Ten years of marriage is a milestone few reach. Couples today are seeking rich, full experiences to deepen the bonds of their relationship. Here are seven destination ideas based on the vibe you’re looking to capture.
1. Santorini: For Couples Who Want the View Without the Crowds
While tourists gravitate towards Oia, they spend their Santorini trip weaving through cruise ship passengers on narrow walkways while someone’s drone buzzes overhead. But after ten years you’ve earned better than that.
Located further south along the caldera rim, Imerovigli features the same view of white-and-blue cliffside villages and deep blue water, but without the foot traffic.
With its infinity pool that seems to drop straight into the caldera, Grace Hotel Auberge is adults only.
Instead of competing for a spot on the Oia castle wall at sunset, book a private sail around the caldera. The captain cuts the engine to take in the view of the sky as it turns gold to pink to a violet.
The Fira-to-Oia trail is a great morning hike if you start early enough to beat the heat. Venetsanos Winery offers local Assyrtiko wine with calderea terrace views.
For dinner, Lycabettus and Kapari are a better value, offering excellent cuisine without the tourist trap pricing.
The best time to visit is between late September and mid-October when the water is still warm, but the crowds have thinned, and you can actually get a restaurant table on the same day you want one.
2. Ravello, Amalfi Coast: Italy Without the Tourist Gridlock
Positano photographs beautifully, but at peak season the single access road turns into a slow crawl of tour buses and rental cars trying to squeeze past each other on narrow switchbacks.
Perched above the coast with only foot traffic, Ravello solves this. Villa Cimbrone’s Terrace of Infinity is a marble railing at the edge of a cliff with the coastline fading into soft haze below. Quite deserving of it’s dramatic name.
Belmond Hotel Caruso’s pool appears to float above the coastline, and Palazzo Avino offers a cozier, more intimate environment if you prefer smaller properties. Take a boat down to Positano for the beach without dealing with the road, and skip the lemon grove tours in favor of a private cooking class at one of the hillside villas where you can learn to make fresh pasta under the watchful eye of a Nonna who corrects your knife technique with a raised eyebrow.
While Rossellinis offers Michelin-level dining, locals go to Cumpa Cosimo for authentic, everyday dishes. A private transfer from Naples takes about 90 minutes and spares you the experience of driving the narrow coast road.
3. Kyoto in Autumn: Culture Over Nightlife
Cherry blossom season gets all the press, but I’d argue autumn in Kyoto is the better trip. With fewer crowds, and temple gardens sprinkled with crimson and gold leaves catching low autumn light. Mid-November through early December is the window when the whole city shifts into hushed streets and golden lights that suit a milestone trip.
To immerse into the culture, stay at a traditional ryokan with a private onsen. Hoshinoya Kyoto is reached by boat on the Oi River; as the channel narrows, city noise falls away and the boat ride itself begins to unwind.
Tawaraya, in continuous service for over three centuries, preserves precise rituals that reveal its care: timely tea service, silent room preparation.
The kaiseki dinner at either place, with eight or nine small courses of seasonal ingredients and meticulous plating, is reason enough to book the trip.
Go to the Kinkaku-ji before it opens to the public to catch the early light. Reserve a tea ceremony for two, and stroll the bamboo grove at dawn when the only sound is the wind rustling the stalks.
Saihō-ji’s moss garden requires a reservation by actual postcard mailed to the temple, which keeps the visitor count low enough that the garden stays quiet and unhurried. Schedule travel for the third week of November to catch peak foliage; the vibrant colors last about ten days.
4. Iceland: Adventure Over Relaxation
Iceland in summer and Iceland in winter feel like two different countries. June and July bring the midnight sun, where golden hour lasts the entire night and you lose track of when one day ends and the next begins. From October through March the sky transforms into aurora season. Watching the northern lights ripple green and violet above you while you’re soaking in a geothermal pool is a bucket list experience, best shared with the one you love.
In winter, the Ion Adventure Hotel lets you view the auroras directly from your room, and The Retreat at Blue Lagoon takes the luxury approach. For summer visitors, Deplar Farm sits in a fjord valley with no buildings in sight. At sunset, Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon is silent. As Icebergs drift through black water, their surfaces glow white to blue to deep amber. Seljalandsfoss has a path that loops behind the waterfall through a curtain of cold mist, and Vök Baths provides the hot spring experience without the crowds.
Spending five days on the ring road lets you see the highlights without feeling rushed. Rent a 4×4 to navigate gravel roads; check road reports and pack warm layers for rapid weather changes.
5. The Big Island of Hawaii: Easy Logistics and Big Landscapes
Hawaii might sound like a generic anniversary pick, but the Big Island offers surprising variety. In a single day you can view an active volcanic vent at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, walk a black sand beach at Punalu’u where sea turtles rest in the afternoon sun, and finish by sampling Kona coffee beans that were roasted that same morning.
Mauna Lani on the Kohala Coast delivers a resort feel without the closed-off compound. Volcano House offers guests an in-park experience that starts every morning with a view of Kīlauea’s basin. The Mauna Kea stargazing tour drives you above the cloud line to some of the clearest skies in the Northern Hemisphere for a clear view of the Milky Way.
The restaurant scene in Hilo is worth the drive from the resort coast. Hilo Bay Cafe and Moon and Turtle are both excellent. The Wednesday and Saturday farmers market is an exotic culinary adventure. You’ll find rambutan, starfruit, and honey varieties you won’t find on the mainland.
6. Dubrovnik and the Elafiti Islands: History and a Beach in the Same Week
Old Town Dubrovnik gives you fortress walls and limestone streets, and the Elafiti Islands, a half hour ferry ride away, give you the silence and space that a milestone trip deserves.
Hotel Excelsior has the classic Old Town postcard view from its terrace, while Villa Dubrovnik tucks you into a quiet cove away from the main tourist corridor, which matters when the cruise ships start releasing passengers by the thousands. On the islands, Lopud is a quiet retreat with no cars and very few visitors, even on Šunj Beach.
Stroll the city walls before the cruise passengers swarm the narrow walkways. Kayak beneath the Lovrijenac fortress as the sun sets and the limestone glows warm in the late light, with the tour boats already headed back to port. Take a Day-trip to the Pelješac peninsula at the small family vineyards. Enjoy a glass of Plavac Mali poured in a family’s stone cellar with a dog asleep at your feet. It’s the opposite of a formal tasting room and significantly better.
Go to Nautika for an extravagant harbor dinner, and Pantarul in a residential neighborhood for cooking that people who actually live in Dubrovnik prefer. Late September is the ideal time to visit. It’s still warm, but without the summer crowds.
7. Lake Como: Old-World Elegance Without Trying Too Hard
Bellagio gets most of the attention, but the western shore around Tremezzo and Lenno moves at a pace that suits a ten-year anniversary better. Villa del Balbianello sits on a wooded peninsula with cypress trees, stone balustrades, and lake views in every direction. There’s a reason George Lucas and Bond producers chose this setting for filming. It’s a fantasy backdrop.
The gardens at Villa Carlotta across the water deserve an entire morning.
Grand Hotel Tremezzo has the famous pool that floats on the lake surface, and Passalacqua keeps appearing on best-hotel lists because the service is so unobtrusive that guests notice the absence of visible effort more than anything else. Hire a private boat for the day rather than taking the public ferry. You’ll be able to cut the engine wherever the shoreline looks interesting or pull into a village for coffee at a lakeside cafe.
Enjoy relaxing lakefront dining at La Darsena. End the afternoon with an Aperol on the Tremezzo waterfront, watching the sunset across the water and the mountains as evening settles in.
Making the Decade Count
The destination handles most of the work, but a few intentional choices can turn a great trip into memories you can reference for years.
Hiring a local photographer for a single golden-hour session gives you images that look like the two of you in a beautiful place rather than a phone selfie with strangers in the background. Most romantic destinations have anniversary and proposal photography specialists who already know where the best light falls at every hour.
Design an anniversary ring to have something tangible to mark the milestone.
Write letters to each other before departure and exchange them at dinner on the actual anniversary night. Commit to one shared experience neither person has tried before, whether that’s a helicopter tour, a cooking class, or a predawn hike to a ridge for sunrise. The shared novelty bonds you in a different way that comfortable routines can’t access.
The Right Trip Is the One That Fits
After a decade together, you already know whether you’re drawn to a private boat on Lake Como or a 4×4 on an Icelandic gravel road. The trip gives the milestone the celebration it deserves.
What say you?
Thoughts on these 10 year anniversary trip ideas?
Let’s hear it!
