Europe is calling...again!

Many of the places on your new list could be quite a bit hotter than the places you visited last year. That doesn't mean you shouldn't go, but I'd try to figure out how to include some places that might be cooler along the way. Unless you're very unlucky, excessive heat won't be an issue in Switzerland or England. If you decide on Italy, you could include some time up in the Dolomites. If Spain, you could incorporate the area around the north coast.

Although I prefer to spend at least 4 nights in each place, I don't think 3 would have felt so short if you hadn't had a number of really large cities on the earlier itinerary. I love the museums and sights found in large cities, but they are a bit tougher to visit than smaller places (like Menaggio). I normally spend at least 7 nights in the major capital cities, and it is often 10. (I don't have to feed and house a family, though.)

Good advice, last summer was brutal, none of the places we booked had AC, the only part of the stay we had restful night sleeps was in Menaggio. My wife and I visited Gimmelwald before the kids were born, would love to show them it!

Our preference has been smaller places, but with 2 kids and using trains, the cities made more sense. Menaggio and Paris were the 2 highlights of the trip for our daughter. We aren’t much into museums, or at least the kids/wife aren’t. I’m picturing this trip to be a bit more relaxing/sedentary. Access to pools/oceans would be nice, we enjoyed shopping and cooking for ourselves in the Paris and Menaggio Airbnb. That was probably the times we felt we were really embracing local life.

Oh, with non-air-conditioned rooms you'd probably have felt exhausted if you hadn't changed hotels once. I've spent some mid-summer weeks in hot places, and it is draining.

Since you've mentioned keeping costs down, you may need to avoid Switzerland. However, the Dolomites in Italy or the Alps in Austria/Bavaria/France might be possible.

One advantage of the hot parts of Spain and Italy is that, at least in my experience, even budget lodgings tend to be air-conditioned. The farther north you go, the more likely you are to have to upgrade your hotel in order to have a/c. I don't want to pay for all the extra bells and whistles; I just want not to swelter!

Last summer, most of Europe experienced a record-breaking heat wave and drought. When we flew into London near the end of July, the normally-green landscape of the English countryside was brown. Amsterdam was uncomfortably warm. Even in the Swiss Alps it was warm for serious hiking. The heat wave broke in August; in the Alps (Chamonix) we experienced 2 days of massive downpours which were welcomed by the locals, but not fun for hikers.

Of the places on your list, I would definitely include London and English countryside ( add York and maybe Scotland), and the Lauterbrunnen area. We had an apartment in Mürren the first week of August and it was perfect. The über-expensive aspects of Switzerland are hotels and Restaurants. If you can rent an apartment and cook "in", it is not bad.

If your visit can include the first weekend of August in Mürren, you will be there for the village festival and parade. Well worth planning around. I would recommend our apartment to you, but it is larger (3bdr.) and thus more expensive than you need. The apartment at Chalet Fontana is moderate in price and would serve well. We have stayed there as a family of four several times.

http://www.ferntree.ch/chalet/fontana_summer.htm

The grocery store ( Coop) is practically across the street ( pedestrians only), and the price of groceries is reasonable.

London is pricy as well, but there again if you can rent a flat you can keep the costs down. We spent 3 weeks there with our kids and grandkids recently. The flat was on the expensive side, but groceries actually cost less than we would pay in the US for the same high quality. (Note, this may change after Brexit). Life is less expensive in the countryside and small towns.

The key to keeping trip costs down, in my view, is to limit long travel transfers. A compact trip is less expensive and more comfortable than one that goes all over. If this were my trip, I would plan two weeks in the U.K. and one in Switzerland, flying into London and out of Zurich.

If you want to move around a bit more, northern Italy would be the logical choice. Fly into London, then from there to Zurich; spend 5-6 days in Switzerland, then take the train to Milan and spend another 5-6 days in Italy. It you have already been to Lake Como, and I would never go to Venice in the summer. So maybe people can suggest somewhere else in Italy that makes sense. But personally Inwould stick to the U.K. And SwitzerlNd in your time frame.

Consider a week in the middle in a mobile home on a camping site. My favorite is Camping Serenella.

It is just next to Lake Garda, you can cook your own food, there are towns to visit within walking distance, you can explore the lake by boat, and the larger mobile homes have air condition.

But there are dozens of other camping sites with similar facilities.

I will say that AC is easier to find in the hot places listed. Not a given, but I would definitely make it a point to only choose places with AC in most of Southern Europe in August.

Also I love the apartment idea. With kids I can’t imagine traveling any other way. Having a larger place to return to and rest in the heat is priceless, as is the kitchen. Even if you just store basics it’s a great insurance policy. Sure, kid, eat only bread at the restaurant if it keeps you happy and we enjoy a nice atmosphere, but then you need some vegetables when we get back!

Last summer we were in Greece. It was HOT but accommodations had ac and we took siestas. Probably forced some relaxation, which is great.

Greece is going to be very hot in August. Ditto Spain, except for the north coast. Both will be busy. Northern Italy will be cooler.

If your son didn’t enjoy European food, then that found in the UK may be closer to what he is used to at home.

Switzerland will be very expensive.

You can easily spend all 3 weeks in each country that you mention. This would lead to a more relaxing trip. Your accommodation options will be much wider if you rented a cottage for a whole week - most of these rentals run Saturday to Saturday.

Your brief is currently far too wide and you are going to get as many different responses as there are posters, which won’t help you. Ask your family to come up with some suggestions. It maybe better if you come back once you have figured out your flights. Please also give some idea of your interests.

The options are endless. UK. A week in London, a week in Northumberland or the north Norfolk coast and a week in Scotland or the New Forest. OR Spain - a 3 week trip touring between Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela. Greece - 2 weeks on Crete and a week on the Pelion. Etc etc.

I have been to both Greece and Spain in early June and would not go to either place in August. Both of them were quite warm in early June, and you can tell by my location that I am much more accustomed to hot summers than would be someone from Canada.

Another traveler with kids here (3 tw/eens). We keep getting called back to Europe too. Greece and Northern Spain will be much more car dependent than you were last summer. We were in Greece summer, 2018 and there was a lot of car travel, which is not as appealing to us. Researching N. Spain for a possible trip, it looks like it would be similar. Add to that the temps in August (we usually go June-July), and I would be looking at the U.K. or Switzerland. The Italian coast is nice but again, the crowds in August plus the heat (we were there in 2017 in July) would deter me. Maybe the N. of Italy, one of the lakes, as someone above suggested? You could possibly travel between there and Switzerland, and even eastern France depending on where you base yourself. I was looking at Annency, or Lk. Garda as a base for some future fantasy trip. We almost always sty in Airbnb's bc the cost is more economical for 5. Have fun!

Jessica's right that a car is handier in northern Spain than in much of western Europe. I got around fine with a combination of trains and (rather a lot of) buses. But I had a lot of time and was OK with moving slowly. The weather, though, is pretty reliably not-hot. The same (both factors) is true for Normandy/Brittany in France and--in normal years--all of the United Kingdom.

The places I've used as my escape-the-heat spots during summer-long trips to Europe are those mentioned above plus the Dolomites. Go high enough in any mountain range and you're usually safe. In the past you could nearly rely on being safe in far northern Germany, along the Baltic coast of Poland and in Scandinavia, but last summer was either an exception or the new normal.

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! We think the UK/Switzerland combo will be lovely! We’ve visited Cinque Terre and Venice year’s ago, they were lovely, but yes crowded!

We looked at the train from London to Interlakenand it could be possible to doa few nights in Paris (which we visited last year, our daughter loved the city), but it also looks like we could get off the train in Dijon and spend a few nights there before continuing on to Switzerland.

A week in the Lauterbrunnen Valley sounds like heaven!

We did three weeks this past June with our three kids in England, Edinburgh, and Paris and we loved it! The day we arrived at Heathrow we went to Windsor and spent one night there (toured Windsor Castle the next day and the town). Spent 3 very relaxing nights in a rental home in the Cotswolds. Then en route to York, we spent the day at Warwick Castle (a huge hit with the kids!). Three nights then in York in a flat. In my opinion, York is a must-see town in England. We then took the train up to Edinburgh and spent three nights there in a lovely, but reasonably priced, apartment. Then took the train to London (4 1/2 hours) and stayed 5 nights in a flat. We took the Eurostar train from London to Paris and spent our final four night in Paris and flew home from there. We try to fly home from airports not in the U.K. - it avoids very heavy taxes on people leaving the U.K.

We were really pleased with our itinerary. We felt we had a good mix of big city and other parts and were able to get a good feel of several different places. It was a nice feeling to settle in for a minimum of three nights in each place, visit grocery stores or markets, and do laundry. Two of our kids are also very picky eaters, so it was definitely nice to have breakfast at home and typically dinner too. We would usually eat lunch out while we were sight seeing.

Good luck with wherever you decide to go! On a trip that long, it was definitely nice to have the space to relax in a house or apartment.

Hi,

If you want to increase your chances of not running into heat, i suggest up north in Germany, ie from Hamburg to Flensburg, from Cuxhaven to Schwerin...some very nice and interesting places, historically and culturally to be seen.

Towns I would suggest fitting this bill are Eutin/Holstein, Ludwigslust, Schleswig, Stade, Husum, Schwerin, Lüneburg, the greater Kiel area. In both 2017 and 2018 I was in this interesting part of Germany. The plan is to be back there in June 2019.