12 AMAZING HOLIDAY DATE IDEAS
1. Pack A Picnic With Food From Local Markets
Tried and tested date material but don’t write off the simplicity of the packed picnic. Wander down to the local market. Grab some freshly baked bread, locally-made cheese, homemade jams and organic fruit. Seek out a grassy knoll or a spot near the river. Lay out the picnic rug and take turns feeding each other tidbits of your feast. Don’t forget the bubbles.
2. Get Up For Sunrise or Watch The Sunset
Research those picture perfect, Instagram-worthy vantage points to experience your destination in its full glory. It could be a hike to a mountain peak, a restaurant balcony overlooking the water or sitting on the rocks by the sea. When you’ve snapped the #nofilter money shot, put the camera away, place your arms around each other and enjoy the moment.
3. Hire Bicycles & Get Lost Among Cobbled Streets
Make like a modern-day Romeo and Juliet and create your own self-guided tour on two wheels. To make things more fun, make only right-hand turns. When you finally get stuck, turn around and then you can only make left-hand turns on your return journey. Repeat until you find something interesting. Take pictures along the way!
4. Eat Entree, Main Course & Dessert From 3 Different Restaurants
Save this one for a walkable city centre and try not to be too hangry. Take the risk of not making a reservation and take your feet and palette on a tour around the neighbourhood. Charm the maître d’hôtel, summon the sommelier and share your dessert whilst looking lovingly into each other’s eyes. You can either fight over the last bite or who pays the bill.
5. Play Local Tour Guide
Put on your best David Attenborough narrating voice and take turns playing local tour guide. Get your creative juices flowing and give your best shot at descriptive commentary of historic sights, ornate buildings, memorials, status of public figures, local cuisine and general city history. Bonus points if you actually fool other tourists that you are a genuine walking tour guide.
6. Take A Cooking Class
We are huge fans of experiencing a country’s culture through its food. Learning about and eating traditional cuisine is by far one of our favourite things to do when travelling! For foodie fans or cooking enthusiasts, get your hands dirty and make a mess in somebody else’s kitchen. Stuff spring rolls in Vietnam, sprinkle some paprika into your paella in Valencia or whip up a ceviche in Mexico. We spent a few hours with Cooking Lisbon learning about Portuguese desserts and making the famous pasteis de nata (we even got to lick the spoon).
7. Draw A Walking Tour
This is one of the better hands on date ideas! Pick up a box of chalk from an art shop and strap on your walking shoes. Go on a walking journey and every fifteen feet, draw a chalk arrow in the direction you’re going. At the end of the trip, leave a big pile of chalk. Hide in a nearby corner and giggle at the people who come to the end of your walking journey and look at the pile of chalk with a puzzled or disappointed look on their face.
8. Wander With No Destination
Walk around the city all night and find a place to eat breakfast at dawn. Along the way, find somewhere with fairy lights or softly lit street lamps. Play Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” on your mobile phone and take your partner for a twirl under the moonlight. Swoon.
9. Leave Behind Secret Or Not-So-Secret Notes
Go to a bookstore and leave notes to future readers in copies of your favourite or random books. It could be an inspirational quote, a snippet of news, or if you’re really mean, reveal how the novel ends! Otherwise, play Lonely Planet travel writer and leave a description of your favourite city in the world. No folding corner pages!
Note: Don’t desecrate the brand new pages of the books; take a small pad and pen to write your notes, then fold these up and insert like a bookmark.
10. Take To The Water
If you’re staying on the coast, along a river or by an expansive lake, take to the water. Hop on a river cruise, jump on a sailboat or hire a canoe, kayak or paddleboat. If you’re in a tropical paradise and are tempted by jet skis, just make sure to have adequate travel insurance.
11. Create Your Own Pub Crawl
12. Recreate Your First Date
Take a trip down memory lane and to how it all began. Maybe it was dinner and a movie or that packed picnic. Did you go tenpin bowling or stroll along a boardwalk at sunset? Admittedly, some might be a tad harder to recreate. If you can’t find a helicopter company or mini golf in the city you’re visiting abroad, then that’s okay. The important things is that you’re together, exploring the world side by side.
START PLANNING YOUR TRIP
Got any other creative romantic date ideas?
Share your thoughts and experiences with us in the comments below!
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