At the best of times, Valentine's Day is rather taxing. Valentine's on a shoe-string budget is, well, pitiful. Love in the time of an economic crunch quickly turns that romantic week in Paris to a weekend sojourn in Pofadder.

Paree is, after all, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Pofadder, on the other hand, is surprisingly affordable. Unfortunately, it also has about as much romantic charm as a tax return.

So, completely ignoring the spirit-crushing financial restrictions of the current economic climate, we've put together a guide to the great wide world of lurve… pack your bags honey!

Sun-kissed beaches

Paris may be off the itinerary this year, but that doesn't mean that you can't find romance in a little patch of French sunshine. No more than a dot in the Indian Ocean, the 30-mile-wide French island of Reunion, is often overlooked in favour of the strip of resorts on neighbouring Mauritius.

This distant outpost of the French empire, where the majority of the inhabitants speak either French or Creole, offers a rich tapestry of cultural and geological diversity.

With an active volcano on its south coast, miles of sunny beaches on the west, fields of sugar cane and vanilla in the east and three impressive cirques (volcanoes than have collapsed in on themselves), Reunion offers up a range of activities from hiking and canyoning to scuba diving and surfing.

And if that isn't attraction enough, the island is called Reunion, after all. A bit of make-up travel perhaps?

City of love

No, not that city of love…Buenos Aires! With its old-world cafés, colonial architecture, modern skyscrapers and smoky tango halls, Argentina's capital — sometimes referred to as the 'Paris of South America' — is sexy, vibrant, and alive.

The smouldering tango, which has its origins in the brothels of Argentina in the 1880s and was only regarded as acceptable once it had been adopted by Parisian high society in the 1920s, epitomises the city. Elegant, passionate, exuberant, seductive, the tango is all that is intoxicating about Buenos Aires. Dance the night away or catch a tango show in San Telmo.

Should your dancing skills let you down, you can always resort to the tried-and-tested expression of love — flowers. Put a twist on the traditional bouquet of roses by taking your lover to the Floralis Generica statue in motion. Designed and funded by the architect Eduardo Catalano in 2002, the Floralis Generica opens its massive metallic petals every morning and closes them again at dusk.

Food of love

Foie gras? Chocolate? Nice… but not nearly as good as a deliciously spicy Thai curry that will have your pulse racing and temperature pushing the mercury. Thailand is a destination of secret sensuality — from the chilli-infused food to luxurious silks and pampering Thai massages. Incidentally, the Thai Massage was traditionally regarded as an act of compassion — the physical application of metta (loving kindness).

For those looking to tie the knot in Thailand, Trang, on the southernmost stretch of the Andaman Sea coastline, offers a unique opportunity. Every year from 13 to 15 February it hosts an underwater wedding festival in which couples can get hitched on the seabed using divers' sign language.

Get cultured

Ditch the well-worn pavements of Paris for the magical winter wonderland of St Petersburg. Described by Dostoyevsky as "the most abstract and intentional city in the world', the former capital of the Russian Empire is the third largest city in Europe.

Also dubbed the 'Venice of the North and the Paris of the East', St Petersburg was built on over 100 islands lying across the delta of the Neva River. Built largely by Italian architects, the city's network of canals and baroque and neoclassical architecture give it a distinctly European flavour.

In winter, when the temperatures can drop as low as -30°C, the city takes on a fairytale quality. Catch a glimpse of the mint green Winter Palace that was stormed by the Bolshevik communists in 1917; check out the multi-coloured onion domes of the cheerfully-named Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (a church that took 24 years to build and 27 to restore); and visit the world-famous Mariinsky Theatre.

Paris, je t'aime

Okay, okay, fine…if you must, take a trip to Paris. Sample the epicurean delights; stroll along the Champs-Élysées; visit the grave of Oscar Wilde and wait in a ridiculously long queue to climb to the top the Eiffel Tower. But don't say we didn't warn you!