A new travel trend is asking couples to skip the fresh bucket-list destination and head back to where they spent their honeymoon. Travel advisors have dubbed it the "honeymoon redo" — a return to the original post-wedding destination, decades later, with more money, more time and a very different itinerary.
The idea comes from Henley Vazquez, co-founder of Fora Travel, who points out that first honeymoons are usually the most constrained trips people ever take. They're squeezed around a wedding budget, a limited number of days off, and a couple who may barely know each other's travel style yet. A redo flips all of that. The trip becomes less about sightseeing and more about reconnecting — revisiting a chapter of the relationship rather than ticking a box.
The practical upgrades are where it gets fun. Vazquez suggests booking the same hotel but in a better room, adding a few extra nights, and finally doing the experiences you couldn't afford or didn't know to request the first time around. Her example: a redo at the Belmond Cipriani in Venice could now mean a private palazzo visit with a sunset aperitivo on the rooftop, instead of a general walking tour. Anniversary years — the 10th, 20th, even the 50th — are the natural trigger for these trips.
The redo fits into a broader shift Fora's Wedding & Honeymoon Trend Report picked up on. Couples are treating honeymoons more intentionally: 59% now plan them in phases, taking a short "mini-moon" straight after the wedding and saving the main trip for months later. More than half of Fora's advisors have seen destination wedding enquiries climb, and many couples are combining elopements and honeymoons into one trip.
Vazquez's advice if you're tempted: do your homework before booking, check what's changed in the area — restaurants close, hotels renovate, once-quiet beaches get built up — and resist the urge to overschedule. Some of the best moments of a redo will be the unplanned ones, which is exactly the point of going back.
Why it matters: this is a trend aimed squarely at couples with grown-up kids, flexible calendars and a travel budget that looks nothing like it did at 27. If you honeymooned somewhere in the 80s or 90s, that destination has probably changed enormously — and revisiting it with time and money to spare is arguably the most romantic trip you'll ever take. Travel advisors are well placed to arrange it, since many hotels and resorts actively court returning honeymooners with upgrades and perks.
