Honeymoon
How much does a honeymoon cost? Real prices for 2027
UK couples spend between £4,000 and £6,000 on a honeymoon on average. We priced six of the hotels in our honeymoon guides for 2027, and the gap between them is far bigger than the averages suggest.
Picolo Editorial
Picolo's honeymoon guides contain no affiliate links. Our picks are made independently by our editors.
The surveys give you a starting point, but they do not tell you what your trip will cost. To get closer, we checked the cheapest available room for two at six hotels from our honeymoon guides, on dates in each place's best season next year. Below are the prices, what they include, and where the rest of the budget goes.
In short: what a honeymoon costs
The UK average: £4,550 per couple for a planned honeymoon abroad (Aviva) and £5,833 for what couples spent (Bridebook).
Hotel only, ten nights long haul: from £1,718 in Zanzibar to £4,884 in the Maldives, with breakfast.
Hotel only, a week in Europe: £1,799 on Crete, and more than ten times as much a night on the Amalfi Coast.
The biggest extras: flights, the meal plan and transfers, and in the Maldives a green tax per person per night.
The best value: Zanzibar, Bali and Crete give you a lot of comfort for a fraction of the Maldives price.
Our first choice for value: ten nights at The Kayon Resort in the jungle outside Ubud on Bali, which cost £2,259 with breakfast for our July dates. See our Bali honeymoon guide.
This guide is part of our best honeymoon destinations series and builds on plan your honeymoon.
What UK couples spend on a honeymoon
Two recent surveys give a fair picture. Aviva asked 2,001 UK adults in May 2025: couples planning a honeymoon abroad expect to spend £4,550, and those who have already been on one spent £4,218. A planned mini-moon abroad came to £3,438.
Bridebook puts the average spend at £5,833 for a trip of about seven days. Its figures by region show how much the destination matters: Europe averages £3,788, Asia £6,576 and Africa £6,870, while a honeymoon in the UK averages £2,322.
Averages hide the spread. A week in Greece and ten nights in an overwater villa are both honeymoons, but one can cost three times as much as the other.
Hotel prices we checked for 2027
We searched for two adults and one room on Hotels.com and noted the cheapest room on offer, including taxes and fees. Prices change daily, so treat them as a guide to the level, not as a quote.
Maldives: Jawakara Islands
Ten nights from 8 to 18 February 2027 in a Mabin Beach Villa with breakfast: £4,884, or £488 a night, fully refundable. Half board adds £57 a night and all inclusive £261 a night, so ten nights all inclusive come to £7,494. We have stayed at Jawakara ourselves, and the villa with its own pool is what you pay for. Read our Maldives honeymoon guide.
A beach villa with its own pool at Jawakara Islands, the kind of room the Maldives price pays for. Photo: Hotels.com (Expedia Group)
Mauritius: Paradise Cove
Ten nights from 13 to 23 September 2027 in a Deluxe Room (Premium), room only: £4,002, or £400 a night, on a non-refundable rate. A refundable rate adds £385 for the stay, and all inclusive adds £155 a night. Paradise Cove is for adults only. See our Mauritius honeymoon guide.
Zanzibar: Uzuri Villa
Ten nights from 5 to 15 July 2027 in a Junior Suite with garden view and breakfast: £1,718, or £172 a night, non-refundable. This was the lowest price in our check, at a small hotel by the beach in Jambiani. We have stayed at Uzuri Villa ourselves. See our Zanzibar honeymoon guide.
Bali: The Kayon Resort
Ten nights from 5 to 15 July 2027 in a River View Suite with breakfast: £2,259, or £226 a night, fully refundable. For a resort with a guest score of 10 out of 10, that is less than half the Maldives price per night.
Crete: Elounda Mare
Seven nights from 7 to 14 June 2027 in a sea view room with breakfast: £1,799, or £257 a night, with a member discount and a non-refundable rate. See our Greece honeymoon guide.
A private pool above the bay at Elounda Mare, where a week costs less than four nights in the Maldives. Photo: Hotels.com (Expedia Group)
Amalfi Coast: Caruso
Seven nights in the same week of June in a Junior Suite with sea view: £19,305, or £2,758 a night. That is more than ten times the price per night of Elounda Mare. See our Italy honeymoon guide.
Where the rest of the money goes
Flights are the largest cost after the hotel, and the price depends on the dates more than on the airline. Book them in the same week as the hotel.
Transfers can be a large extra. In the Maldives, a seaplane or a domestic flight and speedboat take you to most resorts, and the resort quotes the price per person.
Meal plans decide the daily spend on an island resort. At Jawakara, all inclusive adds more than half to the room price, but on an island with no other restaurants it is often the simpler choice.
Taxes paid locally: the Maldives charges a green tax of USD 12 per person per night at resorts, so ten nights for two adds USD 240. Check whether your rate includes it.
Insurance and excursions belong in the budget too. Diving, a safari day or a dinner on the beach can add several hundred pounds.
Five ways to make the budget go further
Travel just outside the peak weeks. The same room can cost much less a fortnight later.
Choose a destination where meals and drinks are inexpensive, such as Bali, Zanzibar or Sri Lanka.
Split the stay: a few nights in a simple hotel, then a few in a special one.
Compare half board and all inclusive before you book, not at the resort.
Look at a package. Our guide to honeymoon packages explains when a package costs less.
For more ideas, see our guide to cheap honeymoon destinations, or a mini-moon closer to home.
Plan the rest of your honeymoon
Choose the month in our honeymoon calendar, compare the islands in the Maldives, Mauritius or the Seychelles, and see our luxury honeymoon destinations if the budget allows.
Our pick for value
The Kayon Resort: jungle, river and pools above Ubud
The Kayon Resort sits on the edge of a jungle valley outside Ubud, with pools and villas set into the green slope. Guests give it 10 out of 10, and our ten nights in July cost less than half the Maldives price per night, with breakfast and a refundable rate.
Our verdict
What Picolo recommends: set a total for the hotel first, then add flights, transfers, meals and taxes. For most couples, ten nights on Bali or Zanzibar, or a week on Crete, gives the most honeymoon for the money.
Why: our price check shows that the hotel alone ranges from about £170 to well over £2,700 a night. The choice of destination decides the budget more than any other single factor.
The trade-off: the cheapest rates are often non-refundable. If the wedding date or budget may change, pay a little more for a rate you can cancel.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the average honeymoon cost in the UK?
The average UK honeymoon costs between about £4,200 and £5,800 per couple, depending on the survey. Aviva found that couples planning a honeymoon abroad expect to spend £4,550, while Bridebook puts the average spend at £5,833 for a trip of around seven days. Europe is cheapest on average, while Asia, Africa and Oceania cost the most.
How much does a honeymoon in the Maldives cost?
A Maldives honeymoon costs from about £5,000 for two before flights, based on our check. Ten nights at Jawakara Islands in February 2027 cost £4,884 with breakfast, or £7,494 all inclusive. Add flights, the transfer to the resort and the green tax of USD 12 per person per night, which comes to USD 240 for ten nights for two.
What is the cheapest honeymoon destination?
Zanzibar gave the lowest hotel price in our check. Ten nights at Uzuri Villa in Jambiani cost £1,718 with breakfast, and Bali was close behind at £2,259 for a resort with a perfect guest score. In Europe, Crete offers good value, with a week at Elounda Mare from £1,799. Food and drink are also inexpensive in Zanzibar and Bali.
Is it cheaper to book a honeymoon as a package?
A package is often cheaper for long-haul trips where flights, transfers and the hotel are sold together, such as the Maldives or Mauritius. Booking each part yourself gives more choice and can cost less in Europe. Compare both for the same dates, and check what the package includes in meals and transfers before you decide.
Sources
The averages come from Aviva's honeymoon survey, carried out by Censuswide among 2,001 UK adults in May 2025, and from Bridebook's honeymoon cost guide. The hotel prices are Picolo's own check of the cheapest available room for two on Hotels.com, including taxes and fees, for the dates shown. The green tax rate comes from the Maldivian state broadcaster PSM. We have stayed at Jawakara Islands, a stay that was not sponsored, and at Uzuri Villa. Last checked: 4 November 2026.
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Picolo Editorial