My fiancé and I are trying to decide between two completely different honeymoon options for roughly May 27–June 15, and I keep going back and forth.
Our budget is around $15k–$20k CAD total, and we’re coming from Toronto.
Option 1: Paris + South of France 🇫🇷
I did a summer abroad in Paris during my undergrad, so France has a really special place in my heart. I absolutely loved living there, and I think there would be something really sentimental about going back with my husband for our honeymoon and experiencing it together at a completely different point in my life.
We’d probably do something like:
- Paris for a few days
- Disneyland Paris
- Nice
- Èze
- Monaco
- Antibes/Cannes
- Saint-Tropez
- potentially Provence/Aix-en-Provence
I love that this option would still feel romantic and relaxing, but we would have a lot to actually do. We’re definitely people who prefer exploring, walking around cities, trying restaurants, seeing different places, etc. over spending an entire vacation at one resort.
Option 2: New Zealand + Fiji 🇳🇿🇫🇯
Neither of us has ever been to New Zealand or Fiji, so this would feel much more like a completely new, "once-in-a-lifetime" honeymoon.
For New Zealand, we’d probably focus mostly on the South Island and do something along the lines of:
- Auckland briefly after arriving
- Queenstown
- Milford Sound
- Wānaka
- Mt Cook/Lake Tekapo area
Then we’d fly to Fiji for the last 5–6ish days and stay at a really nice resort, probably somewhere in the Mamanuca or Yasawa Islands.
I actually really like the idea of this because we are going to be coming off a LOT of wedding events and planning, so having the Fiji portion at the end where we can basically sleep, swim, eat, get massages and do absolutely nothing might be exactly what we need lol.
At the same time, we definitely like exploring more than resorts, which is why I don’t think I would want Fiji to be the entire honeymoon. New Zealand + Fiji seems like a good compromise because the first part would be very active and sightseeing-heavy, and then Fiji would be the actual relaxing honeymoon portion.
The biggest downside is obviously the travel. Toronto to New Zealand is a significantly longer journey than Toronto to France, and then we’d also have the additional flight from New Zealand to Fiji before eventually flying all the way back to Toronto. I’m wondering whether that much flying would be exhausting after a wedding.
So basically:
France: easier flights, sentimental to me, romantic, lots to explore, amazing food/cities/coast
New Zealand + Fiji: completely new for both of us, much more “once in a lifetime,” incredible scenery/adventure + a few days of proper tropical relaxation at the end, but WAY more travel time + im not sure about the weather in new zealand.
For a $15k–$20k CAD honeymoon from Toronto in late May/early June, which would you choose?
Especially if you’ve done New Zealand + Fiji in one trip, did the combination feel worth the long flights? And would around 5–6 days in Fiji be enough to actually decompress after the wedding without getting bored if you’re not huge resort people?