Help me brainstorm a post-lockdown trip destination

Are you prepared to rent a car (or take your own)?

I wouldn't go to Sicily again in mid-summer, but it sounds as if you might like to roast down there. The inland area is lightly visited with the possible exception of the Villa Romana del Casale (not many other tourists there when I visited in June 2015).

I've found I prefer places like Galicia (NW Spain), Normandy and Brittany in the summer.

Portugal has lots of interesting towns that are away from the coast and probably still not overrun by foreign tourists--though I haven't been there in decades.

Mainland Greece would be another possibility, but I know nothing about the state of Wi-Fi service there. Public transportation is rather thin in some areas.

Or the Channel Islands?

Thanks acraven! Driving is not an option for me, so I’m looking for places I can get to in the first place by using public transit or one long cab ride from the airport, and after that I will stay pretty local, getting around on foot or by bike.

I’ll check out your suggestions!

For Sicily without a car, I’d look at the Ortygia section of Siracusa. Fly into Catania, then take a bus or shuttle about an hour-hour and a half. Once you are there you have the ocean on 3 sides with nice water view promenades, very small swimming beaches, lovely streets to wander, a gorgeous main square, and the Greek ruins on the island and bigger ones easily accessible by bus or cab in mainland Siracusa. It will be hot, but if that’s ok then it’s a wonderful place to be.

Also in the perishingly-hot category: Puglia. I don't know what will be going on when things initially open up, but the tourist office in Lecce (lovely Baroque city) has in the past organized van transportation (demand-based rather than scheduled) to a lot of small towns in the region. There is also some bus and train service, but those van trips were a great way to get transportation to a bunch of small towns on one day; they really were just transportation, not tours.

Another Italian possibility would be one of the valley towns north of Verona. There are some interesting places right along that rail line, but there's also good bus service up into the mountains from the larger places. Unfortunately, it can get very hot down in that valley, in places like Bolzano and Bressanone, and most of the less expensive hotels were not air conditioned as of 2015. Maybe some of them have subsequently seen the light.

What are your criteria for warm weather? 20°+, 25°+ 30°+?

Ortygia looks beautiful Mira, going to investigate that further.

Acraven, you’re spot on with Puglia - I did a holiday there last summer and it’s one of my past experiences I’ve been thinking of when brainstorming for this year’s hoped-for trip. I’d written it off as needing a car (my sister drove us around last summer) but I see that it’s possible to get from the airport in Bari to Lecce by train. I absolutely adored Lecce when we visited for a day trip so I’ll think more about that.

Badger, for me the sweet spot is between 25 and 33. I can deal with hotter (lived for years in DC which routinely gets to 100 f/38 c for like three months straight, plus absurd levels of humidity) but that’s my preferred range.

And Washington DC doesn't have those nice ocean breezes that make hot weather more tolerable.

Crete! Airports at Chania and Heraklion. Chania is a lovely old smaller city with art galleries and a couple of small museums and some interesting smaller towns nearby with lovely beaches - Almyrida and Kalives are both well supplied with sandy beaches, good swimming, hotels and rentals. Heraklion is a short bus trip from Knossos though can’t speak to beaches, and both cities have a good tourist infrastructure that can get you to other interesting sites. Also the Island has a quite good public bus service to help you get around. The south coast of the Island also has some smaller beach towns but may be a bit too remote. The eastern side of the island has a lot of more resort orientated towns but Elouda might be worth a look. Heat? Oh yes, I’ve been there in October and it has been 30+C.

Good guide book is the Rough Guide.

Hmmm... for a restful coastal vacation, with plenty of sun, I'd opt for the Costa del Azahar (Orange Blossom Coast), located between Barcelona and Valencia. A fine stretch of coastline dotted with ancient olive trees, citrus groves, sandy beaches, lazy beach towns, time-warped castles, and Roman Ruins. As a home base, I'd recommend Peñíscola, just north of Valencia. With its cobbled streets and whitewashed houses, the old town of Peñíscola sits on a big rock that juts out into the sea. The town is dominated by a large Knights Templar castle that looks like something out of the Crusades. Recently, Peñíscola was used as a filming location in the T.V. series Game of Thrones. It has a nice sandy seashell-shaped beach and plenty of shops and restaurants in its old town area.

Did you know Sicily was advertising that they would refund 50% of tourist expenses?
It is supposed to be posted on their tourism website http://www.visitsicily.info/en/ but I still don't see it there. Maybe they are waiting until there is more global access. Worth keeping in mind.

Split in Croatia would give you plenty of historical sites, decent weather and some great day trips such as Trogir, Hvar and Brac. The food is good and great value compared to much of Europe. It’s had a lower Covid infection rate than Italy.

If the sweet spot is 25° to 33° you could look a bit north of the Mediterranean as well. My first two suggestions are two islands in the Baltic sea, Gotland or Bornholm. They are both great for vacationing on bike and offer beautiful scenery as well as plenty of opportunities to go swimming. Bornholm has a couple of towns dotted around the coast of at least three are scenic and cute and is not that big so easy to get around by bike.

Gotland is a larger island mostly famous for Visby's medieval town centre (on the Unesco world heritage) but is also a popular summer destination for locals, so there are normally plenty of restaurants and bars in central Visby. There is also plenty of beautiful natural scenery on the island. It also has the largest ice cream parlour I've ever visited with 346 flavours.

Regarding the UK, maybe Devon or Cornwall would be warm enough? If it wasn't for the temperature I'd suggest the Scottish lowlands, maybe Fife.

I am loving these ideas, thank you all so much! I especially like how many of these are not places I would have thought of. Carlos, the Costa del Azahar sounds like a dream (particularly since I love the smell of orange blossoms). I had been toying with the idea of Córdoba, but being on the coast with all that lovely ocean like in Peñíscola is very appealing. “Somewhere in Spain” in general has been topping this daydream list; I’ve been to Barcelona a few times in the last couple years and absolutely fell in love with it, and want to see more of the country, especially smaller towns.

Crete would be a great option lanlubber, but I have promised my best friend I won’t visit Greece for the first time without her - we had a trip planned for May this year that we had to cancel. She’s in the US so we’ve pushed it back to next summer.

MariaF, very interesting tip about Sicily, I’ll keep an eye on it because Ortygia/Sicily in general really intrigue me.

Jennifer, Split is a good thought. I’ve shied away from Croatia in the past because I’d heard the crowds were nightmarish, but I suspect a lot of places will be quieter this summer if I’m able to take this trip. Reading about it, it sounds like I’d really enjoy it - Roman ruins, hiking up Marjan Hill, the beach, etc. And good point about their covid numbers being on the lower end.

Badger might win though, an ice cream parlour with 346 flavours is hard to beat!!

Portugal was mentioned by someone upthread; I had a getaway booked at a farmhouse hotel (Quintas dos Perfumes) outside of Tavira that I’ve had to cancel so I have been thinking along those lines, but at the moment I’m concerned about Portugal’s covid numbers. I also think for a longer stay like I’m contemplating, that particular location might be a little too removed from town. Other places that have crossed my mind are Provence (I’ve had a couple idyllic trips to Aix and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon since moving to London and would love to explore more of the region) and the Italian lakes. I had a weekend in Lucerne booked for...gosh, this weekend, that’s really snuck up on me...that obviously I’m not going on but the idea of a small city or town on a lake is very appealing. Switzerland is probably too expensive for a longer stay though which is why I then thought of the Italian lakes.

Anyway keep the ideas coming; it’s really fun to add to my list and research new places in the hope of a trip this summer (or if not, there’s always next summer).

Hi Margaret, I'm happy I could pique some of your travel fantasies 😉 I recall seeing that there used to be direct flights from London to Castellón de la Plana, the main city on the Costa del Azahar, may be worth to see if they will start back up again this summer. From Castellón airport it's about a 30 min drive to Peñíscola.

RE: Puglia. From Lecce you can reach a lot of interesting places by train. There are several local (i.e., non-Trenitalia) train lines down in the south.

Thanks! James E, do you have a suggestion for a particular destination within Montenegro? I was researching a holiday there a while back and recall that I was having difficulty settling on a base.

Sure James E, that would be great! Even if it doesn’t happen this summer, this is a trip I’m interested in doing at some point.

Badger might win though, an ice cream parlour with 346 flavours is
hard to beat!!

It certainly is hard to beat! It is one of those places I have to visit every summer.

Wow, these are really amazing, thank you so much. That Hotel Conte and the Astoria Budva both look particularly fabulous. I hope I make it there! Appreciate the help, James.

Lago Maggiore, northern Italy. Ticks all your boxes.

If you fly into Milan Malpensa you can take an airport bus directly to Arona, Stresa, or Verbania.

Lake temperature is wonderful come July. While we get a couple short stretches of really hot weather, in general, it’s in the 80s during the day, and a bit cooler at night. Even with the lake, there are very few bugs here. All kinds of walking along the lake front. And hikes all over. Ferries go all over the lake. So much to see and do,

All can be done with no car.

Verbania has a couple beaches and large pool.

If interested, I can PM you a couple links.

Yes please Karen!

I hate to give too much attention to my favorite place to get away for a week, but I'm dreaming of (and hoping) to return to the Greek island of Agistri for the 3rd time in September, staying at the lovely Hotel Kekrefalia. It pretty much checks all your boxes with the exception of there not being a lot of attractions aside from the beautiful scenery, hiking, the beach, and eating, but sometimes that's all you need. For a change of scenery you can take a short ferry to the larger island of Aegnia, which has a larger village and a pretty decent temple ruin. It's only a 60-90 minute ferry ride from Piraeus in Athens, so the capital is day-trippable, too.

The hotel is the nicest on the island, although there are other options but it's a steal by US/UK standards, and comes with a kitchenette if you want to save some money. All rooms have a balcony, and the 12-room hotel has it's own private "beach" platform with loungers and beautiful water. If you require sand, it's a 5-10 minute walk to the village for plenty of sandy beachfront.

During normal times, the village had 6-8 restaurant options in the evening and we never had a bad meal. It's the kind of place where you let a restaurant (or Paris at the the hotel) know you want fresh fish for dinner in the morning and they'll put in an order with the fisherman.

There are some truly gorgeous beaches, all within a couple hours' walk from the hotel (or closer) and the pine-covered island is particularly nice for hiking. A few of the hotel restaurants had musical entertainment on some evenings too, which brought in locals. Most of the visitors are Athenians seeking a nearby summer escape, with a smattering of assorted Europeans. Worth taking a look!

Awesome recommendation Sarah, thanks. Adding it to the list!