Wedding Destination

From the giddy heights of romance and commitment to the best places to be miserable and lonely, Lonely Planet has compiled them in all in one list.

1. LEH, INDIA

From Leh in the northern Indian region of Ladakh you can depart for a two-day trip, from mid-July to mid-September only, across the 'roof of the world.' Get married at the end of day one and test your bond on day two. This strenuous pass will take your breath away at 5,600m as you cross perilous swing bridges between canyons. Buddhist monasteries dot the serene landscape: pay a visit for first-hand instruction in kindness and tolerance.

2. TUSCANY, ITALY

Why not make the wedding just as memorable for your friends as for you? Hire the main villa for you and your mates, and a series of connected cottages nearby for both sets of family. Get everyone to arrive the night before and meet up in the local pizzeria. The next day, be married in the little fresco-painted chapel on the property. Hold an evening reception on the lawns, surrounded by fireflies and caterers with homemade red wine.

3. MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Make an instant friend every night in one of Manchester's myriad dance clubs, to assuage that break-up. You'll immediately know you've found one of your kind at Poptastic or the Northern Monkey Music Club. Intellectuals can be found at the Best Indie Night in the World Ever!, while simpler types bust a move at Giggle & Funk.

4. WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA

Say your vows (and prayers) in a shark cage off Gansbaai, 175km southeast of Cape Town. Great white sharks are now on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species although critics maintain that humans are more endangered since shark-cage diving started, as the predators are encouraged to associate bait with us.

5. ANTARCTICA

Join your life partner on the good ship Aurora to the largest continent on earth. Ecotourism honeymoon expeditions can include polar adventure activities such as sea-kayaking, scuba diving and camping, and there's the potential for interaction with whales.

6. NICOBAR ISLANDS

Marry at dawn somewhere along a line in the Indian Ocean where the sun creeps first onto hundreds of tiny islands, islets and rocks in the idyllic Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India, located in the Indian Ocean. Isolation has preserved lush forest cover and flourishing fauna.

7. BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

The World Tango Festival, held in venues all over Buenos Aires, is a perfect opportunity to find a new partner. Workshops are run by the Great Masters of Tango, milongueros. Held in the best dance halls and sports clubs and culminating in the grandest ballroom in the city, the Palais Rouge, the workshops are accompanied by six 'orchestras'.

8. ELORA, CANADA

Just over an hour from Toronto, this rustic sandstone mill town preserves the pious ways of the old world, when couples huddled together through fierce Canadian blizzards. The local Mennonite community will teach you how to cook and sew. You'll learn to survive without TV, takeaway, computer games, shoe therapy, haircuts or counsellors. Go on a date with a new prospect in a horse-drawn buggy.

9. HUSTADVIKA, NORWAY

Chaotic, salt stained, yet free - stare out at the wild waves and contemplate how you got dumped or muse over the notorious history of this coast: ships have been sinking here since the Middle Ages. Then jump into an appropriately Scandinavian car and head down the Atlantic Road towards the western fjords and the fishing village of Kristiansund.

10. AITUTAKI, COOK ISLANDS

Nominated as the world's most beautiful island by Lonely Planet's founder, Tony Wheeler, it's a way to escape the ex. Just an hour's flight north from the Cook Islands' Rarotonga, joins inhabitants who dance every night at alternating beachside restaurants or hire a moped for a circuit of the island and feel the breeze in your f