Where would you go budget wise, six nights the end of July

What about Leiden, The Hague, Rotterdam, Ghent. Find a place or two to stay and easy day trips from there.

Iggy, going back to your Edinburgh idea. Have you looked at staying outside of the city center?

The Premier Inn Leith Waterfront starts at £800 for 6 nights and less than 10 minutes to the Tram line to the airport and nearby bus stops to the city center.

Regarding other places, what is your nightly budget?

Thanks KD, looking into that. Do you suggest Rotterdam, Ghent or Leiden to stay? Forgot to mention we have been to Ghent.

Jean, Leith does sound like a good idea, I see some places cheaper. Aiming at $150 or below. A private bathroom is needed for my wife. Btw, is there a "Leith" near Glasgow you would suggest?

Appreciate both of you for your suggestions!

IggyStooge,
The hotel chain is Premier, not Leith (that is a location). Look for Premier in Glasgow.

Quite a few of the cities on your list make most of the "Most Expensive" lists. Cities like London, Paris, Venice, Vienna, Berlin, Dublin ... Then a few of the others show up depending on which of the lists you believe.

On the cheap lists you only name Prague and Budapest and on some lists, Krakow.

If you are departing from Dublin then you have to use Ryanair (I think) and the destinations that show up most often on the cheap list are (I highlighted my favorites): Albania (hang out on the Albanian Rivera), Bulgaria (Sofia, Plovdiv or fly to Burgas and spend it on the coast at Nessebar), Czech Republic (Prague), Greece (Ryan flies to Athens and several islands), Hungary (Budapest), Malta, Poland (Krakow), Romania (more of a tour destination but good short ones out of Bucharest) and Slovakia (you gotta rent a car to enjoy and no real city break). Ive been to all but Poland.

Any of them would be great, but the only one I can talk to with any specifics would be Budapest where you can get a 3 or a 4 star hotel room in July, in the part of town that is prime for tourism without compromise or commute for under $150 a night. Move out from the most convenient tourism locations and you might get to $100 ... buy why?

Albania is a good suggestion unless you want to stay on the coast. Have you looked at Vilnius, Riga, or Tallinn? I could easily stay in any of those form6 nights. They are all both cooler and less expensive.

We’re going to Wales during that time, not so much as a budget destination (we plan to do lots of hiking), but because it’s the one region in the British Isles where we’ve never been. Still, you can catch a ferry between Ireland and Wales, although I haven’t researched prices. That would keep you in a more compact travel area, if that would make any difference.

There are lots of castles and other historic sights, and an assortment of museums, but Rick Steves doesn’t seem to suggest much in the way of art museums. Still, any chance Wales would appeal?

I was going to suggest the Baltic capitals, but TTM beat me to it.

I love Budapest, which has the advantage that good food is a better value there than in many other places. However, central Europe can have really hot spells in the middle of the summer. Are you OK with that?

I covered Belgium and the Netherlands fairly well last summer. There was lots of good art. I wouldn't say hotel rates were particularly cheap. You'd need to check booking.com to see how things are looking for your particular cities on your dates. The Dutch just increased the VAT rate on hotel rooms from 9% to 21%, Belgium might be noticeably cheaper this year.

The Balkans are a good value, but weather-wise problematic in July/August unless you plan to hang out at altitude or splash around in water all day.

Dundee, Scotland, has a well-located Premier Inn that has been bargain-priced for me in two different years. There are nearby museums, and side trips to places like St. Andrews and the East Neuk villages are easy.

Look at where he can reach nonstop on a discount flight.

Many thanks to all of the replies. Great idea on here! I will look around and find something that works for us. Appreciate y'all as usual.

Ig

We love the British countryside and its towns and smaller cities. Hotel and B&B rates are cheaper than larger cities like London and Edinburgh.

Also, Greece and Turkey are cheaper than Western Europe. Although, I wouldn't go to Turkey right now.

Romania and Bulgaria are inexpensive and a great visit.

Here's another vote for Dundee. As acraven mentioned, they have a wonderful town with a branch of the Victoria & Alpbert museum, and much more. Plus, it's along the coast, and you can take buses up and down the coast to some wonderful sites.

If you head up north along the coast, there's the Bullers of Buchan, Slains Castle ruins, and a lot of quaint fishing villages as you get along the north coast on the east side. Elgin has some phenomenal cathedral ruins, and Cruden Bay is a lovely town that's very near Slains Castle. You can also head inward towards Cairngorms National Park, which is very beautiful. All these will be less expensive than Edinburgh and Glasgow at the time you are going.

So we have six nights, leaving Dublin for somewhere July 27th and returning to Dublin August 2nd. We are looking for a budget trip to
somewhere, we will just use RyanAir or some other lower cost
airline.

I see DUB > COLOGNE > DUB on your dates for 187 rt on Lufthansa. Cologne is a walkable city on Germany's Rhine River. Germany's most-visted landmark (Cologne Cathedral, many works of art and a work of art itself) is there, as are museums of all kinds, including art museums.

Cologne art museums:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187371-d192300-Reviews-Wallraf_Richartz_Museum-Cologne_North_Rhine_Westphalia.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187371-d192301-Reviews-Museum_Ludwig-Cologne_North_Rhine_Westphalia.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187371-d243347-Reviews-Museum_Schnutgen-Cologne_North_Rhine_Westphalia.html

And other nearby cities are within easy daytrip distance by train...

AACHEN is a short day trip from Cologne and a very handsome city, easily walked, several museums there as well.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187367-Activities-c49-Aachen_North_Rhine_Westphalia.html

BONN (Germany's former capital) may merit a visit as well. Museums: https://www.bonn.de/bonn-erleben/besichtigen-entdecken/index.php

REMAGEN: Pleasant small town on the Rhine with the Arp Museum (art) and the WW II "Peace Museum" at the site of the struggle over the Luddendorf Bridge.

https://www.tripadvisor.de/Attractions-g642105-Activities-Remagen_Rhineland_Palatinate.html

I'm seeing several hotels with doubles near the center of Cologne at booking.com for less than $100/night on your dates.

Tennerife. Round trip airfare for @$400 ea person, and 6 nights at an all inclusive, adults only, place on the beach for @ $200/night.