Mountains, lakes, not too hot and no driving

[zeddybrek]

Does this type of holiday exist. Please help.

Trying to plan a trip to make everyone happy. Kids are 11 and 9 and most holidays are AI resorts as they love swimming and making friends in the pool or on the beach etc.

DH only likes lakes and mountains. Anything nature based. Since having kids we did the Swiss Alps twice and that's it. We went to Lake Leucern and he absolutely loved it. However it's expensive and fancy somewhere new but same vibe. Easy trails and beautiful scenery.

Most places recommended in Europe involve driving and we both hate driving in general.

Can anyone suggest a base that ticks the boxes with easy hiking trails and possibly good public transport. Thanks!

Lake Garda...

If your kids are OK with a walking-type holiday (ours would not have been at that age!) then have a look at the Azores. The main island (São Miguel) has lots of walks, and a bus network that will take you to the start points. It's beautiful, a bit like Brittany or Cornwall in places, still quite cheap, and the temperature is about 20° almost year-round. But there are not many AI-type hotels because it just isn't hot enough for the "lie and fry" crowd, and the beaches are rubbish (mostly black sand). You could maybe add to the adventure by taking a plane or ferry to one of the other islands.

Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj in Slovenia. Oh and Vintgar Gorge is also very close. Taxi ride from Ljubljana airport wasn't too costly.

Merano in the Italian Dolomites. Fly to Verona and get the train (change at Bolzano). Most Airbnbs come with a free travel pass on all public transport (including cable cars) in the region. Can fit in trips to Verona, Bergamo, Venice and Lake Garda with some planning.

Slovenia. Bled, Bohinj, Ljubliana, the coast... all can be done very easily and cheaply by bus.

Annecy in France might work..public transport is ok...ish and there's lots to do in summer!

New Zealand.

Zel am See

I was going to say Slovenia - something for everyone.

Lake Balaton in Hungary. You can get the train from Budapest and then get around with bikes and boat trips if you are happy staying around the same area, or taxis and trains to go further. We (couple, no kids) stayed in Keszthely and found plenty to do without needing transport.

Lake Garda. Fly into Verona and then bus to lake. We stayed in Peschiera del Garda as it had train station so easy to travel.

Zell am see on tui lakes and mountains package, stay at a hotel that has the guest card.

Tui sort the transfers. Great public transport. Guest card covers the cable cars and public transport. Lake swimming. Family activities.

Lake Geneva is very easily accessible without a car - just fly into Geneva and get the train to any of the towns or cities around the lake. We like Evian and from there you can get the bus up to Thollon-les-memises which is a ski resort by winter and has hiking trails in the summer with amazing views over the lake. Our kids happily spend hours in the outdoor swimming complex in Evian which has a couple of pools, a flume and a lifeguarded section of the lake with diving boards and costs about £10 for us all for the day. There are similar set ups in lots of the lakeside towns.

Austrian Tyrol eg Seefeld or Mayhofen. Eurostar then overnight sleeper from Brussels/Amsterdam to Innsbruck and then local trains. Or day trains through Germany. Or fly to Munich and then local trains.

Your DH sounds very rigid.

(Misses point of thread)

Annecy. I used to live there. So beautiful. There's a swimming place in the lake near the town centre, kIds will love it. Stunning scenery. Boat down the Lake. Buses to villages around the lake.

The water in the lake is so clear it's like looking through air.

How about Bergen in Norway? Lots to do in the city itself - or you can get on ferries to visit the fjords. Or train via Voss to Oslo.

Thank you everyone, I will have a look at all of these. Some very beautiful options from the quick look I have had so far!

Gdansk / Gdynia/ Sopot in Poland. There is a coastal bike trail all along the Polish Baltic coast, lots of fun for families. Beaches are lovely and towns are interesting. The Masurian Lakes area is a two hour car trip from Gdansk.

Zakopane in southern Poland (Tatra Mtns region) offers a lot of mountain, river, and hiking activities.

Morzine in France. Free bus network to get around and lots of cheap activities in summer if you get the pass (swimming, ice skating etc)

We have done Lake Garda without a car twice. Public transport is great. We have also been to lake bled with a car but apparently public transport also very good and it’s such a small country anyway!

Zell am See or Saalbach-Hinterglemm, which is 16km away. Either fly to Salzburg and take public transport from there, or even take the train (Eurostar, then NightJet sleeper through Netherlands and Germany to Austria). Alternatively a package from Crystal or Inghams - look at their Lakes and Mountains summer programmes.

Public transport - trains and buses - throughout the State of Salzburg is going to be free for tourists this summer, so all of the lakes and mountain resorts in that part of Austria are going to be easily accessible. In anticipation of the increased demand, extra departures will be put in place in a system that is already reliable.

'Lakes and mountains, and anything nature based' isn't that rigid at all - not if you look at the replies to the post, giving multiple different options that meet the brief.

If it was 'lakes over a certain size, next to mountains of a certain height, near a town with specific facilities and no more than 10 minutes by taxi from the airport', that might be rigid, but 'lakes and mountains' is a very broad brief indeed!

I second this. Both towns are lovely and very easy to get about by train. Innsbruck easy for a day out. Or Achensee.