Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapur's Anti-Checklist Honeymoon: 'Some Alone Time and Some Island Time'

Actor Kritika Kamra and her husband, TV presenter Gaurav Kapur didn’t do the honeymoon-on-a-beach thing. They did four countries. “We ended up visiting four countries on our Euro summer trip,” says Kamra. “We flew into Milan, and then went to Croatia, followed by Montenegro, and Greece; we then flew out of Athens.”

For Kamra, the appeal was in the variety. “It was a mix of cities and the coast and history and culture,” she says, with, “some alone time and some island time, everything.”

An Appetite for Travel

Post their wedding in March, the couple’s first stop was Milan, and neither Kamra nor Kapur held back on the food. “We all know Italy is great when it comes to their cuisine and their produce and the way they use ingredients,” she says. Italian, unsurprisingly, ranks among her favourite cuisines, and the couple hunted down some excellent spots in the city, though not without a learning curve. “It’s a very busy city, and everything requires reservations way in advance,” Kamra says. “We got lucky with some, but we also enjoyed casual spots in Milan a lot.”

Athens was a revelation. “It really surprised me,” she says, pushing back on the idea that the Greek capital is just a stopover en route to the islands. “I always know the Mediterranean diet is wholesome and complete and is also really tasty. But Athens has some incredible spots that are doing so good with their traditional cuisine.”

The city’s cosmopolitan streak meant even sushi was on the table, but it was the humbler stuff that stuck with her. “The amount of tomato and feta salad that I’ve had on this trip is just ridiculous,” she says. Her advice to fellow travellers: don’t skip it for the islands. “If you want a vibrant city with different kinds of restaurants, and amazing street food, I think Athens is really, really good.”

The trip’s rhythm was deliberate throughout. “That’s the kind of holiday that Gaurav and I like,” Kamra says. “We like to move around a little bit when we take a trip, but we don’t want to take a flight or take a boat every three days.” Milan delivered culture alongside the chaos — “we watched a concert against the backdrop of the Duomo” — plus a serious amount of shopping in both Milan and Athens.

Then came Kea, a quieter Greek island. “It’s not a party island like Mykonos, it’s just nature, it’s beautiful, and we got some really restful days there,” Kamra says.

Croatia meant Dubrovnik, and for a self-declared Game of Thrones fan, that was non-negotiable. “It is King’s Landing in Game of Thrones and I’m a big fan,” she says. But the appeal went beyond the shoot locations. “It was also a good food destination and really vibrant, has great nightlife as well. We would actually be out pretty much all day, and that’s how we like to do things.”

Romantic & Resolute

Ask Kamra for the most romantic stop and she won’t give you one but she’ll give you two, and insist they’re not the same thing. The first came on a local’s recommendation.

“A wonderful lady in Dubrovnik suggested that we go to this small town called Cavtat, which is just 30 minutes from Dubrovnik, and it’s a beautiful little town,” she says. “It looks like a town out of a storybook. It was in full bloom. The waters and the skies are lovely and there were much less crowds than other places in Croatia. It was a great day out.”

The couple spent the day wandering before settling in for the essentials: “We sat at a cafe and had some wine.” The second was Kea itself, minus the crowds and plus a cliff. “It’s just dramatic landscapes, just unbelievably beautiful,” she says. “We were on a cliff, so just horizons and changing colours every day — it was jaw-dropping beauty and very, very romantic.”

If there’s a philosophy behind the trip, it’s an anti-checklist one. “I don’t think there are any must-dos,” Kamra says, pointing a finger at social media’s tendency to turn travel into a scavenger hunt. “Because of social media today, we already have seen pretty much everything everywhere. And when you start making an itinerary, you kind of want to put so many things on your checklist.”

Skip the Script

Her verdict: “Must-dos or just running after a checklist sometimes can really hinder your enjoyment. A good holiday is a mix of itinerary and indulgence, and you should do both.” Her larger travel philosophy is to pick one place and stay a while, rather than skim the surface of many. “Choose a spot and then really immerse yourself in the culture and stay there for a few days, if not a week... instead of hopping and trying to touch many things in one trip,” she recommends. This trip could stretch to four countries onlybecause it was, in her words, “a longish” one — otherwise, she’s “not a fan of going to a new place every two days.”

The shopping bags told their own story. Milan was fashion — “clothes and shoes and stuff” — but Athens was groceries, largely thanks to one very good supermarket in the city centre. “We got a lot of packs of olives, of course, because it’s Greece,” Kamra says with a laugh, listing off cheese, wine, balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

She even sought out carob bread substitutes. “I really liked the carob bread in Greece, and I wanted to bring some back. So, I found breadsticks that are made of carob. We’re so excited about the new home and kitchen as well. We got a lot of things for the kitchen and a lot of edibles; ingredients mostly. And also, for our friends and family.”