Romance Isn't Just for Valentine's Day: Choose from These Great Travel Ideas Offered Now

A romantic holiday doesn’t have to end on Valentine’s Day. Hotels around the world are offering packages that can heat up a relationship any time of the year, particularly during the winter. So, if you missed giving a gift on Valentine’s Day, here’s your chance for some make-up romance.

Puerto Rico is open for business and wants to share its love with you. The iconic El San Juan Hotel on Isla Verde Beach offers a full resort experience in the city’s cultural arts and entertainment district. The “Rediscover Romance at El San Juan” package, offered through March 3, is true luxe for three days with a gorgeous beach, four swimming pools, water sports, tennis and fitness center, spa, multiple bars and restaurants, and an onsite nightclub for your enjoyment. Your accommodations are in an ocean villa room with direct access to the beach. Plus you’ll have a rum tasting class at the 1958 rum bar, a bottle of Champagne waiting in your room, breakfast daily, and dinner at the hotel’s tony Caña by Juliana Gonzalez restaurant.  

El San Juan, Puerto Rico

Spa lovers looking for an East coast holiday will want to book a romantic transformative experience this February at Carillon Miami Wellness Resort. New choices at Florida’s largest spa and wellness resort including the exotic and totally private “Party of Two Turkish Rhassoul” thermal experience can be enhanced by a couples aromatherapy massage using essential oils to restore balance and eliminate pressure. Other couples-oriented services are tandem acupuncture, his-and-her hair treatments, and onsite therapy with a licensed marriage therapist. 

The Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach is offering an extravagant “Love Lessons” package with a full schedule of hands-on experiences including aphrodisiac cooking and wine pairing, massage, ballroom dance and private sailing lessons. Available through March 31, the package requires a three-night minimum stay so you can accomplish all this, but you might want to stay longer and add other lessons like surfing, pottery, golf and scuba diving. Who ever said that a beach holiday had to be just sitting on the beach?

The Brazilian Court, Palm Beach

A third Floridian gem, The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island considers the entire winter to be the “romantic season” as it’s a time when the island is less crowded and more adult-focused. Yoga in the spa, a chocolate body wrap (on a spa table made for two), meditation classes and cocktail-making classes are part of the sharing experience awaiting couples. The outdoor “bonfire in the dunes” is a highlight bringing back memories of camp with gourmet s’mores and the resort’s resident astronomer to help you explore the night sky.

For an inventive program in chillier climes, I suggest the “Locked up at Loews” package at the Loews Boston. The Beantown hotel is celebrating “the day of love” all month long with an offer that’s almost criminal. Inspired by the building’s historic past as the former Boston Police Headquarters, the package provides police-themed amenities including non-permit parking (“vehicle impoundment”), a “commissary” food credit at the hotel’s Precinct Kitchen + Bar restaurant, and 24/7 “officer fuel” with coffee and tea in the Apothecary Lounge. Enjoying the lock-up? A late release…. rather, a late check-out is available. 

Loews Boston

Moving South to Central Virginia, you can take your romance to new heights any time you’d like in the charming town of Farmville.  The 70-room historic Hotel Weyanoke is offering a "Shout it from the Rooftop" skywriting package. Located an hour from Richmond and three hours from Washington, DC, the hotel certainly knows how to put your name on the map, or, actually in the sky! 

Hotel Weyanoke, Virginia

Throughout February, the one-of-a-kind Bobby Hotel on Printers Alley in Nashville pokes fun at Valentine’s Day with an over-the-top setting at their Lonely Hearts Club at Bobby’s Garage Bar. You’ll be smiling as you enter the pop-up with its ceiling full of lights and paper lanterns, its love-oriented neon signs and the interactive chalkboard wall where you can leave notes to past, present or future loves. Dark but iconic rom-coms like Heathers and The Breakfast Club play on repeat behind the bar, and you’ll get a prediction about the status of your current love from the fortuneteller fish you’re given. The cheeky cocktail menu has faves like the Maggie Mae, a tequila-Old Fashioned concoction inspired by the popular Rod Stewart tune; the Cool Hand ‘Cuke, a gin, lavender and cucumber beverage named in honor of eternal heartthrob Paul Newman; and Your Best Friend’s Mom, which, like its single barrel rum, just gets better with age. 

Bobby Hotel, Nashville

If the lure of Hawaiian luaus and leis captures your fancy, three Maui resorts have romance sewn up. Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui is about caring for the heart through wellness and heart-healthy actions in addition to romance. Through February, guests can reserve the ‘Heart Strong’ cabana located at the adults-only pool and enjoy a special romantic and healthy experience. You’ll relax in the cabana which has been outfitted with red towels and pillows, indulge in a couple’s stress relaxation massage, glow from a Knesko rose quartz mask (the perfect red-toned color, of course, to improve your skin) courtesy of the Willow Stream Spa, and enjoy a heart-healthy lunch. For each booking, the hotel will donate $100 to the American Heart Association’s “Life is Why We Give” campaign. 

Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui

The adults-only Relais & Châteaux Hotel Wailea invites luxury-loving couples to extend the romance beyond Valentine’s Day with its “Romance under the Stars” retreat in partnership with sleepwear brand Lunya. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the intimate resort is perfect for escaping with aerial yoga, electric bikes, private beach cabanas, and an outrigger canoeing experience. The exclusive retreat consists of a five-night stay in an expansive Ocean View Suite plus a private seven-course dinner for two in the magical Treehouse, an intimate space among a canopy of mango and avocado trees. Soulful Hawaiian ukulele melodies after dinner are the perfect precursor to the soft Lunya luxe silk pjs set alongside Hotel Wailea's signature CBD massage oil, a stargazing guide and sweet Hawaiian treats at turndown. 

Ka’anapali Beach Hotel, on Maui’s western shores, has two restaurants, cultural classes that range from music jam sessions to Hawaiian language lessons, and a beachside adventure center to tempt you with surfing, SUP, snorkeling, conch shell blowing and a paddle tour on a traditional Hawaiian outrigger canoe. Offered through March 31, the “Hearts in the Sand” package is a wow when it comes to romance with oceanfront accommodations for three nights, a bottle of Champagne, dinner for two at Tiki Terrace, a keepsake picnic backpack filled with lunch and beverages, chaise lounge and umbrella set for a day, a Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage for two, and a daily rental car so you can explore the island.

Ka'anapali Beach Hotel, Maui

Back on the mainland, another February special, the W San Francisco’s “What’s Your Safe Word” package is simply fun.  With your stay at this downtown San Francisco hotel, you can win prizes galore including a trip for two to the W Costa Rica Reserva Conchal. When you book, you’ll receive a “safe word” that unlocks your in-room safe which is filled with goodies, too. To add to the offbeat weekend-only experience, you’ll get a lavish serving of Bubbles & Berries, a beverage and food credit, and a room upgrade. 

W San Francisco

At the photography-filled Hotel Lucia in Portland on the West coast, the “Shake It like a Polaroid Picture” tempts guests with an intimate program that will add some spice to your photo taking. You’ll start the evening with a bottle of Champagne and a heart-shaped pizza from The Crown, the hotel’s collaboration between its two chefs and a noted pizzaiolo. Then you’ll return to your room where an intimacy kit awaits along with a Polaroid camera and film for your creativity. Two robes are yours to take home as memories of your sexy stay. By the way, you don’t have to shake a Polaroid photo to help it develop – techniques have improved since the camera was created, but it’s still a fun idea.

Hotel Lucia, Portland, OR

Itching to use your passport? With its magnificent view of Rome from the top of the Spanish Steps, Hotel Hassler Roma suggests a romantic Roman holiday. Picture yourself in the cozy Hassler Bar where celebrities like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly held court. Or perhaps in the elegant Hassler Bistrot at Salone Eva, enjoying an elaborate Italian version of high tea. The hotel offers a “Romantic Escape Package,” offered all year, with a three-night stay; daily breakfast; a bottle of Prosecco upon arrival; an exclusive gift from the hotel; a romantic dinner for two at Imàgo, their Michelin-starred panoramic restaurant; and a 50-minute massage for two.

Hotel Hassler, Rome

Cartesiano, a boutique luxury hotel in Puebla, Mexico, has a romantic package for spa lovers designed to also give you a taste of the city’s colonial history along with a taste of Puebla’s well-developed culinary scene. Cartesiano offers you a stay in one of the hotel’s historic rooms (the hotel was created from a former convent and tile factory), daily breakfast and a romantic surprise upon arrival.  After dining on treats like mole (it was invented in Puebla), you’ll emerge polished and relaxed after a massage in the hotel’s Cartesiano Spa followed by a lemon and mimosa body scrub. 

 

Cartesiano, Puebla, Mexico

Along the majestic Blue Danube, a stay in Budapest is pure romance at the Aria Hotel Budapest. With the “Love Me Tender” package, you’ll be treated to Old World pampering with treats like sparkling wine and chocolate-covered strawberries, a rose petal turndown, and a special bath amenity. The music-themed hotel has four wings, each dedicated to a major music genre: classical, opera, contemporary and jazz. Each room and suite features caricatures of the world's greatest musical legends such as Maria Callas, Count Basie, Bob Dylan, James Brown and Hungary’s own Franz Liszt. Included in the package, a couple’s massage is the perfect finish to a day of touring the city with History Limousine or a ride on the Budapest Eye before a four-course candlelit dinner. 

Aria Hotel Budapest

If a romantic beach holiday is more to your liking, the Seven Stars Resort & Spa on Grace Bay Beach in Turks & Caicos takes full advantage of their island location with suites offering views of the turquoise waters and white sand. Yours to choose is a chef-prepared tasting dinner under the stars on the beach or in a private cabana, each followed by a “Be Mine by the Sea” couples massage. You’re also invited to participate in the new Seven Stars cocktail master class, where you’re encouraged to sample as you create.

Seven Stars Resort, Turks & Caicos