Lakes/walks holiday with older teens

[georgefrederickhandel]

I am stuck!! Would someone please kindly recommend where a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 older teens, one legally an adult, actually), can go for a week in August in Europe? Not keen on massified tourism, hot sunshine laying by the beach, too much noise, hassle, queues everywhere...
Two in the group don't tolerate the heat well so accommodation needs to be comfortable, have aircon, etc.
Don't want to be in the middle of nowhere either, villages and small towns to visit, eating out, etc an absolute must.

If UK, I'd suggest Ambleside in the Lakes - amazing walks; Loughrigg Fell and the coffin route to Grasmere on your doorstep, as well as circuit around Windemere, Scafell Pike nearby. Loads of great water sport - kayaking, swimming, paddleboarding, steam boat. If it rains, there's a great cinema, good bookshop, loads of nice cafes and restaurants in Ambleside.

Not done it myself but friends have been hiking in the Alps in summer when there's no snow for skiing and said it was great. Untouristy and lovely. Nice ski hotels at low prices. You might also be able to do some of the via ferrata if you and your DC have good heads for heights.

I think an outdoor holiday (walking, etc.) in Europe in August is going to be HOT most places. I think if it's really blazing heat you want to avoid, you'd be much better off going at the October half term (or another time in October if you aren't stuck to school term schedules).

I would look at Alps/Pyrenees resorts. Or have you considered walking part of the Camino de Santiago if you are up for a walking holiday. I did it last year in early September and while it was warm, it wasn't uncomfortably hot. There is a range of accommodation options and I think all or most of where I stayed had air con, you can absolutely book only places that do if that's important to you.

Agree with above - we like similar holidays and if you want to go in Europe you can do all that in the alps, France, Italy, Slovenia. I'm not personally keen on Switzerland but other people love it. I really love the Dolomites, especially the SudTirol and Trentino regions, fantastic for via ferrata and really interesting history and great food. I was not so keen on the Belluno region - it has a lot of fancy ski resorts which have great amenities including lifts but I find them a bit soulless.

We've also been to Morzine and mountain biked with uplift from there and to Aosta and used the lifts there. I like Aosta and it isn't super touristy in summer, its a reasonable sized town so if you were based there you have lots of eating out options, roman remains to see etc but also plenty of mountain destinations nearby to walk in. Slovenia is on our to go list.

People prob have other recommendations re Black Forest and Julian Alps which I haven't visited but would also be good choices. If you don't want to hire a car the Black Forest is do-able by train.

Most European schools return mid August so resorts will be quieter later.

Azores is great for lakes and walks and not that busy.

@Penguinsa Azores sounds good actually. Who does holidays there? I am so lost, I don't even know how to look for a holiday!!

We’re going to the alps this summer with teens for walking and hopefully less hot than elsewhere weather. Annecy and then up in the alps near Briancon.

Morzine is great. Lots to do. Quite cheap too in the summer. We drove and booked accommodation privately. Make sure it is part of the summer pass. Then €15 each will get you on the chairlifts and into the pool for free.
There are lakes, mountain biking, road cycling,walks, white water rafting and the goat village!

Northern Spain? It will be warm in August but not usually really hot like the South of the country and the Picos are beautiful.

@Talipesmum how do I go about booking a holiday there? Is it a matter of booking flights and the accommodation and then finding places to eat?

When we went to the Azores we just got Ryanair flights from Stanstead (only once a week) 4 hours direct - we needed to come back on a different day so we came back via porto with Ryanair, staying overnight. You can also go via Lisbon. I think in the summer there are boats between the islands and all year there are flights but we weren't staying that long so just did the one island. I don't think there are many packages there, that's why there aren't that many people and its quite unspoilt and lots of nature and walks - its like a giant botanical gardens with lakes, hot springs and hills. Lovely food.

We stayed in the Octant Furnas which we booked direct which was lovely but any under maybe 12s aren't allowed in the pool except a few hours each morning. That worked well for us. The pools there were hot spring pools inside and outside so very warm but can swim in to and a spa / sauna / jacuzzi / steam rooms on site. We hired a car from airport and that was very cheap when we went in March but maybe seasonal pricing. In summer there are dolphin and whale spotting trips. I would love to go back to that hotel and also love to go to Flores Island looks so pretty. Excellent for walks. Furnas isn't huge but has a botanical gardens, 2 hotels, hot springs and the hotel organised a lot of things you could go on - we just went round in hire car, its very easy like that too. There's things like kayaking on lakes. It was quite different, when we went there were pilgrims dressed up walking around the island with cloaks and walking sticks round all the beautiful white churches and a motor rally race though those are March things.

When we have been to Annecy and Morzine we drove - stopping at Rheims for an overnight on the way to break the journey. But you can fly to Geneva and hire a car too. Loads of accommodation options round there - both campsites by the lake (on French sites you can hire v comfy mobilhomes and the sites will have pools and bars) and hotels. You could do Eurocamp if you want a package but booking direct is usually a LOT cheaper. Whether you are in France, Italy or the Azores you will have no trouble finding nice places to eat.

We booked flights to Geneva (v reasonable), then found a spot on one of the Annecy campsites (in a lodge). We split the holiday 5 days in annecy campsite then booked a chalet in beautiful village called La Grave where there’s a teleferique lift, to get up to top of mountains, and lots of lovely local walks. https://uk.oisans.com/resorts-and-villages/la-grave/

Annecy looks like a lovely town with plenty of places to eat, and the village la grave is quite small but it looks like food is tasty. Plenty of villages to go around too. We are just going to find nice places to eat when we get there - it’s def important to us!

The Rhine river blew me away. Fortunate to have a parents friend with a boat and we sailed from Mainz to Frankfurt but Rudesheim, koblenz and cologne all fab!

Friend of a friend did a walking holiday based in Ålesund, Norway last summer which looked very interesting. Lots of islands and fjords. She booked with Inntravel I believe.

I would also consider the Julian alps - although around Bled can be a bit busy these days. Stunningly beautiful though.