Advice needed for planning Europe summer trip!! Where to go and when??

Welcome to the forum Zilli. To help people give you ideas, it would be beneficial to list your interests (cities, countryside, art, history, etc.) and what you mean by "reasonable" budget in US dollars or Euros. There is no way to predict the weather this far ahead. I was in London one June and it was 95F which was quite out of the ordinary. Cooler northern countries are generally more expensive to travel in (e.g., Scandinavia). And Europe is always busy in the summer - if you want to go to tourist sites, they're going to have quite a lot of people in them.

If you're planning to use trains, this website has all the info you need to make it a successful experience: seat61.com.

My wife and I took our first European trip in 2024. It was in the spring but it was a great first trip we thought. We also just traveled by train. We started in Amsterdam and ended in Edinburgh over a three week period.
Here is how we broke it down if I remember it correctly.
Amsterdam 3 nights.
Bruges 2 nights
Paris 3 nights.
London 5 nights with a day trip to Bath. It was difficult to find a train between Bath and Liverpool. It was easier to go through London.
Liverpool 2 nights.
St Andrews 3 nights.
Edinburgh 3 nights.
All of these cities are in the North of Europe so it should be cooler then Italy and Spain.
You could move some of these nights in the large cities to smaller towns and villages since most towns have a train station.
We rode high speed trains out of Amsterdam, Paris and London. We took what I call a local train to Bruges, Brussels, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh. All these trips were simple to make and I thought much easier then flying.
I would suggest you get out a map of Europe and and pick cities or areas you want to visit. Then draw out a route to take.
Take a look at Rick's tours and see how they fit in their tours and see it it matches yours.
Remember a minimum two night stay is needed to properly visit a town or city. Unless you plan a day trip like we did in Bath. We took an early train and returned late in the evening.
Good luck on your planning and have fun on your trip.

3 weeks to travel between June 15 – August 20, 2026, but we’re a bit stuck on timing and destinations.

We originally had a plan from late July to mid-August,

I think I'm a bit confused on the timing choices.

Is it any 3 weeks in the 9 1/2 weeks between the 15th of June through the 20th of August?

Other than starting earlier than late July to mid-August, both periods end at about the same time?

The whole period you are considering is definitely summer, and likely to be hot in many places.

If you move the trip to only 2 or 3 months from now will you have enough time to get all your ducks in a line and reservations made?

I'll be back later with suggestions... but since we're starting with a blank sheet of paper, what are you doing about flights?

Where are you arriving from, will you go into one airport and back from the same in a circle, or into one airport and back home from another, sort of a straight line?

Is "we" 2 adults? Mobility issues?

I’m with Nigel that you won’t get the best help with such an open ended question; however you may not yet know what kind of places or things you will enjoy since it’s a first trip.

For weather in the summer, budget, and crowds here are a couple of suggestions:
1) Scotland - mainly outside of Glasgow and Edinburgh. This ticks off the boxes of crowds and weather usually (with a few exceptions). However it is not budget.
2) Not usually considered for a first time to Europe, the Baltics. You could have a great 3 week trip to Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn, traveling between them by bus or train or sightseeing van.

If you are caring about budget and cooler weather, my suggestion would be the Baltics as well - we were last summer and it was a really nice road trip from Lithuania to Estonia. Bonus for being there around June 24th, when they, just like Scandinavians, celebrate and the nights are extremely short.
I don‘t think it is necessarily a problem for first time travelers, tbh. Your chances that an average person speaks English (particularly a younger one) might be significantly higher than in France or Italy, and they are actually pretty safe and clean nowadays.

1. What types of memories do you want to make?
2. Try for of a mix of busy-chill and big city-small/rural
3. Activity level/sportiness?
4. Do some fun research by watching videos. But be aware that Rick and other content creators will lead you to more popular choices. Still it’ll give you an idea of the types of things you could do

Hi all! Thank you so much for so many replies, advice and tips. Upon reading, I did realize that the information I provided wasn't sufficient enough, sorry about that. I hadn't realized that we had to think from so many aspects. So to get further specific help, I have added more info at the end of the original post. But otherwise thanks for all the help provided.

Vote #3 for the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. You won't run into unrelenting heatwaves there (though you might run into some warmish days, especially in Vilnius, which is farther south than the other capitals), and they are comparatively inexpensive destinations. A lot of the other moderately-priced European countries are much farther south and can be sweltering in the summer. Scandinavia would be lovely, but it is well above average in cost, and your budget is quite tight for a 3-week trip.

I'd travel as early in your date range as possible, because late June will probably be a bit cooler than early August. And I'd start in Lithuania if possible, because Vilnius and Kaunas can be significantly warmer than the other major Baltic cities.

There's a dedicated forum for Estonia here: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/estonia. There's no equivalent for Latvia and Lithuania, because Rick doesn't yet have tours going to those countries. However, there have been some helpful posts on this forum by people who have been to all three countries.

Forum posts mentioning Latvia 2024 to date

Forum posts mentioning Lithuania 2024 to date

There will be a great deal of duplication on those two lists.

The key Baltic cities are the capitals, which are visually quite different from each other. Tallinn is known for its medieval architecture. Riga has some of Europe's best Art Nouveau buildings, and Vilnius tends to the Baroque. There are other interesting destinations in all those countries. I think my favorite place outside the capitals was Kaunas in Lithuania. However, my interests are somewhat odd--art, decorative art, architecture and 20th-century history. Others will have different preferences.

You can explore lodging options on booking.com to get an idea of likely costs. You will probably save money by making your reservations on the actual websites of the hotels, etc. However, there are exceptions, so it's smart to compare.

There isn't as much train service in the Baltic countries as there is farther west, though some was added recently. Buses are commonly used between cities, and the ones I took were very comfortable.

Poland is another very interesting destination that's less expensive than Italy/France/Great Britain/etc., but much of the country could be quite hot in the summer. Here's an example:

Warsaw weather -- June 2024

We are two friends traveling abroad for the first time so we don’t
really have strong preferences yet. Our main goal is simply to get out
of the country and experience new places.

Appreciate you adding more information about your trip. I can see why you are overwhelmed - Europe is enormous and given you don't have strong preferences it would be difficult to pare down to a three week trip. Might I suggest you both spend some time looking at guidebooks or https://www.ricksteves.com/europe and each pick out things that interest you. See where your common interests lie and then plot those out on a map to see if you can create a logical itinerary. Just know that planning for a June departure right now is going to be cutting it quite close in some busier areas - you may be priced out or find few vacancies.

I'm unclear, are you living in Dublin? Or simply flying in/out of there? If it's just the place you're arriving to Europe, then I'd spend some time in Ireland.

agree with CL - Ireland may well be an excellent fit - weather - people - scenery - sightseeing - price relative to others.

But speaking about money, with the current crisis in the flow of oil you may have missed the sweet spot in near term air fares and yet for later ones before they will have incentive to fall. At least you are looking at short haul rather than the much higher long haul.

I thought of the Baltics as well. In general, in Europe the further north you go the more expensive it gets, but the Baltics are the exception. You could also consider Poland or including a trip to Helsinki via Tallinn. However, I wouldn't say any of these cities have particularly famous landmarks. That's not to say they're not good places to visit, but they might not be quite what you are looking for.

The UK does not get hot in the summer despite a few days here and there (which are mostly very much appreciated by those of us that live here), and we have lots of historic landmarks and sites, but accommodation here is quite expensive unfortunately. It might be worth looking into anyway just to see if you can find something that fits your budget.

Prague, Vienna, Budapest temperatures: https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/77807~81358~84771/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Prague-Vienna-and-Budapest

3 Arrive Prague
4 Prague
5 Prague
6 Prague and day trip to Kunta Hora
7 Prague
8 Morning train to Cesky Krumlov
9 Cesky Krumlov maybe raft the river through town
10 Bean Shuttle from Cesky Krumlov to Vienna
11 Vienna
12 Vienna / Wachau Velley, Melk Abbey day trip.
13 Vienna
14 Vienna
15 1.3 hour morning train to Gyor, then taxi to the Archabbey at Pannonhalma https://youtu.be/kBYsexwEbPc?si=WbGVcCHTSvnL_BM0 AND Lunch and afternoon in Gyor https://youtu.be/NbH6u0J-Xos?si=_ez8vBTYVgVjgdeV AND the 1.3 hour train on into Budapest. https://youtu.be/CVHHKQW1v-g?si=3PsXdzugJivv8ggp
16 Budapest: Buda Castle Folk Arts Festival begins. This is the lead up to St Stephens Day, the biggest holiday in Hungary. Half day festival, half day other sights in Buda https://mestersegekunnepe.hu/english/ Evening River Cruise https://youtu.be/xG2naepLKN4?si=ShtRS1XaJ8SHz-E-
17 Budapest and day trip to Szentendre daytrip with the boat back to Budapest. https://youtu.be/KHTrW5AUs9E?si=F6pN9TihL41FQd9S
18 Budapest: Jewish Budapest Day https://youtu.be/clUZCUF9SE8?si=4P_VpnQqLQwPM1Hy
19 Budapest: Budapest on the riverfront from the Great Market Hall https://youtu.be/MNAbiDRmFHk?si=TA7j1ZA-MJeJr7Gd to the Parliament https://youtu.be/LEQJpzKqd9I?si=qXvl2Ur7RrVJY01T . Much will be closed to all but pedestrians. Very festive.
20 Budapest: Enjoy the celebrations all over town during the day and head to the river in the evening for the fireworks and spectacular light shows: Don’t say no until you see this. https://youtu.be/inf0ADYlIb0?si=vHJBCSPN_26XpgrC
21 Budapest: Pest Tour Part Two
22 Flight Home

Mr. E has identified three great cities, but I'm worried about your budget in those places. I'd recommend exploring lodging options on booking.com to see whether you can find what you want without dipping into funds you will need for food, transportation and sightseeing.

I just did the trip that I know. There are a 1000 other options. For budget there isn't going to be much that is as inexpensive than Prague and Budapest, although Vienna is indeed a bit pricy but with a bit of care, like where you buy train tickets, the three together are economical.

Other good and economical ideas are Poland and the Baltics. Just not places I can help with.

$$$$ are the Nordic countries, UK. Switzerland, Paris.
Nutty hot will be Italy and most of Spain and the Balkans.

But yes, Acraven is correct, but most any trip of three weeks for 3.000 euro is going to be tough. If you were to do just Prague and Budapest, two cheap towns and reduce it to 14 to 16 days then I think you are right at your budget. Ryan does fly Dublin to Prague, Prague to Budapest (or you can do the 6+ hour trian ride) and Budapest to Dublin. So with carryon only all the flights will be about 400 euro or 300 euro with the train from Prague to Budapest. Nice well located hotels in Prague, maybe 125 euro a night, in Budapest maybe 100 euro a night. Food, well that depends on you. For me food sometimes is sustinance and sometimes part of the tour. So 50 euro to 60 euro a day. Things like metro cards maybe 25 euro in each city. Airport transfers 5 euro each in Budapest, dont know Prague or Dublin. Entrance fees and activity costs, dont cheat yourself, figure 125 euro. All those are per person.

I ran past your 20 August day. The best you can do with this trip is 21 August. If you cant do that save it for another trip. The 20th in Budapest is one of Europe's 4 greatest events. It would be a shame to miss it. On the 21st there is an afternoon fight back to Dublin.

If any of this looks promising, come back and we will help you build it in your budget.

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all the thoughtful and insightful replies. I really appreciate the time you all took to share your ideas and experiences. I have definitely started looking more into the destinations that were mentioned, especially the Baltics and some of the Central European cities. I hadn't considered those before but they sound really interesting and seem like they could fit both our budget and weather concerns quite well!!

I also realized that I forgot to clarify something about the budget in my original post. The budget I mentioned does not include major travel costs like flights or trains between destinations so you don’t need to factor those into the suggestions. Really sorry about that oversight! All of your suggestions are giving us a lot of great directions to research. Thanks again for the help :)

The train costs arent the killers. Its hotels. We are all different but when I go someplace i want to exploit it for all its worth and staying 3 miles out of town to get a half cost hotel room just doesnt cut it. I would rather shorter better than a longer incomplete experiene.

Since the whole St. Stephens day celebration came up, watch for a post on it in the Hungary forum. I'll do a trip report later today.

Yes, when I was looking through trying to book some accommodations, I was SHOCKED. Because it is super convenient being near city centers however the price isn't really worth it. That's why we are thinking of moving around less since moving to newer accommodations frequently has been racking up the price. I agree with you.