Europe Summer Vacations

Eastern Europe will be your best bet. I would suggest getting the Rick steves book on Eastern Europe and see what suits your interests

Have you ever been to Europe? For first time travelers, I suggest you start in London for a week and take the Eurostar down to Paris for the balance of your time.

I prefer to go to Europe in the Spring and Fall to avoid the crowds in special cities.

And as was previously mentioned, the budget cities are in Eastern Europe. I wouldn't suggest starting to travel there are so many other important places to see first.

The big, popular European cities such as Paris, Rome, London, Prague are all quite crowded in the summer months so if you don't want crowds, avoid them!
We have found quite a few beautiful corners of Europe that are relatively uncrowded such as southwestern France, northern England and western Scotland, Umbria in Italy, as well as less touristy parts of Switzerland such as Valais.
We often get out a map and, if we find places we haven't heard of that are not close to large, touristy cities, chances are good that others haven't heard of them as well and they will be less crowded! We haven't traveled to eastern Europe yet but that seems to be an area that is still quite open for exploration and there are lots of areas that haven't been "touristified" yet.

What kind of a vacation do you want? Sightseeing? Outdoor activities? Beaches and bars? Summer is high season, and unless you want to hang out in the countryside far from the attractions, there will be crowds everywhere.

Hi,

In some ways if this is your first trip to Europe, going to London and Paris and western Europe is easier. However, that depends on you. I go over in the summer too, usually from the mid-May to the end of August. It is a trade-off over going in the spring or in the autumn, depends on you, ie what you want to avoid (crowds, the heat, etc) or if you prefer the summer weather and the tourist spots teeming with people don't bother you. "Few crowds" and "in the summer" is almost a contradiction since the vacation spots do draw in the crowds in the summer.

mel,

i guess it will depend on how you define "summer".

i travel in March or Sept and i have found the "crowds" to be tolerable. Of course there will always be some places that will be crowded like any major attraction. But i just take it and know that the next stop will probably be less crowded.

happy trails.

We've been looking into Italy and also Austria/Germany. Our time frame is going to be either the end of May or August. My daughter had picked Italy awhile ago, but the more research we do we've realized it's going to be hard to see all we want in just two weeks. Austria and Germany are also on our list. We figured we might see more there and it might be more of a relaxed trip.

Hello melissamarden. Of the three countries that you mentioned (Italy, Germany, Austria), the one country that might have some places that are not very crowded in the summer months is Germany.

Try Nerja Spain and also Rimini, Riccioni and Catolica in Italy. The sand is better in Italy on the Adriatic side, and warmer, the later you wait. The Med is NEVER warm, so if you do S. Spain a pool would be nice. Don't know of any German beaches.

Our very first trip anywhere overseas in 2008 and the first place we go is...Rome. Went up the coast to Cinque Terre, Genoa, Bologna and Venice. We almost always travel from mid-Sept to 1st week Oct. This year, we went the first two weeks of Sept back to Italy (Amalfi, Rome, Venice) - what a difference those few weeks make weather wise - the heat and humidity was pretty bad (well, even later in Sept it is hot). If you can go at the end of May, you may find the weather more tolerable - unless you don't mind the heat (assuming you go somewhere hot). About 2/3rds of the time on this trip we had to go back to our room mid-afternoon to cool off and rest.

May, hands down. August is when half of Europe (or more?) is on vacation and most of them stay in Europe, plus visitors from everywhere else over school break. Two weeks in Germany or you could do a very nice trip Berlin-Dresden-Prague-Vienna-Budapest that might be less expensive, though Prague and Budapest are likely to be more crowded.

Melissa: You should try to go as soon as you can--to avoid the biggest crowds. It's very difficult to avoid crowds to the most popular tourist cities. Below are my favorites:
5 days in Munich taking in Nymphenburg Palace, the downtown palace, beer halls and Dachau. The Deutsche Museum is also great.

Then take the train east to Salzburg for a couple of days.

Innsbruck to get a taste of The Alps.

A train through the Brenner Pass down to Venice.

From Venice, it's 150 miles and a 2 hour train ride to Florence or 4 hour train ride to Rome.

If you were willing to rent a car in Munich, we absolutely love to ramble throughout Bavaria and Tirol. The Grossglockner High Alpine Highway is south of Zell-am-See, and it's the most beautiful place we've ever seen in the world. It's easy to avoid crowds via rental car in the mountains of Austria and in Northern Italy.

May (never August), Paris then London.

May (never August), Paris then London.

Agree with May although it could be snowy/cold/rainy near the Alps. In May I'd pick Rome/Florence/Venice or something similar. IMHO, better weather, better history, better sights and definitely better food.