Europe, not scorchingly hot, not eye wateringly £££ and 19 yr old DS in tow! Help!!

[Jungfraujoch]

Looking for a combination of culture, sun and fun!

Lake Garda. Specifically Peschiera del Garda or Lazise for trips to Verona for culture and the theme parks for fun

Barcelona

Stockholm.

Southern Europe IS scorchingly hot now in the summer (Spain in any case, last year 42 degrees in August).

Thing is, with climate change you cannot predict the weather any more. Who would have thought it would be 10 degrees at the end of April? I'm still wearing my winter coat....

Sorry, no help to you at all OP.

When?

When we went to the coast of north Croatia in July, temperatures averaged high twenties but didn’t break 30. Lots of watersports and day trips.

And Pula has a whole Colosseum, not a partial one like Rome!

Most of southern Europe will be really hot now. If you are not desperate for a typical AI resort, I would look at Scandinavia (saying that, they also have warm Summers), German North Sea or Baltic Coast, Netherlands, Northern France.

It really depends what you want to do. You find lots of culture everywhere, if you go somewhere with lakes or a coastal region you can often do watersports.

Lido Di Jesolo or Lignano Sabbiadoro in Italy. Close to Venice for an early morning cool visit, lots of little Venices around to visit in the area, or Trieste, Grado, Aquilia.

Both are also beach resorts with plenty of restaurants and choices of accommodation.

A lot of the Portuguese coast is surprisingly cool how far south it is. Have a look at Foz de Arelho.

There’s a difference between ‘not scorchingly hot’ and ‘just like the UK’. Went to Denmark last June ~ rained most days. Have relatives in the Netherlands ~ their summer last year was as bad as ours.

Have you thought about the islands which are cooler ~ Majorca, Sardinia etc? Not as scorching as Turkey/ Greece.

We liked Lisbon/ Cascais/ Sintra. Or what about driving around France. Croatia is great ~ Cavtat has ferries to Dubrovnik, you can do day ferries to the islands and day trips into Montenegro.

But I think everywhere will be £££ in the summer hols, and packed. As an ex teacher I’m used to scouring for bargains in the summer hols and I am shocked at how expensive everywhere is now.

Go to Berlin and hang out in parks and beer gardens.

Agree with Portugal, Lisbon/cascais/sintra. It did get hot for us on one or two of the days but usually is cooler and there’s a good breeze from the sea. Brittany/Normandy could tick those boxes, can be cold in summer or hot, pretty similar climate to UK overall, but really lovely.
Norway beautiful and warm in summer when I went but not too hot. Quite pricey though!

Glad to hear Lisbon and Cascais mentioned here, as that's where we have just booked after 18 year old DS announced that he was able to come on holiday with us after all, but could only come towards end pf July.

I managed to get reasonably priced flights by staying for 6 nights and combining Ryanair and Easyjet. Early flights out and late back so we get full days on either side. Have booked nice looking 4 star hotels 3 nights Lisbon 3 nights Estoril, have had to get 2 rooms but still not bad. Came in around £2700 total, including cabin luggage and breakfast.

Thanks OP you've just saved me 50 euros!

As a result of thinking about this I realised I had booked DH and I a twin rather than double in our Lisbon hotel, so went in to change but couldn't so instead I cancelled and rebooked and prices today for the two rooms were 50 euros cheaper .

Following as just what we're looking for, but with dd 13!

Budapest - lots of nice cafes / bars / parks / museums / things to see. hot but not impossibly hot. spas with hot springs etc if you like to swim

Thanks for all the suggestions! Some great ones I’d not thought of.

Another flag waver for Budapest, went two months ago, the spas are great, lots to see re museums (house of terror is astonishing), good food, boat trips, amazing architecture.

With DD (20 this year) in recent years we've been to:

Madrid/Toledo/Salamanca- hot hot hot but we live in Italy so we're ok with it

Brussels- surprisingly interesting. Lots to do and lovely places to visit nearby

Alvor/Lisbon - hot but the Atlantic breeze definitely tempers it.

Austria- Seefeld. Best holiday ever and would go back like a shot. (In fact, looking for something similar, but different for this year)

DD herself went with friends to Budapest/Vienna/Prague and said Budapest was the best.

Lake brienz in Switzerland- views, gorgeous, cheese. Lakes.

What's not to love