Our Best Picks for a Fall Honeymoon or Romantic Getaway
Fall is our favorite season for romance travel. The prices are lower than in summer, the tourist crowds are gone, yet pleasant weather lingers. Plus, the kids are in back school, so you’ll be spared the distraction of sharing your resort with noisy families. We’ve hand picked some of our choice fall romance destinations, including some that you might not know about:
The ABC Islands – Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao
These 3 Dutch islands off the Venezuela coast offer the best of the Caribbean. Aruba has been described as a “quintessential Caribbean island,” famous for its miles of white beaches and accommodations ranging from luxury resorts to intimate private hotels. Quiet Bonaire is an eco-tourist’s dream, with world-famous coral reef diving and miles of wild parkland for hiking and outdoor adventure. While Curacao is equally famous for diving and fine beaches, it is also celebrated for its cultural richness. Its capital, the Dutch colonial city of Willemstad, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you’re worried about Caribbean travel during hurricane season, the ABC islands are well south of the usual fall hurricane track (Matthew, whose edge brushed the islands with minor damage, is only the fourth in the entire region in the past 20 years and is considered a “rare” event).
Napa Valley, California
If you love good food and wine, there’s no better time to visit California wine country than during the harvest. All the wineries celebrate with barrel tastings, grape stomping, live music, and dozens of other fun activities. When you’re not touring the vineyards, you can take a hot air balloon ride to view the fall colors at sunrise, or pamper yourself in one of the many luxury spas. Best of all, there’s Napa’s world class cuisine, with too many fine dining spots to count. The best spot to sample it all might be the famed Oxbow Public Market in Napa, which offers both local food specialty purveyors and gourmet dining in take-out style.
Argentina
While it’s fall here, it’s spring in Argentina, where you can find both cosmopolitan city life and breathtaking wilderness. Buenos Aires offers the cultural riches you’d expect from a city known as the “Paris of the South.” And its night life, from small steakhouses to gourmet restaurants to the many tango clubs, provide all the excitement you could wish. For a change, head to Argentina’s Mendoza wine country, where you can visit wineries steeped in tradition and beautiful architecture, or enjoy outdoor adventures like hiking, horseback riding and whitewater rafting in the foothills of the Andes. If that’s not adventurous enough, there’s wild and seemingly endless Patagonia. You can travel the wide Pampas grasslands, climb high in the Andes to walk inside a glacier, or catch a sight of whales, sea lions and other marine life from the shores of rugged Peninsula Valdes.
Fairbanks, Alaska
If seeing the Northern Lights is your idea of romance, but you don’t want to freeze in an Arctic winter, an early fall jaunt to Alaska’s northern metropolis might be your ideal adventure. We can find you the perfect “Northern Lights” package, where you can explore the city’s Gold Rush history and busy cultural life (it’s home to the University of Alaska), and take excursions to nearby Chena Hot Springs and Denali National Park. You’ll still need to dress for chilly weather (40s and 50s), but the Visitors Bureau promises that over a stay of 3 or more fall nights, you’re almost certain to be rewarded with the unworldly sight of the aurora borealis.
If these destinations don’t suit your fall romance tastes, we can help you choose from among many favorite fall destinations: the bright foliage and colonial flavor of Vermont and New Hampshire, the quiet of the Mexican Riviera’s smaller resorts, or the City of Light and love, Paris. Just give us a call to get started planning your next fall getaway.
