Mountains + beaches in Europe

[tpmumtobe]

Last year we had a fab 2 wk holiday, split between one week in the Italian mountains and 2nd week on Croatian coast. Perfect combo of hiking, cable cars, taboggans and then heat, beaches, seaside etc. Something for everyone, and an easy day on train and ferry to get between the two locations.

We'd really like to do something similar this year, but I'm struggling to narrow down two mountain and beach locations we could connect together. I don't want to fly in the middle if we can help it, but would be up for a sleeper train, for eg.

Has anyone done something similar? Thinking the Alps then train to French coast somewhere? Or Slovenia then train to Greece?

Any ideas gratefully received!

How about Grenada in Spain? Mountains and beach in the same place. And the Alhambra Palace.

Whilst it's not beachy you could go to the french Alps then go to the ardeche, they have a stunning 32km (and options for less) kayaking and it's a stunning place.

Andalusia- Granada, Malaga

Italy: Dolomites and Tuscan or Adriatic coast.

French Pyrénées and then to Spain. Could do either San Sebastian side or the Mediterranean side.

I would do Slovenia and Greece.

I would not go to the north of Spain for beaches as the weather is not guaranteed.

French Alps and South of France sounds good too.

Antalya in Turkey, e.g. round Kaş. Nice/Cannes aren't so easy by train into the mountains, but you can get the bus up, or have patience with the train. Pyrennes and then Barcelona, Basque, or Gascoigne are all nice

Thanks for all these, some great suggestions, I'll start researching. Hadn't considered the Ardeche, but maybe we need to fixate less on the seaside/beach idea.

What about a lake rather than a seaside location? Then you have all the gorgeous lake/mountain combinations in Switzerland.

Plenty of beaches near Venice then an easy train trip to Lake Garda

Interested to find out more about where you went in the Italian mountains and Croatian coast, planning a similar trip next year. Thank you x

Hi there,
Where did you end up going?
I love that combo and are looking for inspiration for next year.
We recently went to Montenegro and the have great mountains and beautiful Lakes and fjords where you can swim and kayak etc. I highly recommend going there!

A week in Slovenia then back to Croatia again! Slovenia was absolutely amazing, highly recommend. Will have a look at Montenegro!

I hadn't seen that this was an old OP and was just about to recommend Slovenia and then Croatian coast to you!

Gran Canaria is great for mountains and beaches.

Also second the Andalucia recommendation. We've been to Lanjaron a few times, a spa town about 90 mins inland from Malaga, well placed for hiking and also Granada is easily accessible. Then the coast around Malaga.

Corsica. The mountains are 20 minutes’ drive from the beaches, at least in the north. No snow in summer though so you might strike with tobogganing.

Hi, sorry to jump on this old post but just wondering where you stayed when in Slovenia & Croatia last year? We are trying to plan a similar trip for this summer and any tips or suggestions would be very helpful :) thanks in advance

We had a week in Stara Fuzina at the end of Lake Bohinj and a week in a villa near Zadar.

Very easy to get around Slovenia so you could pick lots of places to base yourself, depends what sort of holiday you prefer? Lake Bohinj is very different to Lake Bled, though both get very busy in the summer. Lake Bled is more touristy, very chocolate box pretty but we were glad we weren't actually staying there. Lake Bohinj is more outdoorsy, rural, more swimming spots, much quieter in the evenings. Both have good access to hiking, biking etc.

Ljubljana is lovely for a day or two, the castles and caves at Postonja are amazing.

We've stayed all over in Croatia in recent years and tbh Zadar itself was not for us - way too touristy and too small to deal with the influx of cruise ships. Much prefer the area around Split and the islands there. If you've never done Croatia before I'd suck up the longer drive between the two and base yourself near there for a week, the roads are good and generally clear and fast so while it's a long drive it is doable.

If you want more specifics drop me a PM.

Thanks so much for the info & offer of help, i'll pm you😊

Oh some good ideas on this thread