Best family walking/mountains/wildlife location?

[brisklady]

Planning a holiday for next summer and looking for inspiration. Our ideal holiday would involve lots of walking in beautiful scenery, a bit of pottering around castles/nice towns, a bit of bird/animal spotting, a bit of water activity (lake or river swimming, canoeing etc). No need for sea. Oh, and not hot. And not too expensive! Kids are 11 and 8.

Any recommendations, either general or preferably specific? Obviously Scotland etc fits this bill, but we fancy abroad this year. I'm currently musing over alps (French, Austrian or Bavarian), Slovenia, Scandinavia (all of it!), Romania (if I'm brave enough!). Finding it hard to pin it down. Equally happy with self catering or hotel, but not camping. Help!

Haven’t been myself yet (it’s on the list!), but have read people on here rave about the Azores, ticks quite a lot of your boxes :)

Or, what I’m considering for next Easter (summer would be too hot, I think) is Italy around Naples - Vesuvius, Pompeii, some lovely looking islands with hiking, castles etc :)

We took our dc walking in the French Alps when they were the same age. We stayed in a ski chalet in St Gervais which was cheap. Great walking. There's also a lake nearby (Lake Passy) where you can swim, and I took dc canyoning (dh was too chicken! ). Our kids are now in their 20s and still say it was their best ever holiday.

We've also been to the Azores which was interesting but we all preferred the Alps.

I know you've said not Scotland, but the Isle of Arran fits the bill and is absolutely stunning.

Been on a few holidays in Austria that would fit the bill. Ramsau am Dachstein is a great place for families - lots of walking in the mountains that’s also got activities for kids to do, there’s a pool in the town centre and some of the hotels also have pools. It’s not expensive.

We also stayed in Zell am See one summer - it fits your criteria but I would give it a miss. It’s heavily populated in the summer by very rich Arabs and the price of restaurants/hotels/activities reflects their riches. There are so many other places in Austria that are better and more reasonable

Slovenia! Is amazing and ticks your boxes

Currently in the dordogne and the walking and nature and general loveliness is amazing!

Thank you! And keep them coming. Azores not remotely on my radar, so will check that out. Thanks for Alps and Austria recommendations, will look at. Huevos we did an Easter holiday to Sicily which was fabulous - I recommend looking at that if you're looking at the Italian coast.

Rain do you have any specifics on Slovenia? It's a total blank canvas to me. And piggy, thanks, we went to the Dordogne a few years ago and it was utterly wonderful - would happily go back but fancy somewhere new next year. BTW I can also recommend the Cevennes for similar loveliness, though definitely more remote and less castle-y town-y stuff to do. Stunning countryside though.

We spent the summer near the Bavarian Alps, in the Allgaü. We were right next to Neushwanstein castle (daddy of all castles surely!) staying in a lovely air bnb in Alterschrofen, next to Füssen. It’s a very touristy area, however the little hamlet we were in was quiet and everything walkable. Lots of amazingly beautiful lakes to swim in close by, plus castles galore, cable cars, pretty villages and walking. We flew to Stuttgart, but Munich would be closer - not usually too expensive. Car hire very reasonable, as was air bnb - around £600 for the week I think. Weather was warm and mostly sunny in July but manageable so you could do activities. Some very dramatic thunderstorms too, but they passed quickly! It was a glorious area, I’d highly recommend to anyone.

This was a pretty nice view on one of our walks....and some of the lakes you can swim in.

Slovenia! Absolute heaven. We stayed by Lake Bohinj which has crystal clear water and loads of off road walking, just tons of space and fresh air, a cable car up into the mountains, can't wait to go back. Lake Bled is like something out of a fairytale and Ljubljana is packed with history and good food. Awesome!

DP and I stayed in St Johann in Tirol in Austria this past July. It was fantastic. Loads to do, well connected by public transport for day trips and lots going on. I really can't recommend this part of Austria enough. Plus... many hotels give guests a summer card which gives free travel by bus and train to outlying areas, free entry to the swimming complex and discounts on other activities. It sounds perfect for the type of holiday you're after.

I think Bosnia would also fit this criteria although we drove rather than walked, it was very pretty, clear rivers, lovely hills and very cheap compared to Croatia say. I have had friends be very positive about Slovenia.

We spent a week in Chatel in the French Alps this summer. Lovely scenery, big enough town that there was stuff going on (bob luge, via Ferrata, treetop adventure), great walks nearby and close to Lake Geneva for water based activities.

We loved the Dolomites, fabulous scenery plus lots of WW1 sites (Austria-Italy) to interest DC and adults.

We did Finland in the summer and started at Arola Bears, there you can see brown bears in the wild and go canoeing on their lake, stay in the chalets and the lady makes lovely home cooked food and juices. We saw 8 brown bears including 2 cubs. Ends mid August so need to go before then, details on their website of season. We also went white water rafting. Went to Ruka which has mountains and toboggan run. Flew into Oulu via Helsinki with Finnair. Weather around 20C with almost all day sunlight and beautiful pink skies. Oulu has sea and lovely beaches. Not too many towns though you could stop in Helsinki. Didn't come across castles but not looking for them. More reindeer on roads than cars. Do need to plan as quite remote but lovely. Similar price to UK, flights a bit pricey, £1300 for all 4 of us.

Bears 🐻

There's also similar in Sweden if you look up Wild Sweden, never been but flights maybe cheaper.

I really enjoyed parc national des cevennes in France.

Not as spectacular scenery as some of the above (totally bookmarking for ideas next year!), But lots of lovely scenary, food, canoeing. Added bonus if you don't mind driving is Carcassonne is relatively close by.

Its very famous for donkey cheese. I didn't sample any (not envy!)

Also Hintertux in Austria very good for scenery and snow / skiing all year, ice palace at top of mountain, lots of watersports nearby. Not sure of temp we went in May but can always go up mountain to cool off. Not sure if animals. Croatia think has bears too but never been.

Berchtesgarten in Bavaria is stunning. We holiday in the French Alps each year near Evian which is great as there’s lots of good accommodation and the gorgeous Lac Leman, with super beaches.

Thanks all! Loads to look at. And the bears are gorgeous!

I need well marked walking paths. How good are the walking maps & how well marked are the footpaths do you guys find, in all these places?

Last year, the paths were mostly well sign- posted in Austria & the weather was not volatile (either very hot or very pissing it down, but not changeable in one day, iyswim!). Although walking map we had in Austria was slightly faulty, if I'm honest. But I discovered the trick there is almost always take the gondolas up and down the mountain, coz it's the paths down that the maps may not be updated since so few people take them. Certainly on a long walk take the cable cars.

We stayed in Zell am See & didn't find it expensive. Found it frightfully good value, actually. But we don't eat out so maybe that's why. Or maybe the rest of Austria is very cheap to stay in.

In Zell, there were lots of people in conservative Muslim dress (also lots in conservative Jewish dress). Many comment on the Arabs in Zell but they had zero impact on my hillwalking & rest of our hols. There was no lifeguard in the public swimming areas, though, just in case you find that unacceptable.

We enjoyed the Pyrenees this summer.