Si­mone Sant-Ghu­ran

Some cou­ples pre­fer to hon­ey­moon right here in T&T, and why not? There are some breath­tak­ing places here, par­tic­u­lar­ly for cou­ples in­clined to go the route of eco-re­sorts, beach hous­es, To­ba­go vil­las or bou­tique ho­tels. How­ev­er, if the trav­el bug bites you and you want to wan­der away from our shores, here are three good op­tions:

St Lu­cia

This lo­ca­tion is a favourite among hon­ey­moon­ers, not on­ly those from T&T, but world­wide.In fact, St Lu­cia has con­sis­tent­ly been vot­ed the world's "Lead­ing Hon­ey­moon Des­ti­na­tion" by trav­el as­so­ci­a­tions and trav­el pro­fes­sion­als. Per­haps this is be­cause St Lu­cia seems to have per­fect­ed the art of the all-in­clu­sive ho­tel, al­though there is still a wide range of choic­es of oth­er re­sorts and guest­hous­es.Apart from loung­ing on the beau­ti­ful white and black sand beach­es on the is­land, cou­ples with ad­ven­ture on the brain can go zi­plin­ing in the rain­for­est or go hik­ing. If your favourite mu­sic is jazz, you can even sched­ule your hon­ey­moon around the time of the St Lu­cia Jazz fes­ti­val.Soufriere is a must-see town that boasts at­trac­tions such as the Pitons (two vol­canic plugs), sul­phur springs and the Di­a­mond Botan­i­cal Gar­dens. Nightlife, restau­rants and shop­ping can be had in Cas­tries. More serene days can be spent go­ing bird­ing, snorkelling and scu­ba div­ing.One ma­jor ad­van­tage of St Lu­cia is that it can dou­ble as a place to have your des­ti­na­tion wed­ding in a jiffy–since you can get a same-day mar­riage li­cence!

Bar­ba­dos

This is­land may be per­fect for cou­ples who are "food­ies" and who en­joy a good restau­rant hop. This is be­cause Bar­ba­dos has earned a rep­u­ta­tion for hav­ing some of the best restau­rants in the Caribbean. The best spots for these would be on the West coast or in St Lawrence Gap, to the south of the is­land.St Lawrence Gap is al­so home to many night­clubs and bars.Har­risons' Cave is Bar­ba­dos' top tourist at­trac­tion, al­though there are oth­er op­tions for na­ture-mind­ed cou­ples, two of which are: Welch­man Hall Gul­ly–a lime­stone ravine full of flo­ra and fau­na; and An­drom­e­da Botan­ic Gar­dens.Out­doorsy cou­ples can al­so do jeep tours, take a cata­ma­ran cruise or spend their time snorkelling, div­ing and fish­ing.An­oth­er un­usu­al thing to do in Bar­ba­dos would be to ex­plore un­der­wa­ter in the At­lantis sub­ma­rine.Just like St Lu­cia, in Bar­ba­dos you can get mar­ried the same day, since there is no res­i­dent wait­ing pe­ri­od.

St Mar­tin/St Maarten

You get a spec­tac­u­lar "two-for-one" with St Mar­tin–and this may be just the tick­et for hon­ey­moon­ers who want va­ri­ety, at a de­cent price. To the North is the French side of the is­land and to the South, it's Dutch.You can even do a day sail to two tiny is­lands off the north-east coast or take a fer­ry to An­guil­la, Sa­ba or St Barths.St Mar­tin/St Maarten's rich his­to­ry in­cludes forts, sug­ar mills, mu­se­ums and plan­ta­tions. Two of the most pop­u­lar forts are Fort Louis on the French side and Fort Am­s­ter­dam on the Dutch side.St Mar­tin/St Maarten is best known for its scenic beach­es, shop­ping and gourmet din­ing.Nightlife buzzes on Grand-Case in St Mar­tin and at Ma­ho in St Maarten; ide­al for cou­ples who want to ven­ture out to bars and clubs. Casi­nos, how­ev­er, can on­ly be found on the Dutch part of the is­land.Na­ture-lovers will en­joy view­ing rare but­ter­flies at the But­ter­fly Farm, horse­back rid­ing at the Sea­side Na­ture park or ex­plor­ing the is­lands' net­work of 17 hik­ing trails. More ad­ven­tur­ous cou­ples can try zi­plin­ing at Lo­terie Farm (a for­mer sug­ar plan­ta­tion) in St Mar­tin.Un­like Bar­ba­dos and St Lu­cia, it is not quite as easy to get mar­ried there if you're a for­eign­er! Cou­ples who don't live there must get writ­ten per­mis­sion from the Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor of the Is­land, must post banns for at least ten days pri­or to the cer­e­mo­ny and must be res­i­dent on the is­land for at least two days be­fore the cer­e­mo­ny.

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