Sami choirs and submarine trips: the secrets behind the world’s most luxurious honeymoons

Perhaps the quintessential – and most predictable – luxury honeymoon destination is the Maldives and the country’s truly creative luxury resorts can profit hugely from their ingenuity. Like many competitor properties, Four Seasons Landaa Giravaru offers couples the opportunity to charter a yacht to a private sandbank for a candelit dinner under the stars. More unusual is its night spa experience: one couple can book the resort’s spa exclusively each night, and after an outdoor massage for two, they are left to bathe together in an immense bathtub made from Balinese stone, even sleeping overnight on a swinging day-bed if they wish.

Every reputable concierge, meanwhile, can offer tales about the significant efforts they made to ensure honeymooners’ stays were memorable. One Russian guest of the Peninsula Paris hotel wanted to buy the wrought-iron entrance to Kléber metro station as a holiday souvenir for his bride. An impossible request even with his unlimited budget, but instead their concierge was able to source a replica after a tireless trawl through the city’s auction houses.

But when it comes to creating spectacular, unprecedented honeymoon experiences, there is perhaps no tour operator that tops the efforts of Based on a True Story. Though the company organises just 10 or so a year, each honeymoon is an exceptionally elaborate, multifaceted affair that might incorporate intricately synchronised private performances (in one case with literally thousands of participants), continents-spanning itineraries undertaken by private jet and superyacht, and custom-made components and habitations that will never again be on offer to another couple. Honeymoons are £500,000 at a minimum and can cost up to £5 million.