If you’ve grappled with seating charts and agonised over napkin shades, you deserve to enjoy the best part of wedding planning: the honeymoon. So, let’s move on to more important questions… overwater villa or jungle hideaway? Italian palazzo or Parisian manoir? Amalfi cliffhanger or Berber tent? Here, we’ve gathered a confetti of honeymoon suites around the world, from Lake Como to Colorado and beyond.
HONEYMOON JUNIOR SUITE SUNSET & SEA VIEW WITH POOL
Santo Mine Oia Suites, Santorini
If you’re planning a honeymoon, the chances are a sunset-ready suite in Santorini has found a place on your wish list and this wouldn’t be an unwise choice. This romantic Cycladic island is eternally popular for a reason but you can steer clear of the crowds by securing a suite at Santo Mine, on the edge of Oia – come sundown, you’ll be grateful for your private pool and terrace on which to enjoy the nightly show in style, just the two of you.
GRAND ONE-BEDROOM VILLA
Cali, Mykonos
Mykonos may be one of Greece’s foremost party isles, but it’s also an excellent choice for honeymooners seeking a glamorous getaway – especially if you locate Cali, on a far quieter part of the island. Away from the beach clubs (though you can board a speedboat for one if you wish), this family-owned hotel is on the south coast, with a 130-metre-long infinity pool stretching along the edge of a cliff, a private jetty and a peaceful cove. Though if you’ve booked one of the villas, you probably won’t be emerging for much…
HIVE
Wildhive Callow Hall, Derbyshire
Honeymoons needn’t be somewhere exotic – you can channel Heathcliff and Cathy in a remote, rugged part of the North of England instead. At the southern fringes of the Peak District National Park is Wildhive Callow Hall, which has a Victorian Gothic manor at its heart, along with, more importantly for honeymooners, treehouses hidden away up in the woods. The Hives are supremely cosy cabins, with forest-shrouded decks, interiors by the Kit Kemp alum Isabella Worsley and kitchenettes, so you can stay snugly put.
TREE HOUSE
Conversas de Alpendre, the Algarve
Another honeymoon-perfect suite suspended among some foliage is the Tree House at Conversas de Alpendre in the eastern Algarve, which takes the theme literally – you’ll be staying inside a tree, with steps leading up to your bedroom in the boughs. Inside, the walls are, naturally, all made of wood and there’s a deck where you can enjoy your Hobbit-worthy hideaway authentically (surrounded by branches and leaves). At night, your arboreal accommodation gets even more romantic, with lights illuminating the staircase and the trunk.
UDU RESIDENCE
Como Laucala Island, Fiji
On a rocky outcrop of Como Laucala Island sits the Udu Residence, which nods its recognition to other honeymoon abodes but knows deep down that its raised walkways, cavernous thatched living spaces, earthy wood-wicker-and-stone interiors and frankly outrageous wraparound views of the South Pacific mark it out as one of the most impressive post-marital pads on the planet.
BEACH POOL SUITE
Rosewood Le Guanahani, St Barths
You could imagine Rosewood Le Guanahani putting itself forward as a set for the next season of The White Lotus, though you and your beau are less likely to discover deviant staff or mafia conmen than you are impeccable service, expertly mixed cocktails and a whole host of activities across the 18 acres of this glamorous peninsula. The Beach Pool Suite is spacious beyond belief, with its own specially designed bar, a covered private deck, a garden and interiors awash with Caribbean cool.
SUITE BELLINI
Passalacqua, Lake Como
If ornate is your honeymoon MO, then the Suite Bellini at Passalacqua could be l’ultima. Not only are its double-vaulted ceilings, grand reception rooms and outrageous Murano chandeliers all the more impressive for the way they’re kept in check by gorgeous, every-creature-comfort-considered interiors, but the villa’s Sala della Musica is said to have inspired former resident Bellini to write some of his most successful operas. That view of Lake Como is worthy of a standing ovation on its own.
TERRACE SUITE
The Twenty Two, London
The Twenty Two isn’t just any old number – it’s a Mayfair hotel and members’ hangout that’s ditched the stuffiness in favour of ravishing interiors, informal service, a basement nightclub with a mirrored ceiling and this, its Terrace Suite, wrapped tip to toe in red velvet (except for the black-and-white marble bathroom) and with a 50-foot-long private terrace overlooking the well-heeled neighbourhood.
UPPER BRANCH TREE HOUSE
Hapuku Lodge, Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand
For the adventurous couple looking to get away from it all (if you’re honeymooning in New Zealand, chances are, that’s you), the charming Upper Branch Tree House at Hapuku Lodge is the ideal suite selection. Perched 10 metres above a native manuka grove, it’ll let you live out all those childhood fantasies of treehouse living, with a private forest-top deck, custom wooden bed and cosy fireplace. Plus, there’s a Jacuzzi, so you can live out all those adult fantasies, too.
WELL HOUSE
Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado
Maybe you and your consort want something a little more rustic – a saloon serving locally sourced gourmet food, mountains as far as the eye can see. The luxe cabins of Colorado’s Dunton Hot Springs (formerly a ghost town that was abandoned in 1918) offer all that and more. Book the Well House, which has been built around a private hot spring, to see what Western dreams are made of.
WATERFALL VIEW SUITE
Gaia Riverlodge, Cayo District, Belize
In Belize’s lush rainforest (don’t be surprised if you hear a jaguar or two), Gaia Riverlodge is the perfect marriage of luxury perks and adventurous location. After a day of biking, hiking and diving into swimming holes, a two-storey Waterfall View Suite is the perfect retreat for couples who want to relax in a king-size bed and fall asleep to the sound of rushing water.
WATER VILLA KING WITH POOL
One&Only Reethi Rah, the Maldives
The thing about staying in one of Reethi Rah‘s dream overwater villas is this: it opens you up to a whole slew of previously unforeseen problems. Should you eat breakfast on the chaise longue with ocean views or on the day-bed with ocean views? Is it better to nap in the hammock or in those Egyptian cotton sheets? And how many white candles should you light around your private infinity pool at sunset? More Maldives, more problems.
ESPECIAL ESMERALDA BUNGALOW
Ponta Dos Ganchos, Santa Catarina, Brazil
It’s all about privacy at Ponta dos Ganchos, which sits on a secluded peninsula on the shores of Brazil‘s Emerald Coast in Santa Catarina. There are only 25 bungalows at the hotel and the Especial Esmeralda is the most exclusive of them all. The suite is a sprawling 298 square metres, with a bathroom so large it has day-beds in, so you can take a rest between walking from the ocean-facing tub to the rainfall shower. There’s also a private pool, a wine cellar, an in-room sauna with sea views and a gym, if you must.
OCEAN HOUSE NORTHERN
Post Ranch Inn, California
Post Ranch Inn, on the Pacific-facing cliffs of northern California, is without a doubt one of the most spectacular stays on the planet, making it a sensible choice for a memorable post-wedding trip – and one that lets grown-ups be big kids in sleek, sea-edge treehouses, surrounded by towering redwoods and meadows in which to frolic. You can do the most for your honeymoon by staying in this legendary hotel’s Ocean House Northern, built into Big Sur’s rocky coastline with ocean views from the bedroom, bath and soaking-tub-enhanced terrace.
EIFFEL IMPERIAL SUITE
La Réserve Hotel and Spa, Paris
If you were on a scavenger hunt for opulent decor elements, you could cross pretty much everything off the list in La Réserve‘s Eiffel Imperial Suite: black lacquer, gold filigree, elaborate inlays, damascene silk brocade wall hangings, Carrara marble, herringbone-patterned parquet wooden flooring… this one hotel room in Paris has them all. It’s also got a fifth-floor private balcony with views of the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais.
Let your heart flutter around our luxury honeymoon hotels and villas