Advice where to go with teens who have traveled and lived in Europe?

I don't see Venice, Florence, or the lakes area of Italy on your list. A combination of one of those cities with some time on one or more of the lakes would hit your interests.

Hi,

I would focus on north and eastern Germany, ie away from the American tourist radar, a lot of choices here, (Cuxhaven, Greifswald, Weimar, Schwerin, Leipzig, Lübeck, Berlin and Potsdam, Dresden, Lüneburg, Xanten, Rostock, Kiel, Jena, etc) southeastern Austria, Czech Rep, esp towns in Moravia, northern France, Alsace-Lorraine, and Poland again, if you have six full weeks, ie 42 days on the ground.

"...the weather is the weather." How true! I'll be over the same time as you, from mid-May to the first week in Juli. Sometimes, the oppressive heat gets to be annoying and is a nuisance. If the locals can handle it, I had better better too. Your kids are great troopers with their "love of ....languages...." I had my grandson with me in France when he was 4 and again at 10, also in France, both times great trooper, such as taking two five hour rides on the TGV a week apart.

This may not sound as exotic as someof the places you have been, but what about the UK? London has a number of world-class art museums, large and small, and many of them are free. The ones that are not, like the Courtaud, are well worth the cost of entry. Kew Garden is a splendid place for nature-lovers, and there is a very interesting art exhibit there as well. As for music, where to start? Musicals, concerts, opera-singing buskers in Covent Garden, and generally a festival going on somewhere.

Then get out into the countryside for beaches, hiking, and birding, and up into Scotland for more hiking and even better birding, plus some great museums. You can easily travel by train----people here can help you find the best deals, but we did well with Advance tickets and Two Together Railcards. But for Scotland you might want a car for best access to the countryside and islands off the coast.

The UK is quite vegan-friendly, especially in the cities, where you can find vegan restaurants or sort through the menu offerings at the standard places. Street markets like the Borough Market in London will have at least one vegan food stall, making for interesting lunches. And if I recall correctly ,the Pret a Manger grab-and-go cases generally have several vegan options, often a whole section of salads, soups, and sandwiches.

I would suggest Norway, Sweden and Finland. (I would only do Sweden, but thought I'd be fair and add the other two, which I personally don't have a great desire to see until I go back to Sweden at least once. I will someday just sit in Northern Sweden for a month or so.) Stockholm is wonderful for all the things you mentioned. In Sweden they can get into the music vibe (jazz and rock). The Swedes truly live outdoor lives all year, but with the short nights in summer there is much to enjoy.

Mexico City? Japan?

I also noticed that the UK was missing from your list of previously visited spots. Perhaps give it a look.

Northern Spain--the area from Galicia through the Basque Country is usually not hot in summer. Well a few of Galician spots can be pretty warm.

The Dolomites.

I'd suggest Romania and Bulgaria but there's a risk of heat there.

Italy will be very hot and busy at that time of year, so I would consider:

(a) northern Portugal - more temperate than the Algarve further south. Plenty of art and history between Lisbon and Porto plus the Douro Valley for countryside. You could fly very cheaply from Lisbon to the Azores for a week of sun and exploring.

(b) the UK. You won't run out of things to see!

(c) northern Spain for mountains and coast.

For a 6 week trip taking into account some of the things your kids like to do, I'd split time between Iceland and Ireland. It won't be roasting hot in either place, you'll be able to take advantage of longer daylight hours so you can do more outdoors (at that time of year, doesn't start getting dark until 10PM). You can enjoy birding and other wildlife, do some interesting hikes (ex. Skellig Michael, The Burren or Croagh Patrick in Ireland).

While the ocean isn't warm like Southern California, with a wetsuit there's some good surfing off some parts of the coast on some quiet beaches. If they want to be exposed to a different language, travel around the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland, particularly the rural areas to hear Irish being spoken and see signs in Irish. You'll find music and museums scattered around depending on their interests (art, history, etc.).

I agree, Ireland would be a great idea!

I'd agree with Lola and Wray. The UK has so much that would interest all of you. History! You can see a bit of everything from the early Picts to the Romans and the Angles and Saxons to WWI and WWII...... King Arthur and Merlin and medieval knights, Roman invaders, Boadicea and her horses, Winston Churchill.... on and on. The art is fantastic- both what is in museums and out in public. We especially enjoyed the street art- chalk artists, performance artists. etc. Architecture and nature, Royalty, pubs, theatre- oh the theatre- and pomp. I've been to the UK more than 40 times and wish I could go again right now. Scotland has my heart. The people are wonderful and the beauty is wild and awesome. There is good art there too (especially Edinburgh and Glasgow). The Highlands are amazing. Wales and Ireland are great too.

I'd plan on 3-4+ weeks in the UK. There is certainly enough to keep you busy at least that long. You could fly from there to Oslo and I think there might even be short cruise/ferry trips from Orkney to somewhere in Norway.

Norway! Oslo is the cleanest city I've ever been in. It even beats Sydney Australia and that is saying a great deal. Viegland Park is full of sculpture and there are some other great art places, too. You can take the train out to a silver mine and actually get to a tour down in the mine. You'd have time to do Norway in a Nutshell (but not have to rush to much). Or you could see some of Denmark and maybe Sweden.

I also like the thought of adding Iceland as a day or 2 (or 3 or 4) layover either at the beginning or end of your trip.

" We LOVE art, and the girls are lovers of museums and music. . . ."

Sounds like London to me. 1-2 weeks there, then tour around the UK.

It would be nice to get some feedback from Stacy on these ideas.

The Basque coastal area of northern Spain might be really nice. It's a good time of year to be there. Maybe start in Portugal and work up the coast so you're in the northern Spain beach areas in the high summer weeks. Alternatively, you could fly into Paris, head to Normandie and work down the coast through Brittany (my favorite French area so far) then keep going down the coast to the Basque region.

I'm from San Diego, so I love beaches - especially uncrowded beaches. My favorite to date in Europe is the Costa de la Luz, from Tarifa, Spain up to the Portuguese border on the Atlantic side. There are a few cities but mostly miles and miles of almost deserted beaches with just enough services to find lodging and groceries. I don't think it will be too hot right on the Atlantic coast, but can be cool to cold outside of summer.

Having lived and traveled in Europe, I am a bit surprised you have a void in planning additional trips. Anyway, how about Sweden and Norway?