What’s the best thing about getting married? Lifelong partnership, dual income household, honeymoon? Yes, yes, and YES. 
There is a school of thought that a honeymoon should be a warm and sandy cocoon of tranquility, for the couple to relax after the stress of wedding. But let’s face it – what better excuse to have a big fun vacation – perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime trip – than a trip to celebrate the beginning of our married life? I can justify expenses like I never can before! (A room with ruby-encrusted chandelier and personal butler? Why of course, please. …kidding).
This trip will be a real treat for the both of us, and to be honest, we have neither the vacation days or money for just lying on the beach. So I wanted somewhere a little bit unusual, romantic, luxurious, and adventurous. After some thought, we’ve decided to head to where Europe meets Asia… for a 2-week honeymoon in Turkey!
We are going to Istanbul, with an excursion to Edirne, Cappadocia, and Ephesus. Using Turkey Travel Planner’s website, we estimated 200 Turkish Liras (or $120-$125) per person, per day. So for the two of us it will be $250/day, or $3,000 for the 12-day itinerary. Flights to Istanbul (considered EuroZone 3 for British Airways) will cost 100,000 miles plus $1,000+ in fees, taxes, and surcharges for the both of us.
I am going to set the budget at $5,000 total for our honeymoon. I am also thinking of having a travel agent help with the planning. It should be a FANTASTIC journey. As you might have already guessed, we are raiding our Galapagos Fund, or rather, changing that to the Honeymoon Fund. It currently has $7,000, so enough to fund the honeymoon in full, but I am planning to add $3,000 in there to pay for the wedding. Although, I have not yet booked anything or anyone for the wedding. But the wedding will happen… if only because I am going to Turkey, gosh darn it! 
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Sounds amazing, You will remember it your whole life. I have never been to Turkey but I have read enough to see that it is fascinating and diverse. There may even be ruby encrusted chandeliers!!
I am really excited. Much more excited than wedding planning, LOL.
Haha I feel the same way, though we're doing two weeks to Puerto Rico – one week in P.R., and then the second week on a cruise that leaves from P.R. – I get the best of both worlds! (I am definitely happy to spend time on the beach, investigating the rain forest, kayaking through the bioluminescent bays, exploring caves … I am definitely excited for our honeymoon.
Enjoy your planning!
Bioluminescent bays!? You just gave me another travel dream.
We went to Munich and stayed in the Kempinski hotel. Love it.
YAY! How awesome, I'm so excited for you. I plan to use a travel agent for at least some of the planning for my international trips, mainly because they will involve multiple destinations.
Do you have some trips planned? I don't remember if I read an itinerary on your blog… I think I saw one! Are you coming to the States?
US road trip and 1 or 2 European trips. Not sure exactly when or in what order yet. Travel fund is close to enough for one trip so far…
OMG OMG…Amazing! Today last year, I was leaving on my first solo trip to……Istanbul! It was just one of those places I really read about for like a day and decided I had to go there. I found Turkey to be a pleasant surprise. I went to both Turkey and Greece on my trip, but while both were amazing Turkey won hands down!!! I started in Istanbul, then went to Cappadocia, Ephesus, and Bodrum (beach resort town), then went to Greece by Ferry!
That's amazing! I don't know if I have the guts to travel to Turkey alone. How long were you there?
I was in turkey for 8 days. Yeah my family had a mini freak out but I have to say, going solo that time worked for me, it was my best trip yet. Next month I'm off to Peru and bolivia eeeee! I can't stand the excitement. No I'm not going alone this time.
Cappadocia was my favourite place and I already decided that when I get married, I have to take my future husband there…itss sooo special! Please consider going on an early morning hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia! You have to wake up early but I think its soo worth it, and so in line with the honeymoon thing you've got going on, plus at the end of the ride you celebrate with champagne at like 7am! I stayed at the Kelebek Hotel in Goreme (had rave reviews on Trip advisor and I loved it). On my last morning, I woke up to watch the hot air balloons go up in the air, it was phenomenal!
Turkey, in my opinion, is an excellent choice for anyone and I found it to be affordable. There's so much history, shopping (Grand Bazaar!), some of the most beautiful beaches on the mediterranean (Oludeniz!!), adventure.
One thing about my trip though, people stared at me (I wasnt expecting that), and took pictures of me. I'm african american and I had my hair in braids. I guess thats uncommon in Turkey lol! I got called Beyonce and Michelle Obama (I didnt mind that haha).
I am DEFINITELY doing a hot air balloon ride. Horse-back riding, underground cities exploring, cave hotel living – all of that is on the list. Cappadocia looks so fantastic – can't wait to see that moonscape.
Did you have dinner at the LOCAL (that's the name) restaurant? I read a few references to it online.
Hmmm, no i did not.
Yay I'm glad you're doing th balloon ride and all the ablove' i kept touching the walls of my cave room. I also did the bosphorus cruise in Istanbul and two Turkish baths, one in Istanbul and one in gore me/ cappadocia. I also went on a hiking tour and an ATF tour. Yes I agree with sp, the blue evil eye things are in front of every shop/building in turkey and I bought some trinkets. I also loved Turkish yoghurt, and tea. The teacups are beautiful!
I agree that grand bazaar deserves a lot of time! It spans 60streets.
I found people to be very helpful, that was nice when I got lost
Was the Bosphorus cruise worth the time and money? I think I'd rather go for a side-trip to Edirne… but maybe if we can manage a few more days in the country I can swing both.
To be honest, I was not blown away by the cruise. I spent a half day went across around lunch time had lunch, and then returned with the last ferry…but I had to wait a long time to catch a returning ferry after lunch. I guess it was a weekend and they didnt have to many ferries running.
In theory, its cool to cruise the strait that divides Europe and Asia and all…BUT if you have somewhere else in mind, I'd say skip it or do a shorter sunset cruise or something.
I'd rather spend the extra time in the Grand bazaar! But then, just my thoughts…
That hot air balloon ride sounds amazing!
You'll have an amazing time in Turkey- it's absolutely gorgeous! Quite unlike anywhere else in the world. Enjoy!
Exciting! Some of our friends went to Turkey last year and LOVED it. They also went to paris and some other places on the same trip… but Turkey was their favorite!
I'm totally of the same mind as you regarding honeymoons. A lot of people do (and love!) the relaxing beach vacation, but it's just not really my thing. Are you going right after the wedding?
I hope so… I think so. I don't know anyone who has been to Turkey before, but I've been staying up waaay too late reading everything I can on travel websites.
Ohhhh, this just popped up in my google reader today! I'm sure you already heard of most of this, but you may as well check it out (and the pictures too!) and see if there are any new ideas
http://www.yesandyes.org/2011/07/mini-travel-guid…
Also, those blue evil eye things? My friend brought me that as her souvineer.
I went to Turkey a couple of years ago and just L-O-V-E-D it!
Drink Apple tea at every chance you get, eat lots of roasted chestnuts (ok, I went in November, so this might not be popular when you go
and gorge on every flavor of Turkish delight that you get your hands on.
Take a full DAY to get lost in the Grand Bazaar.
And take a ferry through the Bosporus River–all the Med. houses and scenery will make you think you're on a river in Italy or Greece (with Mosques, of course).
I just googled a picture of the Grand Bazaar… aaah how shall I stand the anticipation until we actually go to Istanbul?
So what's happening to the Galapagos trip then? Are you going to start re-saving for that post-wedding? You're still going to see the turtles, right?!?!?
We'll still see the turtles… eventually. It's just the cost of going to Galapagos is so high. $7K is enough for about 1 person on a nice ship with a small number of guests. And it wouldn't be much of a honeymoon without my groom!
Well phew. And that IS a lot of money!
I'm actually in Ecuador right now having just finished an absolutely amazing Galapagos cruise, and just want to tell you to make sure to start saving again in the Galapagos fund, because it really is worth it. The highlight for me was snorkeling with the playful sea lion pups who come right up to you.
We got a last minute deal in Quito on a 8 day, 7 night cruise in a fairly nice boat with 14 people for $1600 per person (plus $500 per person in air tickets and park entrance fee) — so, while it's expensive relative to other trips, you can do it without spending $7K.
What's the site or cruise company you used? $1.6K sounds amazing!
I spent a couple days in Istanbul, it is very different from what yu may expect! Be careful around the marketplace, the send out people to lure you in. The food is great..
I love Turkey sooo much more than someplace tropical! Fabulous choice! I'm excited for you!
oooh. how wonderful and exotic! I hear Turkey is wonderful and so much to see. And the food is delicious too.
Hi,
I am long time follower of your blog. I am thrilled that you have picked my country to visit for your honeymoon. I hope you will have a good time here. If you would like insider tips send me an e-mail to tpolthetrekkie@yahoo.com and I can e-mail you whatever info you might need. I have a friend who owns two small boutique hotels in the Sultanahmet area. We can ask for special pricing but that is totally up to you. I lived in Istanbul for 10 years and I still have my apartment there. Unfortunately I had to move to Ankara for financial reasons and been living in my hometown for the last 11 months. I love, love love Istanbul. It has so much to offer!
The season you have picked to visit Turkey is important. Remember Istanbul and Ephesus has milder weather due to being right by the sea but Cappadocia is inland and may get real cold in late autumn, winter and early spring. During the last two weeks three really great articles were published in NY Times about Turkey full of good tips. You may want to check them out. As I said send me an e-mail regarding any question you might have and I will be happy to help. Congrats on the upcoming wedding btw!
Sounds wonderful and exciting! Using a travel agency is a good idea for trips like these.
My wife and I kind of cut loose on our honeymoon budget, though I think it was probably close to $5,000 all told (I paid for the majority of it, but my wife paid extra to bump us up to first class on the flight back – I was trying to justify the expense by the number of free drinks we'd each have to drink to make the expense cancel out [which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 a piece]). We didn't get there, but we sure tried!
Thumbs up to your wife!
That sounds like an awesome honeymoon! I also think that while beaches are nice, they may not be the best thing for everyone's honeymoon.
A travel agent (though I've never used one) may not be a bad idea at all.
I've used a travel agent for my Disney trip, which I thought was really worth it. I did get a quote from this one agency, but I think they are a little too swanky for me. Private town car every single day? Probably don't need it… even if it is my honeymoon.