From a boutique hilltop hotel on the Amalfi Coast to a villa on a remote island in the Indian Ocean; money is no object when it comes to honeymoons of the rich and famous. Celebrities have been known to flock to the other side of the world to escape the media, blowing big bucks in their pursuit of a few days of R&R in paparazzi-free paradise.
But who in the world of showbiz has splashed the most cash in the name of romance? Here is a rundown of some of the biggest and most expensive celebrity honeymoons to date…
Prince William and Kate Middleton – £540,000
Compared to the very public Royal Wedding in April 2011, information about Kate and William’s honeymoon remains somewhat shrouded in mystery. Following their highly anticipated and globally televised wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey the newlyweds had earned some well-deserved alone time. Their 10 days of peace and privacy began on May 10, 2011, as they jetted off to the secluded Seychelles, a cluster of Indian Ocean islands home to numerous beaches, coral reefs and nature reserves.
According to reports, Kate and William stayed on the most remote part of the North Island, one of only four privately owned islands in the Seychelles. Other high-profile celebrity visitors of North Island include George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin, who also chose to honeymoon on the island in 2014.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to have stayed at an exclusive £4,300 a night luxury villa, complete with freshwater pool, private garden and yoga pavilion, as well as a personal chef and butler – of course! The overall cost of the idyllic getaway is rumoured to have been around the £540,000 mark, but with many details of the trip remaining secret to this day, it seems you can’t put a price on privacy.
Lionel Messi and Antonella Roccuzzo – £468,000
The Argentinian football player took a break from his role as the biggest sports star on the planet to whisk his long-term love and their two sons to the Caribbean island of Antigua during the 2017 summer.
The Barcelona forward’s alleged £475,000 a week salary would have come in handy when paying for the glamorous honeymoon, including an extraordinary holiday home on the secluded island of Jumby Bay, two miles from mainland Antigua, which the family flew to via private jet, for approximately £111,070 per person.
During Lionel and Antonella’s Caribbean break, their enormous holiday home accommodated not only the Messi clan but also fellow football royalty Luis Suarez and his wife Sofia Balbi. Whether £24,400 cost of the villa was shared between the athletes is unknown, but as the third-highest-paid athlete in the world, Messi can afford to treat his beloved new wife to anything her heart could desire.
http://www.myprivatevillas.com/luxury/caribbean/antigua/30313/sea-star
Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux – £240,000
The famously private (and now separated) pair’s honeymoon plans were pretty unconventional by Hollywood standards. After a reasonably low-key ceremony in the grounds of their Bel Air mansion in August 2015, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux organised a group honeymoon to the sensational Four Seasons resort on the French Polynesian island of Bora Bora.
Keen to celebrate their nuptials en masse, the couple invited fellow celebs and close friends Chelsea Handler, Courteney Cox and Jason Bateman to join them on their exotic escape. A night at the lavish Four Seasons Bora Bora costs up to £8,600; meaning a week-long stay could end up amounting to anything upwards of £60,300… per person.
In addition to the price of accomodation, Jennifer and Justin were seen boarding a private jet to Bora Bora the following morning, an expense which – according to PrivateFly.com – costs upwards of £90,000 per person. This eye watering price-tag may seem like a large sum of money to pay, but is unlikely to faze members of the Hollywood elite.
https://www.fourseasons.com/borabora/
Pippa Middleton and James Matthews – £210,000
It would seem Pippa was attempting to outdo her big sister, in classic sibling-rivalry style, with an astonishingly ambitious three-week tour of the Southern Hemisphere with financier husband, James Matthews in May 2017.
Jetting off from London Heathrow, the couple arrived in Los Angeles to pick up a connecting flight to the French Polynesian island of Tetiaroa. Here the pair stayed at the island’s only resort; luxurious eco-friendly retreat, The Brando. Reports suggest the two of them were forking out around £5,000 a night for accomodation in one of the 35 secluded villas on the private island previously owned by the legendary film star, Marlon Brando.
Not satisfied with just the one holiday destination, Pippa and James, who are reportedly expecting their first child, jumped on a jet from the Pacific Islands to Sydney, where they were spotted staying at the Park Hyatt, with suites costing up to £11,000. Next was a trip to Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, where the the newly-weds fell off the grid no doubt desperately searching for some much-needed privacy away from the paparazzi.
The price of the accommodation and flights alone is estimated at around £120,000 which is before considering the cost of food, designer wardrobe, activities, staff and any further stops the adventurous lovebirds made before returning to the UK!
Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel – £208,000
Another slightly unconventional – but equally as extravagant – Hollywood honeymoon was Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel’s trip in October 2012. The American sweethearts opted to holiday among African wildlife when they chose Tanzania as their romantic destination of choice. The couple was spotted landing at Kilimanjaro Airport by private jet two days after their wedding in Puglia, Southern Italy, a trip costing approximately £85,000.
In addition to the £4.6 million reported cost of their week-long wedding ceremony on the Italian coast, Justin and Jessica are rumoured to have also forked out for an ultra-private villa at the stunning Sasakwa Lodge in Northern Tanzania. Guests staying at the Lodge are expected to pay up to £6,500 a night for a luxury villa, which includes the use of a private infinity pool with “views of the vast African sky.”
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West – £100,000
With an estimated combined net worth of over £200 million, Kimye could feasibly take a year-long honeymoon to anywhere in the world but, rather unexpectedly, the glitzy twosome chose to spend a rather-modest five days in Ireland following their Florence wedding in May 2014.
Having reportedly fallen in love with Ireland during a trip to Dublin for Kanye’s 35th birthday, the social media queen and her beau decided to honeymoon in Cork, Limerick and Co Laois.
According to sources, Kim and Kanye arrived in Cork by private jet where they spent their first two nights in the private Castle Oliver just outside of Ardpatrick Village. They then spent two more nights at the 614 acre Ballyfin property located at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains. An insider claims the high-profile pair pre-ordered £9,000 worth of food, flowers, champagne and candelabras for their 48-hour stay.
These specific requests, along with the nightly rate of each stately home, is sure to have amounted to at least £50,000—and that’s before accounting for transport, staffing and clothing costs.
Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan – £78,000
TOWIE star Mark Wright and Our Girl actress Michelle Keegan had two countries on the agenda for their honeymoon in July 2015. The glamourous pair’s first stop was the magical Maldives and its idyllic Maafushivaru resort. As seen in several drop-dead-gorgeous photos posted on social media at the time, Mark and Michelle stayed in a £3,000/night water villa which sits on stilts over a dazzling blue lagoon with direct access to water.
After a few days of sun and solitude, Mark and Michelle’s second stop was a return to the scene of Mark’s proposal and glitzy five-star favourite: Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. The bronzed pair stayed in a beautiful underwater honeymoon suite complete with floor-to-ceiling views of The Ambassador Lagoon, one of the biggest aquariums in the world. The otherworldly room sets guests back roughly £5,275 a night and according to Mark, it was so impressive they didn’t want to leave!
Jay Z and Beyonce – £50,000
After a secretive wedding ceremony in New York in 2008, power couple Jay and Bey enjoyed a laid-back and relatively low-key honeymoon at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley, Arizona.
The award-winning resort is famous for its unique array of accommodations which provide panoramic views of Camelback Mountain and the utmost privacy. The Scottsdale hotel also offered the reigning King and Queen of Hip Hop to dine on meals expertly crafted by Food Network favourite and renowned resident Chef Beau MacMillan.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter no doubt splashed a substantial amount of cash at the Sanctuary’s world-class spa which is complete with Asian-inspired treatments, couples spa packages and aquatic massage. All things considered, the estimated £19,525 price of weekly lodgings at the Arizona retreat, in addition to their inevitable spending, means this honeymoon would have been considered an absolute steal for the billion-dollar twosome.