Europe in June

What do you want from your holiday? Sit on a beach? Walking? Churches? Ancient sites?

Stay in one place or island hop? Do you want to hire a car? Do you want to spend time in Athens?

You are travelling in European school holidays, so many places will already have been taken.

A bit more information of what you are seeking would lead to better responses.

Fly into Volos and drive around the spectacular Pelion for a week, then take a ferry to the relatively quiet Alonnisos. Alternatively, spend the entire time on Crete or Corfu, having 2 different bases on each so that you can see all the island.

Thanks Jennifer. We are looking at walking and seeing some sites. We don’t plan to rent a car. I think we will need to fly into Athens and ferry to the other islands?
I am not sure weather wise if July will be very hot in Greece. We are open to Croatia also. Thanks.

How much do you want to move around? If you want beach and relax time, one or two Greek islands and 3-4 days in Athens could be a good mix.

I haven't been to Croatia but my sense is that without a tour, you'd want a car. At least that's what my friends have done.

Last September I spent a week and a half in Hungary. I spent 2 long weekends in Budapest and used 4 intermediate days to visit the beautiful small towns of Pecs, Szeged and Kecskemet, mostly by train, one bus trip. I had been to Budapest before and still would have liked more time there. Vienna, Brno and Bratislava are not far away. A very popular route is Budapest-/
Vienna-Prague, plenty of time for all 3 on a 2-week trip.

If Greece, look at flights as well as ferries.

If Greece doesn't work out for this year, Budapest is great -- you can see the sights and then zone out in the baths.

Greece can be very hot in July (as can Croatia sometimes). Temperatures for both are likely to be 28-32 degrees daytime in the shade. Athens will be a few degrees warmer. There is usually a breeze in the Ionian Islands, which makes the temperature feel more bearable.

Budapest will be late 20s temperature-wise.

Here is another idea. Fly to Podgorica and spend a week working up and down the coast of Montenegro. Montenegro is burried in tourism yet so its beautiful and inexpensive. For the cost of a hotel and bus fare in Croatia you can get a hotel and a private driver in Montenegro. From Podgorica there are Wizzair flights to Budapest for about $100, for the second week. Then home from Budapest.

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. I will read up on Budapest too to decide.

I'm completely different. Faced with your dilemma, I'd shop airfare and probably go anywhere acceptable where I could get a good price on a ticket rather than decide where to go then pay any price for the airfare.

My definition of anywhere acceptable is anywhere I want to go that I haven't been yet.

Thanks Brad, I just checked the cost of the airfare from San Francisco to Croatia versus to Budapest. To Budapest is almost half the price.
I will have to read up on what to see in Budapest.

We go to Budapest a few times a year and usually find good priced tickets into some other location like Podgorica or Kyiv or Sofia, and then move on to Budapest a wee later on a $100 discount airline flight. Or, because Budapest is such an excellent discount airline hub, split your stay in Budapest and visit some place else in the middle.