11 Anniversary Trip Ideas for the Adventurous Couple

When it comes to weather, mild is anything but middling. 261 days out of the year, San Diego temperatures peak at around 75 degrees, making it the best climate in North America. Spend the day at Mission Beach before making a pilgrimage to the Salk Institute designed by Louis Kahn, a must for any design-loving couple—or anyone with a pulse. When you’re in need of some TLC, head to Rancho Valencia for a Sensual Plunge couples bath and massage experience. Stop by Beginner’s Diner at the Lafayette Hotel and Club for some serious retro diner vibes. And for your overnight stay, no California hotel screams timeless elegance more than the Hotel del Coronado, which dates back to 1888 and whose dramatic turreted building was featured in Billy Wilder’s classic film Some Like It Hot. The property is currently undergoing an expansive $160 million renovation to be unveiled in 2025.

It’s hard to prepare for a trip to Lake Tahoe if you’ve never been there. Not because it’s difficult to get to (the northern shore is a 45-minute drive from Reno). It’s more that the 191-square-mile body of fresh water beneath the Sierras straddling Nevada and California is overwhelmingly beautiful in person. It is also surrounded by innumerable places for you and your spouse to disappear to, like the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe on the California side. In the warmer months, hiking, mountain biking, and beach-bumming will be the best options. In winter, you can shred some of the country’s most iconic ski runs, like the Main Chute at Palisades Tahoe. There’s nothing like a near-death experience in a 50-degree couloir to keep a marriage alive.

Speaking of lakes, this iconic Italian one is also not as crazy a schlep as you might think. It will require a passport and a transatlantic overnight flight (on La Compagnie) to Milan to get there, so this would be a trip for when you have at least a week to kill. Stay at Villa d’Este in Cernobbio and sunbathe on the floating pool before taking a vintage Riva boat across the lake for a sunset dinner at L’Aria. Before returning to the U.S., stay for a night or two at the Park Hyatt Milano located next to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and a few minutes’ walk from the Duomo.

Landing at Jackson Hole Airport is an adventure unto itself. It’s surrounded by the Teton moutains and features an extra short runway, so the pilot hits the breaks the moment the wheels hit the bitumen. It’s only the first exciting shock to the system you’ll experience on your trip. After you and your spouse start making your way to the Four Seasons Resort in Teton Village, take in the wide open expanses with grazing elk and horses. Stop for a nosh at Pearl Street Bagels in the Old West-y town of Jackson before making your way to your final destination. Whether you’re there to ski the Cody Bowl (don’t forget your avy gear!) in winter or take endless, challenging hikes in the summer, all you’ll be thinking about is how much you love each other while counting down the hours to your couple’s massage at the hotel’s spa.

Like Jackson Hole, a trip to Big Sky is more of a communion with nature than just a frivolous getaway. The one-hour drive from the airport in Bozeman, through dramatic valleys that are mobile-phone dead zones, to your luxurious digs at the Montage Big Sky is worth the trip on its own. Skiing here is a very big deal, but so is hiking, depending on the season. There’s also a world-class golf course and close proximity to Yellowstone, arguably the most romantic of American’s national parks.

The flight to Santiago may be direct, but it’s long. You and your spouse should spend a night rejuvenating at the Mandarin Oriental, where the spa is as killer as the hotel’s views of the Andes mountains. In the morning, head one and a half hours east in your rental car to Hotel Valle Nevado at the foothills of the imposing Cerro El Plomo, where South America’s greatest ski resort is located. And since it is thousands of miles below the equator, the snow is dumping hardest when America is sizzling under a heat dome.

Honestly, Utah has too many amazing anniversary destinations within its borders to focus on just Moab, but let’s start there. This is where you’ll find Arches National Park, which, with its thousands of natural sandstone arches and rock formations, is as close as you’ll get to Martian terrain without having to hitch a ride on Elon’s rocket ship. To go full send on the not-in-Kansas-anymore vibes, stay in a glamping tent at the safari-chic Under Canvas, which sits on 40 acres three miles from Arches. The airport in Salt Lake City is more than four hours away, so before flying home, have a sojourn in Park City, where a stay at the Montage Deer Valley will position you between Deer Valley and Park City resorts. In winter, the après-ski scene here is the best in the state.

For a while now, the other Portland has been a hype machine for tourism. This year, thanks in part to the opening of the buzzy new Longfellow Hotel, the one in Maine is finally getting its due. Between the cobble-stoned charm of the Old Port district, the abundance of Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth masterpieces on display at the Portland Museum of Art, as well as the meals of boiled (never baked) lobster paired and local craft beer, it’s a great setting for a low-key lovers’ getaway.

So this one is for the couple who feels like they’ve done and seen it all. In Denali National Park, the location of the tallest mountain in North America (its peak is over 20,000 feet above sea level) is Sheldon Chalet, a five-room hotel couples can reach only by a 45-minute helicopter ride. If altitude sickness isn’t a concern and you want to experience the ultimate (the hyperbolic adjective is warranted) escape, just the two of you, this is your best option. For the couple who skis, if you’re flying into Anchorage, it would behoove you to take a few days’ sojourn to Alyeska Resort to shred some of the gnarliest inbound terrain Mother Earth has to offer. The Nordic spa at the hotel is the place to relax after a day on the slopes.

Stay in the historic Old Fourth Ward at the 196-room FORTH hotel in a new tower with a striking concrete diagrid facade designed by Morris Adjmi Architects (the interiors were also designed by Adjmi in collaboration Method Studios). Have a romantic paddling sesh in a canoe at Chattahoochee Nature Center. And for the design nerds, a visit to the High Museum is imperative. Inside the complex of buildings designed by Richard Meier and Renzo Piano is a collection of works by artists running the gamut from Auguste Rodin to Chuck Close.

Stay at Meadowood, which has long been considered among the top resorts in the region. For the winos looking to do the Sideways tasting (and spitting) tour, make sure Pride Mountain Vineyards is on the agenda. For a romantic meal, avoid like the plague the overhyped three-Michelin star spots in the valley. Instead, drive to Gott’s Roadside to pick up lunch and drive down a long, winding road to beautiful Lake Berryessa for a picnic. Just don’t watch the movie Zodiac in advance.