The Lugger, Cornwall

Set on the beautiful Roseland Peninsula, The Lugger boasts a gorgeous harbour-side position, surrounded by cliffs. You’re in the perfect position here from which to walk some of the fabulous Cornish Coastal Path – or, if your honeymoon needs are a little more sedate, to just soak up the views from one of the hotel’s terraces, or to wind-down in the spa – before spending your evening sampling the freshest local seafood in the restaurant.

St Brides Spa Hotel, Pembrokeshire

The infinity pool above the coast here is enough to make this the perfect honeymoon spot, but add in rooms with a classic beach chic, a spa with cliff-edge treatment rooms, and being within stumbling distance of some of the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast’s loveliest beaches, and St Brides is a honeymoon treat of a hotel that’s hard to resist.

The Gurnard’s Head, Cornwall

Another Cornish seaside choice, the Gurnard’s Head has an amazing setting on the Atlantic Coast between St. Ives and St. Just, and is the perfect place for a relaxed honeymoon stay. This is a proper old-fashioned Cornish pub – a great place to cosy up at the end of a day walking the coastal paths – with fabulous food served up in an unpretentious, relaxed setting.

Photographs © The Lugger; St Brides Spa Hotel; The Gurnard’s Head

If you’re heading off abroad, passports are one of the most important considerations for booking your honeymoon – not least, it’s vital that your passport is current and valid so that you can actually travel. It’s also really important to make sure that you qualify for any necessary visas needed by your destination before you travel. Here’s our handy checklist to making sure you’re well-prepared for your honeymoon destination:

Passports

• Ensure that your passport will still be in date by the time of your honeymoon. Many countries insist on your passport being valid for at least three months beyond your dates of travel, so make sure you check entry requirements and consider renewing your passport if it’s coming to the end of its life.
• Make sure you have blank pages. This isn’t likely to be an issue if you’re travelling on a UK passport to the EU (as it won’t get stamped) but some countries – particularly South Africa – insist on there being at least two blank pages, and you may get turned away by your airline if you don’t have enough room for your visa/entry stamps to go in.
• Make sure your booking is in the same name as your passport. If you’re changing your name when you get married and want to book your honeymoon in your new name, you’ll have to update your passport to your new name before travelling (this can be done before you get married).
• If you’re honeymooning with your children, they’ll also need their own passports.

Visas

• Check what the visa situation is for the country you are travelling to as early as possible – the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is a good first port of call for finding out the entry requirements for the country you are visiting.
• Know whether a visa is required in advance or on arrival. If the former, you might have a specific time period in which you can apply for one.
• You may need passport photos for your visa, so again will need to check the situation – they’re sometimes required for visas-on-arrival as well. For these, you might also need to pay for your visa in a certain currency, so will need to make sure you have the right cash with you when you travel.

Photograph © J Aaron Farr

When we were planning our overnight stop in Las Vegas on our road trip, all of our usual considerations for choosing a hotel had to go out of the window – this is not the place to look for small, interesting places to stay, after all. Instead, we were looking for somewhere that felt quintessentially Vegas – big, a little bit brash, high camp and absolutely over the top. With criteria like that, we were definitely spoiled for choice – and as a result, it was probably the hardest accommodation choice to make of our entire holiday.

Eventually, we settled on The Venetian – and it was everything we had been looking for. Sure, there’s cheaper places to stay in town, but The Venetian was remarkable value, still – we paid just £86 for our night there, staying in the cheapest room, which was still a massive suite, with a large, separate living area set at a slightly lower level than the bedroom (which had an amazingly comfortable, large bed), and a huge bathroom.

But you don’t stay at The Venetian for the rooms, not really. Like everywhere in Vegas, it’s much more about the overall experience – indeed, you could spend your entire stay in Vegas in the resort and never really need to step foot outside. I’ve never stayed anywhere as huge as this – making our way from the car park to the lobby was rather mind-boggling in itself, as the grand scale of the hotel began to reveal itself to us; we wandered past canals, wove through gambling desks and machines, and finally emerged at the rather grand check-in area.

What The Venetian really excels at is going all out in creating a sense of Venice. The biggest part of this are the canals – most of which are actually inside, under a fake sky that looks remarkably realistic and creates an eerily accurate daylight that can almost fool you into thinking that you’re actually outside. Add in gondolas (that you can actually take trips up the canals on), Italianate buildings (housing actual shops), and a piazza that looks like something that’s been transported straight from Italy, and it’s hard not to be utterly impressed. Outside, Venice continues, with the Rialto Bridge (which you can walk – or take the escalator – over) and St Mark’s Bell Tower, rising quite dramatically over The Strip. We were there over Thanksgiving, and the hotel was transformed into “Winter in Venice”, complete with a massive white Christmas tree and ice rink out front.

In addition to the casino, the hotels (The Venetian and its sister hotel, The Palazzo, sit side by side) and the canals, the complex is stuffed full with shops – most of which are high end – and restaurants, bars, clubs and a theatre. It’s not too posh though – we had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving meal at FIRST Food and Bar, which had quite a relaxed bar-restaurant feel, and great views over The Strip.

There are lots of theme hotels in Vegas, but after wandering through most of them we noticed that none of them really pulled off their theme with quite as much aplomb (or attention to detail) as The Venetian. The resort makes a fabulous honeymoon choice, allowing you to experience good old-fashioned all-out Las Vegas luxury, with an ample serving of the kitsch and camp that the city is known for.

In a nutshell:

We loved: The fake canals; the huge rooms; the over-the-top, only-in-Vegas feel of it all.

We weren’t so keen on: Vegas itself wasn’t our cup of tea, but we knew that before we arrived there.

Ideal if you want: All-out luxury in a fabulous location, and the ultimate theme hotel.

Need to know:

The Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Rates: Start at £94, but discounts are usually available on the hotel website and through accommodation booking sites.

Nearest airport: Las Vegas

Go packaged: A number of tour operators will be able to put together a competitive flight and accommodation package for you, including Virgin Holidays.

You can find out more information about our USA road trip here.

All photographs © Emma Gibbs/The Honeymoon Project

Ladera Resort, St Lucia

From £250 a night

Photograph © Ladera Resort

Itinerary: Phoenix/Scottsdale (1 night) – Winslow (1 night) – Canyon de Chelly (1 night) – Monument Valley (2 nights) – Grand Canyon (2 nights) – Las Vegas (1 night) – Los Angeles (4 nights).

Duration: 13 days

Approx cost: £2000, including accommodation, flights and car hire. *Note that this included our first night’s hotel at a discounted rate*.

Accommodation standard: Mid-range and luxury.

Monument Valley at sunset

This is a really fabulous honeymoon itinerary that takes you through some of the most fabulous and iconic landscapes in the USA. If you’re concerned about driving abroad,  it makes for a great introduction – until you get close to Vegas, the roads are largely single- and double-lane highways, where you’ll often struggle to see another car for hours on end. Driving in LA isn’t for the faint-hearted – five-lane freeways are standard for getting around as quickly as possible – but once you get to grips with it it’s a lot easier. The great thing about this itinerary is how easily customisable it is. We chose to end in LA in order to spend a few days with family – an alternative would be to skip LA and end in Vegas, adding on a few days perhaps to explore Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks in Utah.

The Saguaro, Scottsdale

We flew into Phoenix but chose to stay in the adjacent city of Scottsdale (the boundaries between the two are pretty blurred to the casual visitor). As we were only in the city for one night, we wanted somewhere central, comfortable and not-too-pricey, and The Saguaro fit the bill perfectly (stay tuned for a full review shortly). Scottsdale wasn’t really our cup of tea – most of the shops in Old Town Scottsdale are rather tacky and touristy, and the shopping area beyond this felt a little bland, but it was fun to wander around, and we had some great food – including an ice-cream sundae at the charmingly old-fashioned Sugar Bowl before we set off on the road.

La Posada, Winslow

The drive from Scottsdale to Winslow was fabulous, taking us through a landscape that seemed to constantly change – initially we drove through cacti-studded desert hills, then dense pine forests where ice lined the side of the road, before finally emerging into barren desert, where tumbleweed actually did blow across the road. Winslow itself is fairly unremarkable apart from two things – it’s mentioned in the Eagles’ song “Take It Easy”, and it’s home to a fabulous old railway hotel, La Posada. It was for the latter – and to break up an otherwise long journey – that we chose to stop here for the night, and the historic hotel made a great, and quirky, place to stop. There’s not really anything to do in the town itself, so we were glad to have arrived fairly late, and the hotel’s restaurant is justifiably famous for serving up some of the best cuisine in the region (come back soon for the full review for more details).

Spider Rock, Canyon de Chelly

The next day, we headed north into the dusty Navajo Nation, which was a really interesting drive, again through some fabulous scenery. Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a little Navajo diner, which though basic was a great opportunity to experience another side of America – it felt pretty unusual to walk into a place where everyone was speaking a different language to us, and the towns that we encountered on this part of the drive were so different to anything we saw outside of the Navajo Nation (which we didn’t actually exit until we reached the Grand Canyon National Park a few days later), with poverty a lot more apparent. Our destination was Chinle – a service town with little more than fast food restaurants and gas stations – but as the jumping off point for exploring the Canyon de Chelly, it’s well worth a stop. Here, we stayed at the Holiday Inn – it was pretty bog-standard, but fine for a night, and there wasn’t a huge amount of choice in town – plus, it benefitted from being mere moments from the entrance to the Canyon de Chelly.

White House Trail, Canyon de Chelly

The Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de Shay) was undoubtedly one of the highlights of our trip – we first visited just before sunrise, and the pale light on the rocks was really beautiful. There are two self-drive routes you can take; one around the north rim, and one around the south, which is the one we chose. Along the way, there are lots of viewpoints to stop at – it’s hard to really get a sense of just how big the canyon is at first, but once you realise that you’ve been driving for a while and still not reached the other side it suddenly hits you. Our favourite view was the one from Spider Rock Overlook, which is the last one you can stop at on the south rim. There’s only one possible hike into the canyon (the Canyon has huge symbolic significance to the Navajo, so your only other option beyond the drives and the hike is to go on an organised tour) – the fabulous White House Trail. We did this the next morning, and it was well worth it. The descent into the canyon feels rather treacherous at times, with the path carved into the rock, which drops sheerly to one side of you, but the views are outstanding and it’s unbeatable for getting a sense of the Canyon itself. Once at the bottom, you can walk on to view the White House Ruin, an abandoned dwelling left by the Ancestral Puebloans.

Monument Valley from The View Hotel

From the Canyon de Chelly we headed off on one of our most stunning drives, heading northwest across desert grassland to Monument Valley, the plains often broken by canyons and mesas. Monument Valley has long been on my list of “must-see” places, and I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t live up to expectation. But I needn’t have worried. Walking into our hotel, The View Hotel (the only hotel in the park itself), absolutely took my breath away – right in front of the glass-windowed lobby stood the three most iconic sights of the valley – the Mittens and Merrick Butte. Every room in the hotel boasts a private balcony looking out onto this iconic view (come back for a full review soon), and it’s no exaggeration to say that every time we looked outside it took our breath away.

The Wildcat Trail, Monument Valley

Like the Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley has immense spiritual significance, so to get really up close you do need to take a tour. Once we arrived, however, we decided not to do this – our first afternoon, we were very happy soaking up the views from the hotel (the landscape is especially sublime just before sunset). The next day, we headed off after breakfast on the only hiking trail that you can do without a guide – the 3.3-mile Wildcat Trail. This is a very easy, but absolutely fabulous, trail, which circles around the Left Mitten. Being able to walk among the Mittens, in such an amazing landscape was truly amazing, and really enabled us to get a sense of the enormity and the peacefulness of the valley. Without a doubt, this walk was one of our favourite things from the whole trip. In the afternoon, we did a self-drive (the only one you can do here) on the unpaved road through the valley, which was incredibly bumpy (you can do it in a regular car, but if you have a 4×4 it’d be much more comfortable!) but worth it for the views, and for seeing more of the amazing formations in the valley – which is much much bigger than the pictures you normally see of it would have you believe.

Monument Valley from the self-drive route

We were sad to leave Monument Valley after two nights (which I would say was the perfect amount of time to soak up and explore the valley), but the Grand Canyon awaited. After spending a few days in the Navajo Nation, the Grand Canyon was initially quite a shock – for a start, there were a lot of tourists here, compared to what we had experienced elsewhere (and this was in low season!). Secondly, facilities in the tourist centres – even in the park – were a lot more sophisticated, and it was nice to be able to pick up a paper and have more choice for food (and for booze to be available – the Navajo Nation is dry). It’s possible to stay in the park as there are a number of hotels of varying standards here, but we left booking too late, so opted to stay just a mile south of the South Entrance in the tourist town of Tusayan. The town itself is little more than a strip of restaurants and hotels, but it was fine for a couple of nights (at the Best Western), and we appreciated being so close to the park entrance.

The Grand Canyon – South Rim

The thing with the Grand Canyon is that it’s so huge that it’s hard to really get a true sense of it at first – and certainly to get a sense of its vastness. As at the Canyon de Chelly, we spent a fair amount of time driving along the South Rim (the North Rim was closed at the time of year we were there) and getting out to soak up the views. But again, the best thing we did was a hike down into the canyon. There’s a number of hikes you can do, but after being recommended it at the visitor’s centre, we headed off on the South Kaibab Trail. This was very steep (and rather slippery in places, due to the dust and gravel) and so quite hard going at times (more for seeming rather precarious than anything else), but the views were amazing, and once we’d made it to Cedar Ridge (after 1.5 miles), and were able to enjoy the stupendous views, we were really glad that we’d chosen it. Before arriving at the canyon, I had no real sense of whether you could do short half-day hikes, so I was really pleased that we were able to – though I would recommend making sure you have some decent walking shoes with a good grip.

The route to Cedar Ridge, South Kaibab Trail

The next day, we headed off to Las Vegas (with a brief stop to check out the rather impressive Hoover Dam) – quite a contrast after the places we’d spent the last week in. Here, we stayed at the The Venetian (full review to follow), which we thought was great – it was exactly the kind of over-the-top experience you’d want from Vegas, with gondolas sailing down the fake (indoor) canals, huge rooms and the sense of it being more a destination than a hotel. We were just there for one night, and didn’t fancy gambling, but we easily lost a few hours wandering up and down the strip, taking in all the crazy hotels – which included the pirate-boat show at Treasure Island, the huge fountains at the Bellagio, and versions of Paris and New York. Las Vegas is everything you expect it to be – over-the-top, camp, and seedy, and to be honest it wasn’t my cup of tea at all, but I was really glad to have experienced it once, and it made a great addition to our road trip.

The Venetian, Las Vegas

From Vegas, it was a long, pretty dull drive to Los Angeles – this was undoubtedly the least scenic stretch of the road – where we were heading to see my grandfather. Having been to LA countless times, we did very few of the usual touristy things on this trip, so if you want a full run-down of what to see and do here, head over to our full destination guide here.

Venice Beach, Los Angeles

Need to know:

Airport: We flew into Phoenix Sky Harbor, which is served by regular direct flights from London Heathrow by British Airways, and out of Los Angeles International, which is served by multiple daily direct flights to London by BA, Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand and numerous US carriers.

Go packaged: It’s very easy to put together your own honeymoon to this part of the USA, but companies that can put together an itinerary for you include Scott Dunn and Virgin Holidays.

Car hire: We hired our car through Car Hire 3000, who we found to offer the most competitive rates. Note that there is sometimes a fee imposed for one way drives between two different states, but this does not apply between Arizona and California.

When to go: Summer can be incredibly hot in the desert, and winters can be very cold – spring and autumn are the best times to visit, but there’s really not a bad time to go. We visited in mid November and had fabulous weather – days were warm and sunny (though we generally needed a light jacket) and evenings were cool – in the Grand Canyon, the evenings were very cold, and we were glad to have our winter coats with us.

Costs: Generally, things are cheaper than in the UK – especially petrol – but in LA and Las Vegas you can expect to pay the same, if not more, as you would at home.

All photos © Emma Gibbs/The Honeymoon Project

Burma

With the lifting of the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) call for a boycott on travel to Burma in late 2010, southeast Asia’s hidden gem has been slowly opening up to foreign tourists. Though there are still ethical issues with travelling to the country (I’m the first to admit that the idea doesn’t sit too comfortably with me), not least due to the continued oppression of the Burmese people by the government, with thoughtful and careful planning, a trip to Burma can be an amazing experience – and there’s no denying the thrill of discovering somewhere that is so relatively “untouched” by Western tourism in this part of the world. If you want to travel around a fair bit don’t expect luxury everywhere, and be sure to research the country thoroughly beforehand (this article and the FCO website are good places to start). In addition, it’s important to endeavour to put your money into the hands of local people rather than the government – so stay clear of government-run accommodation and look at how your money can have a positive impact on your travels. Aside from all this, there’s no denying that Burma is a most fascinating and intriguing destination that will make a most memorable honeymoon destination.

Sri Lanka

I can’t seem to put together my yearly list of hot honeymoon destinations without repeating at least one choice from the previous year – and this year, it’s Sri Lanka. Why am I choosing it as a hot destination again this year? Well, from 14th April 2013, British Airways are launching thrice-weekly flights to the island’s capital, Colombo, from London’s Gatwick Airport, making it easier than ever to head over here. With fabulous places to stay, beautiful beaches, peaceful tea plantations, amazing scenery and lively towns – not to mention amazing food – Sri Lanka is only going to continue to grow in popularity as a choice for honeymooners; and though you can visit on a package, we recommend putting together a tailor-made itinerary (either by yourselves or with a recommended tour operator) to get the most out of the island.

France

It’s on our doorstep here in the UK, and easy to overlook for a honeymoon in favour of more exotic destinations, but every time I visit France I’m reminded of its immense appeal. Firstly, you’ve got a tremendous cuisine with fantastic regional variations, all washed down with arguably unbeatable wines. Then there’s the outstanding variety of landscapes – from romantic, windswept Atlantic beaches to the built-up resorts of the Côte d’Azur, via architecturally stunning and cosmopolitan cities to sleepy riverside villages and tranquil countryside – and the ease of exploring, whether by car or by train. Then there’s the wealth of great places to stay – from cosy gîtes where you can live like locals to world-class luxury hotels and charming B&Bs – which make honeymooners absolutely spoiled for choice. My top places to visit? It’s hard to narrow it down but: Paris, the Dordogne, Provence and Lyon (the latter for the food alone) will always be places particularly close to my heart.

New Zealand

If The Hobbit has you hankering for the green fields and dramatic scenery of Middle Earth, head to the land of the long white cloud for your honeymoon. Even with the Tolkien effect you’re unlikely to find the country crowded, and though it’s small, there’s so much to see here that after making the journey halfway around the world to get here you may want to make sure you’ve got a good few weeks available to explore. If you don’t fancy driving, then it’s easy enough to get around using public transport, but for complete freedom I’d really recommend hiring a car, which will help you get a bit more off the beaten track. Even better, the distances aren’t huge, so even a couple of weeks could see you taking in everything from vineyards and geysers to fjords and glaciers.

Panama

Looking for a Caribbean honeymoon with all the usual trappings – sun, sea, sand, cocktails – but also want to get off-the-beaten-track? Panama could be the place for you. This small Central American country has been seeing some major changes lately – not least to its capital, Panama City, which is being smartened up and revitalised – but for the moment remains fairly quiet on the tourist front and a real gem to explore. For a start, there’s none of the over-development that plagues some of its neighbour, Costa Rica’s beaches – head for the beautiful Bocas del Toro and the San Blas archipelago for picture-perfect honeymoon sands, backed by lush jungle. Then there’s the stunning, wildlife-packed rainforests and parks, including Parque Nactional Coiba, and colonial towns that are a joy to explore at a leisurely pace.

If you’re looking for a travel agent to book your honeymoon through, head over to our Travel Links section for recommended honeymoon tour operators, where you’ll find companies that cover all of the above destinations.

Photographs © Martin Sojka; Daria Wadsworth; Marcovdz; Steve Arnold; whl.travel

Matakauri Lodge, Queenstown, New Zealand

From £305 a night

Photograph © Matakauri Lodge

Hiring a car on honeymoon can be one of the most liberating decisions you make for the trip – it invariably enables you to do and see more, and means you are at liberty to easily explore beyond your hotel. Hiring a car may be a major part of your trip, or it might just be something you decide to do once you get there. Here’s our tips for getting the most out of hiring a car on honeymoon:

Plan ahead Generally, booking your car hire in advance is by far the cheapest option. I always find that going direct to the car rental company is the most expensive route – instead, look at agencies that collate and offer deals for various companies, such as Car Hire 3000 (often the cheapest), Rhino Car Hire or Ebookers. Arranging car hire at the airport, or at your hotel, can be very pricey and a bit risky, as it will really depend on them having cars available for you to hire.

Automatic vs manual What you feel comfortable driving will depend on what you’re used to. In the US, cars will be automatic as standard – manual just won’t be an option – while in Europe, manual cars will be standard, and you’ll invariably have to pay more if you want an automatic.

Size Unsurprisingly, the cheapest cars will be the smallest. As there’s likely to be just two of you going on honeymoon, this most likely won’t be an issue – though if one of you is particularly tall, you may want to consider something more spacious. If you’re travelling from destination to destination, it’s worth considering how much room a small car will have for your luggage, as you might want to ensure that both suitcases can be tucked away discreetly in the boot, rather than sat in plain sight on the rear seats.

Air-con If you’re honeymooning somewhere hot, this can be a pretty major consideration. That said, if you’re going to be travelling on quiet roads, then having air-con will be less of an issue as you can roll your windows down (which is always a lot more pleasant anyway), but if you’ll be travelling for any substantial amount of time on motorways/freeways then air-con can be invaluable for those times when you won’t want to have your windows down because of the noise.

Insurance Perhaps the most vital part of hiring a car. Insurance isn’t always included as standard, so do check carefully as to what your car hire package includes. If it’s not included, you’ll usually have a chance to purchase insurance before you finalise your booking online, or to purchase it (though often for an inflated price) at the pick-up desk. Even if you’ve got an absolutely clean driving license, you should always take insurance. It’s also worth considering that most insurance will incur an excess charge if you need to make a claim (or if the car is damaged by you and covered by the insurance) – this can range from anything from £50 to £3000 depending on your contract. You’ll usually be offered the opportunity to purchase excess insurance, which I feel is worth the extra charge, as you won’t have to pay out any excess – even better, you can purchase it in advance through a number of companies like iCarhireinsurance for a cheaper rate than offered when you pick up your car.

Additional drivers If both of you intend to drive on honeymoon, you’ll have to make this clear on the booking – some companies will charge extra for this.

Age If you’re under 25, you’ll often find that hiring a car is more expensive, and potentially more difficult in places like the US.

Rules of the road Don’t take for granted that the road rules for your honeymoon destination will be the same as at home. In addition to knowing what side of the road to drive on, you’ll need to know things like the different speed limits (say for built up areas, single-lane roads, and motorways), right of way at junctions and roundabouts, and what ID you need to carry with you. Most of this information can be found online, or in your guidebook.

Petrol I usually find that there’s always one point on holiday when I spend a frantic half hour or so watching my petrol gauge get lower and lower, with no petrol station in sight – it’s not much fun at all. So I now don’t let my petrol level drop below half a tank for too long – if it gets below half a tank and I see a petrol station, I’ll fill up, just for piece of mind – and this is especially important when travelling in rural areas when you don’t know where the next place to fill up will be.

Driving licenses Make sure you take your entire driving license with you – so,  if you have a UK-issued license, take both your plastic car and paper counterpart. There’s some discrepancy between what renters insist on having for you to hire/pick up your car, so it’s better to play it safe – for example, in the UK, they insist on having both parts (even if you’re a British citizen), but in South Africa, I was able to pick up our hire car without my paper counterpart, which was a relief when we turned up on honeymoon and realised we’d forgotten it.

Photograph © Tunde Pecsvari

This month’s honeymoon hotel of the month is somewhere I was fortunate enough to stay when I was in the Dordogne region earlier in the year, researching the new edition of the Rough Guide to France. Trémolat is a sweet little village near the Dordogne River, which is remarkable largely for being home to Le Vieux Logis, a Relais & Chateaux hotel that is as much a gourmet destination as a wonderful place to stay.

The hotel was once part of a farm estate – the main, ivy-clad building was the manor house, and a number of the old outbuildings have been converted into further rooms and suites – but prior to this, in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries, it had been a priory, so is rather steeped in history. Sitting in gorgeous grounds, which were particularly beautiful when I visited in spring, Le Vieux Logis offers sumptuous, traditional accommodation, but without being fussy or staid – instead, it’s so cosy and comfortable that it feels more like you’re staying in the house of a very well-off friend. And with just 23 rooms and ample grounds  (which include a small stream and a lovely swimming pool), it never feels crowded or anything less than private – perfect for a honeymoon.

The main reason to choose to stay at Le Vieux Logis is for the food. There are two restaurants here, both excellent in their own right – I was fortunate enough to eat at both. The main restaurant is a gourmet one, serving Michelin-starred cuisine that highlights the fabulous local produce of the region. In warm weather, tables are set up outside, lit by candlelight; in cooler weather, you eat in the hugely atmospheric old tabacco-drying barn, with lots of cosy alcoves that are perfect for couples. Though the food is delicate, carefully-prepared and beautifully presented, it doesn’t feel fussy or over-the-top (perfect if you’re like me and unused to eating somewhere quite as posh as this!), but is absolutely delicious, and the charming waiters will help you pair your choices successfully with the local wines on offer. There are a number of different set menus, as well as a la carte dishes, including the really reasonably-priced menu du marché, which is what I had – at just €45 (which includes various little tidbits between courses), it offers amazing value, especially for Michelin-starred food, and is absolutely delicious.

The other restaurant is the much more relaxed Bistrot d’en Face, which is situated in the centre of the village, just outside of the hotel grounds. This is very much a traditional bistrot, but the food served is even more sublime than you would normally expect. Again, the menu makes use of seasonal, local produce – so when I was there, it included local white asparagus, and fresh salmon – with set menus from €20. I actually enjoyed my meal here so much that I returned at the end of my trip when I was staying elsewhere.

Le Vieux Logis is a perfect honeymoon hotel throughout the year – in summer, you can make use of the beautiful grounds, while in winter you can curl up in the lounge by the open fire – and is set in a great location from which to explore the many beautiful villages of the Dordogne Valley.

Rooms from £120 a night.

Photographs © Relais & Chateaux