Eco honeymoons

Whether you’re looking for a holiday of a lifetime or just somewhere to decompress after months of wedding plans, it pays to do your homework and book your honeymoon long before the big day.

Although travel brochures are full of ‘romantic’ places to stay, an increasing number of travel companies are adding on an adventurous element to the holiday so you have a mixture of action and relaxation.

Africa-specialist travel company Rainbow Tours, which has the maximum three-stars for responsible tourism awarded by the Association of Independent Tour Operators, offers a range of safari and beach holidays tailored specifically for honeymoons. You can spend a week on a game-viewing safari in Kenya followed by a week chilling out on the beaches of Zanzibar (costs from £4295 per couple) or choose a week at an ethically-run lodge in South Africa’s Kruger National Park followed by a week on one of the remote islands in the north of Mozambique (from £4,790 per couple). One of its more unusual honeymoons is a visit the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, exploring tropical rainforests, seeing lemurs and humpback whales before spending a relaxing five nights on the coast at the luxurious Anjajavy Hotel (pictured above), from £4,990. All trip costs include international and domestic flights, transfers, meals and activities as offered by each hotel or lodge. 

A feature of their holidays is that if you can ask your friends and family to contribute to the cost of the honeymoon or for the luxuries you wouldn’t necessarily buy for yourself, such as an upgraded room, a hot-air balloon trip, or a private game drive. For more information, see ‘HoneyMiles’ at rainbowtours.co.uk.

The new St Pancras International train station has also put some of the romance back into train travel, especially now you can reach southern Italy and Spain within 24 hours by train. For more information see seat61.com – the best place on the net for advice on train travel to the continent. This September sees the launch of the Danube Express, a luxury train hotel that will tour Eastern and Central Europe from Budapest. An eight-day trip, including first class train travel from London to Budapest - where you board the luxury ‘hotel on wheels’ - goes through Slovakia and continues through the spectacular scenery of the Tatra Mountains through Poland then heads north to the Baltic and Gdansk. Costs £2,370 per person (danube-express.co.uk).

An edited version of this article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in New Consumer magazine.