then 10 nights in whatever heavenly paradise we end up in!

Normally on a sun holiday I don't do much other than lie about but I think having some other options available, should the weather turn nasty, would be a good idea. Things like swimming with dolphins, watersports etc just adds that little bit extra i think.

One thing that I really liked was the idea of flying off to some island in a little seaplane. Bit of a plane geek me so that would be an added bonus!

J1234 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:16

Yep, you can go on a photographic sight seeing tour in one of the Maldivian Air Taxi Twin Otters too.

Dolphins/watersports are all out there too and if the weather did get nasty we ended up in the spa which was lovely.

Edit - You can also do an island hoping holiday where you stay at different resorts each day/every few days/whatever.

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:23

Sounds awesome. It will cost a fortune but well worth it judging from some of the photos. You can't beat a spa either for when its rainy I guess.

Not sure on the island hopping thing. I'd probably prefer to stay in one place and chill.

Would you advise booking it all yourself or just deal with some travel specialists?

molinari · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:33

We got married at the start of last April. We spent a week in Zambia and Botswana on Safari (amazing!) and then a week in Mauritius. We stayed at the Hotel Maradiva on the South West coast. This is the suite that we had
We booked a honeymoon package through Trail Finders and got a decent rate (which included spa treatments, free meals and other nice bits). The suite was fantastic (have a look at the photo slideshow on the website) especially as I'd emailed the hotel a few weeks earlier and asked if we could get one with a sea view, so they gave us one right on the sea front! We spent most of the time in the suite (room service was great) although we did hire a speed boat and spent one morning swimming with wild dolphins directly off the shore of the hotel beach which was fantastic

.
The weather was fantastic, a little cloudy but generally lovely and hot. It rained on one day, the day we left!

Definately recommend Mauritius and this hotel in particular.
Trail Finders were very good, but make sure you are able to pre-book airline seats in advance rather than waiting until you check in.
I think this part of the honeymoon cost us around £5k.

DB_SamX · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:38

ringo747 said:
Lovely spot that also. Really can't wait to get away to somewhere like that. Was there lots to do in Mauritius outside of the hotel complex or is it all very barren and poor?

Not at all, there is absolutely lots to do. I lived there till I was 16, and a couple of years ago, went with my ex for holidays and visit my relatives. Even if you were going out of resort every day, it would still take you over 2 weeks to explore the island fully.

ringo747 said:
Looks like a nice spot that. As long as there is sun, luxury and plenty to do then I'm happy. Not totally sure that there is that much to do when staying on a very small island in 'stilt houses'.

Mauritius weather sounds a bit dodgy in May so maybe that will influence decisions. There just is so much choice!

Weather's probably not as nice as further up as the eqautor, but compared to here, the difference is negligible. If/when I go on holiday back, I make it May-June myself, as it is still 30 deg+ plus during the day, and there are no risks of cyclonic weather. It also rains less during that time, despite showers.

I posted some pics of my brief trip last year (first week of June) in the photography thread, so you might see what the weather's like if you can find them.

J1234 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:39

ringo747 said:
Would you advise booking it all yourself or just deal with some travel specialists?

Well we did it all through Kuoni which was the cheapest at the time plus we got a discount for having a friend working there.

But it may well be cheaper to do it separately as a lot of airlines fly there now so you may be able to get a good price on them depending when you book. BA started recently and fly direct as do Monarch, Thomson and Sri Lankan Airways. Emirates and Qatar both fly there indirect, so with Emirates you can go to Dubai first for a few nights.

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:43

molinari said:
This is the suite that we had....

Wow - that looks very impressive! Looks like you almost have a small section of beach just for yourselves? I take it each villa is fenced off etc so you don't really need to close up the doors while your down at pool etc?

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:44

Justin said:
Well we did it all through Kuoni which was the cheapest at the time plus we got a discount for having a friend working there.

But it may well be cheaper to do it separately as a lot of airlines fly there now so you may be able to get a good price on them depending when you book. BA started recently and fly direct as do Monarch, Thomson and Sri Lankan Airways. Emirates and Qatar both fly there indirect, so with Emirates you can go to Dubai first for a few nights.

I have some BA miles which I could use up but definitely would fancy going with Emirates. Not sure if Dubai is an A380 route or not though!

J1234 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:45

It certainly is, from Heathrow of course.

ringo747 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:48

Nice one. Shouldn't be letting the type of plane influence my decisions really! I have around 40,000 points from the SPG hotels group so I could maybe transfer those to Emirates air miles or else use them for Dubai hotels.

Definitely plenty to look at anyways. I mentioned May in my initial post but it is maybe more likely to be mid April.

molinari · 8 Mar 2010 at 19:03

ringo747 said:
Wow - that looks very impressive! Looks like you almost have a small section of beach just for yourselves? I take it each villa is fenced off etc so you don't really need to close up the doors while your down at pool etc?

Sort of. Outside the room is the plunge pool and then past that are some steps down to a grass lawn. This lawn joins up with the main lawn of the hotel and all the other suites, but there are plants and hedges which are arranged so that unless people walk right in front of your suite (which no one did whilst we were there), they can't see you. Didn't feel at any point that we had no privacy.