Where have you been that you loved? 2 week summer family holiday - adventurous, not too hot and not too expensive...!

[MockCroc]

Hi

Inspired by some of the threads on here I am hoping for recommendations for this summer. Family x 5 - kids bottom end of secondary / top half of primary. For context our best holiday ever was Slovenia - mountains, hiking, pony trekking, white water rafting - followed by a more relaxed week in Croatia (sea + Romans).

I am feeling really unenthused about what to do with our holiday. The dream would be something like Canada / African safari / Costa Rica but they are too expensive for x5.

I don't like really tourist hotspots which puts me off some of the Swiss / German / Italian mountains options where you see photos of queues of people hiking up mountain paths. Equally we haven't been to these areas for a summer holiday so I may be being overly sensitive and just need good suggestions about where to go. And we have had a couple of summers when the kids were smaller in Menorca where the temperatures went above 40 which was too much.

Happy to fly (and hire a car), but also to drive in Europe. Briefly flirted with Central Asia but it looked a bit complicated. Wondered about Poland / Albania (although that might be a bit hot)?

We're not bothered by luxury. We often mix cheap basic Air BnBs with a nice villa for variety and to spare the budget.

Help! If you've been somewhere and loved it, tell me about it!

We love Annecy in France - good weather, beautiful scenery, lots to do.

We drive down, usually stopping en route to break up the journey (and to explore other French towns).

Annecy is on a lake surrounded by mountains so you can cycle, parascending, walks, day trips to Geneva or Chamonix, explore Annecy, etc . From what you say, it’s right up your street.

We've driven round Iceland in the summer and it was fantastic. There is a good itinerary here, and if you DIY it rather than booking through that company it is much, much cheaper, so ignore that price! 14 Day Iceland Ring Road Westfjords Self-Drive Tour. You could adapt it/skip things out if it seems too busy!
We did things like horse riding, saw the puffins, visited waterfalls, went swimming in lagoons and geothermal pools and did an 'inside the volcano' tour. It's around 15 degrees on average in July.

How about Sardinia or Sicily ? We've been twice to both, staying in different locations.
Plenty to see & do for a family, & we found it reasonably priced..

Driving is fine - nothing like mainland Italy !

Zakopane in Poland. Cable car / funicular / lots of walks. Horse and carriage ride to Morskie Oko lake and walk back. Day trips to Krakow and the Salt Mines, and maybe Auschwitz. I remember doing white water rafting just over the Slovakian border.

These are such brilliant suggestions - thank you. Exactly what I was hoping for. I am now sitting furiously googling!

Kalkan in Turkey,loads of outdoor adventures. Seychelles, GUADALUPE, Lapland

We’re going here in the summer https://www.groebming.at/de/.

@Doggymummar are you able to tell me more about Kalkan? I hadn't considered Turkey - I guess it would be v hot in August but it looks beautiful

@xmasdealhunter did you stay in hotels or do AirBnB? I'm quite intrigued by Iceland too

We did a mix of hostels (private rooms with ensuites), hotels and airbnbs. I could probably find the links to the ones we stayed in if you're interested!

Bear in mind Iceland is definitely not cheap!

Sorry to hijack your post, but I am interested in Slovenia this year - where did you go when you went please?

Iceland is great but VERY expensive.

Anywhere in the med (or level with Lyon and down) will be roasting, Sardinia is also v expensive, Turkey less so but even hotter (40c+).

I love the look of northern Germany. The beaches look beautiful. Brittany in France would be lower temps and is stunning too.

Latvia and Estonia?

Or possible cooler in northern Spain or northern Portugal given the Atlantic coast….

@Wellnowlookhere no problem - this is what I posted on another thread that inspired my question:
We spent a week in Slovenia then a week in a villa near Rovinj in Croatia for our summer holiday in 2023. It was glorious. We loved Slovenia. We did Ljubljana - Bled - Soca - Rovinj staying a few nights in each and had the most wonderful time. Ljubljana is fun for a day or two (even though we arrived in a biblical storm). Bled was beautiful (early morning row to the island before the rest of the tourists get up and a swim in icy Lake Bohinj and a trip up the Vogel cable car for the view). We were meant to go to Vintgar Gorge but it was closed because we arrived in a terrible storm. Then we had a wonderful few days in Soca. If you are outdoorsy it's the dream - I booked pony trekking and white water rafting, otherwise we hiked and explored. Then we drove to Croatia via the Postojna caves and Predjama castle - both of which are amazing. Our kids were 10, 8 and 6 and loved every moment of it. It was so good we can't work out where to go next!

We did the Iceland ring road last summer in a camper van which but you'd really need a motor home for 5. It's not as basic as it sounds as a lot of the campsites have indoor cooking and dining areas with proper cookers. But you do need to self cater to keep the costs down.

More years ago than I care to remember , but Arenas de Cabrales in Asturias . Mountains , near beaches , a nearby medieval village , and a National park .

Germany:

Baltic Sea, lots of things to do, cities to explore and plenty of options for self catering.
Weather can be unpredictable though.

Frankonia - the area north of Nürnberg. Hiking and cycling, rivers and lakes for watersport, castles, caves, cities.

Lake Constance: a bit more popular but still nice and lots to do.

Black Forest: I know it's popular but I found it a bit meh.

Oberbayern (the alpine part): lakes for swimming and watersport, castles, hiking, yes, it's popular but also easy to avoid the "must do" things you may picture when you said long queues. We were near the border to Salzburg last August and even with the odd day of bad weather loved it.

How about Malta? A great mix of culture, sea, sports activities etc.

If you don't want it too hot then I would avoid the Med and Southern Europe in July and August and stick to northern Europe / Scandinavia. I haven't been but what about Denmark? You could combine Copenhagen, Billund for Legoland, some time more rurally maybe and even hop over to Sweeden.

I was going to suggest Iceland also!
Amazing place.

A few years ago we got cheap flights to the US (Norwegian Air) and did a camping trip - most of our luggage was camping stuff but we also bought cheap pans, crockery etc from Walmart (and then donated them to the final campsite who kept them for spares) We hired a car and drove around New England - did whale watching, cycling, saw a moose! We spent the odd night in motels when we felt we needed a bed. Two highlights of the trip - camping on an island in the middle of a lake in Maine with just a canoe - we got dropped off by the campsite boat and they picked us up 5 days later. And camping on Staten Island - free ferry to New York! We found US State parks were great, and all campsites seem to have fire pits!

Norway!

We were there in August and it was 18-22 degrees and sunny every day- perfect for us. So much outdoors stuff to do - hiking, kayaking, boat trips, etc. Ridiculously stunning scenery everywhere you look. Eating out is expensive (especially alcohol) but you can save a lot by self catering.

I'm intrigued as to where people are holidaying that they consider Iceland to fall into the category of "not too expensive"?!? Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing country but it is so expensive, even self catering the cost of basic food was eye watering.

We didn't find self catering too bad cost wise and a lot of the attractions like waterfalls etc are free and Easyjet flights ghere are reasonable. The whale watching type activities are not out of synch with other whale watching locations. Yes it's more expensive than camping in France but there are other places that cost a lot just to get there and the prices I see quoted for AI in the Med make my eyes water.

dh and I went to the Austrian alps last summer (walking and swimming in a lake) and thought our dc would have loved it when younger (we all enjoyed a similar Slovenia holiday to you, and some French alps ones).

We went in June so crowds weren't a problem but there are some good threads on here with recommendations for July and August in places with perhaps a bit more to do for families.