Save some of that wedding budget for the after-after-party (a.k.a. the honeymoon). Mo’ mai tais, mo’ problems.
Weddings are momentous occasions. After months upon months of planning and preparation, the day finally arrives and is everything a bride and groom could have imagined. Once the wedding is over, real life begins for the couple. Luckily there’s a time-honored tradition known as a honeymoon that allows couples to spend some time away before they have to dive back into work and regular schedules. Honeymoons have become more elaborate through the years, with many couples opting for luxury vacations that span several weeks and cost a pretty penny. While not every honeymoon is an over the top luxury vacation, it’s estimated that couples spend an average of $4,466 on their honeymoons—with an average stay of 8 days.
The U.S. offers numerous locales that make for a romantic, fun honeymoon. We decided to explore the average cost of a honeymoon in 15 of the most popular U.S. honeymoon destinations to see how they compared to the national average. Read on to learn more about what we found.
Table of Contents
i. The Average Cost of a Honeymoon in Popular U.S. Destinations
ii. Methodology
iii. Wrapping Up
i. The Average Cost of a Honeymoon in Popular U.S. Destinations
The most expensive honeymoon destination of those that we reviewed was Kauai, followed by Lanai, and Big Sur. A common thread among these 3 destinations is a more limited number of options for hotels and resorts, resulting in higher than average lodging costs. Airfare for the Hawaiian cities was generally more expensive than the mainland destinations, which also drove up the total cost. If you have your heart set on a Hawaiian honeymoon, but aren’t looking to break the bank, The Big Island could be the perfect destination for you. It comes in at a weekly cost of $3,903, almost half the cost of a trip to Kauai.
4 of the 5 least expensive destinations are located in the Southeast. A week’s stay in Charleston, Hilton Head, Sanibel Island, and Savannah all come in under $4,000. Sanibel Island is the cheapest honeymoon destination of the 15 that we reviewed. There are numerous options for delicious meals and things to do in these cites, so these are excellent alternatives for couples looking for something more affordable.
We came across so many cool options for activities to do in each of these destinations—from a visit to the Punakea Palms Coconut Farm in Maui, to a wine country tour in Sonoma. If relaxing is your honeymoon M-O, you can likely cut some costs by forgoing the elaborate activities these destinations offer.
ii. Methodology
To determine the average price of a honeymoon in 15 different U.S. destinations we focused in on the 4 primary costs of a vacation:
Airfare: We used flight prices to determine the average cost of two round-trip tickets to the honeymoon destination from the 10 largest airports in the U.S. This batch of airports represents many areas of the country and, since they’re located in some of the largest cities, are likely where most couples will be flying in and out of.
Lodging: Couples tend to splurge more than usual on their honeymoons, so we primarily looked at 4 star hotels to get the lodging average for each city.
Food and Drink: The food cost of each destination includes the cost of 7 inexpensive meals and 7 nice meals. Based off our lodging research, breakfast is included at most of the hotels, so we didn’t include that cost in the total. And what would a honeymoon be without a few cocktails? The total also includes 2 drinks per person per day.
Activity: Once couples have caught up on the sleep lost in the craziness of the wedding weekend, they’re bound to want to get out, explore, and participate in a few fun local activities. The total for each destination includes the cost of 2 local activities, which is based on the average of the top 5 highest reviewed honeymoon activities for the city.
The food and lodging costs are based on the average honeymoon length: 8 days and 7 nights. To determine the airfare costs, we used the Sunday following the most popular wedding weekend of 2018, August 18th, for the departure date.
iii.Wrapping Up
If you’re in the process planning a honeymoon we’d definitely recommend checking out some of these amazing U.S. destinations. Wherever you decide to go on your post-wedding getaway, it will be filled with special memories as newlyweds.