Travel / Vol. III Best Of Updated September 16, 2026

THE 5 BESTROMANTICGETAWAYS

5 places, one bonfire dinner, and the sandbank that ruined all other beaches.

Bonfire on an empty beach at sunset — Kuta, Lombok · the bonfire dinner · 8.89° S 116.28° E

Sun rays breaking through clouds over the sea

M + L, low tide

Lauren tested

Words & testing · Lauren Fowler Open story ↓ Photograph · Lauren

Filed under
Travel / Romantic / Best Of

Tested over
4 years

Prices checked
09.16.2026

Published
February 11, 2026

Best by Lauren may earn a commission when you shop through certain links. Every product here was bought with my own money or tested for at least six weeks. No brand has paid to be included, and nothing is ranked higher because it pays more.

5 places, over four years, all of them somewhere I went with one other person and came back from better than I left.

None of them are here because a hotel asked. Three of them cost less than a weekend in Los Angeles, which is the part nobody puts in the brochure.

Indonesia

Kuta, Lombok

The bonfire dinner on an empty beach that I still think about.

We asked the guesthouse if anyone did dinner on the sand and three hours later there was a fire, a table and a man grilling fish he had caught that afternoon. It cost about twenty dollars. I have paid three hundred for worse.

Best for: Nobody else being there
When to go: May–September, dry season

Maldives

Maalhos, Baa Atoll

The local island, not the resort island. Ten times cheaper, twice as good.

Everyone books the overwater villa. The local islands in Baa Atoll have guesthouses for a tenth of the price, the same water, and a boat that will take you to an empty sandbank for the afternoon.

Best for: The water, and only the water
When to go: November–April

Thailand

Ang Thong Marine Park

A day boat from Koh Samui and the best two hours of the trip.

Forty-two islands, a lagoon inside a collapsed volcano, and a climb with a view that is worth the unpleasant forty minutes it takes to get up there.

Best for: One perfect day
When to go: February–April

Zurich street at night in winter — Switzerland

Switzerland

Zurich in winter

Fondue, snow, and the least beach-shaped trip on this list.

Proof that a romantic trip does not have to be warm. Cold air, a pot of melted cheese, and being indoors together for three days.

Best for: People who are tired of sand
When to go: December–February

USA

Palm Springs

Rent the house, not the hotel room.

Two hours from Los Angeles and a completely different planet. Rent a house with a pool, cook once, eat out twice, and do nothing else at all.

Best for: A weekend, decided on a Thursday
When to go: October–May — July will kill you

The nine10 frames · Four years

Two people in a small jungle plunge pool surrounded by green

A Zurich street at night in winter, lights on the wet road

Two people walking a wide empty beach at sunset

Lying in a hammock under a timber roof looking out at the hills

Questions

What is the most underrated romantic destination?

The local islands in Baa Atoll in the Maldives. The same water as the resorts at roughly a tenth of the price, and guesthouses run by people who live there.

How far ahead should I book?

For Lombok and the Maldives local islands, two to three weeks is plenty outside peak. For Palm Springs in season, a month — the good houses go early.

What is the cheapest trip on this list?

Lombok, comfortably. A guesthouse, a scooter and a bonfire dinner for two came in under what one night at a resort would have cost.