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!

If you loved your Slovenia/Istria holiday then you could look at the Pyrenees - eg around the town of Sort there are quite a lot of outdoor activities available, I think it is quite emergent rather than very established like the Alps. Then combine with somewhere on the north Spanish coast for beach time eg near Bilbao. Or look at quieter Alpine resorts eg Vaujany, St Bornand.

Another option, you could do a surf school week in Portugal (there are family friendly surf hotels, look at Noah and Maverick) and combine with a week in a villa or visiting various towns.

Similarly try a week learning to sail or windsurf, there are various options in Greece mostly round Lefkada/Kefalonia, then combine with seeing a bit of the mainland or island hop to a different island. Admittedly it will be hot but it’s a water based holiday.

Turkey I would consider a gulet holiday - a shared traditional boat (not a cruise ship!) touring the coast. It will be hot hot but when the boat is moving there is a breeze and loads of swimming stops. Make sure the gulet has a/c.

Hi there
We also loved Slovenia! Went there for our family summer holiday last year. This year we are planning to go to northern greece (we love mountains , lakes and great food).
Our friends been to this family summer camp in Montenegro and loved it https://www.shalanature.com/ , it sounds like everything that you are looking for. We are planning on going there next year so if you go let us know how it was :)

Those who have enjoyed Slovenia - did you travel through a company who organised it (if so would you recommend?) or organise it yourself? Thanks

We did organized it ourselves and it was easy.

F

I stayed in China for half a month last year to visit my husband's family.

If I were you I would look at Scandinavia , I haven't been on an adventure family holiday there but city breaks to Copenhagen and Stockholm. The weather will be great but not too hot , and prices are now similar to the UK so a lot less than Iceland. Those countries are all geared up for outdoors activities so if you did some research I think you would find something brilliant.

Swedish summers can be hot, DH got a sunstroke during a boat trip around Stockholm in July.

It is a beautiful country. And mosquito heaven unfortunately as well.