squa89

I went through the planning a few months ago. Haven't taken the trip yet but basic itinerary is as follows.

• Westin Paris for 2 Nights (stopover on the way to SE Asia)
• Overnight flight CDG-KOH in Thai business class
• Conrad Koh Samui, Thailand (it's a Hilton property but there's a LM and W there too) for 4 nights
• Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok for 2 nights
• Le Meridien Angkor, Cambodia for 1 night
• TBD Starwood (SGS again or St. Regis), Bangkok 1 night

macdonaldj2

If I can lend my voice to this...a honeymoon is meant to be relaxing, I learned this the hard way when I did mine and paid for it for the second honeymoon. Go some place with a nice beach and make sure the massages are inexpensive and the drinks are plentiful - Naka Island I don't think has been mentioned yet. I personally have not stayed there but it looks nice.

pricesquire

I'm basically grappling with whether to do a squa89 style trip, or a macdonaldj2 style trip. Hmmm...

some dude

If you can find availability, Sunset Key Cottages is a private island off the coast of Key West. Very nice high-end property. Ideal times to go to Key West is spring or fall. Winter tends to be fairly cool in Key West (unlike Miami), and Summer can be very hot/humid.

silentbob1974

Why not do both if possible? I'd take as much time off as you can possibly can. You only get to do this once (hopefully). We did 3 weeks and in hindsight wish it could've been 4. First week was at the Sheraton Maldives and a non-SPG eco-resort, second week was at the Hotel Maria Cristina and Marquis de Riscal in the Basque region, third week was at the Romanos Costa Navarino. We got to enjoy a bit of everything, active city sight-seeing, vegging on beaches, and snorkeling in the ocean.

Two-week babymoon last year was at the St. Regis/Le Meridien Bora Bora and the St. Regis Princeville.

Of all these places, I'd recommend most highly the St. Regis/Le Meridien Bora Bora and the Hotel Maria Cristina -- not that we had a bad experience at any of the others.

macdonaldj2

For what it's worth I just did both, I spent a week in Tokyo at the PHT and then I went to Bali for a week. I see Key West was an option too, we got married in Key West at the Hyatt and it's a nice property, although there isn't much of a beach. You can use the beach at the SPG cottages but I believe you have to pay (worth it).



View from the Breakfast:

missydarlin

To me, Squa89's trip is a trip...not a honeymoon. 4 hotels is 2 to many. Go somewhere, relax, and enjoy each other. Weddings take a lot out of you. This is your time to just be together. Don't spend it constantly packing up and moving around... unless you *both* really enjoy that kind of thing. And one would hope that at this point you know what kind of traveller your spouse -to -be is.


My vote goes to splitting the trip between Barcelona and San Sebastien

sent

The only request I had when we went our our honeymoon was that I wanted to lounge around and do nothing. We did everything but that. For the next several vacations I would request the same thing and every time, we did everything he wanted but no lounging like I wanted. Just like it took time for us to figure out how to live with each other, it also took several trips to figure out how to vacation with each other. Before we were married, the longest trip we took together was 6 days. We really had no basis for knowing what the other person wants to get out of their 13 day vacation.

Our last 2 trips have been much better because we have clearer expectations of what each person wants to do in each location. Our trip this summer is our first true compromise trip. The first half will be spend being crazy tourists and doing whatever itineraries he wants, the last half will be spent never leaving the resorts which is what I want.

squa89

Personally I would go BONKERS "doing nothing" for any longer than the 5 days/4 nights we're spending at the Conrad Koh Samui

We're unfortunately time boxed into 2 weeks or I'd extend this further. The goal of the trip was SE Asia, as both my fiance and I are fortunate enough to have traveled quite a bit and we were looking for something new that offered a good blend of relaxation (Koh Samui) and culture/food (Paris, Bangkok, Angkor).

Doing Paris is actually netting us an extra day, because instead of flying all night plus all day from NYC to BKK, we're doing two overnight flights (NYC-CDG and CDG-BKK), thus netting an extra day that would have been spent in the air otherwise. After we get to SE Asia the travel's actually confined to a relatively small area (few hundred miles). And no way I'd do Thailand without jumping over to Siem Reap for a day or two...it's supposed to be great.

If all you want is beach and relaxation... there's no need to go far. There are gorgeous beaches in the Virgin Islands (there's a Westin in St. John), Vieques (W), etc., on the east coast, or Hawaii if you want to go a bit further.

To each their own, but for us personally just doing a "do nothing" trip ain't our style ;-)

missydarlin

And I wasn't necessarily suggesting a "do nothing" trip. I just think that moving hotels 4 times on your honeymoon might not be what your spouse-to-be envisioned. But if you're both in agreement. Cool.

breezytraveller

St. Regis Bora Bora is definitely my dream choice, but 120,000 points is insane.

squa89

^

pricesquire

Squa, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of rate did you get at the Conrad? Also, how much of your trip are you doing on points/miles?

Etcd21

I actually just got bk from a stay at both the W Paris Opera and the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome. The 2 nights at W Opera weren't very good compared to the PHV, you can check out my full review here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20588294-post1249.html

My main issue w/ the W was the tiny room, and although there appeared to be plenty of deluxe tier rooms as well as suites available I was told no when I inquired about an upgrade. It was a split stay, one night I used 30k points and the other night was paid. For the amount of points needed to redeem free nights and as a Platinum I expected something more. I started the Hyatt Diamond challenge before my trip so I also got the amazing "american" breakfast each day which you can order for room service at no extra cost. The value of this breakfast is 49 Euros per person, which they will grant to you and whoever is staying with you. It blew SPG's free continental breakfast away, which only covers breads/pastries/coffee. Hyatt's american menu:
Selection of hot beverages
Fresh bakery selection, traditional baguette
Kouign-amann
Fresh fruit juices
Yoghurt & fruit salad or cereals
Eggs any style (garnished)

squa89

I used an AXON reward at the Conrad (booked pre-devaluation) so 4 nights are costing me 145k Hilton points. All of the major travel (airfare and hotels) are on points, a combo of United, SPG, and Hilton. Paying cash for a jump flight between BKK and REP but that's it.