Tell me about your favorite mountains to sea holidays

[SimoneSpeaksSoftly]

I'm cold and dreaming of summer, lol. Contemplating a ~2 week holiday either next summer (or summer 2027 if we can't swing it next year). We'd like to do something where we spend a week in the mountains followed by a coastal location, potentially the latter at a Eurocamp-type place with a beach and pools but also near a town. Would love to hear what others have done! A couple ideas I've been thinking about:

Slovenia --> northern Croatia. My one concern is that Slovenia is it would involve too much moving around so trying to figure out how best to minimize bases. My youngest would be 7 next summer, is it better to wait until they are a bit older? Would also love suggestions about a good spot in N. Croatia- older DC loves history and old towns too. And would prefer pebble beaches over rock slab ones.

Dolomites --> somewhere on the italian riveria (or potentially Lake Garda?)

DH is keen on trying the Austrian Alps too (we've only been in winter) but not sure about a logical coastal destination from there- open to a lake but imagine they are freezing??

Well it doesn't tick your temperature box but isle of skye then across to isle of lewis and harris is just about as spectacular as you can get. A couple of days in Edinburgh for a city fix and you're all set.

We went to Annecy and the Briancon area a couple of summers ago, so lakes and mountains rather than sea and mountains. Lake Annecy wasn’t cold at all - it was lovely. Slightly cooler in the lakes fully high up in the alps but v swimmable. Probably not Mediterranean Sea temp though. But it was absolutely gorgeous.

We stayed this hotel in the Pyrenees https://www.hotellacoma.com/en/family-hotel-pyrenees
It’s about 2 hours away from Argeles sur Mer, where we’ve since stayed at Le Bois de Valmarie.

Zell am See, late in summer lake is comfortably swimmable.

I'd say France or Italy are you best bets for amazing mountains and lovely beaches close together.

Austria is wonderful and the lake swimming is excellent (not cold in the summer!). But you'd have a bit of a trek to a proper beach. They do have grass beaches or fake beaches, but all lake adjacent obviously.

We have stayed in the Pyrenees (Ceret) and then on to the med coast, which was a lovely mix. Lots of pretty old towns. You could also do this on the Spanish side.

We've done Eurocamp in Croatia, flew to Pula and stayed a bit there then onto a campsite (by bus) which was ginormous but good fun (Camp Umag). I would recommend booking directly with those campsites rather than through Eurocamp. You can get it cheaper and better locations. Pula is very old, lots of Roman stuff. No mountains though.

Last year we did Seville and the coast which was lovely. Seville is gorgeous.

This year hoping to do Picos de Europa and Spanish seaside in northern Spain but not booked it yet.

Weve done lake bohinj in slovenia followed by a by a huge campsite near pula. We drove from the uk ( was part of a 3 week road trip). So we had our own car. We were unlucky with the weather and mainly camping but we had a great time.

Picos de Europa and Basque Country in Spain. The Picos are jaw dropping mountains, great walks and cycle rides, lovely food, amazing wildlife. Then head north an hour or two up to the coast and you have San Sebastian, Bilbao and a line of lovely beaches of the Basque country. Such great food! The sea is not very warm though being the Atlantic, although warmer than Cornwall/UK south coast.

Italy also has some superb hills and mountains near beaches. I did a week in Florence (stayed just outside in the hills) for work and a weekend after for fun at Pisa and the coastal regional park.

We visited Lake Garda this summer , up in the mountains in Monte Bardo then travelling around the lake. Also managed a few days in Venice and Verona as so close. Busy in the summer though, but early September was ok and gorgeous weather.

We spent 10 days in the Austrian alps followed by 3 days in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance in August. It was a brilliant holiday that we plan to repeat, albeit with more time in Friedrichshafen. The lake beach facilities are excellent and the lake was warm enough.

I visited friends in Loano on the Ligurian coast. Italy last year.

Lovely town with lovely beaches, mountains right near by.

I love all these suggestions, thank you! Had not considered Spain. And I'm thinking I discounted Austria too much, I need to explore a bit further as some of the lakes look lovely (and glad to hear they are swimmable).

Where did you base yourself in Austria?

Lake Constance was not on my radar at all, it looks really nice.

Grobming OP. DH’s uncle and aunt have a holiday home they let us use. I still prefer it over the more popular places because it’s peaceful and there’s enough to do for a week or so.

www.steiermark.com/en/Schladming-Dachstein/Cities-Towns/Grobming_c_841557

Andalusia is very mountainous so lots of options to combine with Malaga, Granada, Seville and Cordoba.

Hotter than you could ever imagine in the summer too.

Lake Garda is fantastic BUT I would love to visit Austria again having spent two summers there about 8 /9 years ago. The area around zell am see / Kaprun is fantastic.

Zell am See is great for the lake. The "beaches" are all green lawns and there are several lakeside lido areas where there are water slides and swimming pools. There's lots to do on the mountain as well, both in Zell am See and Kaprun.

There are even more mountain activities in nearby Saalbach-Hinterglemm, so you could stay there and just take a short drive or bus down to Zell am See for the lake.

Both Zell am See and Saalbach-Hinterglemm offer free Tourist Cards to their summer guests which cover the local cable cars, local transport and museums etc. Public transport throughout the State of Salzburgerland is free for tourists, so you don't even need a car - you can use trains and buses to and from Salzburg Airport.

Definitely stay by a lake. So much nicer than a beach / the sea! And they are definitely not cold in the summer

Mayo west coast of Ireland. Deserted, white sandy beaches backed by mountains. We got lucky and had 25c a few years back. Westport is a great town for the craic and you can climb Croagh Patrick.

Montenegro: Zabljak and Kotor?

My favourite type of holiday. We have done -

Slovenia and Croatia. Flew into Ljubljana which we loved. Rented a car and drove down to Croatia where we stayed in Rovinji. Lovely little town. We then drove back to Lake bled where we based ourselves and did lots of trips to mountains and other lakes nearby.

Lake Annecy and Chamonix. Probably the holidays would recommend for younger children. Just brilliant and so many things to do. You can fly quite cheaply into Geneva.

We have also done the German and Austrian alps and I loved it but can’t remember the names of the lakes now’s we did road tripping.