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I vote Thailand. Things are so cheap over there that you could live like kings on 2 grand. My FI are hoping to have a belated honeymoon there a year after the wedding. There's just so much to see there. Beaches, jungles, villages, cities, monkeys, temples. It would just be so cooL!
Definitely THailand. Or, have you looked into Borneo? You can stay somewhere decent for well under $100/night there (like $40-80 depending on what you want). It's crazy cool - we're going next year during a big 6 month trek through Asia!
We are in the middle of the same decision - I just revived 2 old threads about Thailand with others asking the same question. I think that's where we're going to end up. Costa Rica is way cheaper to get to (well, from the east coast anyway), but actually not that cheap once you're there. Thailand is the other way around.
Costa Rica has some great deals right now around 5k. check priceline or expedia.
We did Costa Rica under 5k. It depends on when you are going, during the dry season, hotels cost more. We used Desafio adventure co to book our activities, transportation and hotels. We stayed at 3 hotels in 3 areas, San Jose, Monteverde and Arenal. It was a great vaca!
I would vote for Costa Rica too! Although from the Midwest the single connection flights have been running about $850.00 per person lately. Ugh!
Wow! I wish 5K was affordable in my world! Lucky!!! If I could spend that I would totally go to Bali, but since you have already been there, try something new.
We went to Panama and it was AMAZING! I've been to Costa Rica too, and you really can't go wrong with that choice. But I found Panama a little more affordable and, because it's a smaller country, easier to get around if you want to go to more than one place on your honeymoon (we did beach, mountains, and city). The people in both countries are amazingly friendly, and there's tons to do if you want to explore a bit while you're there. Good luck with your planning!
Oh, one more thing: July is the off-season (rainy season) in Central America. If you do choose Costa Rica, be prepared for rain in the afternoons, but it's still warm and sunny most of the day. The nice thing about going off-season is that it's so much cheaper than in would be during other times of the year. I went to C.R. in July ten years ago and to Panama in July this year, and it was absolutely gorgeous both times.
What do you like to do while vacationing? Costa Rica is an amazing place if you love flora and fauna. Incredible amount of animals to see, and cool hikes. We had a fireworks show every night from the volcano (depends on where you stay- pm me if you want more info). We were there last April (the day after we got engaged)! We saw very little rain, but MAN it was SO HOT! Walking into the water was not even refreshing, it was like walking into a warm bath. The people are very friendly, too.
Bermuda is GORGEOUS, laid back, fantastic, secluded beaches with little night life.
The Florida keys are also amazing, each key is so different. I've been a lot of places, but this might be one of my all-time favorites. Esp. Big Pine Key (little key deer walk right up to you from the beach).
Hawaii...just amazing.
I would write down the things you like to do, then maybe lookat it from that perspective.
I went to India last winter, and it was AMAZING. If you can find a decently priced flight, then actually being there is really cheap. We spent just over $1200 each for two weeks. Our package included staying in four-star hotels, a private car for getting around each city and getting between the cities, breakfast every morning, entrance to all the parks and monuments, tour guides for each place, high-speed train tickets from Delhi to Agra, a plane ticket from Udaipur back to Delhi, etc. Obviously, if you stayed for less than two weeks or in less nice hotels, you could bring down the cost a lot. The only things we had to pay for were lunch and dinner and tips. Oh, and shopping, of course. We used the travel company TravelChaCha, and I would recommend them to anybody. We loved our trip. If you want some more information, PM me. I can send you photos, links, etc.
check out isla mujeres in mexico. particularly aluxes priviledge. amazing! in sept i paid $1200 for 2 people, 2 flights, 7 days, all inclusive. unbelievable!!
I love Costa Rica, it is amazing but being there isn't particularly cheap. I'm going with Thailand for the reasons you just mentioned. I want to live like a queen for not too much hahaha.
We are going to Curacao. We are spending a total of about $2500 for everything. We are lucky enough to live within driving distance of Miami so our flights are going to be really cheap...only about $350 round-trip per person. There are some awesome deals right now for Cancun and DR as well. :-)
@helenc32: what resort are you staying in? We are within driving to Miami as well and I'm looking for options besides Cancun and DR
Thanks so much for all your input! It sounds like the trade off is spend a lot to fly to Thailand/Bali for cheap when I'm there or less expensive flight to Costa Rica but a little spendier on the ground. I wish we could just make a decision!
Argentina looks fun! There are waterfalls, glaciers...I'd love to see Patagonia, and from what I understand in country costs aren't too bad.
Wow, great choices! Your money would stretch soooo much farther though I think if you went to Costa Rica. It is not only the cost, but the time in the air that you could be spending in a waterfall somewhere ... lol.
We went to an amazing all inclusive villa up in the rain forest;
They are all wonderful choices though, I don't think you can go wrong no matter which one you choose. Have fun! (:
GREECE!!! The tickets are really cheap right now!, its beautiful... you can island hope. PLUS, the food, culture (traditions) are so amazing! The people are friendly, the beaches breathtaking (i have pictures), and the island Santorini has the biggest sunset and most beautiful sunset in the world! It a fact lol i promise!
If you consider it, let me know- i have plenty of places and suggestions. Plus, everything there..food and drinks..are cheaper than they are here..and since the euro to USD exchange is low right now its about the same!
HIGHLY SUGGESTED. WONT REGRET IT. (AND I'M ITALIAN/SICILIAN..FI IS GREEK)
@twitchee27: Did you decide on where you're going? My wedding is 2 days before yours and we're going to fly out to Thailand the day after...I just found flights for just under $1300 on hotwire if you're still looking!
@icelara: No! It's been such agony! Thailand seems to be the most affordable option (with Bali being a close second) so I think we're gonna go for it. Where are you going? I was looking at tickets straight to Phuket.
Look at the Secrets resorts in Mexico. we went to Secrets Maroma Beach for a friends wedding. cost us 1500 each- airfare and all alcohol/food/everything included. INSANE deal- luxury top of the line resort- 8 days
@ twitchee27 Thailand is amazing! I spent over a month there a few years ago and loved every day!!! Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Arun, Wat Pho and the beaches are must sees. PM me if you want more suggestions. You can also get cheap flights to Cambodia or Vietnam if you're interested in exploring more of the region.
@twitchee27: We are planning on going for 3 weeks so we're going all over (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and then back to Thailand to either Phuket or Koh Samui). The flights I found for about $1300 were from LA to Bangkok. Today, on Asiaair.com I looked up flights from Bangkok to Phuket....and they have a promo price of $15 one way in July. NO JOKE! So basically round trip from Bangkok to Phuket for 2 people is $77. So yes we're going to go to Phuket, even if its supposedly "rainy season". The hotels are even cheaper around that time too! We are trying to book soon, so I'll keep you posted!
I've been to both Thailand and Costa Rica, I definitely recommend both places for sure! They are really different and offer unique experiences.. Depends on what you want to do!
Costa Rica - Would not suggest an all inclusive, go out and explore. We rented a 4X4 and drove around their bumpy roads, which was an adventure in itself. Went to the Arenal Volcano and the Tabascon hot springs, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, Manuel Antonio Park for the beach and surfing and monkeys!.. and Dominical for a waterfall horseback ride. We stayed in cute cabins along the way. It was not expensive either there, food was good, and the people there were nice!
Thailand - An awesome experience. Again, we travelled around. Landed in Bangkok, went on Tuk Tuks (sweet fun rides) to different temples and landmarks you have to see.. Did tons of shopping there with knock off items. MBK mall is to die for. Then we took a train ride up to Chiang Mai, where we went on a lot of tours up there because its the rainforest area. We rode on elephants, went on a bamboo raft ride, on an ox cart, went to the long neck hill tribe area.. Another day we went on the awesome big zipline there through the jungle, way better than the ones at home here! Went to the night market too for more cheap goods and to the zoo. Then we flew down to Phuket where we enjoyed lying on the gorgeous beaches, took a speed boat tour to the Phi Phi Islands where "The Beach" was filmed with Leonardo DiCaprio.. You can go as cheap or as expensive as you'd like. You can pretty much get away with anything there haha. It is a bit hard to try and communicate with some people if they don't know English, but gestures and pointing at maps help.
As a side note, only two kinda bad things happened to us while we were at each of our places.. Which can happen in a third world country but hey it makes for a good story.
Costa Rica - This is a typical scam that the locals do on tourists. "Flat tire scam". They see you have a rental car and they follow you while you drive around. (Or it can happen when you leave the car rental place). We were on the back streets lost, while we were at a stop sign a car pulled up behind us really close. The passenger got out of the car and croutched down behind our car. I thought it was weird and thought maybe they bumped us and were checking for damage. We kept driving and went on the main road way to make our way to La Fortuna (this was in San Jose). Within a couple minutes we heard a really loud noise coming from the back of our car. So we pulled over and noticed we had a flat tire. The tire had a huge gash in it from a knife slash. We were lucky and so happened to pull over on a busy road just a few blocks from our rental car place. So.. What the scam is that the locals who cut your tire follow you and wait for you to pull over. Then when you do, they come up behind you to offer "assistance". When you don't expect it, they rob you. So we were very lucky that it didn't happen to us since we were in a public area. But we were aware of it so it wasn't a surprise to us.
Thailand - We were there while there was civil unrest when the people of Thailand revolted against their government.. Kinda like what happened in Egypt. So at the end of our trip, that's when things got ugly and violent. The protestors who wanted the government out shut down the airports. We weren't allowed to leave the country and our flight got cancelled. Towards the end we heard a few explosions go off a bit away from our hotel. We weren't even guaranteed a flight home since we had to fight for a spot with the other tourists. So we had to stay another week longer in Thailand while we waited for some answers. We had to keep contacting the Canadian embasy (who didn't do anything for us), and the airline to see what was going on.. When we left, Bangkok airport still wasn't open. We were 4 out of 320 passengers on a "rescue plane" that our airline put on once a day out of a military base. We had to drive to that base outside of Bangkok since that was the only airport that was able to handle large jets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/26/thailand-protests-airport
So even though things didn't go as smoothly as we hoped, I still highly suggest both areas. Just do your homework :) Also, flying from Vancouver to Bangkok took around 15 hours to get there so your butt will be sore! Feel free to ask me any questions I'm more than happy to answer them. Have fun!
@SportsGal: Where did you stay when you were in Phuket? I've read a lot of reviews and whatnot about Phuket and people seem to say to steer away from it because its way overdeveloped...but I don't really want to go somewhere too remote where there is nothing to do except sit on the beach. I like to have the option of being able to go out to restaurants, shopping, etc. And how overdeveloped can it be really? Cuz I live in Los Angeles so I'm not scared of that at all.
We stayed at the Boomerang Village Resort, which is about 15 minutes walking from Kata Beach. It is quiet and really beautiful up there, and more affordable than other places in Phuket we found. You get your nice private cottage with lovely flowers and vegetation. There is a pool there with bar service at certain times of the day, and an Italian restaurant.
http://www.phuket-boomerang.com/en/home.html
However, the only problem is walking to town can take a while, and the location is up a steep hill. So sometimes the climb back up was a bit tedicuous when we walked. You can sometimes get a ride from the resort to the beach at certain times of the day, or you can rent motorbikes there if you want to chance it. Otherwise the owners are really nice and accommodating so it was a nice escape from the Kata town.
Phuket is pretty but I have to admit it wasn't my favorite town. It was a change from us since we just left Chiang Mai which was more laid back and not as busy.. Then to Phuket which is commercialized and well developed.. And touristy. It is more expensive there since they take advantage of the tourists.
Getting around was more expensive too, either by taxi, the public bus (least expensive but you gotta catch it at the right time) or a Songtaew. We had a hard time a couple times haggling with the drivers to drive us back to our hotel from the beach because they try and charge us extra for having to "drive up the hill" to our resort. It is also called the "taxi mafia" there because of the rediculous prices they charge there compared to the rest of Thailand. Like in Bangkok sometimes you can get around a quick ride for 30 baht, while at our beach it was at least 100 - 150 for a short one.
The main popular beaches in Phuket are Karon and Kata beach, which are nice and pretty. I never made it to Patong Beach which is where you go for the nightlife scene. So decide which part of Phuket you'd want to stay at.
http://www.knowphuket.com/resort_towns.htm
I'd recommend also checking out Trip Advisor, my favorite travel website. You also go on the message boards and see what other people experienced and their tips. So yeah it is well developed but if you are from LA then you shouldn't have any big surprises or culture shock ;)
I wouldn't really recommend the speed boat tour to the Phi Phi Islands from Phuket. (In the high season, maybe its not so bad when its their rainy or low season). Even though the beach is gorgeous and the water is tourquoise blue.. It is cluttered with other speed boats on the main beach. I think there was at least 20 there with long boats, and the beach was cluttered with tourists who were walking around the same island. Not peaceful at all.
Another beach option is Koh Samui which I heard was really nice and pretty too.. But I think we didn't go there because the weather at Phuket was better at that time than that area.. So it would depend what time of year you are going there. But I think its more quiet there and not as much shopping or night life than Phuket.
Thanks everybody! Just wanted to let you know that we just booked our flights to Phuket <3
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Hey Ladies!
We're having the hardest time deciding on the honeymoon. We're thinking our budget is $5k (we spent 2 weeks in Bali for $4k last May) and were thinking of going back to southeast asia. Flights are looking like $3k for both of us, leaving us just around $2k to play and explore (and sleep and eat)! Anyone have any suggestions on either good airfare deals or locations where our dollar can be stretched a bit? We've been looking at Bali (again!), Thailand, and Costa Rica. Thanks ladies!