The wedding season is upon us again and in the midst of finalizing wedding venues and guest lists, shopping for innumerable ensembles, cake and wine tasting, and zeroing in on the perfect band, couples are booking tickets, planning their itineraries, and are as excited about the honeymoon as they are about the wedding. New-age couples are saving up to splurge on offbeat honeymoons at the end of which they bring home not just a suitcase full of souvenirs, but a lifetime’s worth of memoirs.
Sneha Menon Desai, a journalist, and her husband, Madhukeshwar headed to Cape Town for their honeymoon last year. “We chose to go to Cape Town and travel around South Africa as it gave us the opportunity to do so much more than just while away our time on serene beaches. December was summer time in South Africa and this allowed us to do everything from shark cage diving, zip lining and the tallest bungee jump!”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Tanzania for its incredible wildlife and since we’re getting married in July, my fiancée and I decided it would be the best time to head there for our honeymoon. The Serengeti National Park tops our list for its classic safari experience. We’re even going visit the spectacular archipelago of Zanzibar to explore Stone Town’s narrow streets, visit the Jozani Forest, indulge in some diving, and take a sunset cruise, among other interesting things. We’ve been saving up for this trip for over a year now,” says Rufus George, an entrepreneur.
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Technical writer Rachana Reddy and her husband, Shreyas Mangalore say, “We had a list of must-visit places so we took off for a good two weeks and visited Rome as both of us are suckers for history and architecture, Capri and the Amalfi Coast of Naples for its artistic charm and its eclectic culinary experiences, Venice for its scenic beauty, historical backdrop, and Paris to enjoy the museums and the fabulous lifestyle.”
According to travel advisor Ananta Sahu, “There is a steep increase in the number of couples from Bangalore travelling to South-East Asian countries for their honeymoon. While Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, have caught the fancy of many, I now have more clients wanting to visit places like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar. They are economical options and are paradisiacal in their own ways.”
Closer home too, there are umpteen unique honeymoon destinations. Today’s couples are interested in absorbing the beauty of the palaces of Udaipur, basking in the sunshine on the quieter beaches of Allepey, deep sea diving in Lakshadweep, meandering through Shillong’s rain forests, going on wildlife safaris through Ranthambore, biking up to Leh-Ladakh, and trekking their way up the gorgeous Himalayas.
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