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Have a hot honeymoon

Couples seek adventurous, exotic locales

By Carol Sottili | The Washington Post

September 20, 2006

From adventure travel to far-off places, couples are becoming more selective, creative and demanding about their wedding trips. We interviewed honeymoon experts, perused wedding magazines and scoured the Internet to uncover what's hot and what's not. Here's a look at the top trends.

-Action-packed trips. Lying together on a palm tree-dotted beach still has its fans, but honeymooners today want more adventure.

Jim Augerinos, honeymoon travel consultant and destination wedding coordinator for Perfect Honeymoons & Holidays Travel in Vienna, Va., says that most of his couples "can only do max two or three days on the beach." Then they start getting bored. These days, honeymooners are "out of the door at 8 a.m. looking for things to do."

-Far-flung locales. Many couples still go to Sandals resorts in the Caribbean, but more are asking for out-of-the-way destinations where they can engage in unique activities.

"They want to go shark feeding in Belize, swimming with dolphins in Hawaii, zip-wiring in Costa Rica," Augerinos said.

Harvey McGarry, a "romantic destinations consultant" at MacNair Travel & Cruises/American Express in Alexandria, Va., said classic destinations, such as Italy, Hawaii, Tahiti and the Caribbean, are still the norm. But he said he's also seeing more interest in lesser-known Caribbean islands, such as St. Lucia, and in less-visited areas of Mexico, such as towns in Baja.

"Couples are also looking for the beach experience, but in Europe," he said. "Spain's Costa del Sol is big right now."

Cultural capitals, such as Budapest and Prague, have also become popular, especially with older couples.