Somewhere not too hot Europe for a cheap summer holiday?

[Blueshadow]

We tend to do UK holidays, but could we do a week abroad somewhere not too warm for about £2000? We like lots to go and look at. My dd is 15 and would love to go abroad. I don’t seem to be very good at finding cheap deals though!

Just you and your DD? Should easily be doable for less than 2K. And what do you class as summer?

we usually go in the May half term week to avoid roasting heat. Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy all beach weather but not oppressive heat. Is that possible or does DD have exams to revise for?

we usually spend about 2.5k for 4, flying Ryanair/Easyjet and arranging accommodation ourselves. I am certain you can get something great for your budget.

Two adults and one teen. Basically school summer holidays. Cities are great for us-we’ve done the most popular UK ones.

We could do May half term, but would ideally prefer the summer as teen and I both get very long holidays then. Also more time to save!

2000 is plenty depending on how many days you want to do.

Cities that are not too hot in the summer.... Bruges, Amsterdam, Copenhagen?
I would suggest Barcelona, the whole of Italy and Lisbon but for the halfterms in May or October as they are not only roasting in the summer but heaving with tourists.

My teen loved Copenhagen. Great food, easy to get about and so clean. It was very easy to get to from the airport. Food was a bit expensive but not hideous, nipping into a shop for a bottled drink was expensive. They loved Tivoli, the aquarium and the beach near the aquarium. We had a heatwave though < not angry that was the colour of my face.

Central Europe is really hot in the summer and there are fabulous lakes and outdoor pools to make up for the lack of sea. We've had fantastic holidays in rented houses at Lake Balaton for less per head than your budget. We also had a fab cheap break by the lakes in Tuzla in Bosnia and Hercegovina and then travelled on to Montenegro which was fab and we would have gone on to Albania if we'd had time as it has fantastic beaches and is still affordable. I know a couple of people who've had fab trips to Albania. Vienna is a gorgeous city that is really warm in the summer with loads to see but great outdoor options and is a really modern city or Budapest is charming with amazing outdoor thermal pools by the tonne and loads of spas in the towns around.

None of these options are typical Spanish or Greek holiday resorts and you won't get British style food (although you will get Italian and the like and the local food is all good) so you'd definitely need to consider if that's important to you. Language can be an issue but take a phrase book, google translate and a guide book for the country and these days a lot of people speak English to some degree. You can save a lot of money by avoiding mainstream resorts.

I love the look of Copenhagen. Any hints about flights etc very gratefully received. We’d like self-catering ideally.

Copenhagen is expensive. What about Budapest or Lisbon?

Where would you be flying from?

Liverpool is the nearest, or Manchester

What do you like to do? If you are into mountains Lake Constanz at the German/Austrian border may be an idea, it is normally quite warm in the Summer.

The Germans love to self-cater, so lots of properties to look at but they most likely will be flats, not necessarily houses. You can fly into Stuttgart and hire a car or Munich for some extra sightseeing and then moving on.

Have a look at ski resorts - beautiful in the summer and quite cheap as off season. If I were you I'd travel around France or Germany visiting different cities.

I would suggest Budapest. It's consistently at the lower end of the budget. Check the temperature charts for when you want to go. so much to see, very walkable, and tourist shops and eating places in the centre certainly speak English, and most have menus in English too.

Copenhagen airport to the city is a shorter trip than the equivalent to Budapest. You can get a train direct from Copenhagen across the Oresund Bridge to Malmo (Sweden) and beyond (Lund is a pretty university town).

I really recommend watching the TV shoe 'Travel Man 48 hours in' great over site of many different places, things to do and eat whist there also has a round up of the trip costs. Thanks to this show I've have a great couple of trips and done things which I may have not done otherwise. Have to say regardless what anyone says Scandinavia is very expensive, (I have been many times as family out there) in terms eating out as the cost of things todo. You don't get a lot for your money.
Thanks to travel man I really fancy a mini break to Croatia - Dubrovnik looks stunning!

https://www.expedia.co.uk/Budapest-Hotels-Enjoy-Budapest-Aparthotel.h19457865.Hotel-Information?chkin=23/7/2020&chkout=30/7/2020&rm1=a2:c15&misId=eb799105-5d6e-4f0a-916f-a29863a053d3&sort=recommended&hwrqCacheKey=cc908f3e-f25c-4eb7-b030-262ab6df98c3HWRQ1572727995007&cancellable=false&regionId=179994&vip=false&c=4b7a13a2-6483-443c-8aad-884a48d28f5d&packageType=fh&expdp=976.19&exppts=1572727996078&expcurr=GBP&swpToggleOn=false&expppg=HSR&inttkn=U4jAiWN7Y0bfVvfz

Something like this would be good. Airport shuttle and a kitchenette to save on breakfast. You'd have enough left to easily cover spending money

Lake Konstanz is lovely. You could stay somewhere on the lakeside and cycle/ferry to get to other parts of the lake.

So many lovely ideas! Many thanks. Before dd, dh and I spent a few happy holidays wandering around Germany and Austria by train -maybe we could do something similar.

If you like cities, what about Bilbao in northern Spain? Temperature never goes above early 20s, very lush surrounding landscape and more culture and architecture than you can shake a stick at - the Guggenheim is there! Amazing Basque cuisine too with some outstanding restaurants.

Direct flights from Manchester in August start at around £60 at the moment (one way).

I was going to suggest Austria. Very good facilities, swimming lakes etc. The climate is good as it's hot enough to swim but not silly hot like the Med.

Ryanair flights to gdansk (gdansk, Sopot etc) in summer holidays... Nice beaches,v inexpensive, good museums and days out. English menus
Lisbon for May holidays with a day out to sintra and few days at a beach?

Copenhagen is expensive. If I was going back I would stay in Malmo in Sweden. It only takes an hour on the train on the oresund bridge to get into Copenhagen, so you could still see the tivoli gardens etc. Think at the end of the holiday I would take the train to Stockholm and fly home from there.
Girona is also a lovely ( but small) city. You can get the train to Barcelona ( again takes about an hour ) ,or to Perpignan .

Berlin? If you like cities you could start there then take the train and head to Leipzig, Dresden or into Poland? Or head north and visit somewhere like Rugen Island as a contrast?

Rekjavik might be fun? but the budget might be a problem due the costs once there. stockholm is lovely in the summer - lots of opportunities to take boats into the archipeligo. But again living costs are high - although if you get a cheap, self catering air bnb it should be ok?